By RahimAli Merchant
After an exciting first week of football at the College level, it appearances that all eyes have turned to the NFL and their opening weekend. When you see the games scheduled this week in the FBS, you may not want to watch, but I will give you reasons why you should and should not.
Why you should not is because there aren’t many games worth watching.
Top 25 vs Top 25:
3 Georgia versus 24 South Carolina
For Georgia, the question arises as to how they will rebound from their loss against Alabama in the National Championship game back in January. Of course, they shut out Austin Peavy 45-0, but South Carolina is one of the Bulldogs’ biggest rivals and the biggest test so far this season. The Gamecocks are coming off of a 49-15 statement game and will look to prove they are back and ready for the SEC. How will Georgia do against their first elite opponent with all the new pieces on defense? Find out at 3:30 pm on CBS.
10 Stanford versus 17 USC
With Washington’s loss to Auburn last week, the Pac-12 could come down to this game. Whoever wins could play a huge role in the conference championship. Although, I wouldn’t count out Washington yet. They haven’t played a conference game, but will likely have the best chance to win. But let’s see where USC and Stanford go after this game. USC struggled early and let UNLV stay with them close at the half before pulling away with the 43-21 victory. Stanford also started off slow, going down 7-0 early before taking a 9-7 lead into the half and winning the game 31-10. We could expect a slow start to this game, and look for one of them to take control over the Pac-12. For my winner, click here.
There are also a few teams looking to get their first wins of the season and bounce back to bring their hopes of the playoffs back.
Bounce Back Game:
21 Michigan versus Western Michigan
Michigan has disappointed their fans again and it’s only been one game. That game was against Notre Dame, who beat Michigan 24-17. Many consider Notre Dame as an overrated football team and questions have been circling around the Michigan fan base about the coaching staff. Tim “football Jesus” Tebow had a few words to say about it in First Take with Stephen A. Smith. We would hope that Michigan could rebound, so stay tuned and watch.
22 Miami versus Savannah State
Miami is the favorite to win the the ACC Coastal division again this year, but they are already down one game. Fortunately, that game was against a non-conference LSU team who beat Miami 33-17. That loss dropped Miami from 8 all the way to 22 in the top 25 rankings. This weekend against Savannah State we look for Miami and coach Richt to dominate and fix all their mistakes before they get back to conference play where it all matters more.
9 Washington versus North Dakota
Washington has the best chance out of all these teams bouncing back from a loss. They lost to SEC’s Auburn 21-16 in a greatly defensive game. With Stanford and USC playing each other Saturday Night, Washington knows that they aren’t the only top team in the Pac-12 who will have an early season loss. The good thing for them, though, is that their loss came from a top 10 team not in their conference. With a bounce back against North Dakota, Washington will look to run the table and prove they are worthy.
Florida State versus Samford
Okay, so who was disappointed in the effort that FSU gave Monday against conference opponent Virginia Tech? FSU lost 24-3 and they had several chances to win the game until they made mistakes late that Virginia Tech took advantage of. As far as their hope for the Conference championship goes, I wouldn’t count on it. They would likely need to run the table and hope the Virginia Tech will finish with more loses than them. But running the table against Miami and other ACC teams will seem impossible, so let’s just count them out for the conference and hope this bounce back against Samford can fuel them to at least nine wins this season.
Speaking of other ACC teams, I will tell you about the games of interests for the week.
Games of Interests:
2. Clemson versus Texas A&M:
Clemson is the clear favorite to come out of the ACC and we all expect that to be true, but they have a more challenging opponent than what they faced last week. Texas A&M is one of the better teams in the SEC, but they are no Alabama. It is still another match up between the ACC and SEC that everyone loves, but could this be a tough match-up for Clemson or will they destroy A&M like Alabama did ACC rival, Louisville last week?
13. Penn State versus Pittsburgh:
How about the game that almost got away from Penn State last week? It took Penn State overtime to beat Appalachian State as they won 45-38 after their defender got an interception on App States overtime possession to end the game. Of course, Pittsburgh is no App State, but they belong to the ACC and they are looking forward to being one of the top teams this year. With an upset win over Penn State, Pitt could be on their way up. Penn State definitely needs to get their defense together after losing a lot of players to the NFL. This could be one of those games where Pitt sneaks up and grabs it right out of the hands of Penn State. This is my upset alert of the week, especially with how each team is playing right now.
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