With Week 2 upon us, let's dive into the key matchups.
Miami at Kansas State (Saturday Noon)
- Miami is coming off a pretty good road win to start the season. They beat up Boston College, but the game was a little sloppy and lackluster for my taste.
- Duke Johnson is the real deal for Miami. He blew it up last week (7 carries, 135 yards & 2 TDs).
- This weekend's matchup versus K-State is a much different animal. Remember K-State beat Miami last year, and they play much better ball the Boston College
- K-State has not been shutout in over 190 games (longest streak in BIG-12)
- Look for Kansas State to have their hands full, but to win this one by a field goal with solid D and a great running attack
(Photo courtesy Al Diaz)
Auburn at Mississippi State (Saturday Noon)
- These two programs really hate each other. Last year's matchup or the year before for that matter.
- Bottom line these games are always exciting and close
- Keep both eyes on this one
- Auburn got a little roughed up against a solid and not yet 100% Clemson squad last week in the Dome. Tackling was poor and the offense was pretty vanilla.
- Miss. State is fired up for this one and Dan is looking for Win #2 and with a solid QB in Tyler Russel at the helm, I can understand why
- I see Auburn going 0-2 and loosing this one by 7
(Photo courtesy of Vince Ferrara)
East Carolina at South Carolina (Saturday 12:30 PM)
- Scary news out of last week's game. Conner Shaw with a deep bruise on throwing arm. Look for more of the same as he really likes to run
- Lattimore is back and after a 1st touch fumbe he reeled of 2 TDs and 110 yards
- And boy did DJ Swearinger get away with a pass interference late in the game. Vandy would have had the ball late in the game on the other side of the 50 with less than 2 minutes to play down by 4. Deep sigh of relief USC fans the SEC officials had your back.
- South Carolina should be concerned in the big picture - I don't see anyone on the edge that scares me. Maybe a WR will step up in Alshon's absence...either way they've got Lattimore and a stingy defense up front
- South Carolina will pull away around halftime and never look back
(Photo courtesy of Streeter Lecka)
Florida at Texas A&M (Saturday 3:30 PM)
- Welcome to the 2012 season and to the SEC
- A&M did not play last week, so it's a blessing and a curse
- They have plenty of time to prepare for Florida, who really has nothing to game plan against since there is no relevant game footage of them, but they could come out a little rusty due to no live reps
- Florida looked rough against Bowling Green. For a second there, I thought we were going to have an upset. Florida is very bland on offense and lacking in confidence
- Driskel is the QB but I'm not so sure if it will not take him until mid-season to hit stride behind that shaky Offensive Line. Defense is pretty good, but there are holes.
- I'm looking for A&M to make a splash and pull an upset
(Photo courtesy of Sam Greenwood)
Washington at LSU (Saturday 7:00 PM)
- LSU trotted out ex-UGA quarterback Zach Mettenberger and he looked as UGA predicted pretty darn good.
- LSU's ground game and defense picked up right where they were last year and they played and all around solid game
- Washington will have their hands full in this
- Look for LSU to win by 4 TDs
(Photo courtesy of Richard Reddman)
Nebraska at UCLA (Saturday 7:30 PM)
- Taylor Martinez lit it up against Southern Miss. You might say well its Southern Miss. 354 yards passing and 5 TDs is stout whatever you're measuring against.
- Coach Pellini has Nebraska charting towards the top in almost every statistical category and I expect them to keep it up with solid play again on Saturday and lace up UCLA
- Nebraska has a solid ground game that balances everything out with Ameer Abdullah and Rex Burkhead in the backfield
- Look for Nebraska to win by 10
Georgia at Missouri (Saturday 7:45 PM)
- This weekend's marquee game of the day as Missouri is formally introduced with an in-conference matchup against Georgia.
- This is the 5 star take the phone off the hook game of the day
- Expect a lot of UGA fans to be in attendance (with the Falcons in KC on Sunday, many are making a big football weekend out of it)
- Missouri will be pumped and Franklin is an amazing dual threat QB
- Missouri also has a stud freshman in Dorial Green-Beckham, but don't get caught looking because WR Jimmie Hunt can get it done too
- If UGA's defense is up to the task they should handle business and come home with a W
- Aaron Murray is veteran at this point, Todd Gurley made a big Freshman splash last weekend
- UGA will have to play sound defense where they keep their lanes to mitigate Franklin's running out of the pocket
- Latest from the program is Alec Ogletree, Bacarri Rambo, Chase Vasser, & Sanders Commings will not play in Saturday night's game (all starters)
- All that aside, I like GA by 10+ in this one
