This week around the league sees more teams leave the comforts of the home stadium and go on the road. 7 of the 12 teams play road games on Saturday which might be the most in any week of recent years.
New Hampshire @ Minnesota Saturday 12:00pm
Minnesota looked shaky against a poor UNLV team last week, but I doubt they will have the same problem against an FCS team this week. Look for Marqueise Gray to have a big afternoon in front of the home crowd.
UCF @ Ohio St Saturday 12:00pm
This game was covered in the "Upset Alert" entry this week, but to expand upon what I already wrote, Ohio will likely struggle early in this game. This is one of those scheduling head scratchers. The Knights are an above average football team, but nobody has heard of or respects them. The public expects OSU to dominate this game, but in reality it should be a close score. I think Braxton Miller and the Bucknut defense makes just enough plays in the 2nd half to pull away.
Penn St @ Virginia Saturday 12:00pm
Some how this game is on ABC, but I doubt many people will watch it. Penn St just does not have the athletes or the depth to be competitive over a 60 minute game. The Lions might start quickly and keep the game close in the first half, but I just can't see them scoring more than 17 points in most games this year.
Purdue @ Notre Dame Saturday 3:30pm
This is Purdue's first test to show that they really are a threat in the Leader's Division this season. This could be a trap game for the Irish. After coming back from Ireland and right before they head to East Lansing, I wouldn't be surprised to see ND start slowly. The question will be, can Purdue capitalize early on any ND mistake. I think they can, and I think this will be one of the most exciting games of the week.
Indiana @ Massachusetts Saturday 3:30pm
I guess you can watch this if you want a look into our next opponent. UMass is not good this year, and Indiana should crusie to their 2nd win (and possibly last) win of the season.
MSU @ Central Michigan Saturday 3:30pm
This is not your 2007 Central Michigan team. The Chips are terrible this year and will likely struggle to hold MSU under 60.
Iowa St @ Iowa Saturday 3:30pm
Iowa looked terrible in the first game of the season, and for some reason they always seem to struggle with the Cyclones. I think that continues this year, but James Vandenberg makes enough throws to pull out a close, low scoring, win.
Wisconsin @ Oregon St Saturday 4:00pm
Wisonsin leaves Camp Randall in September for the first time I can remember. The Badgers looked like they lost some of their firepower on offense. It was either that or they just played a bad game. I think ole Bucky bounces back this week and throttles OSU on their home field.
Nebraska @ UCLA Saturday 7:30pm
This is most people's upset pick of the week. I am not sure why people think UCLA has improved so much from last season. The Nebraska defense looked pretty average in their first contest, so I wouldnt be surprised to see this game be high scoring. I know it is a small sample size, but it looks like Martinez is on a mission this year.
Vanderbilt @ Northwestern Saturday 8:00pm
This game should be pretty good Saturday night. The Wildcats just got done winning a shootout, and Vandy lost a gut wrenching slugfest. I think Vandy's defense is too good to allow NW to score 42 again, and I dont know if the Wildcat defense is good enough to stop the younger Rodgers. The Commodores will likely win this game.
Illinois @ Arizona St Saturday 10:30pm
Finally the late game. Illinois is coming off an impressive win against Western in week 1, but I don't know how well they will travel across the country for this football game. It will be interesting to see how much Beckman's system has been incorporated against a Pac12 defense. Arizona St should have a bounce back year from last with their own new coach. I have a feeling scoring 40 might not be enough in this game.
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