All times Eastern
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Results: NCAA Week 2 Picks: Coin: 7-7; Rick: 10-4
Cumulative: Coin: 11-18; Rick 21-8
Thursday, September 13
7:30 pm Boston College (-4 1/2, 53 1/2) at Wake Forest - The Boston College offense is tied for sixth nationally with another ACC team, Syracuse at 58.5 per game, and should manage to put up gobs of points against Wake.
The Demon Deacons have the look of a 6-6 or 7-5 squad, which may be bowl eligible, but will also quickly be out of contention in their conference. The Eagles may be pretty good defensively, which will be found out here.
Coin Flip: Wake Forest
PREDICTION: Eagles 42 Demon Deacons 23
Friday, September 14
7:00 pm Georgia State at Memphis (-26 1/2, 58 1/2) - Not much of a contest here between Memphis from the American Athletic and the Sun Belt's Georgia State Panthers, who were hammered last week at NC State, 41-7. Memphis put forth a better effort in its 22-21 loss to Navy, a quality team.
Give Memphis the benefit of the doubt here, as their offense should be able to run roughshod over the Panthers en route to a big win.
Coin Flip: Georgia State
PREDICTION: Tigers 54 Panthers 14
Saturday, September 15
12:00 pm Florida State (-3 1/2, 68) at Syracuse - Take note that Florida State is unranked, the short line, and Syracuse at home. That info should provide an idea of where this game is headed.
The Orange have put together a complete team, which is less than can be said of the Seminoles, who were hammered, 24-3, by Virginia Tech in week one and struggled against little Samford, winning 36-26, last weekend.
Syracuse is 2-0, with highly convincing wins at Western Michigan (55-42) and Wagner (62-10) in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse may be coming of age at last in the ACC. Last season, SU QB Eric Dungey played on a broken foot in a 27-24 loss at Florida State. This time, he'll be at full speed.
Coin Flip: Syracuse
PREDICTION: Orange 37 Seminoles 24
12:00 pm #21 Miami (FL) (-10, 56) at Toledo - A highly anticipated meeting at the Glass Bowl in Toledo has the Rockets relishing revenge after last year's 52-30 loss at Miami. The Hurricanes are supposedly loaded on defense, though it didn't show after their opening week, 33-17, loss to LSU.
Miami followed up with a 77-0 romp over Savannah State, while the Rockets had week two off after mauling VMI, 66-3, in week one. A Miami loss would be a stunning result, but don't sell the Rockets short. They're game and ready and should keep this one close.
Coin Flip: Toledo
PREDICTION: Hurricanes 38 Rockets 34
12:00 pm #5 Oklahoma (-17 1/2, 55) at Iowa State - The Cyclones have had a rough start to their season, with their opener against South Dakota State cancelled and a 13-3 loss at Iowa last week. It doesn't get any easier with the Sooners coming to town, but last season they actually tripped up Oklahoma, winning on the road, 38-31.
Maybe the Cyclones are like a race horse that "needed " a race before getting into best stride, but one thing is for sure, Oklahoma is a real contender for the national championship, already with big wins over Florida Atlantic (63-14) and UCLA (49-21). At home, however, Iowa State will hang close.
Coin Flip: Iowa State
PREDICTION: Sooners 38 Cyclones 28
2:30 pm Vanderbilt at #8 Notre Dame (-13 1/2, 51 1/2) - This is a real litmus test for the Fighting Irish. They managed to top Michigan, 24-17, in week one and hold off Ball State, 24-16, last week.
The Commodores are a study in consistency, in that they are usually good until they meet SEC teams, against which they were 1-7 last season, and none of the games were even close. They started out 3-0 and even beat then-#18 Kansas State, 14-7, in week three. Their two wins thus far were over Middle Tennessee (35-7) and Nevada (41-10), so they're on the right path, but Notre Dame is supposed to have one of the best defenses in the country. Look for Vanderbilt to hold it's own here and maybe pull off a big upset because the Irish offense has yet to get untracked.
Coin Flip: Notre Dame
PREDICTION: Commodores 27 Fighting Irish 24
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