NCAA College Football Bowl Week 2 Picks - Early Games
NCAA College Football Bowl Week 2 Early Games
All times Eastern
Results:
Thursday, December 26
Walk On's Independence Bowl
Hailing from Conference-USA, Louisiana Tech lost its season opener to Texas before ringing up eight straight victories. Two road losses - Marshall and UAB - were without their starting QB, Jmar Smith. He returned for the season finale and registered a 41-27 win over UTSA. The Bulldogs went 6-2 in conference and 9-3 overall. They were second in scoring and their defense was solid. They could rout the Hurricanes.
Coin Flip: Louisiana Tech
Prediction: Bulldogs 34 Hurricanes 20
Pitt's defense is one of the best in the East (21.8 ppg), but grew lackadaisical late in the season. The Panthers lost their last two games, 28-0, at Virginia Tech and 26-19, to Boston College. Only UCF scored more than 30 against Pitt, and the Panthers won that game, 35-34.
Kenny Pickett has plenty experience at QB and the extra time off should allow the Panthers to heal up some injuries and focus.
Coin Flip: Eastern Michigan
Prediction: Panthers 31 Eagles 14
Military Bowl
Temple lost to the better teams in the conference - UCF, SMU, Cincinnati - and shouldn't be dismissed. The AAC continues to develop into a competitive, tough conference. The Tar Heels may be better than their record indicates. Of their six losses, a 21-20 defeat by Clemson, a 34-31 loss to Appalachian State, a 38-31 loss to Virginia, and a 34-27 OT loss at Pitt. They finished the season hammering Mercer, 56-7, and NC State, 41-10.
Coin Flip: North Carolina
Prediction: Tar Heels 34 Temple 20
Michigan State lost five straight mid-season, to Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois and Michigan, all but the Illinois loss quite decisive. They beat conference punching bags, Rutgers and Maryland to get to 6-6 (4-5 Big Ten). Their offense is pathetic and the defense good enough to beat bad teams, but not good ones.
Coin Flip: Michigan State
Prediction: Demon Deacons 31 Spartans 21
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NCAA Bowl Week 2 Late Games
NCAA CFP SemiFinal Games
NCAA Bowl Picks Week 1: Rick: 7-3; Coin: 7-3
Cumulative: Rick: 114-102-2; Coin: 116-100-2
4:00 pm Louisiana Tech vs. Miami (FL) (-6, 50) - This could be a very large mismatch, and not in favor of the big conference Hurricanes, who finished 6-6 on the season, losing their final two games to Florida International and Duke. Notably, Duke finished up 5-7.
Quick Lane Bowl
8:00 pm Pittsburgh (-11 1/2, 49) vs. Eastern Michigan - From the MAC comes Eastern Michigan, a team that finished at the very bottom of the standings in the West division with a 3-5 conference record but a 6-6 record overall. The Eagles sport a sputtering offense and on-and-off defense. Against any small conference team, they might do OK, but Pitt comes out of the ACC with a 4-4 record in conference games and a 7-5 mark overall.
Friday, December 27
12:00 pm North Carolina (-4 1/2, 53) vs. Temple - Both teams are battle-tested through conference play and should provide an excellent match-up. North Carolina was 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC, while the Owls went 8-4 with a 5-3 mark in the AAC.
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
3:20 pm Michigan State (-3 1/2, 50) vs. Wake Forest - Here's a nice, un-friendly meeting of Big Ten and ACC, where Wake has offensive weapons galore and the Spartans counter with stingy defense. The Demon Deacons were 7-1 before stumbling to a 1-3 finish and a 4-4 conference mark, but 8-4 overall.
