College Football Week 2 Games to Watch

Ken — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 20:22:24 +0000

Games to watch on Saturday

At noon, the best game figures to be Mississippi State against Auburn on the SEC Network or ESPN3.com, though the appeal of that game is mostly limited to the southeast. Speaking of limited appeal, Iowa plays Iowa State in the I Eat Corn Bowl; the game is not televised nationally at all, which should tell you something. There isn't much of interest otherwise; maybe you can see if Toledo can keep it close against Ohio State on the Big Ten Network, or see if Rutgers can upset North Carolina on ESPN3.com.

At 3:30, Penn State looks to avenge last year's beatdown from Alabama, on ABC. North Carolina State takes on Wake Forest in what will be an important test for the Wolfpack; that game is on ESPN3.com. Nevada against Oregon on FX is an intriguing matchup; Nevada went 13-1 last year and though they lost their starting quarterback, the new guy is a fifth-year senior. Meanwhile Oregon is looking to prove something after last week's loss to LSU.

At 7:00 it might be interesting to catch a little bit of BYU against Texas, on ESPN2. But of course at 8:00, you'll flip over to this week's Game of the Week, which just happens to be Michigan against Notre Dame. No, neither team is ranked, but this is just a fascinating matchup, and it's Michigan's first home night game. Also, Brian Kelly's head may explode.

Michigan game prediction: Michigan 31, Notre Dame 24. Before last week I would have picked Notre Dame here, but Michigan looks better than I thought, and Notre Dame looks worse.

N.C. State game prediction: N.C. State 30, Wake Forest 34. I'm a bit down on State this week after watching their poor week 1 performance; meanwhile Wake Forest picked up 326 yards passing last week in an overtime loss to Syracuse. Uh oh.