College Football Preview: Week Two Upsets, Pops, and Drops

Unfortunately, this upcoming weekend is not a very exciting one for college football fans unless your favorite team is playing.  Most of the contending BCS schools have scheduled another weekend of cupcakes to snack on and gorge their individual and team stats.

That said, there are a few upsets on the horizon, along with some pops and drops.

Last week, I called the UCLA upset of Tennessee.  This week I look eastward for my major upset, and I believe it will take place in Happy Valley.  Penn State, coming off a 66-point blowout of Coastal Carolina (don't bother looking for it on a map—you won't find it), hosts the Oregon State Beavers. 

The Beavs are coming off an upset of their own: They were beaten by Stanford, a school that recently has made a habit of pulling off upsets.  But this week Mike Riley will have his team ready.

Even though they lost to Stanford, the Beavers finished strong and nearly made an incredible 16-point comeback in the last six minutes of the game.  They would have had a chance to tie if not for WR Darrell Cathings reaching for the pylon and fumbling the ball in and out of the end zone for a touchback. 

QB Lyle Moevao threw for 404 yards and had two receivers, Shane Morales and Sammie Stroughter, with over 150 yards each.  It will be Oregon State's passing game vs. Penn State's rushing.

Penn State is a 16.5-point favorite, which has to make the Beavs feel like Rodney Dangerfield—they just can't get no respect.  But the Lions better give them a lot of respect, because the Beavs have the weapons to pull off an upset.

Sticking with the East Coast, we go from Happy Valley to New England, where seven-point underdog Georgia Tech will sting Boston College.  The Eagles did not look that great against lowly Kent State last week, while Tech put up 41 against Jacksonville State—not that impressive either.

The ACC looks relatively weak this year.  Last week, however, Tech put up 489 total yards to the Eagles' 336.  They were seventh in the nation in rushing with 349 yards to BC's 230.  Tech also beat BC in passing yards, 140 to 106.  While the game should be close, I expect Tech to come out on top.

Also on my upset watch list is East Carolina for the second consecutive week.  After upsetting Virgina Tech, a Top 20 ranked team, they take on the No. 1 team in the Big East, West Virginia.  I wasn't at all impressed with WVU's showing against hapless I-AA Villanova despite Pat White's five TD passes. 

I was impressed, however, with ECU's showing against the Hokies.  With nine starters returning on defense, it's the Pirates defense against the Mountaineers offense.  The Mountaineers should win, but it may be closer than eight points—and an all-out upset wouldn't surprise me in the least.

While I don't expect Cincinnati to upset Oklahoma, I do expect the Bearcats to give the Sooners a pretty good test and keep the final margin closer than the 21.5 points the oddsmakers have.  Although Oklahoma demolished Chattanooga, the Bearcats didn't look too shabby either.  They amassed 557 total yards in a 40-7 rout of Eastern Kentucky.

WEEK 2 POPS

I already have Florida at No. 2 in my rankings, but the polls have them at No. 5.  Look for that to change this week, as the Gators rout Miami and pop ahead of Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma into the No. 2 spot.  

WEEK 2 DROPS

Georgia and Ohio State, because neither school has yet to play a BCS opponent.  Oklahoma may drop with a poor showing against Cincinnati.  Even though LSU plays another cupcake, they won't drop because all the teams behind them are going against either I-AA cupcakes or weaker Division I-A opponents.

Other drops: West Virginia and Penn State

USC has a bye week and should remain at No. 1 unless Florida beats Miami by 45 or more.