10 Other Notable Games

And predictions for those...

Arizona at UT-San Antonio
Thursday night road games are never an easy chore. While most will scoff at UT-San Antonio and say pfft... Arizona shouldn't have too much of a problem... think again! Former Miami Hurricanes head coach Larry Coker has built a big buzz around that program. They only began playing football at UT-San Antonio in 2011 and Coker has been there to oversee things from the very beginning. After beginning things in the FCS with a 4-6 record, the Roadrunners made the jump to the FCS where so far, the results have been very encouraging; going 8-4 in 2012 as a member of the WAC and then 7-5 as a member of Conference USA a year ago. This year began with a 27-7 thrashing of Houston in the opening of Houston's new stadium. In what will be the biggest game for the program to date, they get to take on the Pac 12's Arizona Wildcats in front of what should be a very rowdy scene at the Alamodome. In a couple of years, I think the Roadrunners may well be able to win a game like this. However, I just don't feel as though they'll be quite ready to match a quality Pac 12 team blow for blow for a full 60 minutes. I do expect them to show well though and make the Cats sweat this one out until succumbing late in the 4th quarter.
My Call: Arizona 41, UT-San Antonio 31
Pittsburgh at Boston College
Gotta admit I'd just be taking a shot in the dark on this one regardless of the research I decided to do since I know next to nothing about these two with the exception of Pittsburgh having a very good sophomore receiver in Tyler Boyd. As a true freshman, Boyd caught 85 balls for 1174 yards and 7 touchdowns. In a game that's too close for me to call, I'll take the team that appears to have the player who can make a play for his team in crunch time. That team in this case is the Panthers.
My Call: Pittsburgh 24, Boston College 23
Washington State at Nevada
Expect a ton of points to be scored in this one. That's the M.O. for a Mike Leach coached team, his "Air Raid" offense can score at will but his teams don't normally put out defenses that can stop the opposing teams from scoring. This Cougar team didn't look any different in that regard a week ago in their 41-38 loss to Rutgers. Wazzu QB Connor Halliday does put up a lot of yardage, but he also makes some costly mistakes that lose games for his team. I'd expect more of the same from him and the Cougs this week, except in a win. Why not by the same score they lost by last week?
My Call: Washington State 41, Nevada 38
Arkansas State at Tennessee
In what was a more impressive showing than I expected, the Vols took the hammer and beat down on Utah State 38-7. Tennessee coach Butch Jones is recruiting some serious talent to Knoxville and seemed to send a message that he's ready to take the Vols back towards the top of the conference. Okay, a win over Utah State may not say that, but it sure was an impressive performance in a game many people thought would be far closer. They'll have to avoid the temptation of looking past Arkansas State in this one before going to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners. They should do that. They won't be quite as impressive this week as last, but it'll be plenty good enough to win.
My Call: Tennessee 35, Arkansas State 20
Fresno State at Utah
They sure are missing Derek Carr and Davante Adams at Fresno State. Carr is the new starting QB for the Oakland Raiders while Adams is now a Green Bay Packer. They'll hang closer in Salt Lake City than they did in LA against USC, but they'll go back to Fresno 0-2.
My Call: Utah 31, Fresno State 24
Eastern Washington at Washington
Bad news for Washington is how vulnerable they truly looked last week against an inferior Hawaii club. The good news though is they'll have a new QB under center in Cyler Miles and will be at home against an FCS club. However, Eastern Washington is not your pushover FCS club. These guys can put up some points and have had a ton of success at the FCS level in recent years (they won the 2010 FCS Championship). Not to mention they won't be intimidated by going on the road. They won at Oregon State a year ago, nearly beat Washington State in 2012 and came close against Washington in 2011. They did have an ugly 49-24 road loss to Nevada in their championship year of 2010, but that Nevada team had some guy named Colin Kaepernick as their QB. I hear that guy is now the starter for the San Francisco 49ers, so he can't be too bad. I'm gonna take the upset in this one. Yes, I could look dumb, but the Eagles can hang and Cyler Miles may or may not be the answer at QB.
My Call: Eastern Washington 33, Washington 31
Northern Illinois at Northwestern
Oh what a fall it's been for Northwestern. They began 2013 4-0 and hung right in there with Ohio State all game long before losing late by 10 points.  That caused a complete meltdown as the Wildcats lost their next six before beating Illinois to end what began as a promising year 5-7 and now they begin 2014 by laying a big egg to start their season opener against Cal before seeing a comeback fall short in a 31-24 defeat. So which Wildcats team will we see show up? Probably another erratic version. I'll say they beat the Jordan Lynch-less version of Northern Illinois, but I can't say I have a whole lot of confidence in this pick.
My Call: Northwestern 31, Northern Illinois 28
BYU at Texas
The Longhorns were victorious in Coach Charlie Strong's debut, crushing North Texas by a final of 38-7. However, the Horns will be without starting QB David Ash for this one and also without a couple offensive tackles who were suspended for a violation of team rules. Then Texas will also have to deal with BYU QB Taysom Hill. Hill is a handful and he just killed Texas a year ago; not so much on the ground, but rushing for 259 yards on three scores sure did the trick in a 40-21 BYU win in Provo a year ago. This matchup is in Austin though and I do expect Coach Strong to come up with a better defensive strategy than the Horns had a year ago, but the Cougar defense should also be successful enough. In what will be a close game, I'm gonna call for the mini upset and take the Cougars to take down Texas for a second straight year.
My Call: BYU 26, Texas 23
Colorado State at Boise State
What to do? Go with the team that looked vastly superior in Week 1 or go with the home team? I'm leaning towards the Broncos on this one. The Rams don't have a bad team, but Colorado just isn't anywhere near as good as Ole Miss, the team Boise State lost to. My expectation is the Broncos will use their defense to get back on track for this one to help offset some shaky play at QB to keep Colorado State at bay and ultimately pull this one out.
My Call: Boise State 23, Colorado State 17
Oregon State at Hawaii
After coming so close to upsetting Washington in its season opener, the Rainbow Warriors will get another shot at taking down a Pac 12 club. Can they do it against the Beavers? I don't think so.While Hawaii may be improved from where they were a year ago, Oregon State has a far better QB in Sean Mannion than they saw last week from Washington. The flight out to Hawaii isn't easy and that could keep the Rainbow Warriors in it for a while, but I'm liking the Beavers in this one.
My Call: Oregon State 35, Hawaii 21