What to Watch in Week 2

Friday Night

#13 Louisville @ Syracuse- 8:00 ESPN2

Louisville and Lamar Jackson head to the Carrier Dome to open up their ACC slate.  Jackson accounted for 8 touchdowns in Louisville opening weekend win against Charlotte.  Syracuse is playing their first significant game under Dino Babers.  This will be a good first test for Louisville, who may be a playoff candidate by season’s end.

Saturday Day

Penn State @ Pittsburgh- 12:00 ESPN

NC State @ East Carolina- 12:00 ESPNU

UCF @ #5 Michigan- 12:00 ABC

Penn State and Pittsburgh renew their rivalry at Heinz Field.  These teams have not met since 2000, but have played each other a 96 times in school history.  Elsewhere, NC State heads to ECU in an intra-state matchup.  The pirates of ECU have knocked off ACC schools in the past, and NC State may be ripe for an upset.  Finally, UCF heads to the Big House.  Last week, Jabrill Peppers and company destroyed Hawaii, and look for them to take care of business again this weekend.

Saturday Afternoon

Western Kentucky @ #1 Alabama- 3:30 ESPN2

Kentucky @ Florida- 3:30 CBS

Nevada @ #18 Notre Dame

#1 Alabama faces a good Western Kentucky team that has the talent to make a major upset.  However, Nick Saban’s team should be well prepared, and they looked like clearly the best team in the country last week against USC.  In the SEC, Kentucky heads down to Gainesville as they try to knock off the Gators for the first time in 29 trys.  Neither team excelled last weekend as Kentucky lost to Southern Miss and Florida took until the fourth quarter to put UMASS away.  Over on NBC, Notre Dame heads back home after losing to Texas in double overtime to host Nevada.  Nevada was a bowl team last season, and snuck a win against Cal Poly last weekend.  This will be a good test to see if Notre Dame’s defensive struggles last week were due to a good Texas offensive, or if Notre Dame has holes on its defense.

Saturday Night

Arkansas @ #15 TCU- 7:00 ESPN

Iowa State @ #16 Iowa- 7:30 BTN

BYU @ UTAH- 7:30 FOX

Virginia Tech VS #17 Tennessee (At Bristol Motor Speedway)- 8:00 ABC

Arkansas heads to Fort Worth for the first of three straight games against schools from Texas.  Both of these school struggled in wins last weekend.  Arkansas under Bret Bielema, has in the past improved mightily as the season has gone on.  TCU may be the Big 12 favorite after Oklahoma’s loss last weekend. After this game, it will be easy to see if last week was a fluke for both of these teams.  In Iowa City, it is the battle for the Cy-Hawk trophy.  Iowa is clearly the better team, but anything can happen in a rivalry matchup.  BYU heads to UTAH for the Holy War at 7:30 on Fox.  BYU took care of one Pac-12 team in Arizona last weekend, and will has a tough UTAH team this weekend, as they try to gain an outside shot at an at-large berth in the New Years Six.  At Brisol Motor Speedway, the attendance record for a non-motor sport is trying to be broken as Virginia Tech takes on Tennessee.  Crowds of up to 160,000 have been predicted for this one.  Tennessee struggled mightily in an overtime win over Appalachian State last weekend, while Virginia Tech easily handled Liberty.  Tennessee needs to bounce back quickly, and show that its offense is able to move the ball against a quality opponent. This is Virginia Tech’s first test under new coach Justin Fuentes, and it will be interesting to see the offensive adjustments he makes against a good Volunteer defense.

Saturday Late Night

Texas Tech @ Arizona State- 10:00 FS1

Washington State @ Boise State 10:15 ESPN2

Virginia @ #24 Oregon- 10:30 ESPN

Week 2 ends with a good slate of late night games featuring three Pac 12 games.  Texas Tech heads to the desert to take on ASU.  Texas Tech and Patrick Mahomes have a high powered attack, which faces off against the Sun Devils and Todd Graham’s strong defense.  Also in that time slot, Washington State takes on Boise.  Washington State lost to Eastern Washington last week, the second straight season they have lost to an FCS opponent.  However, last year they were able to bounce back to win 9 games.  Washington State needs a big bounce back game this weekend against an always tough Boise State squad.   To cap off the night UVA plays at Oregon.  UVA lost to FCS Richmond last weekend, and while they are not as hyped as last year, Oregon will always have be able to throw a high number of points on the scoreboard.