Montana State at Utah: While this isn't your typical pushover I-AA team (Montana State finished last season ranked #6 in the FCS and starts this season #5), it is a team that Utah should handle at home, after all the hype around Salt Lake City since the Pac 12 announcement. Utah has some new issues on the offensive line that developed during fall camp. Freshman RB Harvey Langi hasn't lived up to the hype. But the defense is still strong. It wouldn't sit well in Pac 12 circles if the Utes' first game representing the Pac was a loss to an FCS team. Montana State took Washington State down to the wire last season, dropping a 23-22 decision after 16 unanswered 4th quarter points by Wazu. Utah has to, and will, win this game. Though if I were a betting man, I'd take Montana State against the 29-point spread in a heartbeat. Utah 27, Montana State 17.
Bowling Green at Idaho: Bowling Green looks to be in rebuilding mode this season, if you can call it that. Idaho has a good chance to win 7+ games this season, and this is the first. BGSU hasn't ever seen anything like the dome, and Idaho has a solid passing attack for a mid-tier non-BCS team. Idaho 34, Bowling Green 21.
TCU at Baylor: Life after Andy Dalton begins and this is going to be a tough game for the Horned Frogs. On the road, against a former Southwest Conference rival, that has a senior QB, and returns 14 starters and 50 players from last year's squad. We will find out just how good TCU's defense is pretty quickly, because they are going to be put in a lot of bad situations on Friday. Still, I think TCU can run the ball all it wants on a Baylor team that finished 79th in Rushing Defense last season and gave up 4.4 yards/carry, even with a new offensive line. I think it's a closer game than most people think, and I give Baylor a good chance to pull this one out at home. TCU 27, Baylor 24.
Utah State at Auburn: taking on the defending national champs on the road, to say this is a test is a bit of a misnomer. This is an opportunity to get better. Utah State will not be tested in any way, shape, or form. This is a body-bag game. The spread on this game moved from initially being at 32 down to only 23. That sounds about right to me. Auburn 38, Utah State 13.
Sacramento State at Oregon State: another body bag game. Sac State is a decent good FCS school, but still, decent in FCS shouldn't compete with bowl-bound BCS. Oregon State 45, Sac State 17.
San Jose State at Stanford: the first game of the post-Harbaugh era at Stanford against one of the worst teams in college football. I think this will be a close game. After a quarter. Then Stanford and Luck will pile on. Stanford 49, San Jose State 7.
Idaho State at Washington State: two of the worst teams in their respective conferences square off. The difference is Wazu is in a BCS conference, Idaho State is in an FCS conference. Washington State 31, Idaho State 12.
Charleston Southern at UCF: Charleston Southern is typically involved in one of the big early season FBS-FCS blowouts. While this won't be as bad as previous seasons against Hawaii, Kentucky, or Florida, among others, it will be bad. UCF 38, CSU 6.
Ohio at New Mexico State: I actually like NMSU in this game. Solich's Bobcats are going to be pretty good in the MAC this season. Ohio was 3-3 on the road last season and with a new QB and mostly new defense this season, I don't expect much better than that against an experienced NMSU team. NMSU 34, Ohio 20.
Rice at Texas: hopefully this game will get Texas overconfident in their abilities, and give BYU a legit shot in Austin next weekend when a real opponent rolls into town. Texas 45, Rice 17.
Colorado at Hawaii: these are two teams with some question marks. Hawaii is better on paper, but you never know how an entirely new staff at CU will impact things. Still, I like Hawaii to take this one through an aerial assault against a weak CU secondary. CU will try to slow things down with the power running game, but I like Hawaii's front 7 to hold their ground somewhat. Hawaii 31, CU 24.
We'll check back in next week and see how I did. I'm not in mid-season form just yet, but I like my chances this first week of being more accurate than most of the "experts" who haven't done as much research on BYU's opponents as I have!
Good to have you back.
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