College Football Rankings 2017: Week 2 Standings, Schedule and Predictions
Week 2 of the 2017 college football season has just as much potential for fireworks as we witnessed over Labor Day weekend.
Saturday's schedule will feature four matchups pitting teams in the Associated Press Top 25 against each other, including a top-five showdown at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio.
Will we see another 34-point comeback like the one UCLA engineered against Texas A&M in Week 1? Or a double-overtime thriller like the one with which No. 25 Tennessee escaped from Atlanta opposite Georgia Tech?
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Photo finishes like those are difficult, if not downright impossible, to predict in this game. What we can do—nay, what we will do—is start with a recap of the latest rankings.
Week 2 Associated Press Top 25 Rankings
- Alabama (1-0)
- Ohio State (1-0)
- Clemson (1-0)
- Penn State (1-0)
- Oklahoma (1-0)
- USC (1-0)
- Washington (1-0)
- Michigan (1-0)
- Wisconsin (1-0)
- Florida State (0-1)
- Oklahoma State (1-0)
- LSU (1-0)
- Auburn (1-0)
- Stanford (1-0)
- Georgia (1-0)
- Miami (FL) (1-0)
- Louisville (1-0)
- Virginia Tech (1-0)
- Kansas State (1-0)
- Washington State (1-0)
- South Florida (2-0)
- Florida (0-1)
- TCU (1-0)
- Notre Dame (1-0)
- Tennessee (1-0)
Let's have a glance at some of the top tilts on the schedule this weekend:
Notable Week 2 Games
- No. 11 Oklahoma State at Southern Alabama, 8 p.m. ET (Friday), ESPN2
- Cincinnati at No. 8 Michigan, 12 p.m. ET, ABC
- No. 17 Louisville at North Carolina, 12 p.m. ET, ESPN
- Florida Atlantic at No. 9 Wisconsin, 12 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
- Pittsburgh at No. 4 Penn State, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
- Fresno State at No. 1 Alabama, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2
- No. 23 TCU at Arkansas, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
- No. 16 Miami at Arkansas State, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU
- No. 13 Auburn at No. 3 Clemson, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
- No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 2 Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
- No. 15 Georgia at No. 24 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC
- Montana at No. 7 Washington, 8 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network
- No. 14 Stanford at No. 6 USC, 8:30 p.m. ET, Fox
- Boise State at No. 20 Washington State, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Predictions
Catching all of Saturday's top games will require some serious dexterity on the remote. Three of the four top-25 matchups on deck are set to kick off within a half hour of each other.
The first one will see No. 13 Auburn invade Death Valley at 7 p.m. ET to compete with No. 3 Clemson in a game from which there is no desirable outcome for 'Bama fans. The defending College Football Playoff champions opened as 6.5-point favorites, but they have since seen that confidence slip a whole point among oddsmakers.
Clemson scored a 19-13 win in War Eagle territory to open last year's march to the national title. The higher-ranked Tigers have turned over a slew of stars from that roster, including quarterback Deshaun Watson, wide receiver Mike Williams and running back Wayne Gallman.
The new faces fared well last weekend, albeit against an overmatched Kent State squad. In his first collegiate start, junior quarterback Kelly Bryant threw for 236 yards, ran for 77 and scored a touchdown each way.
Bryant was one of eight Clemson players to have a direct hand in touchdowns. Five Tigers rushed into the end zone. Two others (freshman quarterback Zerrick Cooper and sophomore wide receiver Cornell Powell) connected on a 14-yard scoring toss late in the third quarter.
Auburn will present a much stiffer challenge, especially on the ground, where those Tigers racked up 351 yards and three touchdowns during a 41-7 win over Georgia Southern in Week 1.
"We both want to run the ball, that's clear," Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said, per STATS LLC.
The South Carolina-based Tigers, though, should have enough firepower to run past their visitors from the SEC on Saturday.
Prediction: Clemson over Auburn
Come 7:30 p.m. ET, college football fans will really have to juggle between games.
Tune into ABC, and you'll find No. 2 Ohio State welcoming No. 5 Oklahoma to the Horseshoe in a battle of red-clad gridiron blue bloods. These two titans of the sport also clashed at the start of last season, with the relatively baby-faced Buckeyes bruising the Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma, 45-24.
Ohio State's J.T. Barrett dominated a star-studded quarterback clash. He threw for four touchdowns while tallying 236 total yards in a pitch-perfect performance. Baker Mayfield, Barrett's counterpart at OU, tossed two touchdowns and two interceptions, including one that OSU's Jerome Baker took 68 yards to the house.
Mayfield's Sooners, though, haven't lost since then. Their 56-7 shellacking of UTEP in Week 1 was their 11th straight win—the longest active streak in the nation.
"Everybody who was here for last year's huge loss definitely remembers that," Mayfield said, per STATS LLC. "And that's something we talked about during camp. We've never been here for a team to sing their fight song on our field. Quite frankly, it's just embarrassing."
It'll take more than shame for the Sooners to exact revenge on the road. The Buckeyes are pegged as nine-point favorites, with Barrett back at the controls for his senior season.
Prediction: Ohio State over Oklahoma
Ohio State and Oklahoma will kick off right around the same time that No. 15 Georgia goes toe-to-toe with No. 24 Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on NBC.
The Bulldogs figure to have a tough time taking down the Fighting Irish, though not just because it's on the latter's home turf. The visitors will be without starting quarterback Jacob Eason. The sophomore sprained his knee on a late hit during the first quarter of Georgia's 31-10 Week 1 over Appalachian State.
His backup, freshman Jake Fromm, filled in with 143 yards and a touchdown on 10-of-15 passing. A road game against Notre Dame will present an entirely different challenge to Fromm, a former five-star recruit.
The Irish, on the other hand, will see if junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush can replicate last weekend's star turn against Temple. Wimbush threw his way to 184 yards, two touchdowns and an interception while running for another 106 yards and a trip to pay dirt.
If the Dawgs defense can hold down Wimbush, UGA might have a shot. Otherwise, Notre Dame's 6.5-point edge in the odds looks like a fair prognostication.
Predication: Notre Dame over Georgia
Odds courtsey of OddsShark
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