Pac-12 Picks: Week Two
Alright, so it’s week two, and while conference play has not begun, it seems like there are a few actual matchups taking place. A lot more fun to pick games when most of them will probably be competitive.
Utah at Utah State
Utah’s crushing victory over Northern Colorado did nothing to change my mind about them being, currently, the fourth best team in the conference. I think they deserve to be ranked, and I can’t exactly believe that and then pick Utah State to beat them.
Utah 30, Utah State 17
Eastern Washington at Washington State
It will probably be pretty common to pick Eastern over WSU after the Cougars fell absolutely flat against BYU. I guess I just give Leach more credit than that. His team won’t become dominant overnight, but this win will be the beginning of the progress.
WSU 35, Eastern 24
Sacramento State at Colorado
Colorado is a terrible team. I am partial to them, and I would like to see them play better, but it’s tough to see them beating anyone these days. If they do lose this game, and I think they will, the season will pretty much be lost after two games.
Sacramento State 28, Colorado 14
Southern Utah at California
Cal had a pretty bad week one, losing at home to Nevada, but I give them a little bit more credit than some, so I will assume they can take care of an inferior team. If not, Tedford better start thinking about job security.
California 31, Southern Utah 24
#1 USC at Syracuse
USC’s only real problem is whether they should be ranked the #1 or #2 team in the nation. That is a pretty good problem to have, as far as problems go. They will beat Syracuse. The only question is by how much. I say by a lot.
USC 45, Syracuse 21
#12 Wisconsin at Oregon State
The Badgers barely beat Northern Iowa last week. I think that will wake the team up and allow them to travel to Corvallis and run over the Oregon State defense with ease. I think Montee Ball will outscore the entire OSU offense.
Wisconsin 42, Oregon State 17
Fresno State at #5 Oregon
No reason to think Oregon is even close to slowing down. No one has found a foolproof method to shutting down the Ducks, except to simply physically overpower them like LSU or Auburn. Fresno State is not an SEC team, and they are certainly not LSU or Auburn circa 2010. So they’ll lose. By a lot.
Oregon 52, Fresno State 24
#17 Nebraska at UCLA
I don’t have much of a reason to doubt Nebraska. I watched them beat down the Huskies last year, and Rex Burkhead’s consistency is not something I doubt. I also don’t have much reason to trust UCLA. They weren’t exactly a model of efficiency against Rice. But sometimes you just feel an upset brewing. Brett Hundley will step up, Taylor Martinez will continue to be a fairly bad quarterback, and UCLA’s defense will do just enough to pull this one off.
UCLA 35, Nebraska 31
#19 Oklahoma State at Arizona
84 points. I don’t care that it was against Savannah State, Oklahoma State scored 84 points. I’m certain they won’t score that many against Arizona, but I have no confidence in the Wildcats to keep the Cowboys’ offense in check. They will get run over.
Oklahoma State 49, Arizona 31
Illinois at Arizona State
ASU looked pretty good last week, but against a lower tier team. That’s the problem with scheduling so poorly. No one has any idea what a dominant win actually says about a team. In this case, I think the Sun Devils will get a win, but I could just as easily be wrong. I am very sure they will not score seven rushing touchdowns this time around, though. Poor Northern Arizona. Also, it’s forecasted to be 99 degrees at kickoff. That is just not a temperature for people.
Arizona State 31, Illinois 24
Duke at #21 Stanford
Duke is one of a handful of schools that I cannot take seriously in football because of the dominance of their basketball programs. In this case, I think I’m okay, because they finished last year 3-9. Stanford will win far more than three games, including this one.
Stanford 38, Duke 13
Note: This article contained a handful of grammatical errors that I did not catch. They were pointed out to me in the comment section, and I have fixed them. Obviously it’s just an excuse, but writing and posting everything on an iPad the past few days has led me to relax my proofreading standards. In the future I will hold myself to a higher standard.