10A-- Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Top matchups in week two

By H. JOSE BOSCH
Daily Sports Editor
Week one of the college foot-
ball season wasn't supposed to
be eventful. It turned out a little
differently. At any rate, week two
should be interesting for reasons
not related to catastrophic loss-
es, and one top-10 team will fall
before the sun sets on a second
weekend of college football. Read
on to find out who.
No. 3 West Virginia at Mar-
shall -11:10 a.m., ESPN
Marshall put up a valiant effort
against Miami (Fla.) last weekend

and could have been rewarded for
their efforts if its offense didn't
suck, its defense didn't allow 341
yards and the team didn't commit
11 penalties. Other than that, the
Thundering Herd is right there.
Butreally,WestVirginiawillcrush
Marshall. The lethal combination
of Pat White and Steve Slaton will
expose holes you didn't even know
existed in a defense. Last week the
Mountaineers dropped 64 points
on Western Michigan and racked
up more than SO yards. West
Virginia hasn't lost a game in this
series, and even though it'll be
making its first trip to Hunting-
ton since 1915, things will stay the

same. At least Marshall can look
forward to New Hampshire next
week. We are ... losing!
West Virginia 54, Marshall 10
Miami (Fla.) at No. 5 Oklaho-
ma - Noon, ABC
New Hurricanes coach Randy
Shannon was glad his team had
an easy opener. But I'm sure he
wants to play next week's oppo-
nent - Florida International -
sooner rather than later. Instead,
his squad must square off against
the Sooners, and it'll be in hos-
tile territory. Miami quarterback
Kirby Freeman was less than stel-
lar against Marshall (9-for-21, 89
yards, one touchdown) and has
his running backs to thank for
bailing him out with 251 total
yards. But he'll have to play
like a hurricane rather than
just a tropical storm if he wants
to give his team any chance at
winning. Oklahoma allowed
just 10 points and 15 rushing
yards against North Texas.
Sure, it seems like the Mean
Green abandoned the run, but
when you read that those 15
yards came on 31 attempts, you
realize that this defense is pret-
ty strong. Sooner quarterback
Sam Bradford looked sharp in
the season opener (21-for-23,
363 yards, three touchdowns)
and should pick apart the Miami
secondary.
No. 5 Oklahoma 38, Miami 13
No. 19 TCU at No. 7 Texas
-7 p.m.
Unless you have XM radio,
you probably won't know what
happens in this game until
Sunday morning, but impress
your football friends and tell
them this: TCU will beat Texas.
The Longhorns looked vulner-
able last weekend when they
defeated Arkansas State by just
one score, 21-13. In that game,
Texas needed to recover a sec-
ond onside kick attempt, before
the team could finally breathe
a sigh of relief. Longhorn quar-
terback Colt McCoy's numbers
weren't terrible in that game,

but his two interceptions didn't
help. Not to mention the Longhorn
defense gave up almost 400 yards
of total offense to Arkansas State.
Enter TCU. The Horned Frogs are
9-1 in their past ten games against
teams from a BCS conference and
lookingto avenge their almost-win
in the schools' last meeting. TCU
was driving with less than a half
minute to play before it gave up a
sack, fumble and the game, 27-19.
Texas won't be so lucky this year.
No. 19 TCU 23, No. 7 Texas 17
No. 9 Virginia Tech at No. 2
Louisiana State - 9:15 p.m., ESPN
There haven't been two highly-
ranked teams recently that have
gone through as much as Virginia
Tech and Louisiana State. Two
years ago one school had to pick
up the pieces after a devastating
hurricane. Last year the other
school had to pick up the emo-
tional pieces following a tragic
school shooting. But in both cases,
football helped the schools heal
their wounds and briefly forget
the trials of life. The Hokies gave
their classmates something to
smile about when they won their
home opener against East Caro-
lina last weekend, the first foot-
ball game since the tragic day in
Blacksburg. Despite the win, Vir-
ginia Tech didn't play very well.
Three turnovers prevented the
Hokies from taking full advan-
tage of the Pirates. But the Tigers
will be a much tougher opponent
than East Carolina. In college
football's season opener, Louisi-
ana Tech showed the nation that
a great defense can be pretty fun
to watch. Mississippi State gained
146 yards on offense, but just 10on
the ground. Talk about formidable.
The worst part for Virginia Tech
is that their best offensive weapon
is their running back, so this will
be like watching someone running
into a wall all evening. Not to be
outdone, the Hokies have led the
nation in total defense the last
two years. Expect this one to be a
grind it out defensive battle.
No. 2 Louisiana State 14, No. 9
Virginia Tech 10

APPH(
Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten shouldn't have much to worry about.
Big Ten in for
la me weekend

By H. JOSE BOSCH
Daily Sports Editor
Let's be honest: This week-
end is awful if you're a Big Ten
fan. With a few exceptions,
most of the conference games
will be painful to watch. But
there are no breaks in writing
Around the Big Ten. So if you
want to know what's going to
happen this weekend (and you
do because you won't be able to
actually see most of the games),
read on.
Akron at No 12 Ohio State
- Noon, Big Ten Network
The Buckeyes have many
gameday traditions, among
them spelling a four letter word
and dotting an "i." But none are
better than scheduling some
of Ohio's finest universities to
come visit the Horseshoe. The
tradition continues this week-
end as Akron rolls into town.
Ohio State's offense and defense
looked great despite losing
some top-tier talent, but then
again most teams don't when
they begin the season against
a Football Championship Sub-
division team (ha, ha). Akron
looked weak against Army last
weekend, which is impressive
considering Army is a terrible
football team. This one won't

be close.
No. 12 Ohio State 42, Akron 7
Nevada at Northwestern
- Noon, BTN
The Big Ten Network keeps
the good times rolling with this
game that should turn into an
instant classic. This game is
so irrelevant that ESPN hasn't
even bothered writing one sen-
tence to preview it. The Wild-
cats shut out Northeastern last
weekend en route to a 27-0
win while Nevada was abused
by No. 20 Nebraska. The good
news for Northwestern is that
its offense was working and
should continue this weekend.
Northwestern is a much easier
opponent for the Wolf Pack than
Nebraska, but giving up more
than 600 yards of total offense
is still pretty rough. Nevada is
coming off a bowl season while
the Wildcats have been peren-
nial cellar dwellers, so I'll give
the Wolf Pack the benefit of the
doubt.
Nevada 24, Northwestern 17
BowlingGreenat Michigan
State - Noon, BTN
OK, so Michigan State fans
felt superior for one week. But
that honeymoon won't last.
Bowling Green maybe a double-
See BIG TEN, Page 12A

U

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