College Football Week 2 Preview

My goal is to do a weekly preview every Monday, but I have a pregnant wife, an 11 month old son, and a more-than-full-time job in the Army, so if it gets to be Tuesday or Wednesday, don't hate.  The preview is coming late this week because I need to wait for the new poll to come out Tuesday morning.  Every week should follow the same-ish format, similar to "The Forde Yard Dash" by my favorite college football writer, Pat Forde.  So here goes...

(all rankings AP)

Nebraska
What a great start to the season.  I'm still basking in the afterglow from Saturdays game; funny how a great performance by the Big Red puts such a positive light on the week.  Love it.  I'm not the only one loving it either; AP writers bumped the Cornhuskers up to #16 with the dominant showing on Saturday, and another dominant win this week should have Nebraska knocking on the door of the top 10.  All the talk of rankings this early in the season is mostly trivial, but the exposure is nice.  The game this week brings a totally different challenge with a road trip to UCLA.  It's really a perfect early season road game: great for fans, great for recruiting, and a challenging, but manageable BCS opponent.  Much better than last year's trip to Laramie, WY.  Speaking of being great for the fans, the LA Times is already predicting that Nebraska fans could vastly outnumber UCLA fans, despite the Bruins' offer of team posters for the first 10,000 fans (Golly jeepers! A team poster!).
On the field, Bo Pelini and John Papuchis must figure out how to stop another mobile quarterback in freshman Brett Hundley who took his first collegiate snap 72 yards through the Rice defense to the end zone.  UCLA rolled for almost 350 rushing yards total against the Owls, which is a little bit disconcerting considering the damage done by Southern Miss on the ground.  The Bruins didn't need to do a whole lot through the air, but Hundley was efficient going 21/28 for 202 yds, 2 TD and 1 INT.  Those stats hide the fact that this was a 29-24 game at halftime if Damien Holmes doesn't return a Rice fumble 44 yards for a TD with 17 seconds left in the second quarter.  UCLA didn't score in the third quarter, and turned the ball over twice.  Add to that 8 penalties and 3 blocked PATs, and it's likely that Pelini's bend-don't-break philosophy could keep the Bruin's off the scoreboard, even if they move well between the 20's.
Tim Beck has a much easier assignment, going against a Bruin defense that blew a 19-0 first quarter lead, and allowed Rice to gain 358 total yards.  The UCLA defense was able to get 2 turnovers, including the aforementioned fumble return for a TD.  During the part of the game I watched, Rice carved up the UCLA secondary with slants and quick outs.  Considering that the Nebraska is a significant talent upgrade at every position, I'm seeing a long night for the Bruins D.  If I were calling this game, I would rely a little bit more on the running game to keep the UCLA offense off the field, with plenty of WR screens and slants to keep Taylor Martinez's arm mojo going.
From a special teams standpoint, Brett Maher obviously needs to have a better game and the kickoff coverage needs to improve.  I don't think special teams mistakes are going to be the determining factor in this game, but if it does come down to special teams, I think the Huskers possess an advantage over a team that had three PATs blocked.
All things considered I'm predicting the Nebraska offense to keep rolling against another inferior opponent. Pelini's teams generally play well on the road, and I think we see a general improvement for the team as a whole.  Nebraska should start fast again and put the Bruins down before halftime, making a strong statement on national TV.  Let's say 41-21, over/under of 4 points.

Big Ten  

The Big 10 finished Week 1 with a 10-2 mark, but the league's image is suffering mightily from Alabama's domination Michigan and Ohio's "upset" of Penn State.  That's not entirely fair, but with Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State looking pretty shaky in victory, the critics have plenty of fuel for criticism of the league overall.  Ohio State, Purdue and Nebraska carried the banner for the league, while the lower tier teams like Northwestern, Indiana and Minnesota were able to eke out wins.  

I did pretty well picking games last week, only narrowly missing the Syracuse/Northwestern game.  Let's see how Week 2 goes:

Saturday:
*denotes neutral site game
#14 Ohio State vs UCF: Don't count out these smaller Florida schools, Central Florida dominated another MAC school, Akron, by almost the exact same margin as Ohio State beat Miami (OH).  That being said, I think the Buckeyes win a closer-than-expected game.

Minnesota vs New Hampshire: Hopefully the Gophers don't need 3 overtimes to move to 2-0 against a solid FCS program.  I'm thinking this would be a better matchup for a hockey game.

