FTRS Picks Week 2: Things Get Real

Week 1 had plenty of ups and downs, here are the results from the week. AHolt dominated Week 1 getting 9 out of 11 picks correct this week. Congrats AHolt! Our overall score leader is currently a three way tie between Anuj Bhyravabhotla, @LeeNobody, and mrbuzz1885 all with 11 correct picks on the year. The year is still young, so there’s plenty of time to catchup with some good picks. We did have some minor issues with the spreadsheet last year so if you see anything that is incorrect feel free to comment or message me and I will work on addressing them.

Authors note: This article had to come out later than last week’s due to a late game on Monday. I’ll try to keep releases consistent on Tuesday morning to allow time for picks if a Thursday night game is being played, but that may shift depending on when games are being played from the previous week, when spreads are released, and of course depending on what life throws at me. Just keep an eye out if the article doesn’t show up when you expect it to.

Despite showing some promise, Tech was not able to pull out the win against Louisville. I know its not what the fans want coming off of week 1 but the season is far from over and we were far from the worst looking teams on the field last week.

Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska, with a familiar face at QB in Jeff Sims, found ways to repeatedly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. That was a rough one to watch if you like offense. Thankfully for Nebraska that game was overshadowed by Clemson’s offense repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot in the redzone.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado came out and punched TCU in the face, in what may have been the biggest surprise of the week. The Buffaloes have come to play this year, and if they keep playing like they did against TCU it may be a while before they lose a game.

Most of the big schools started off their schedules against less intimidating opponents so this week will be the first chance we get to really see them in action. Things are getting real in college football this week and I’m looking forward to seeing some good games.

picks:

South Carolina State Bulldogs @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (No Spread Given)

Logan: There was no spread given for this game at the time of writing so I am going to get a little creative with this one. Vegas seems pretty confident we will win and I tend to agree. Last week we had our best quarter of football in a while where we scored 28 points in a quarter, unfortunately it was followed by two not so great quarters. For the pick this week, will Tech score 21 points or in a quarter this week or less than 21 points? I felt like 28 points was a bit high, but 21 points makes things a little more reasonable given our opponents. I am going to take the over personally, I think King can really show us some fireworks this week.

Logan’s pick: Georgia Tech (scores at least 21 points in a quarter)

#23 Texas A&M Aggies (-4.0) @ Miami Hurricanes

Logan: Week 1 taught me very little about either of these two teams. My takeaways are essentially that TAMU can pass the ball really good, and Miami can run the ball really good; unfortunately the talent level of their opponents didn’t give me much to learn about the defenses of both squads. The ACC has looked better against SEC opponents this year, and the Aggies did give up 90 yards on the ground against New Mexico... sure I’ll take the Hurricanes to cover, why not?

Logan’s pick: Miami

#13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-7.5) @ NC State Wolfpack

Logan: Notre Dame has looked so good in their first few games. Granted the opponents weren’t amazing, but Notre Dame looks good running, passing, on defense, kicking the ball... only thing I’m not really sure about is their punting. Meanwhile NC State showed some weaknesses on O-line and D-line against UConn. I struggle to see why the spread is so small in this one, even accounting for injuries at the WR and RB position, it should be ND.

Logan’s pick: ND

Vanderbilt Commodores @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons (-10.5)

Logan: Is Vandy a great football team? No, no they are not. Is Vandy bad enough to be considered a 10 point underdog in this game? No, by all accounts they have played very good football early on. The worst thing you can say is that maybe their defense against Hawaii didn’t look stellar. Wake hasn’t given me enough yet in a win against Elon to make me believe they win this game by 10 points. I think Vandy covers... I hope Vandy covers because I want GT to have some hope when we play Wake in a few weeks.

Logan’s pick: Vandy covers

Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Colorado Buffaloes (-3.5)

Logan: I swear I’m not just picking this game to pick on Jeff Sims and Nebraska (although that is kind of fun). Colorado is the current talk of the town after their upset over TCU. Nebraska will have a tougher defense than TCU, but based on what we saw against Minnesota the Cornhusker offense is going to be struggling for a while. Based purely on the games we’ve seen from both teams, I think -3.5 is an insult to Colorado, the Buffaloes should win by a wide margin.

Logan’s pick: Colorado

#25 Iowa Hawkeyes (-4.0) @ Iowa State Cyclones

Logan: El Assico. This game is always a bit of a mess and I expect this one to be no different. Iowa at least played an FBS team week 1, and what we gathered from their game against Utah State was that they have taken a step up on offense and a step back on defense. Not to say the Iowa defense isn’t good, but last year they were insurmountable. Iowa State looked good against NIU, but that doesn’t tell us much. This game might be similar to the Nebraska @ Minnesota game last week. I think Iowa State will cover as the game will come down to a late field goal one way or the other.

Logan’s pick: Iowa State covers

Appalachian State Mountaineers @ #21 UNC Tar Heels (-18.0)

Logan: I’m sure I could do a bunch of research into why this is a perfectly reasonable spread and how App State isn’t who they were last year. I’ll just be honest, I don’t care. One of my personal rules is always expect App State to find a way to beat the spread. Against all logic, especially against North Carolina schools, App State just knows how to make other teams miserable.

Logan’s pick: App State covers

#14 Utah Utes (-7.0) @ Baylor Bears

Logan: Not going to overcomplicate this one. Utah had a good win in week 1, regardless of what you think of the Gators. Baylor just lost to Texas State at home by 11. Even at home I expect Baylor to lose by a fair margin.

Logan’s pick: Utah

#15 Oregon Ducks (-6.5) @ Texas Tech Red Raiders

Logan: I hate week 2. How much am I supposed to take from Oregon beating Portland State 81-7? All I can really say is Oregon has an offense that is somewhere between above average and the best in college football. Texas Tech lost to Wyoming in 2OT, which is rough when you look at the names, but that is the kind of thing that can happen in week one when your team starts struggling and hasn’t faced any adversity up to that point in the season. I’m gonna take Oregon. If the spread was at -7.5 I wouldn’t mind taking the Red Raiders to cover, but where it sits currently, I feel Oregon should win by a touchdown.

Logan’s pick: Oregon

#22 Ole Miss Rebels (-7.0) @ #24 Tulane Green Wave

Logan: I think I have to take Ole Miss in this one, despite knowing who they play next week. I think Tulane could have a potential to keep things close, but I expect a touchdown margin to be reasonable base purely on the amount of talent on the Ole Miss team.

Logan’s pick: Ole Miss

#11 Texas Longhorns @ #4 Alabama Crimson Tide (-7.0)

Logan: Ok gang, what’s the rule we have on these pick articles? Say it with me:

“NEVER PICK AGAINST ALABAMA”

It’s been bad business to pick against Bama. One day this will stop being a rule, but it is not this day.

Logan’s pick: Bama