Week 2 Betting Preview: Get excited about Texas-Alabama, A&M v Miami, and Ole Miss v Tulane
It’s Week 2 of the season tomorrow. The two words on everyone in college football’s mouth is: “Texas” and “Alabama”.
Texas fans are apparently forking out $1,000 just to be there – even though Alabama’s widely expected to be comfortable. But that’s not the cool games in the SEC.
Ole Miss goes to Tulane in a battle of ‘First to 100’. Texas A&M goes to Miami in the battle of ‘Guess Which School’s Back After Winning This One’. Auburn go up the West Coast to Cal. Mississippi State hosts the high-octane offense of Arizona. And there’s FBS intrigue in the battle of the rich private schools as Vanderbilt goes across state lines to face Wake Forest.
However, there are duds.
We’re trying our hardest to be excited about Georgia v Ball State, Arkansas v Kent State and Missouri hosting MTSU (all FBS v FBS games). There’s also going to be an awesome half-time show when Grambling goes to LSU. But Florida v McNeese, Tennessee v Austin Peay, South Carolina v Furman and Kentucky v Eastern Kentucky will be utter drivel.
So here we goo (in order of intrigue)….
- No.11 Texas at No.3 Alabama (-7): Jalen Milroe got the Alabama tongues wagging with his excellent, Jalen Hurts-like performance against mighty MTSU, while Texas’ offensive line and some bad misses by Quinn Ewers got fans of the Longhorns – and Vegas – thinking that this game isn’t going to live up to expectations. Texas’ CJ Baxter, the freshman soon-to-be-star RB, returned to practice on Monday, which means the Longhorns should pack quite the punch on the floor. If the offensive line can do its job. And if the offense can give Ewers some time, Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell will give Bama fits. So why are Alabama the favorite? This one should be simple. First of all, they are at home. Texas doesn’t have a history of traveling well. Alabama’s place is a quasi-fortress. Secondly, Alabama’s spread offense can shred Texas, who really aren’t that great. Oh, and thirdly, Alabama’s defense is very, very good. Look for Caleb Downs to be one of the star safeties for ‘Bama. PREDICTION: Alabama 38, Texas 28 in a classic until the final quarter. Then the Crimson Tide pull away.
- No.20 Ole Miss (-7) at No.24 Tulane: Tulane has been wearing the ‘disrespect’ badge all over Bourbon Street for a while now, but let’s not be fooled: This is a very good team. RB Tyjae Spears may have gone to the NFL, but Willie Fritz ain’t gonna be too worried about that, with his high-octane offense remaining high-octane. QB Michael Pratt – who had over 3,000 yards passing last year – still leads the line, with Jha’quan Jackson and A&M transfer Yulkeith Brown expected to pick up some slack. Ole Miss still has a QB battle raging between Jaxson Dart, Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard all vying for playing time. Hopefully for the Rebels, Kiffin will work this out soon. But the ‘X-Factor’ will be Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins, who’s awesome. He’ll cut a knife through Tulane’s ‘D’. PREDICTION: Judkins the difference in one of the most entertaining back-and-forths of the week, and probably the year. Ole Miss 48, Tulane 44.
- Texas A&M (-4 1/2) at Miami: Both teams smashed their respective opponents last week, with the Hurricanes hammering the OTHER Miami 38-3, and Texas A&M thumping New Mexico 52-10. Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke went 17-22 for 201 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but it was all about the team’s rushing game. The Canes ran for 250 yards, led by Henry Parrish, who ran for 90 of them (with a touchdown). On the other hand, Texas A&M fans glowed about the performance of Conor Weigman (236 yards, 5 TDs), and words for the offense like “loaded” and “the future” were thrown around with much job. Honestly, we haven’t a clue what to think from the point-of-view of both sides, because they played such utter fodder. But we’ll guarantee one thing: If Weigman can get the ball to Evan Stewart, he’s going to cause damage. Then again, if Texas A&M goes back to its awful run defense of 2023, then Parrish will have the time of his life. PREDICTION: Miami with the upset in another fun game. Miami 38, Texas A&M 35.
