The first week of the college football season was a good one, and it's especially fun when the festivities linger into Sunday and Monday thanks to a long holiday weekend. The Buckeyes took care of business against Oregon State, and while there may be some concerns on defense, Dwayne Haskins and the offense pretty much did whatever they wanted versus the Beavers.
Leading up to the week, the fine folks here at 11W put forth some prognostications for 10 of the week's top games. You can click below to take a peek back at those picks, but a few of the contests led to some incorrect submissions nearly across the board.
Congratulations to Dan Hope on being the resident Appalachian State expert. Everyone else had Penn State covering the 24-point spread, but it took overtime for the Nits to survive at home against the Mountaineers. Maryland's performance against Texas surprised all but two of our staffers as Tom Herman's off to a rough start for a second straight year.
There was a split opinion on the Michigan/Notre Dame game, and we all now know that things tragically didn't work out for Jim Harbaugh's anemic offense. The Florida State/Virginia Tech matchup was also split. I can't say I'm all that surprised that Virginia Tech won, but I don't think anyone expected Willie Taggart and the Seminole offense to be shut down like that on Monday night. Bud Foster's defense is a sight to behold at times.
- Quick reminder as to how this shindig works: Every week we will include 10 of the country's top games with a mix of Big Ten and national matchups. Each participating staff member will submit their picks – against the spread – for the selected slate of games. The odds will certainly fluctuate a bit throughout each week, but we'll be using sportsbook.ag for all betting lines.
There isn't near as much excitement on the board for the second week of the college football season, but the Big Ten is involved in two of the week's more intriguing matchups and the Buckeyes will look to tighten things up on defense against an inferior opponent.
| CHRIS | RAMZY | HOPE | HARRISH | JONES | WEBB | ELLIS | WERTHEIM | REGIMBAL | ANDERSON | VANCE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVERALL | 6-4 | 6-4 | 6-4 | 6-4 | 6-4 | 5-5 | 8-2 | 5-5 | 4-6 | 3-7 | 6-4 |
| #14 Michigan (-27.5) vs. Western Michigan | MICH | WMU | WMU | MICH | WMU | WMU | MICH | WMU | WMU | MICH | MICH |
| Northwestern (-3) vs. Duke | NW | NW | NW | DUKE | NW | DUKE | NW | NW | NW | NW | DUKE |
| #15 Mississippi State (-8) @ Kansas State | MISST | KSU | MISST | KSU | MISST | MISST | MISST | MISST | MISST | MISST | MISST |
| #4 Ohio State (-35.5) vs. Rutgers | OSU | OSU | RUTG | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | RUTG | OSU | OSU | OSU |
| #3 Georgia (-10) @ #24 South Carolina | UGA | SC | UGA | SC | UGA | UGA | UGA | UGA | SC | UGA | UGA |
| Iowa (-3.5) vs. Iowa State | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | IOWA | ISU | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA |
| #2 Clemson (-12.5) @ Texas A&M | CLEM | TAMU | CLEM | CLEM | CLEM | CLEM | TAMU | CLEM | TAMU | CLEM | CLEM |
| #13 Penn State (-7.5) @ Pittsburgh | PSU | PITT | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU |
| #10 Stanford (-4) vs. #17 USC | USC | STAN | STAN | STAN | USC | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | USC | STAN |
| #15 Michigan State (-7) @ Arizona State | ASU | ASU | MSU | ASU | MSU | ASU | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | ASU |
The Wolverines check in as 27.5-point favorites against Western Michigan. Can you imagine the feeling in Ann Arbor if this one ends up being even remotely close? We'll see if Shea Patterson takes a step in the right direction against the Broncos. The staff is fairly split on how that ones turns out.
Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs head to South Carolina to take on a Gamecocks team that is coming off a nine-win season. This will be Will Muschamp's biggest game of the year and the home team is a 10-point underdog against the country's No. 3 team. That one can be seen at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
The Hawkeyes and Cyclones gave us an unexpected shootout a season ago with the Kirk Ferentz besting Matt Campbell by a score of 44-41 in overtime. We're hardly expecting another shootout and Iowa is only a 3.5-point favorite at Kinnick. This will be the Cyclones' first game of the season after the bout with South Dakota State was canceled because of the inclement weather.
Can Texas A&M keep it close against Clemson? The Aggies are at home but Clemson's defensive line certainly isn't a welcome sight for Jimbo Fisher. A spread of 12.5 is fairly substantial when going on the road to face an SEC opponent, and the 11W staff is pretty split on how this one turns out.
Penn State and Michigan State both hit the road and both are looking to bounce back from lackluster performances. The Panthers have won two of the last three and if the Nits look like anything like they did against Appalachian State then it could be a long night at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh topped Albany 33-7 last weekend.
Arizona State WR N'Keal Harry dodged tackles from almost the entire UTSA defense to score a TD pic.twitter.com/NoaWec0ICR
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 2, 2018
The Spartans are changing time zones and that can always be a concern. What does Herm Edwards have in store for Mark Dantonio? Sparty is favored by a touchdown but several pundits have this one pegged as the upset of the week after the Spartans struggled mightily against Utah State. Night owls can catch this contest Saturday at 10:50 p.m. ET.
What games are standing out to you? Who are your picks for week two?
