Some NCAA Picks - Week 2

Colorado -3.5 @Toledo

Toledo gave up 315 yards rushing to Purdue. Colorado only gave their best RB, Darrell Scott, 1 carry against Colorado St...that will change.


Syracuse +28.5 @Penn St.

New coach Doug Marrone has already proved he's an improvement over Greg Robinson, by taking Minnesota to overtime last week. Penn St. wasn't particularly impressive against Akron, and while they'll win, Syracuse can keep the margin less than 4 touchdowns.

Stanford @ Wake Forest -3

Wake had no answer for Robert Griffin last week, but Stanford's QB, freshman Andrew Luck, is not a similar threat. Luck completed less than 50% of his passes against a terrible Washington St. defense. Wake's offense will be very good this year as long as they're not playing from behind like last week...shouldn't be an issue Saturday.

BYU @ Tulane +17.5

With a healthy Bradford and Gresham, BYU would have gotten handled last week. They played admirably to get the 1-point win, but they're not the #9 team in the country, period. Tulane kept it close with Tulsa for a while before the Golden Hurricane pulled away late. BYU is in for a second-game scare like they had last year against Washington.

Louisiana Tech @ Navy -7

Running team Navy had success against Ohio St. and now they get La Tech, who just gave up 301 yards rushing to Auburn.

South Carolina @ Georgia -7

The Gamecocks started the season with a pathetic offensive display in their 7-3 win over my Wolfpack. NC State was victimized by several easy drops on long passes, and losing their LT early in the game. SC got away with one but it won't happen in Athens.

Ohio @ North Texas +3
NT's win over Ball St. holds more water to me than Ohio's effort against UConn. Ohio would have been routed if Huskies QB Zach Frazier hadn't made some terrible decisions. NT played consistently well against Ball St. throughout the game, a sign that they're bouncing back from last year's horror. Their offense will struggle compared to last year, since they won't be in so many blowouts, but I'll take them in this spot against the overrated Bobcats.

Miami-Ohio @ Boise St. -36.5

Boise's fumbles down the stretch against Oregon seemed either fluky or correctable. Miami got destroyed 42-0 by a team at the bottom of the SEC barrel (Kentucky). This one is going to get out of hand.

USC -6.5 @ Ohio St.

USC came out in very impressive form against SJSU last week. Trips east are usually dangerous for west-coast teams, but I'll ignore that risk in this matchup. If the Buckeyes played Navy again this week, it'd probably go down to the wire again. Instead, they'll likely get crushed at home by my early pick for national champions (sorry, Mr. Tebow).

Utah @ San Jose St. + 14

As I said above, SJSU was manhandled by a terrific USC team stacked with future pro's. The margin of victory probably makes SJSU underrated going into this week. Utah is good, but nowhere near the level of USC. Utah should survive the scare, but the Spartans will cover.