Week 2: I get knocked down

By Kyle Magin

We're shaking off a "what the f---!?" weekend, otherwise known as a college football weekend, and getting back in the saddle again for week 2. As a unit, our pickers Big Tex, Kyle and Marcus went 3-9 on the weekend, but separately, we all went 1-3, so that sounds better. Football lines are a fickle mistress.

On the football tip, the games this upcoming weekend are dogsh-t in terms of matchups, in that there isn't a single throwdown between two ranked teams. There are a few interesting matchups borne of geography or unfamiliarity—Washington heads to LSU, Nebraska to UCLA, Florida and Texas A&M's first matchup as SEC rivals, a USC trip to the East Coast and Penn State's attempt to right the ship against Virginia. Let's take a look at this week's interesting lines:

Penn St. @ Virginia -10
Air Force @ Michigan -21
Miami @ Kansas State -7
Michigan State -23.5 @ CMU
USC -26.5 @ Syracuse
Purdue @ Notre Dame -14.5
Fresno State @ Oregon -34
Iowa State @ Iowa -4
Washington @ LSU -23.5
New Mexico @ Texas -37.5
Florida @ Texas A&M -2
Nebraska -5 @ UCLA
Oklahoma State -13.5 @ Arizona



Notes: Michigan opened yesterday at 21.5, just some adjustments, or is Vegas already losing confidence in Big Blue?... K-State stood tall against UM in Florida on a late drive last year, and looked stout in the running game last week...Michigan State hasn't had an easy time with Central, losing in '09, but the Chips looked really bad opening weekend...Anyone who saw USC last weekend knows to get that -26.5 now, because it's only going to rise...Can Notre Dame avoid a hangover from Ireland?...Fresno's passing game was on point last week, with Derek Carr completing at a 80 percent clip...Iowa State's offense is going to be a problem for Iowa, no two ways about it...UW's run game is not where it needs to be vs. LSU, gaining just north of 100 yards last week...If Texas loads up on the run, UNM will have to go to the air, and that's a problem for the Lobos, who managed just 70 passing yards last week...A&M starts its SEC slate without a week 1 tune up against La. Tech...Nebraska's Taylor Martinez set passing records last weekend, and now gets a shot at a UCLA defensive backfield that struggled at times against Rice last week...Oklahoma State covered a 62 pt. spread against Savannah State last week.