Hawaii @ USC -40
The good news for Hawaii is former USC assistant and brilliant offensive mind Norm Chow gets to gameplan against a young, slightly small USC front four on defense—and if he can buy Duke transfer QB Sean Schroeder some time in the pocket, the Warriors will get looks down field. The bad news is Chow also has to gameplan against what might be the most complete team in America at the beginning of the season. After two years of no postseason due to a bowl ban, the U of Spoiled Children is giving hints that it'll be a wrecking ball this year and Hawaii is the first team in the way. Led by goldenchild QB Matt Barkley and a wide receiving corps most NFL teams would love to emulate, the Trojans can put points on the board in a hurry. Chow is going to have to lean heavily on Schroeder and a solid run game to get him through since the cupboard in Honolulu was left precipitously bare before his arrival. The Hawaii defense is a mess, so expect to see LOTS of points for SC and lots of tries for the Warriors. Still, 40 is a HUGE spread.
Colorado -6.5 vs. Colorado St. (Denver)
These teams thoroughly dislike each other, like, alumni coming back to get trashed and fight-level dislike each other. Fort Collins is a blue collar, Front Range town where a lot of in-state kids head to school. CU is in eclectic (Read: Freaking weird) Boulder, where a lot of out-of-state kids come to jam to Phish and ride bikes. The Rams have two quarterbacks going into the rivalry game—which means they really only have one. That's too bad, as the running backs, receivers and o-line are all experienced. CU transfer QB Jordan Webb doesn't have much to work with on O—this was a 3-10 team last year—and the d gave up 40-plus points 5 times last season. That said, CU is 7-0 in the last 7 in this series and managed to cover the spread in 4 of the last 5 games.
Wyoming at Texas -30
"No rancher has the right to sell, or own, what God meant to be free. The Range must always remain open."—BBQ Bill Shankelbean, 1885. Now I have no f---ing clue what BBQ Bill meant when he said that, but if you're handing out free wisdom, and your last name is Shankelbean, I'm all ears. These Cowboys from Wyo have no right owning Texas—though they did through most of the first half of their last meeting in 2010, before the 'Horns bucked 'em. OLD WEST TALK CONSARNIT! This game is more about which Texas team shows up than anything Wyoming can do. If QB David Ash, WR Jaxson Shipley and RB Malcolm Gray can stay moving in the right direction behind a tremendous o-line, they'll pull into the passing lane early and never look back. The Horns are as talented on defense as anyone in the nation—Alabama included—and the front four all look like stunt doubles for Hulk and Thor from "Avengers." As will be the case against 75 percent of their foes this season, only Texas can stop itself.
San Diego State @ Washington -15
This is one of the more interesting under-the-radar week 1 matchups. SDSU Head Coach Rocky Long has this defense firing on all cylinders, and you're not going to get many easy yards against them. QB Ryan Katz, an Oregon State transfer, has a leaky o-line and a miserable-looking running game—he'll be playing pitch n' pray. Washington finds itself in a similar situation—though they have star QB Keith Price has a monster arm and connects on passes 67 percent of the time. Even against good defenses he's moving the ball forward and he's got an o-line that'll buy him slightly more time. U-Dub's DBs, including Desmond Trufant and Shaq Thompson are big-hitters who'll give Katz hell all day. The x-factor in this game is that U-Dub is playing its home games this year at the Seahawks' CenturyLink field while the beautiful Husky Stadium undergoes renovations. It's completely across town and some are speculating how much of the student body will make it down and if their zeal will be as concentrated as it is on campus. Still, UW was 3-1 as a home favorite last year.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment