Week 1 Key Matchups

Week 1 Key Matchups

 

      Finally! We are just a couple weeks out and it's time to start throwing out picks each week. Lets take a look at the key games to watch in week 1.

 

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

North Carolina at South Carolina

Mississippi State vs Oklahoma State

Alabama vs Virginia Tech

Georgia at Clemson

LSU vs TCU

FSU at Pitt

    

 

 

   It will be an exciting first weekend of college football. There are some good conference matchups mixed in with a few interesting non-conference matchups. Perhaps the biggest game will be Georgia at Clemson. Wow! This game will be the first game to affect the National Title race. The really fun part of this game is that it doesn't make or break the season for either team since they both will still have chances at their conference championships. I would expect both teams to leave it all on the field. The 'we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain' mentality will be in full swing. No other non-conference game will be as big as this one in the first week.

 

     Bama vs Virginia Tech might be the snoozer of the week. No offense to the Hokies, but they aren't ready and they tend to play pretty bad in these non-conference season openers. As bad as this game could get, it might be a decent measuring stick for the Hokies to see if they have improved from last season's terrible run. Oh well, it will still be a game to watch. Everyone wants to see what the Crimson Tide are capable of early in the season. If you are a Tide fan, however, I wouldn't read to much into this game if it turns into a blowout. The Hokies were a 7-6 team last season and they were 0-2 against top 25 teams. This isn't the Virginia Tech from 5 or 6 seasons ago.

 

 

     As far as conference matchups go....... Ole Miss at Vanderbilt is pretty big. This is a game, much different from most of the others, that could make or break a season for these teams. Vanderbilt is looking to build off of another big season. The buzz is there, but I am not sure this team is as good as last year's. Coach Franklin may need to get through one more season before we can expect Vanderbilt to be a consistent 7 or 8 win team. However, if they can pull out this win against Ole Miss, Vandy will be well on there way. It's a game of confidence at Vanderbilt right now, and their confidence is still a fragile piece to the puzzle.

 

 

     A game that might not look that great on paper, but there is plenty of buzz around, is Florida State AT Pitt. Obviously, the Seminoles are the better team and have the better athletes at every position......But the buzz isn't around the matchup, so much that it is around a couple of factors that will dictate the Seminoles' season. The QB battle in Tallahassee is still on according to Coach Fisher, but the rest of the country is ready to hear that Jamies Winston is the guy. The other element to watch will be the Seminoles' defense, which lost its entire defensive line to the draft. Also, it will be the first game to get a look at the new defensive system put into place by first year defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt. Whether you are a fan of either team or not, this game will get a lot of attention. It's the Labor Day game, and mix that with college football fans wanting to see what the buzz is about around this Jamies Winston kid...... It will be a fun game. Imagine what it would be like if Winston didn't start.... Man, what a bummer that would be after all the hype surrounding him right now....

 

 

    That's it for this week. Don't worry, I plan on hitting a couple more of Week 1's matchups next week. Reader Questions will kick back up again next week, as well. Post your questions here, post them to our Facebook page, or send to Jeremy.cf2d@yahoo.com Also, I like reading and comparing your predictions with mine, so feel free to send those in as well. See you next week.