🏈 PJ's Picks- Week Two

[psychojoe]

It is a slow week in the SEC. Only one conference game, and that is Vanderbilt at Ole Miss. The rest of the league is taking on tams that they should beat easily. Doing so will not enhance any resumes, however. Still, to borrow from that great philosopher Gene Stallings, "If you don't think the (fill in the blank) game is a big one, try losing it and see what happens.

There are two major games on the national stage, however. These games, at least from this week's perspective, will impact national rankings and post season rankings.

Southern Cal visits Stanford in an early season PAC 12 showdown, while in a major intersectional battle, defending B1g champ Michigan State visits annual Top 5 team, Oregon. The winners will ratchet up a bit higher in post season talk. The loser will not be totally out of the picture, but they will have no margin for error the rest of the way.

 

[psychojoe]

Michigan State at Oregon

It will be a battle of the greens, as Sparty travels to neon land. I will try to restrain my favoritism towards smash mouth football, as opposed to Oregon's hurry up attack. I will also confess that d'Antonio is one of my favorite college football head coaches, perhaps related to my love of ground and pound football. I am sure that Michigan State has been studying how Stanford (a similar style team to them) played the Ducks. Although my heart will be pulling for Sparty, my head tells me that Oregon State will score enough at home to win.

PJ's Pick: Oregon 28 Michigan State 2o.

 

[psychojoe]

USC at Stanford

The Sarkisian era began well at Troy, but this week will be a measure of just where they are, as they travel to Stanford. Sark has installed a high octane HUNH offense, but Stanford has had the answer to Oregon's high speed attacks in recent years. Stanford resembles Alabama more than it resembles the pass happy teams that populate mist of the PAC 12 and the Big 12. I may be wrong, but I think that in spite of Stanford losing their DC, their defensive philosophy won't change and their defense will still be solid. Sttanford's offense will look familiar. A huge offensive line will pound away with a run game, while an opportunistic passing game will keep the other guys honest. In my opinion USC has not yet recovered from the mess that Pete Carril left behind, and the angst from when Kiffin ran their program. There is also the lingering impact of scholarship reductions due to NCAA probation. USC is on the upswing, but they aren't there yet.

PJ's Pick: Stanford 27 USC 17

 

[psychojoe]

Nichols State at Arkansas

This is a week of potential dud games for the SEC. This one is quite possibly the biggest duds. I think that the Hog faithful understand that even becoming bowl eligible will be an uphill pull this season, but they will be a riled up bunch of Razorbacks if this one is other than a laugher.

PJ's Pick: Arkansas 45 Nichols State 13.

 

[psychojoe]

Lamar at Texas A&M

Are the Aggies as good as they looked against South Carolina, or were the Gamecocks major contributors to the apparent offensive prowess of A&M's offense? We will not know much more than we do now after this one. The Aggies will work up a sweat, but only because they are playing outdoors in Texas and its early September.

PJ's Pick: Texas A&M 56 (or however much they want) Lamar 13.

 

[psychojoe]

Sam Houston at LSU

It was midway in the third quarter before LSU got their offense untracked last week against a ranked opponent, Wisconsin. Kudos to them for pulling off a win after being down 17 at that point. It did appear from that game that the departure of a talented senior quarterback and two very good receivers did not deplete their offense as much as I thought it would. Considering that their top ranked receiving recruit did not play due to an injury, and their much hyped freshman running back got only eight carries, the rest of their cast did quite well. (Note to self: in spite of graduations, early departures, suspensions, etc. LSU always has talented and well coached players on hand.) Sam Houston won't be much of a test this week.

PJ's Pick: LSU 51 Sam Houston 7

 

[psychojoe]

Ohio at Kentucky

This one may be a bit closer. Ohio, while not as good as the powerhouses in the Big 5 conferences, has been quite good at its own level, and occasionally gives the big boys a good scrap. Kentucky, fresh off an easy win over UT Martin, and hungry for better things, should not be caught in an upset trap. Kentucky says they are better. This game won't tell us how much better.

PJ's Pick: Kentucky 37 Ohio 17

 

[psychojoe]

UAB at Mississippi State

While all the activities around Stark Vegas won't overawe the UAB Blazers, they will find out just how far below SEC level they are. They will collect a fat paycheck, a lot of bruises, and an L. Those of us around the Birmingham area have to listen to a lot of UAB nonsense from local media, especially after UAB actually won its opener. Dan Mullen and company will put all that to a quick end. The blazers will get headaches from more than just cowbells Saturday. Prescott and company will get their offense in high gear.

PJ's Pick: Mississippi State 48 UAB 13

 

[psychojoe]

Eastern Michigan at Florida

Eastern Michigan can avoid a major thumping this weekend, but only if another monsoon sets in at Gainesville this Saturday. Failing that, the Gators will get their new season launched a week later than the rest of the league. This one should be resolved early, but it won't tell us much about whether Florida has improved on offense.

PJ's Pick: Florida 45 Eastern Michigan 7

 

[psychojoe]

Arkansas State at Tennessee

Tennessee fans have been talking so big this week that you'd think it was a decade earlier and The Great Pumpkin was still prowling the sidelines. They did get a surprisingly easy win over Utah State in their opener. The Vols are very young on both offensive and defensive fronts, but Butch Jones has recruited well and the players, as well as the fans are enthusiastic. bowl eligibility is a very real possibility for this team, but this year's version will not advance too far beyond that. Although the Red Wolves are better than many opponents that SEC schools are facing this week, they are not up to the task. Vol euphoria will continue.

