On a Big Week for the ACC Coastal and Big 12 South (NCAAF)

For most teams, this is the real opening week of college football season. The exhibition game is out of the way for traditional powerhouses: no more Youngstown State for Ohio State, Idaho for USC, or Michigan for Appalachian State.

Here are this week’s big three games:

1. #9 Virginia Tech at #2 LSU. This game replaces the Ohio State-Texas series as the only scheduled matchup between favorites of BCS conferences. These teams may have the best two defenses in the country. I would say we might have a repeat of LSU’s 7-3 game against Auburn last year, except that judging from LSU’s seven forced turnovers and VT’s pick six last week, the defenses themselves may score than ten points. VT’s O-line will have to be more convincing than they were against East Carolina (27 carries for 51 yards, 4 sacks) if they’re hoping to stop DT Glenn Dorsey, who could be starting in the NFL right now if he wanted to be.

2. #19 TCU at #7 Texas. Texas owes Oklahoma an onside kick. They needed a questionable penalty to nullify Arkansas State’s recovery late in their opener, which would have given the Indians (I bet you didn’t even know their mascot) a chance for a game-tying score. Oklahoma, as you may remember, lost out on a similar call at Oregon last season. Since Appalachian State is more than ten points better than Arkansas State, Texas probably really played the worst of any national title contender last week.

That won’t cut it this week. Along with the eventual winner of the Hawaii-Boise State game, TCU is the non-BCS team with the best shot at scoring an invite to one of the big bowls. This means their entire season is on the line against the Longhorns, and they know it. Two years ago, TCU knocked off #7 Oklahoma on the road in a similar game, and this year’s edition is even better than that one. They have nine defensive starters back from last year’s 11-2 squad, and pitched a shut out in the opener against Baylor. TCU is good enough to win, and good enough to be considered a legitimate statement game if Texas were to win convincingly.

3. Miami, FL at #5 Oklahoma. This is just a good college football game. These are two name-brand programs who smell blood in the water, as their conference favorites (see above) looked vulnerable last week and are at risk again this week. Meanwhile, these teams rolled. In beating North Texas 79-10, Oklahoma dominated their game about as much as is possible. In beating Marshall 31-3, though, Miami still played an incomplete game.

I wrote Miami in previously as a darkhorse title contender, but I would like to note that I withdrew that possibility the moment Kirby Freeman was announced the starter. Even with Kyle Wright under center, the Canes were probably in trouble this week, but with the less experienced Freeman, they’re just asking to lose. They dominated the line of scrimmage last week, with their two main backs combining for 200 rushing yards on 25 carries. This masked Freeman’s 9/21 for 86 yards. Oklahoma will expose it. I would not be surprised to see Wright finish this game, causing new coach Randy Shannon QB controversy headaches all season.

Predictions: Last week, I took a shot on two out of three underdogs, splitting those games, but this week I can’t see any. None of the three visitors have the passing offense to keep stronger, faster defenses honest and open up their running games. Texas is the most vulnerable favorite of the three, but they will be focused after their opening scare and ready to win.

Picks: LSU, Texas, Oklahoma