As Week 1 is in the books, Week 2 of the college football season is set for a top-10 matchup and early conference competition.
FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt shared his picks ahead of the Week 2 slate on Thursday’s edition of “The Joel Klatt Show.”
Klatt’s thoughts: “I could go either way. I really, really like both of these teams. This is going to be a different team for each of these head coaches than they brought into this matchup a year ago. You got experienced quarterback play now. This is no longer an unknown. I don’t expect this to be a low-scoring game…I think it’s going to be different this year. I could see both of these teams scoring in the twenties. I don’t anticipate one of these teams running away from the other… this is as heavyweight as heavyweights get.
“Do we have bigger brands in college football than Ohio State and Texas? Do we have teams that are better equipped from a resource perspective? Do we have more talented rosters than Ohio State and Texas? Any time these two teams and programs go anywhere, they are the big dog. They finally play eye to eye, and they get to walk into this one and go ‘that looks like us,’ that’s why I love this game… this difference in this game is going to be the five guys in front. This is a dependent game… the defenses will have to adjust.”
Klatt’s pick: “I think Ohio State wins it. I think they kick a field goal in a tie ball game in walk off fashion. 27-24.”
Klatt’s thoughts: “These two teams played an absolute thriller last year. This year, the game is in Provo, which I think is a very formidable place to play. Noah Fifita is experienced enough not to be intimidated. From an Arizona perspective, that’s great. The question is can Arizona hold up against what I think is going to be a very physical, run-oriented offense for BYU, led by Bear Bachmeier and LJ Martin. LJ Martin was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year ago, and Bear is just… he’s a bear to deal with. There’s no doubt.
“Arizona is trying to replace a lot of guys, particularly on the secondary, from last year’s defense, which was very effective. Can Arizona move the ball? Probably. Are they going to score points? Yeah. At the end of the day. Is BYU better than they are? Probably. And they’re at home. To me it’s close. I think Fifita is too experienced, they’ve got enough on the outside. I really don’t know who is going to be their go-to guy. So can they run and hide from Arizona? No.”
Klatt’s pick: “I like BYU to win this, I think they win 24-20.”
Klatt’s thoughts: “I think this one will be more interesting than a lot of us realize. Keelon Russell played pretty well for his debut at Alabama. I’m a little concerned that he had to scramble so much. That offensive line struggled a year ago for Alabama. They need to run the ball better, they need to protect the passer better, we all know that: 95% of those rush yards that Russell had came on the scramble. That’s worrisome for me. Although, he looked dynamic doing it… and now you know why he won that job for Kalen DeBoer.
“Kentucky, they got a brand-new kind of everything. Will Stein comes in as the head coach, he was the former offensive coordinator at Oregon. What I think Will did a nice job of is he brought in some really experienced guys at coordinators, including Jay Bateman from Texas A&M a year ago. What Bateman did best was put pressure on the quarterback, rush the passer. They were not great against the run. Kenny Minchey transfers in from Notre Dame… Minchey had 300 yards and four touchdowns [last week]. Kentucky’s got the former Texas running back CJ Baxter, who I thought a lot of before he got injured.
“I just come down to this: the Bama defense was great.. the real strength of this team and the real identity of this team is the defense. I just don’t know if Kentucky is going to be able to move the ball and sustain enough drives to sit there and cover the 10.5 [spread].”
Klatt’s pick: “I got Bama on the road 28-17, Russell gets his first road win in the SEC.”
Can Alabama stay hot heading into SEC play?
“This could be a really interesting one. Texas A&M is actually favored by 14.5. I think this has to do with the fact that there are so many transfers into Arizona State. Having to replace 18 starters, including Sam Leavitt who just set the world on fire at LSU, including Raleek Brown, who transferred to Texas… and Jordan Tyson, who went to the draft. So you’re replacing some very good football players. They did get a really nice start from his quarterback, Cutter Boley. He was a Kentucky transfer. Kenny Dillingham did a really nice job with their schematics.
“On the A&M side… they were a bit slow in the first half against Missouri State, but they ended up winning it 50-0. They just have a third-year starting quarterback which I really like. Marcel Reed is in his third year as starting quarterback… they’re in college station. This comes down to, to me, Kenny Dillingham. I think he’s going to put pressure on the new coordinators at Texas A&M. He’s going to make them defend the entire field. I like what ASU has on the outside. I’m not going to pick them.”
Klatt’s pick: “I see A&M winning this ball game 30-17.”
“Boise State is favored by 7.5… I think that this juncture in the year, these are two of the very few handfuls of teams that I think could actually be the Group of Six representatives for the College Football Playoff… I really like Charles Huff, the head coach at Memphis. I really do. There’s some buzz around Memphis right now, and they played like it [in Week 1].
“Meanwhile, Boise goes up there and goes toe-to-toe and throws haymakers with Oregon. Listen, say what you will about Oregon’s struggles in the first few weeks of the last couple of years. That’s a real roster. Boise hung in there. Is it easier for a Group of Six team to hang in there earlier in the season? Yes… that best effort was a very good effort. I love what Spencer Danielson has built there… it’s a continuation of everything that’s been built up there in Boise. They’ve shown they can play at the top Power Four level.
“They have an experienced quarterback in Maddux Madsen. He played well against Oregon, he had three touchdowns. Quarterback from Memphis is Marcus Stokes… he played really well. They’ve got a running back, Jaylin Carter, coming off a huge game last week… The problem for Memphis is, what I saw from Boise against Oregon was just too impressive.”
Klatt’s pick: “I’ve got Boise winning this ball game… Beating Memphis at home 35-21.”
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