College Football season has officially begun as the long dreaded 7-8 months of the off-season is finally over. The eruptions of stadiums and the helmets cracking gives fans the pleasure that they need in life.
The “No Defense” conference known as the Big 12 begins it’s slate on Friday and although, most of the teams play against FCS schools, there is a surprise or two prediction on how Week 1 turn outs to be.
Friday:
Oklahoma State at. Oregon State
Oregon State was among one of the worst FBS teams in all of College Football last year after finishing 2-10. But there is some room for optimism in 2019. Oregon State returns their big time players on offense, that starts with 6th Year Senior QB Jake Luton.
The Beavers return the talented duo of Jermar Jefferson (1,380 yards) and Artavis Pierce (408 yards and 4 scores) that’ll line up with Luton in the backfield. The most underrated Receiver, maybe in the nation, in Isaiah Hodgins and a good group of returning talent at the position.
The big problem for the Beavers is there defense, which was completely non-existent last year. They were 2nd to last in the FBS in scoring defense and total defense with 45.7 PPG and 536.8 ypg.
Oregon State does add some players coming in from transfer and some key returning starters in S Jalen Moore and DE Isaac Hodgins.
The key storyline will be both QB’s for Oklahoma State that will be playing in this game (Dru Brown and Spencer Sanders). And people know the old saying, “When you play 2 QB’s, you have zero”.
Overall, I think the Cowboys are a much better team, but it is a Friday night game in Corvallis, and for some reason, I think this game will be much closer than people expect.
With a new QB and some talent that’s left unproven on the D-Line, I think Oregon State hangs around for a half, but eventually, falls to the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State 45, Oregon State 24
Saturday:
Iowa State vs. Northern Iowa
Most people are looking for the WV-JMU upset. This one probably wont happen, but is expected to be closer than the line predicts.
UNI has been a really good FCS program over the last 5 years and went 3 rounds deep in the FCS Playoffs this past year.
Northern Iowa was a below average offense last year and combining that with how good Iowa State’s defense is could make this game ugly early.
I think Iowa State will struggle offensively slightly through the first two games with the losses of David Montgomery and a freak of an athlete in Hakeem Butler.
But the Cyclones will find a rhythm and win this game rather handily. Brock Purdy will throw for two scores and run for two and the talented freshman RB Breece Hall will find the end zone for the first time in his Cyclone career.
Iowa State 42, Northern Iowa 21.
Kansas vs. Indiana State
The Pooka Williams suspension makes this game a little bit more interesting than it is suppose to be. Khalil Herbert will be the starting running back in his place, but Herbert doesn’t have near as much of a impact as Williams would.
Kansas is breaking in a new QB and the leading receiver returning had a marginal 330 yards and one touchdown all of last season in Stephan Robinson.
Indiana State went a respectable 7-4, considering they play in the Missouri Valley conference, which has the #1 program in the nation (North Dakota State) and a program that defeated the Jayhawks not too long ago in South Dakota State.
This game with Pooka is a 20-24 point win, but without, I think the Jayhawks squeak by as it is also game 1 for Les Miles as the man in charge in Lawrence.
Kansas 30, Indiana State 20
West Virginia vs. James Madison
This game was featured as the trap game for West Virginia that was posted toward the latter part of last week. And I still hold to that.
It’s not common to predict upsets from such a respectable program like West Virginia to a powerhouse FCS in James Madison. JMU has a lot of key pieces returning and brought in a very good HC.
Meanwhile, it’s Game 1 for Neal Brown and he has a lot of turnover from this past season. Austin Kendall struggles out the gates, but Kennedy McKoy is able to carry the load and scores two first half touchdowns.
WV’s secondary starts to break down and it turns into a bit of a shootout. As the clock hits zero, CFB will have one of it’s big upsets as James Madison shocks the Mountaineers and starts the Neal Brown era off with a loss.
James Madison 38, West Virginia 35.
Texas Tech vs. Montana State
Montana State went two rounds deep into the FCS Playoffs, but got hammered by North Dakota State. But Montana State did not play a single FBS team last year and going from nobody to Texas Tech is a big step up.