Penn State at Virginia: This is a great non-conference schedule for Penn State when they are a national power.  This is an awful schedule when they are reeling from the worst offseason any program has ever experienced.  Virginia is a program on the rise under Mike London, and Penn State needs to find some difference makers at the skill positions to compete in a game like this.  The Nittany Lions defense should keep it close for a little while, but if it's not at least a 14 point loss on the road, color me surprised.

#19 Michigan vs Air Force: I expect the Wolverines to bounce back with a win here, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see Air Force use their wacky offense, and the hangover from the Alabama game to pull off a shocker.

#11 Michigan State: at Central Michigan: Can Le'Veon Bell handle 50 touches per game?  He shouldn't have to against the Chippewas, this game is a great opportunity to let QB Andrew Maxwell gel with his WRs.

Purdue at #22 Notre Dame: I'm really tempted to pick the Boilermakers to pull off the upset, but coach Danny Hope said that Caleb TerBush, returning from suspension, would start ahead of Robert Marve, who had a stellar game last week.  QB controversy on the road?  I'll take the Irish, but it hurts me to say so.

Indiana at Massachusetts: If Kevin Wilson wants to turn the hapless Hoosiers around, scheduling a MAC team right after an FCS team is a shrewd move.  Gradually increasing the talent level of the opponent is one way to build confidence, but a better eay would be to beat the inferior team by more than seven points.

Iowa vs Iowa State: The Cyclones looked good against Tulsa, the Hawkeyes struggled against Northern Illinois.  I think Iowa State take this one.

#13 Wisconsin at Oregon State: Tempting to pick the upset here, but Oregon State's game with Nicholls State was postponed, so we don't know if the Beavers are any better than they were last year when they were one of the worst BCS conference teams.  I think the game Wisconsin played is a huge advantage in this one.

Northwestern vs Vanderbilt: I like the Commodores to come out fired up after the close loss to South Carolina last Thursday, and dominate from start to finish.  In a battle of two schools known more for high powered academics than high powered offense,  I'm picking the one that can play a little defense.

Illinois at Arizona State: This pick is dependent on QB Nathan Scheelhaase being healthy.  Two new head coaches in their second games is really a toss-up, but I'll take the one with a returning starter at QB.

Top 25 rundown: 
Bold print denotes winner 
#1 Alabama vs Western Kentucky
#2 USC vs Syracuse
#3 LSU vs Washington
#4 Oregon vs Fresno State
#5 Oklahoma vs Florida A&M
#6 Florida State vs Savannah State
#7 Georgia at Missouri
#8 Arkansas vs Louisiana-Monroe
#9 South Carolina vs East Carolina
#9 West Virginia vs James Madison
#11 Michigan State at Central Michigan
#12 Clemson vs Ball State
#13 Wisconsin at Oregon State
#14 Ohio State vs UCF
#15 Virginia Tech vs Austin Peay
#16 Nebraska at UCLA
#17 Texas vs New Mexico
#18 Oklahoma State at Arizona
#19 Michigan vs Air Force
#20 TCU vs Grambling State
#21 Kansas State vs Miami
#22 Notre Dame vs Purdue
#23 Louisville vs Missouri State
#24 Florida at Texas A&M
#25 Stanford vs Duke

Game of the Week: Hard to pick one this week as no rated teams play each other, but I'll take K-State/Miami

3 Things you'll hear too much about:
* The Big 10's inferiority to the SEC
* Alabama's insane ability to reload on defense
* Braxton Miller

3 Things you won't hear enough about: 
*Missouri and Texas A&M's SEC debuts
* Wisconsin's week one struggles
* Utah

My Heisman top 5:
1. Matt Barkley: Great start against a weak team.  Should be easy this week too
2. Geno Smith: This dude lit it up in week 1, albeit against an FCS team
3. Le'Veon Bell: He leaps onto the list with 50 touches for 265 total yards and 2 TDs
4. Montee Ball: He drops this week despite a 120 yards and a TD, he needs help from his team
5. Taylor Martinez: I'm probably jumping the gun a bit, but he looked really good Saturday

More to Prove: Landry Jones, Tyler Wilson, Marcus Lattimore, Sammy Watkins
Darkhorses: Rex Burkhead, De'Anthony Thomas, EJ Manuel, Denard Robinson (long ways back to the top)

That's enough for now.  This is not a great week of match-ups, but there's a few gems out there.  I'm excited to see Georgia/Missouri and Texas A&M/Florida, and the Nebraska game is one of the better ones out there.  I'll be back later this week with my thoughts, thanks for reading.