Wednesday, September 9, 2009

NCAA '09 Football: Week 2







Week two of the college football season features most major schools playing cream puff ball with lesser schools to chalk up easy wins while gearing up for conference rivalries later in the season. While it's great for the small schools raising money, it's not good for competition.
All eyes will be on two games: one steeped in tradition, the other being one with BCS implications. Michigan hosting Notre Dame while their arch rival Ohio State hosts USC are the most interesting games this weekend. Here are the games we're tracking.
Clemson @ Georgia Tech (-5.5)
ACC battle Dixie style, but Georgia Tech should be strong enough to hold off Clemson at home in Atlanta.

North Carolina @ Connecticut
It’s nice to see Carolina football matters again. Going north to Connecticut to take care of business is one more building block toward becoming an ACC force once again. Carolina should cover the Huskies in black gooey tar.

Stanford @ Wake Forest (-2.5)
Stanford is not the nationally rated program it once was and Wake Forest, once considered too small to be a football school is improving as the darlings of the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area. Stanford won’t be able to digest the Carolina style home cooking and head back west with a loss.

Notre Dame (-3.5) @ Michigan
This great traditional rivalry finds both schools and their head coaches under the microscope with the Fighting Irish fielding its best team in years. Still they’re heading to the big house in Ann Arbor, and we’re hoping the Wolverines will be hungry enough to pull the upset.

Louisiana Tech @ Navy (-7.5)
Whoa, did the world see what Navy almost did to Ohio State last week? These sailors and Marines are pretty darned good and will defend the ship in Annapolis for sure this weekend.

South Carolina @ Georgia (-7)
The upstart Gamecocks under cranky coach, Steve Spurrier, will give the Bulldogs all they can handle, but Georgia’s talent playing at home should suffice to push South Carolina back over the state line with a loss.

USC (-7) @ Ohio State
Neither team started the season the way they would have hoped in less than stellar debuts. This could be a preview of January’s Rose Bowl matchup if neither team doesn’t wind up fighting for the National Championship which is possible for either team. With a rookie quarterback, the Trojans are not quite as fearsome as they would be in many recent years. Ohio State will be on a mission to undo the shame of last week’s near loss and at home in Columbus they should get the job done.



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