After the first week of College Football action, some teams have established themselves as legitimate contenders (Ohio State, Alabama) while others were less-than-impressive and still have some things to work out (Baylor, Oregon).
Like last weekend, the early non-conference schedule features a ton of lopsided matchups and heavy favorites. There are, however a few marquee games on this weekend’s slate, highlighted by the first matchup of top ten teams when Oregon visits East Lansing to take on Michigan State.
These teams met last year, with Oregon scoring a 46-27 home win as a 14-point favorite. That was a tough beat for MSU backers, as the Spartans held a nine-point lead late in the third quarter before Oregon rallied to score the last 28 points of the game.
Michigan State held their own yardage-wise, and now seek revenge from that loss on their home field with the added benefit of not having to face Marcus Mariota. QB Adams made his debut last week for Oregon and looked good, however the Ducks defense left much to be desired allowing Eastern Washington to put up 549 yards of total offense and 42 points. Oregon’s offense is elite, however, and it will be interesting to see if Sparty can keep up on the scoreboard. Michigan State is a 3.5-point favorite.
There are two other games involving teams both ranked in the Top 25. Oklahoma and Tennessee were both favored by more than three touchdowns last week, but they’ll be a virtual pick ‘em this Saturday against each other. Oklahoma looked far better defensively allowing only 3 points against Akron while the Vols gave up 30 points (and over 550 yards) against Bowling Green.
Tennessee is one of ten teams from the SEC ranked in the Top 25. SEC as a whole has been overrated by the pollsters for a while now (South Carolina and Auburn ranked in the top ten last preseason, but the linesmaker isn’t fooled and this line would suggest Oklahoma being a 6 or 7 point home favorite.
The final top 25 matchup pits a pair of SEC teams together as LSU takes on Mississippi State. Bulldogs return just four starters on offense and just three starters on defense, and they really weren’t all that impressive in an 18-point win vs. Southern Miss last weekend (Miss State was only winning by 4 points at halftime). LSU opened as a 2.5-pont favorite, and despite not playing last week they are already a 3.5-point favorite at the online sportsbooks with the line still rising.
For those wondering, USC is by far the biggest favorite on the board this weekend, laying 43 points against Idaho. The Trojans scored 55 points last week vs. Arkansas State, and while Idaho doesn’t pose much of a threat, USC is in a big lookahead spot with Stanford on deck.
We’ll be back next week to look at the marquee college football matchups for Week Three based on data from sportsbook pay per head providers.
