There’s another huge matchup of college football royalty just seven days removed from Ohio State and Notre Dame clashing in Week 1.
Alabama and Texas both have featured Heisman winners and have won multiple championships. The schools have been on divergent paths since meeting in the BCS title game at the end of the 2009 season. The Crimson Tide won their first of six titles under Nick Saban that night. The Longhorns went 83-67 in the next 12 seasons. It will be huge test for Texas to see where the program is at as Alabama brings reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young and a prolific offense to town.
The SEC also has a big showdown when No. 20 Kentucky travels to No. 19 Florida. The Gators are coming off a huge win over then-No. 8 Utah at home and look to repeat against the visiting Wildcats. The respective quarterbacks – Anthony Richardson and Will Levis – are two of the top dual threats in the country.
The final Top 25 showdown sees No. 25 Brigham Young host No. 8 Baylor in a rematch of last year’s meeting won by the Bears. The Cougars have the pieces to get revenge, especially with Baylor facing a tough environment and QB Blake Shapen making his first road start.
Scooby Axson
Look out salty Oklahoma fans. It seems as if Lincoln Riley and Southern California are trying to be players in the Pac-12 and national championship race sooner than later. While the competition has been less than stellar (a rout of Rice in Week 1), this week’s opponent is Stanford, who also hasn’t been great in the last few years. So, look for the Trojans to flex their offensive muscle once again against the Cardinal and get the skeptics talking again about their ranking and anything else that gets fans fired up.
FULL MENU: Breaking down the top matchups of Week 2 in college football
BIG WINS: The five times Texas has beaten No. 1 ahead of Alabama visit
BOWL PROJECTIONS: Georgia grabs No. 1 seed in College Football Playoff
Jace Evans
No game in Week 1 was uglier than Iowa’s unconvincing 7-3 win over South Dakota State. The Hawkeyes’ offense has rightfully been the object of scorn across the college football universe after it managed just 166 total yards against the Jackrabbits and got outscored by its own defense 4-3. It seems like a bad week, then, to have rival Iowa State coming to town. Except, for whatever reason, Cyclones coach Matt Campbell just can’t beat Kirk Ferentz. Iowa’s coach has dispatched his rival in all six of the their meetings. With his program under the microscope after an awful opener, Ferentz’s group comes out much stronger and captures the Cy-Hawk Trophy for a seventh consecutive year.
Paul Myerberg
In a game that will end way past our bedtimes, Baylor beats BYU by 14 points and makes a big statement … but will anybody be watching? Beating BYU on the road would be another sign of the Bears’ legitimate place in the playoff chase. But with any national attention on the Big 12 focused on Alabama and Texas earlier Saturday afternoon, it’s likely that Baylor looks the part of a top team without earning many headlines.
Erick Smith
Trips to Lubbock are always unpredictable when Texas Tech is mediocre. With the Red Raiders improved and playing with enthusiasm under Joey McGuire, they’ll be a handful for Houston, which is coming off an overtime win against Texas-San Antonio on the road. A second consecutive game away from home will prove too tough for the New Year’s Six contender and they’ll taste defeat in a result that will be a big momentum boost for Tech.
Eddie Timanus
Saturday’s late-night window has some promising offerings that might require your humble pollster to brew an extra pot of coffee on Sunday morning. A strong candidate for sneaky-good game of the weekend is Oregon State at Fresno State.
Amid the travails of Oregon and Utah coming up short in Week 1, Oregon State’s decisive dispatching of Boise State was overlooked. If the Beavers handle another Mountain West contender, this time on the road, they’ll earn the right to be taken seriously in the Pac-12 North. The Bulldogs, of course, have their own ideas. They took care of business against FCS member Cal Poly and now get back-to-back opportunities against Pac-12 competition, traveling to Southern California next week. In short, it’s a highly meaningful game for both parties that should be worth a look if you happen to be flipping channels in the wee hours.
Dan Wolken
Georgia State will beat North Carolina. The Panthers have had some very good non-conference wins under Shawn Elliott and get a Tar Heels team that is inexplicably playing for a second week in a row on the road against Sun Belt competition. The Tar Heels barely survived against Appalachian State and might be a bit vulnerable and emotionally drained playing a another road game.
