College Football Week 2 Preview - "A big kiss on the mouth if you're Leonard Fournette."

This picture shows Fournette's abilities in the McNeese St. game. You can see them draped all over him.

While week 2 lacks a lot of the marquee match-ups we saw in week 1, it all balances out with the first meeting of top 10 ranked teams. There are also a few games that are intriguing in their own right because of the Implication.

#14 LSU @ #25 Mississippi State

I'm really not sure how I feel about this game. On paper LSU is the much more talented team but everything else seems to go the way of the Bulldogs. While LSU tries to paint a positive picture of its cancelled scrimmage against McNeese State, being healthy and not letting the Bulldogs have film, I'm certain that actually playing that game would have been better. For one at Mississippi State is not a good place to work out any kinks in the offense, especially for a new quarterback like Brandon Harris. There's bound to be some rust, also and a warmup against McNeese State could gone a long way towards getting it off. There's also the fact that LSU is now down a game and if they are tied against another team for a spot in the playoff, that extra game could be huge. 

The line in this game varies pretty widely with LSU up by anywhere from 2 to 5. That's a lot for betting purposes. I think I'm leaning towards Mississippi State for the upset. Is Fournette good enough to carry the entire team? While he is good I just don't think LSU will be in full mid-season, or even second-game form. Mississippi State also has a certain Dak Prescott on their team which is  decided plus in their column.

LSU 21 - Mississippi State 24

#19 Oklahoma @ #23 Tennessee

Tennessee scored 59 points against its last opponent, Bowling Green. However, they also allowed 30 points as their secondary showed just how inept they are. Matt Johnson threw for 424 yards without allowing an interception. I don't really think that bodes well against Oklahoma. Tennessee's offensive line is also a big question mark. Last year against Oklahoma they gave up five sacks and while this year they claim to be better and stronger, Bowling Green isn't exactly the strongest test.

On the other side, Oklahoma needs to cut down on penalties according to Stoops. The Sooners got off to a slow start against... Akron before putting the Zips away 41-3. Baker Mayfield looked really good in his debut passing for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns. 

This game will hinge on whether or not Tennessee can get the running game going. If they can, and Kamara and Hurd are really good, then Tennessee can ride the crowd noise to a close victory. However, if Mayfield picks up from where he did against Akron then expect it to be a pretty decisive win for Oklahoma. There's also the, "Big Game Bob" factor... Does this count as a big game? I think it does. 

I'm seeing Oklahoma from anywhere from 3 1/2 to 1 1/2. I think Tennessee is definitely an up and coming team but I'm not sure they're quite where they need to be to content with a team like Oklahoma. Against Tennessee's secondary, even Mayfield has an off-day that should still be enough to get a close win not to mention the fact that Oklahoma's running backs are no slouches themselves.

Oklahoma 31 - Tennessee 28

#20 Boise St. @ BYU

The two coaches in this game should really consider switches sides, just for this game, so we can say the Bronco Broncos. Anyway. Earlier, when I mentioned, "The Implication", this is what I meant. If a team from the Outside is going to crash the playoffs this year, it will be one of these. Most likely Boise State. Chances are that if Boise wins this game they have a really good chance of going undefeated and at that point the Playoff Committee will have to at least consider them for one of the spots. The same goes for BYU but they're the underdogs in this game and as impressive as Mangum looked in that exciting win over Nebraska I have a hard time picturing a freshman lead team from the Outside getting in. I just do.

Besides for the fact that Boise State is probably just simply the better team this game has all the makings of a letdown game for the Cougars. Taysom Hill who was on many a Heisman watch list left the game with a season ending injury. In one of the early great plays of the season, freshman Tanner Mangum (whose magic undies were still probably being unpacked from a mission to Chile) threw a hail-mary with no time remaining to give the Cougars the upset of Nebraska. After all that excitement wore off the reality will set in that without their star quarterback, the Cougars don't have much going for them.

Boise State's offense started off slow but they were carried by their defense which travels much better. This will be another very close game, most sites have the Broncos up by 2 1/2. I'm not willing to do anything fancy with this one but I expect this will be an extremely hard fought game as both teams realize this is an elimination game. Whoever loses frankly doesn't have much to play for the entire rest of the season given what could possibly happen with an undefeated season. 

Boise St. 28 - BYU 24

#9 Notre Dame @ Virginia
Notre Dame's defense looked very good against Texas last week but it begs the question if they actually are that good or if Texas' offense is just that bad. I'm leaning towards the latter. I don't think Virginia will be much more of a test, after all the Cavs ranked 98th in offense last year and were held to just 336 yards offense last week against UCLA.

The line in this game only has Notre Dame by 10 but the more I think about it the more I think this could be a blow out. Notre Dame travels extremely well so I expect the home field advantage for Virginia to be minimized. The Zaiera also seems to be off to a good start as he looked very against Texas last week.

Notre Dame will win this one comfortable while playing pretty vanilla I think both because that's all they need to do to win and also because I don't think they want to risk injury this early in the season against Virginia.

Notre Dame 41 - Virginia 31

#7 Oregon @ #5 Michigan State

(This is Fany Pack's Fany Pick of the Week.)

The first marquee matchup of the season happens this weekend as #7 Oregon faces #5 Michigan State in East Lansing. After giving up 46 points to Oregon in last year's game, Michigan State will be looking for revenge Saturday.

And they might get it. Sure, Oregon played in the title game last season, and their offense is phenomenal even after losing Heisman winning quarterback Marcus Mariota. But Michigan State's Connor Cook is one of the most accurate QBs in the country. And the Spartans have a defense to match and will be playing at home. Sparty also has one of the longest home-opener winning streaks, which began with a win over the Ducks in 1999.

Oregon is a 3.5-point underdog in this game, and that sounds about right to me. I think the Ducks will keep things interesting, but the Spartans will come out on top.

Michigan State 24 - Oregon 21