Every conference teams chances of winning their Week 1 matchups, as I see it. Agree or disagree? Thursday Eastern Illinois at Minnesota, 6 p.m., BTN....95%. Lose this one and every Gopher fan will have a seizure (sorry, bad joke). Rutgers at Washington State, 9 p.m., Fox Sports 1....30% (night game on the road in the opener, 3 time zone difference (kickoff is at MIDNIGHT for those in the eastern time zone, and more importantly, for Rutgers players). Looks to me like Rutgers could be in trouble in this one. Friday Jacksonville State at Michigan State, 6:30 p.m., BTN....100%. An upset here would be even more shocking than Appy State knocking off Michigan a few years back. Jville State did play FSU very close a few years back. Saturday Penn State vs. UCF (in Ireland), 7:30 a.m., ESPN2...80%. It was a close game last season (34-31), new PSU HC and staff, neutral field in Ireland. Some potential for an upset here. Appalachian State at Michigan, 11 a.m., ESPN2..100%. Zero chance Michigan overlooks Appy State after what happened the last time these teams met. Hoke should be fired on the spot if they let it happen again. Indiana State at Indiana, 11 a.m., ESPN News....99%. Indianas D would have to suck even worse than last year to lose this one, which probably isnt possible. Youngstown State at Illinois, 11 a.m., BTN....90%. Could possibly be a close game against one of the better FCS teams, historically anyway. Coach Beckman would probably need to update his resume if they were to be upset here though. Northern Iowa at Iowa, 11 a.m., BTN....95%. Iowa won by only one point last time these two teams met, so chances arent 100% they win but close to it IMO. The schedule looks quite easy through the first 10 games, on paper anyway. Western Michigan at Purdue, 11 a.m., ESPNU...80%. Purdue has nowhere to go but up, so they figure to be at least somewhat improved...but a loss here wouldnt be completely shocking (my Purdue fan co-worker says no loss by Purdue has ever been shocking since Drew Brees graduated). Ohio State vs. Navy (in Baltimore), 11. a.m., CBS Sports Network....95%. Could be a tricky opener for OSU, depending on how well they defend the triple option. Hard to envision a loss here though, for a team that has the best odds of any conference team of making the college football playoffs. Florida Atlantic at Nebraska, 2:30 p.m., BTN...90%. Florida Atlantic has some decent athletes, did win their final 4 games last season and did make a bowl game (not that making a bowl game is big accomplishment anymore). I will be in attendance, and was in the stands the last time the Huskers lost an opener in Lincoln to a Florida team, FSU in 1985. Unless we have an Iowa State 2009/Northwestern 2011/Minnesota 2013 type of performance, I think we most likely win big (by 3-4 TDs) in this one....but if the turnover bug hits again this could be much closer than many of us would like to think. A loss here would be pretty devastating, and would make for a very long drive back to MN for me. California at Northwestern, 2:30 p.m., ABC regional (ESPN2 in outer markets)...80%. It was a close game last season out on the Left coast, but you gotta think NW takes this one at home. Will be interesting to see what NWs O looks like for an entire game without Kain Kolter, who seems like he was there for a very long time. James Madison at Maryland, 2:30 p.m., BTN...100%, Dont know much about either team, to tell you the truth...but if you lose to something called James Madison you shouldnt be the member of a major conference and I trust that they wont embarrass the Big 10 in their first game as a member. Wisconsin vs. LSU (in Houston), 8 p.m., ESPN...30%. Toughest opener by far, of any conference team in terms of level of competition. A win here by Wisconsin would surprise most people, but Iowa gave LSU a pretty good game in the bowl game so I could see this being a pretty close game. If the Badgers had more experienced players back on D, I would feel better about their chances though.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:57:42 +0000