And we’re off! One full week of games is in the books and it feels great to get on the board with a win over Michigan. At the top of our poll the best teams held serve and move into a sneaky good week 2 (this week usually really sucks so the bar is quite low) with the opportunity to spring some upsets.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | LAST WEEK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 1-0 | 51-14 W vs. Louisille |
| 2 | Clemson | 1-0 | 48-7 W vs. Furman |
| 3 | Georgia | 1-0 | 45-0 W vs. Austin Peay |
| 4 | Auburn (+5) | 1-0 | 21-16 W vs. Washington |
| 5 | Oklahoma (+2) | 1-0 | 63-14 W vs. FAU |
| 6 | Notre Dame (+9) | 1-0 | 24-17 W vs. Michigan |
| 7 | Wisconsin (-1) | 1-0 | 34-3 W vs. WKU |
| 8 | Stanford (-4) | 1-0 | 31-10 W vs. SDSU |
| 9 | Ohio State (-4) | 1-0 | 77-31 W vs. Oregon St. |
| 10 | LSU (NR) | 1-0 | 33-17 W vs. Miami |
| 11 | UCF (+2) | 1-0 | 56-17 W vs. UConn |
| 12 | TCU (+5) | 1-0 | 55-7 W vs. Southern |
| 13 | USC (+1) | 1-0 | 43-21 W vs. UNLV |
| 14 | WVU (+6) | 1-0 | 40-14 W vs. Tennessee |
| 15 | Washington (-5) | 0-1 | 21-16 L vs. Auburn |
| 16 | Virginia Tech (NR) | 1-0 | 24-3 W vs. FSU |
| 17 | Michigan State (-6) | 1-0 | 38-31 W vs. Utah State |
| 18 | Michigan (-6) | 0-1 | 24-17 L vs. Notre Dame |
| 19 | Miami (-11) | 0-1 | 33-17 L vs. LSU |
| 20 | South Carolina (NR) | 1-0 | 49-15 W vs. Coastal Carolina |
Out: FAU, FSU, PSU
In: LSU, Virginia Tech, South Carolina
Auburn raced up my poll with the best win of the weekend. Depending on how you feel about FAU–I tend to think they’d be fairly competitive in most Power 5 conferences–it was kind of scary how Oklahoma made them look like a high school team for most of the afternoon. The Irish jump higher than anyone, not because I’m a huge homer, but largely because I was probably undervaluing them in the pre-season relative to the week 1 results.
LSU’s win was simultaneously impressive and a bit tricky. A lot of things absolutely did not go Miami’s way and LSU only finished with 296 yards. The Tigers schedule is brutal with Auburn coming up next weekend.
The Florida State-Virginia Tech game was a bit similar. The Hokies were out-gained and took advantage of a +5 turnover margin. I didn’t have Tech terribly high in my pre-season so that’s why I have them a bit lower than some might expect.
Moving Penn State out of the rankings seems quite harsh but I’m all messed up due to games going through Labor Day. Plus, it’s Penn State whatever.
Games to Watch
UCLA (+29.5) at Oklahoma – Welcome back to college football, Chip Kelly! The Bruins lost at home to Cincinnati, their quarterback was injured, and it’s pretty clear Kelly’s not going to have anything close to his usual high-octane offense for quite a while. This spread is straight disrespectful. Sooners win 44-13.
Georgia (-9.5) at South Carolina – The SEC season begins. South Carolina was pretty solid last year and played the Dawgs fairly tough on the road in 2017. We should expect a tight game. Bulldogs win 27-23.
Colorado (+5) at Nebraska – Nebraska’s opener was cancelled due to weather so that’s an advantage for Colorado who has already taken the field. I’m climbing aboard the Steven Montez (372 yards, 5 TD) train because he looked really good in a rivalry game for the Buffs last week. Buffaloes win 34-30.
Memphis (-4.5) at Navy – Anyone stay up last week to watch the Middies get soundly beat by Hawaii? Navy hasn’t started 0-2 since 2012 and it seems super unlikely that they will be able to slow down a Memphis offense that should be productive and explosive. Tigers win 34-29.
Iowa State (+3.5) at Iowa – I was under the impression this rivalry has been back and forth in recent years yet Iowa has won 3 straight. I guess it’s time for Matt Campbell to shine. Cyclones win 27-24.
Clemson (-12.5) at Texas A&M – GameDay decided to head to College Station which really isn’t that interesting beyond exploring the beginnings of Jimbo Fisher with the Aggies. Although, with Miami’s loss everyone is wondering how easy it’ll be for Clemson to cruise to the playoffs. How college football would it be for the Tigers to drop this game? Attempting to juggle the 2 quarterbacks could get Clemson in trouble! Tigers win 23-21.
Penn State (-8.5) at Pittsburgh – The Nittany Lions won this game by 19 last year and, as last week showed I believe, clearly are not in the same tier as 2017. Do we know anything about Pitt, though? Not enough to think they will win outright in a rivalry game. Lions win 32-24.
*Game of the Week* USC (+3.5) at Stanford – Two of Notre Dame’s key opponents facing off early in the season again. This is becoming quite the tradition for the Pac-12. If you check the history the winner of this game largely revolves around how good Stanford will be. Double-digit wins for the Tree equal a victory here. Cardinal win 40-32.
Michigan State (-6.5) at Arizona State – Everyone has made fun of Herm Edwards, me included. Then, Michigan State really looked underwhelming last week and being a near touchdown favorite across the country has me worried. Let’s do this and see Edwards crank up the crazy. Sun Devils win 30-24.
Last Week:
6-3 SU, 4-5 ATS
“This spread is straight disrespectful”
/still predicts them to cover.
I love it. And agree.
That would be awesome if your Colorado and ASU upsets hit straight out, but I don’t know about either. I agree with you I think SC covers on UGA, would love to see them win outright but QB play + overall talent probably isn’t in their favor so maybe UGA rolls on the road anyways.
“Iowa State (+3.5) at Iowa – I was under the impression this rivalry has been back and forth in recent years yet Iowa has won 3 straight.”
^ I live in Iowa and had the exact same thought. Would have even guessed ISU had the upper hand recently. Maybe their wins have been more dramatic which = more memorable.
(Also, I’m still amazed at how often I see people at Hy-Vee wearing Iowa gear while the Iowa game is going on. Like go home and watch the game! Or not, it’s Iowa, grocery shopping is probably more fun.)
“I’m still amazed at how often I see people at Hy-Vee wearing Iowa gear while the Iowa game is going on.”
The real question is…do you see people pumping gas and getting snacks at Kum & Go wearing Iowa gear while the Iowa game is going on?
I don’t live THAT far into Iowa
(Why doesn’t the “Join the discussion…” text go away when one starts typing a reply?)
>11 UCF (+2) 1-0 38-31 W vs. Utah St.
UCF played UCONN and won 56-17. Clearly this mistake is why you ranked them so low, as if you had the score listed correctly there’s no way you’d disrespect the Defending National Champions by putting them outside the Top 10.
Who needs a national title when you win the CivilConFLiCT
No one wins the CivilConFLiCT. You just hope to survive it. It’s kind of like a contagious disease in that regard.
Fixed 🙂
@But you didn’t move them to #1@
Curious about the Ohio St drop. Was there something behind it, or more just the product of other teams moving up?
Others teams moving up and whatnot.