Last week, I attempted to pick every Big Ten game in Week 2 of the college football season. With every team playing a nonconference matchup, that meant 13 games to predict (not including the three teams facing FCS opponents).
So how did my picks fare? Let’s take a look and see:
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Maryland over Northern Illinois (Friday)
“If Maryland wins this game, does that make them better than Notre Dame?”
Maryland did win the game. The jury is still out on whether or not they are better than Notre Dame.
Record: 1-0
Penn State over FIU
“Some games are difficult to predict. This is not one of those games.”
Penn State actually drew some scrutiny in this one for “only” winning 34-0.
Record: 2-0
Illinois over Duke
“This might very well be the most underrated game of the week. Luke Altmyer and the Illini go into Durham and establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten race.”
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With the benefit of winning the turnover battle 5-0, the Illini went on the road and handled the Blue Devils. The Trojans‘ September 27 trip to Champaign, Illinois continues to loom large.
Record: 3-0
Iowa State over Iowa
“I deliberated long and hard about this one. Ultimately, though, the Cyclones have a weapon at their disposal that the Hawkeyes do not: the forward pass.”
Iowa finished the game with 83 passing yards. In completely unrelated news, they lost.
Record: 4-0
Indiana over Kennesaw State
“Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers continue their ‘SEC scheduling philosophy’ with another daunting game against the Owls of Kennesaw State.”
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Indiana dominated this game from start to finish.
Record: 5-0
Oregon over Oklahoma State
“There is only one orange and black OSU that knows how to beat Oregon, and it is not the Cowboys.”
There are blowouts, and then there is what happened to Oklahoma State in Eugene on Saturday.
Record: 6-0
Rutgers over Miami Ohio
“I picked the RedHawks to upset a Big Ten team last week, and they let me down. I am not going to make the same mistake two weeks in a row.”
I did indeed learn from my mistake, as Rutgers won this one easily.
Record: 7-0
Wisconsin over Middle Tennessee State
“I picked the Badgers to lose to a Group of Five opponent last week and they let me down. I am not going to make the same mistake two weeks in a row.”
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Wisconsin might be the worst 2-0 Power Four team in the country, but they are still a 2-0 Power Four team.
Record: 8-0
Oklahoma over Michigan
“In games like this, I tend to favor the team with the more experienced quarterback. In this case, that is Oklahoma, who will roll out redshirt junior John Mateer, while Michigan goes with true freshman Bryce Underwood.”
Sure enough, Mateer significantly played Underwood as Oklahoma rolled at home.
Record: 9-0 (If you know, you know)
USC over Georgia Southern
“The last time that Clay Helton was in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, his defense gave up 42 points to a terrible Stanford team. Lincoln Riley and the Trojans might top that by halftime.”
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The Trojans “only” put up 31 in the first half, but they still cruised to a 59-20 victory over their former head coach.
Record: 10-0
Nebraska over Akron
“Patrick Mahomes probably will not be able to make it back from Friday’s Kansas City Chiefs game in Brazil for this one. Fortunately for Nebraksa, they have discount Mahomes, check that, Dylan Raiola, waiting in the wing.”
Discount Mahomes and the Nebraska offense dropped 68 points on Akron.
Record: 11-0
UCLA over UNLV
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Except for DeShaun Foster. Unfortunately for UCLA fans, he will in fact be returning to Westwood with his team after this one.”
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UCLA lost, but Foster is still their head coach. For USC fans, that is a win-win.
Record: 11-1
Overall analysis
The only thing preventing me from a perfect record on the week was picking UCLA. Clearly, the important lesson from this is to never trust a bRuin.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Revisiting college football Big Ten predictions following Week 2
