THE WORLD OF BAX: How Bad is the ACC?

College football kicked off with a bang and it wasn’t kind to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC went 7-4 during the opening weekend, including losses by their top two teams. While losses to South Carolina and USC by NC State and Virginia, respectively, aren’t terrible by any means, Clemson’s egg on the weekend’s biggest stage and Virginia Tech’s upset at the hands of East Carolina are quite poor results. Factor in two more struggles with D-1AA opposition and it was one of the league’s worst weeks in history. Does one week a season make? Of course not, but it sure tells us a lot about a conference that is really struggling at the moment.

However, look on to the future! This week’s slate of games are not nearly as exciting as last weekend’s and pale in comparison to an exceptionally exciting week three ahead. Yet, there are some intriguing games out there that will give us some more insight into this young season. Here are my picks and email yours to me at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com and see if you can beat me this season! Last week, I went a very poor 4-5 and I’ve got to do my best to improve on that mark. Without further ado, here are my choices for Week 2 of the college football season:

#17 South Carolina @ Vanderbilt

Thursday, 8:30 PM EST

This marks the opening game in the SEC conference. Both teams are coming off dominant opening wins and this is a very big game that will direct the path that both teams will take. South Carolina’s defense was very, very impressive in their season opener and once Chris Smelley took over at quarterback, their offense dominated. Vanderbilt also started strong, on the road, and defeated a good Miami (OH) team. This game should be an exciting affair, but the Gamecocks are simply better and their dominating defense will continue their strong play. Vanderbilt will have to hope that South Carolina is looking ahead to next week’s huge showdown with the Georgia Bulldogs. South Carolina should win this game handily

South Carolina 27, Vanderbilt 10

BYU @ Washington

Saturday, 3:00 PM EST

Washington started the season with a tough loss at Oregon. Jack Locker was held down and their defense didn’t play very well in a 44-10 loss. This week, the Huskies welcome a powerful offense from Brigham Young and they will again be in for a tough matchup. Luckily, BYU’s defense isn’t as strong as the Oregon unit that they faced last week and this should be a shootout. BYU has the stronger offense and won’t be intimidated by playing at Husky Stadium and should pull away in the end.

BYU 45, Washington 34

Cincinnati @ #1 Oklahoma

Saturday, 3:30 PM EST

Oklahoma begins their first week at #1 in my rankings with a sneakily tough game against Cincinnati. The Bearcats aren’t the conference’s most dangerous team, but the Sooners had better take this matchup seriously. Cincinnati brings a solid team to Norman and is led by one of the country’s fastest-rising head coaches in Brian Kelly. However, Oklahoma is one of the country’s most talented teams and Cincinnati simply can’t match up with the OU Sooners. Expect Oklahoma to win this game handily

Oklahoma 34, Cincinnati 13

 

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Oregon State @ #6 Penn State

Saturday, 3:30 PM EST

Oregon State’s loss last week took a little bit of the luster off of this exciting Pac Ten versus Big Ten matchup. Oregon State fell a fumble short of taking Stanford to overtime while Penn State flattened Coastal Carolina. The Nittany Lions have two major advantages in this game: Home field and superior talent. Penn State will unveil even more of the explosive offense that rung up 66 points last week and their defense is far superior to Stanford’s. Expect Penn State to have a huge week and send the Beavers back to Corvallis with a 0-2 record.

Penn State 41, Oregon State 17

#18 West Virginia @ East Carolina

Saturday, 4:30 PM EST

East Carolina is a far more dangerous team this week than they were last week. Why? Because after last week’s defeat of Virginia Tech, they now know they can beat the big boys instead of just believing that they can. Furthermore, ECU could have nature on their side in this game, as Hurricane Hanna could dump a lot of rain in the area and this game could be played in the muck. That would negate WVU’s speed advantage and the Mountaineers’ newfound passing game could struggle. However, I don’t see ECU’s lightning striking twice, even though I’m very tempted to pick them. Look for a close game but WVU pulls this one out late.

West Virginia 23, ECU 21

Miami vs. #3 Florida

Saturday, 8:00 PM EST

In years past, this would be one of the biggest games in college football. However, Miami is still in the early throes of rebuilding and Florida is exceptionally talented. Furthermore, the game will be played in Gainesville and Florida doesn’t lose very often at home. However, the Hurricanes will be aided, ironically, by a hurricane. Hanna could drop a ton of rain in Florida and much like the WVU-ECU game, Florida’s speed advantage could be negated and anything can happen. I don’t expect Miami to win this game, but anything can happen in a rivalry game in the rain. Florida wins this game by far less than Gator fans expect.

Florida 27, Miami 20

Like I said earlier, this week’s games are full of good matchups, but it lacks the major matchups that last week and next week contain. After all of the upsets last weekend, I would be very surprised if nearly as many ranked teams were knocked off. Two other items to pay very close attention to this Saturday: the ankles of Jeremy Maclin and Beanie Wells. This week, as always, is exciting but I’m really looking forward to next week’s slate, highlighted by the year’s best matchup, Ohio State versus USC.

By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s newest staff writer. If you’d like to join his college football therapy group, email him at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com with all your questions, comments, and anything else you would like to share. Also be sure to check out Matt's 2008 conference previews and college football Top 25 rankings here at CollegeSports-fans.com!

More college football articles from Baxendell:

• College Football Top 25 Rankings after Week #1
• 2008 College Football Week #1 Preview
• College Football Preseason Top 25 & National Title Contenders
• 2008 college football conference previews
• NCAA Football 2009 video game review