- Auburn (-6)at California: Cal surprised us all by clubbing North Texas 58-21 on the road, making people believe that this team – while not being ‘back’ to the 2007 days – might at least get to 6-6 for the first time since 2019. Memorial Stadium is one of the most beautiful stadiums in football (we were there for Cal’s upset of Ole Miss), and Auburn fans are going to take over the place (Why wouldn’t you want a weekend in Northern California?!). The Tigers have got to get a control of NC State transfer Ben Finley and RB Jaydn Ott, while Cal’s got to make sure Payton Thorne’s returns to being The ‘Mr Ordinary’ that he was at Michigan State. PREDICTION: Auburn smashes the smart kids with a strong second half performance. Auburn 28, Cal 17.
- Arizona at Mississippi State (-9): We love Will Rogers, and he’ll be up against a relatively untested Arizona team who waltzed by Northern Arizona in Week 1. This isn’t your usual Arizona team though. They are entertaining. And not awful. They score a bunch of points, and Mississippi State may have to get into a shoot-out to win. Arizona will be hoping that Jayden De Laura even more improved from 2022, where he threw for 3,685 yards, 25 TDs and 13 INTs. In other words, he’s a gamer. Will Rogers is pretty good at flinging the ball too, and it seems that the offensive philosophies haven’t changed from 2022 to 2023. PREDICTION: It’s close for a whiie, before the defense from Starkville takes over. Mississippi State 35, Arizona 21
- Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (-10): Vandy’s 2-0 and looking to keep the unbeaten streak going, and they go to a Wake team that’s without Sam Hartman, but that was against Elon. Wake Forest has no running game (98 yards total against a FCS team ain’t good), so you can expect Vandy’s secondary to get even more tested than they were against Hawaii in Week 0. Prediction: Wake Forest to dominate. Wake Forest 38, Vanderbilt 17.
- MTSU at Missouri (-20.5): Missouri fans will look to an improving Brady Cook and more fun from Luther Burden Jr. MTSU was ripped to shreds by Alabama, but things might be closer on Saturday against a far worse offense. PREDICTION: Missouri 35, MTSU 14.
- Ball State at Georgia (-42): Georgia fans were annoyed at Carson Beck wasn’t the second coming of Aaron Murray or Matt Stafford last Saturday, but he still threw for 300-odd yards, albeit a FCS team. We expect Ball State to put up a better fight – especially considering how good they were against Kentucky (the score did not reflect how close it actually was). PREDICTION: Having said all that, Georgia will roll. But not cover. Georgia 45, Ball State 7
- Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky (-31.5): Kentucky was a lot worse than the result went, but the defense was awesome, which brought Devin Leary his first ‘W’ as quarterback of the Wildcats. Last week Eastern Kentucky was massacred at Cincinnati 66-13, and it wouldn’t be hard to see something fairly similar here….if Mark Stoops isn’t merciful. PREDICTION: Mark Stoops is merciful. Kentucky 42, Eastern Kentucky 7.
- Kent State at Arkansas (-38.5): Kent State lost everybody that was good last year, but it’s gaining $1 million by getting slammed by Arkansas. PREDICTION: Arkansas 48, Kent State 7.
- Grambling at LSU (N/A): The Battle Of The Bands at half-time gonna be lit!! PREDICTION: Grambling 31, LSU 30 (Bands); LSU 53, Grambling 10 (Game)
- Austin Peay at Tennessee (N/A): Yawn. PREDICTION: Tennessee 63, Austin Peay 3.
- McNeese at Florida (N/A): Only Florida fans will care about the Gators’ home opener. PREDICTION: Florida 51, McNeese 0.
- Furman at South Carolina (N/A): South Carolina’s gonna dump all over a team that we loved when they beat Virginia in March Madness. PREDICTION: South Carolina 65, Furman 0