For winning at year 1, I think Matt Wells inherited the best squad that has a new head coach. A QB of the future in Alan Bowman, some good weapons to throw too, a decent O-Line, and the best secondary the Red Raiders have had in almost a decade.
To the surprise of some, this game shouldn’t be close and most of the Tech backups will be playing by the beginning of the 4th quarter.
Texas Tech has some holes, but in this game, the Red Raiders flex their muscles and win big.
Texas Tech 55, Montana State 17.
Baylor vs. Stephen F. Austin
The Bears and Lumberjacks had only one common opponent last year and that was Abilene Christian. The Bears soundly defeated the Wildcats, 59-27 last season; While the Lumberjacks squeaked out a 24-21 win at home.
But SFA was not accustomed to winning last season as they finished 2-8 with their lone other win coming against Houston Baptist.
Baylor is just hoping to play well through the first half and prevent injuries. This is a game where quite a few of the backups will get in through the end of the 3rd quarter.
Charlie Brewer throws for a couple touchdowns and the trio of Ebner-Hasty-Lovett will combine for 4 touchdowns as the Bears begin the 2019 season 1-0.
Baylor 52, Stephen F. Austin 14
Kansas State vs. Nicholls
Nicholls and Kansas State have a common opponent from last year and defeated both. That would be the Kansas Jayhawks. Nicholls is also a team that lost by 25 to Tulane, so take that Kansas game for what you will.
With Chris Klieman at the helm for the Wildcats, K-State fans should be really excited for what the future holds. Since taking over in 2014, Klieman has dominated FCS by winning 4 of the last five national titles with North Dakota State and was Coach of the Year in 2017.
But Klieman hasn’t played against teams that might be talent wise, better than his. This is also his first FBS job, so it leaves questions as to whether he can bring what he brought at NDSU to Kansas State.
Nicholls is losing a lot of talent and didn’t play a team near as good as K-State, so give me the Wildcats by quite a bit.
Kansas State 34, Nicholls 13.
Texas vs. Louisiana Tech
A tune up to the LSU game, they will play another foe from the state of Louisiana. Texas should be loaded on offense this season, and the secondary is by far among the best in the Big 12.
The front 7 shouldn’t be tested a ton as Louisiana Tech ranked in the bottom half of the conference in rushing last season with 129.6 yards per game.
This isn’t a game where Texas should get pushed around (especially in their home place). All they need to do is play well and get rested for the big time showdown next week in Austin against Louisiana State.
Texas 45, Louisiana Tech 14.
TCU vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff
Arkansas Pine Bluff was absolutely dreadful last season. They may have been on some sort of news outlet last year with their mind-boggling 90-6 loss against South Dakota State.
They also lost by 49 to Prairie View A&M and by 46 to FIU. And they shouldn’t be any better this season. TCU needs as much time to figure out it’s QB situation as possible, and APBU is the perfect opponent to get some of the jitters out.
Jalen Reagor is a top 3 WR in the conference and the duo running backs of Sewo and Darius Anderson should be dominant. The TCU defense forces 4 takeaways and takes 2 for touchdowns. TCU dominates in Week 1.
TCU 56, Arkansas Pine Bluff 10.
Sunday:
Oklahoma vs. Houston
This is the game of the week in the Big 12 and also the last game of week 1.
It’s familiar foes as coaches as the two teams fighting for a spot in the Big 12 title game meet just 8 months later as Dana Holgerson is the new head coach at Houston.
After exploding for 3,600 total yards and 50 touchdowns, D’Eriq King is looking to make a statement against a big time team. Houston hasn’t been quite to the level of elite since Tom Herman was there and the win the Cougars had back in 2016 against Baker Mayfield-led OU.
King against OU’s secondary will be a big time matchup to watch out for. Schools like Houston and SMU have been kind of the route for transfers to go to from big time schools and they have had success from it.
I do think Oklahoma wins this game, because they are just too talented, but Houston’s offense makes this a game and a shootout in Reliant Stadium.
Oklahoma 48, Houston 41.
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