PJ's Pick; Tennessee 37 Arkansas State 17

 

[psychojoe]

Missouri at Toledo

The first question I had was "at Toledo?". I am not sure why that happened, but Pinkel must have had its reasons. SEC East champion Missouri lost a good bit from last year's team. Key players are gone from both offensive and defensive fronts. A three year starter at quarterback is gone, as are two of their top three running backs. Their top three receivers are gone, two to graduation and one to discipline. Missouri figures to take a step back this year, and no pundit that I know of is picking them to repeat in the east. Still, no one picked them last year, and much of the cognoscenti this year picked South Carolina, a call that isn't looking so good now. Missouri flies mostly under the radar, so it will be a few games into the season before we know what to expect from the Tigers. Still, they should have enough to take care of business against the Philip Ely led Rockets.

PJ's Pick: Missouri 31 Toledo 17

 

[psychojoe]

East Carolina at South Carolina

This game seems much more interesting now than it did a week ago. That was before A&M shredded what everyone thought would be a respectable Gamecock defense. Over 600 yards on a Whammy Ward defense? The Gamecocks, to put it plainly, were embarrassed in their opener. If they stay in a funk too long, they could be in serious trouble against East Carolina, a potent offensive team in their own right. Still, a game like this gives coaches a lot to yell about, and more important, players a reason to listen. That and Mike Davis being ready to go will spare them another loss, though not all of the problems will go away.

PJ's Pick: South Carolina 38 East Carolina 21

 

[psychojoe]

San Jose State at Auburn

The Barners are heavy favorites this week against an opponent playing for a payday. The Aubies should have little trouble , and lots of kids will get to play.


PJ's Pick: Auburn 55 San Jose State 13

 

[psychojoe]

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

Did Vanderbilt regress to its reality? Even with Franklin leaving them in the lurch for Penn State it looked like they had four easy non conference wins, with a good shot at finding at least a couple of conference victories and gaining bowl eligibility. That was before they committed suicide by turnover in their opener versus Temple. While Vandy's defense seemed reasonably good, their offense resembled a scout team against talented varsity players. Ole Miss displayed a tough as nails defense against Boise. Boise suffered a fourth quarter turnover epidemic t to make this game seem more one sided than it was in reality. And while Bo Wallace had lots of passing yards and four TD tosses he also had three picks.

Ole Miss is definitely the more talented of the two, but this game could be a painful one to watch.

PJ's Pick: Ole Miss 24 Vanderbilt 14

 

[psychojoe]

Florida Atlantic at Alabama

Many years back, when I was a college student, I had a summer job as an engineering aide at a military installation in Central Florida. I got to attend a seminar on beach erosion led by some guys from a brand new school called Florida Atlantic University. One of the guys said he did not like the name because he knew the school would be called Flat U.

There is not a lot you can say about this game. The Owls lost their opener 55-7, and it wasn't that close. Both quarterbacks figure to play a lot. We will tinker with personnel in the secondary, and perhaps take a look at some of our new players. We should win easily, but we probably won't have the answers we are looking for at the end of the day.

PJ's Pick: Alabama 48 Flat U 10

 

[252BAMA]

Missouri at Toledo

The first question I had was "at Toledo?". I am not sure why that happened, but Pinkel must have had its reasons. SEC East champion Missouri lost a good bit from last year's team. Key players are gone from both offensive and defensive fronts. A three year starter at quarterback is gone, as are two of their top three running backs. Their top three receivers are gone, two to graduation and one to discipline. Missouri figures to take a step back this year, and no pundit that I know of is picking them to repeat in the east. Still, no one picked them last year, and much of the cognoscenti this year picked South Carolina, a call that isn't looking so good now. Missouri flies mostly under the radar, so it will be a few games into the season before we know what to expect from the Tigers. Still, they should have enough to take care of business against the Philip Ely led Rockets.

PJ's Pick: Missouri 31 Toledo 17

Pinkel's 10 years as HC at Toledo is why he gave them this game. His soft spot for that program is another reason I like Toledo in this game. You gave all the reasons MO should lose. You probably should have taken a closer look at Toledo as to why they could win. Particularly their OL.

-When it came to protecting the quarterback and not allowing TFL’s, the Toledo offensive line was by far the best in the country ranking #1 in both as they incredibly only allowed 6 sacks last year despite being a pro-style offense. This year they return 9 of their top 10 guys (100 career starts) and are one of the best OL’s in the country.-Phil Steele

Toledo would have won at MO last year except for the QB's 3 INTs. Don't believe Ely will give them that luxury this year. MO has only 4 Returning starters on D. Same as atm last year. Didn't work for Manziel. Won't work for Mauck. He, like Manziel, will spend a lot of time on the sideline watching the opponent's offense move up and down the field.

 

[252BAMA]

I'll leave the picking to you in the future.

 

[psychojoe]

I'll leave the picking to you in the future.

I could see where you were coming from just considered relative talent levels.

 

[252BAMA]

I could see where you were coming from just considered relative talent levels.

Yep! I should have known better. When I go to the dog track, I don't bet on "B" dogs in "A" races no matter how good they look.

 

[rick4bama]

Psychojoe is telling 252BAMA in that voice of his "Next time grasshopper you will listen to me."