10 best predictions for the second full Saturday of college football. What games appear to be the best bets and best picks for Week 2’s games?
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Week 2 should be gettable.
We’re all supposed to be smart about this, and we’re all supposed to know what we’re doing, but how can you not overreact to how the teams looked in Week 1?
There are always corrections, changed ideas, and crazy thoughts both ways, but it takes about a month to get a real read on just how good all of these teams are.
So beware. All of the picks try to take out the eye-test – at least a little bit – and stick with logic, reason, and …
Whatever. Week 2 is where we go for it, and then clean up the mess in Week 3. It all starts, though, with a long held belief that won’t be broken now …
Results So Far: 15-5-1
Click on each game for the preview
LINE Michigan -52
ATS PICK Hawaii
If you’ve been reading this piece over the years, you know that you’re supposed to be consistent. Over time, if you stay with it, you’ll be up as long as you don’t stray from the plan. However …
I actually like Michigan as the pick, but a man is nothing without his principles.
As the schtick goes, if someone is giving you 50 points or more walking into the stadium, you thank them, you don’t ask questions, and you take grab the gift.
Too many things can go wrong. The favorite can pull all the starters early, the underdog can come up with a few late points, the home team bus could get lost – it’s really, really hard to win by more than 50.
The problem is that Hawaii is totally gutted. It can’t hang with the Wolverines in any way, and it’s going to get annihilated. Michigan might be up 40 at halftime and just stop.
In any event, I’m beating Michigan 52-0 as we speak. Yay.
Unfortunately, though, we have two weeks of Hawaii football to have seen the problem with that, just like …
LINE Nebraska -23.5
ATS PICK Georgia Southern
I’m staying on the Nebraska Isn’t That Good At College Football train until it stops.
Northwestern with the points against the Huskers was a layup, and there were way too many sputters and coughs last week in the 38-17 win over North Dakota.
Georgia Southern and new head coach Clay Helton got in an easy tune-up against Morgan State, and so until proven otherwise by the Big Red – even though I actually think Scott Frost really will get this thing moving as the season goes on – give me the 23.5 points.
Speaking of sticking with something a tad too long …
LINE West Virginia -13.5
ATS PICK West Virginia
I’m diving back in one more time to see if the magic happens again.
Kansas was an investment god over stretches in 2020 and 2021 – it never, ever, ever covered with any regularity.
Lance Leipold is a fantastic head coach, he has the program going in the right direction, and Kansas is better than it has been in a long, long time. Asking for a two touchdown win by West Virginia at home, though, isn’t a lot.
I’m buying into the Mountaineer defensive pressure, I’m buying into JT Daniels, and I’m buying into the possibility that Kansas goes back to being that.
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LINE Syracuse -23.5
ATS PICK Syracuse
I can’t believe I’m falling for Syracuse again.
I thought there was something there after a dominant performance at Ohio to start last year, and the next week came a 17-7 home clunker of a loss to Rutgers.
I bought in after an easy win over Georgia Tech in 2020, and then it collapsed in a 14-point home loss to a miserable Duke team.
I loved too much after the 2019 opener against Liberty, and then Maryland went 63-20 on the Orange.
I can’t quit this team.
I’m in that the 31-7 domination of Louisville was for real, I’m not sold that UConn hasn’t improved that much this quickly under Jim Mora Jr., and I’m buying that the Orange really are that good on the lines now.
Be careful if you go with this pick – picks from the heart end up hurting – and be extra wary of …
LINE Utah -45.5
ATS PICK Southern Utah
I DESPISE FBS vs FCS games after Week 1.
They’re money grabs for the FCS, FBS fans don’t want to see them, and I fully believe that if you’re paying a team to come into your house so you can beat the holy hell out of them – you’re funding most of their athletic department budget – then go ahead and do it.
However, that’s not how coaches think. They want to secure the win, keep everyone healthy, work on some things, and then move on.
I DESPISE picking FBS vs FCS games – too many unknowables and variables – because the FBS teams could almost always win by a gajillion if they wanted.
Utah could beat Southern Utah by 90 if it chose to. However – one 70-7 win over 2013 Weber State aside – Kyle Whittingham usually keeps these games from getting crazy. His Utes haven’t scored more than 40 against an FCS team since taking out Idaho State 56-14 in 2014, and even then the number was 42.
Figure this is something like 41-0, but again, too many weird parts to FBS vs FCS games, so don’t go crazy here.
NEXT: College Football Pick Against the Spread No. 5: Iowa State vs Iowa point total
