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Herm Edwards silenced the doubters for at least one week as he made a triumphant return to the sidelines in the Arizona State Sun Devils 49-7 rout of Texas-San Antonio last week. Edwards hadn’t coached a game since 2008 when he was with the NFL’s Chiefs, and he had never been a head coach at the collegiate level until his surprising hire at ASU. The competition gets a bit tougher in Week 2 when the Sun Devils host the No. 15 ranked Michigan State Spartans in a Pac-12/Big Ten showdown in the dese... 

Week Two pits a questionable and overmatched New Mexico Lobos team against the mauling power of the Big Ten West. The Wisconsin Badgers are picked by many to make the College Football Playoff and last week only served to reinforce those lofty expectations. With the best and most experienced offensive line in the country Wisconsin should curb stomp the Lobos. The only question is whether or not this is an overlay. As last week demonstrated the Badgers can dominate while still not quite being able... 

Week two includes a once great program that is still struggling to get back to its former elite status. Once again, the Michigan Wolverines hype machine served copious amounts of Kool aid this past offseason promising a new look and better results. Yet once again coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines failed to deliver the goods on the nation’s biggest stage last week in a loss at Notre Dame. Now discredited yet again the Maize and Blue will play their home opener against the Western Michigan Broncos. Harbaugh and Michigan have much to answer for and may find WMU’s leaky defense the perfect remedy for their woes. ... 

Two of the brainiest schools in the nation will square off in Week 2 of the 2018 college football season when the Northwestern Wildcats host the Duke Blue Devils. Both teams are coming off impressive wins in their season openers. Northwestern was a one-point road favorite per the CFB betting odds on the road against Purdue last Thursday and held on for a 31-27 win, while Duke scored a comfortable win and covered the NCAAF betting line in a 34-14 victory over Army. One team will move to 2-0 after this one. ... 

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and South Florida Bulls each cruised to wins in their season openers on Saturday. South Florida had little trouble getting past a feisty Elon Phoenix team by a margin of 34-14, while Georgia Tech ran over Alcorn State 41-0 with some eye-popping numbers on the ground. Each of these teams is looking to get to 2-0 with a win in their Week 2 match-up. This will be the first-ever meeting between these two programs.... 

The Oklahoma Sooners looked incredibly sharp in their season-opening win against Florida Atlantic. Many analysts, including yours truly, expected the Owls to give the Sooners all they could handle. However, the Sooners were more than up to the challenge, jumping out to a 42-0 halftime lead in an eventual 63-14 rout where OU easily covered the CFB betting line.... 

The Lane Train ran off the tracks shortly after it crossed the Mississippi River in the season opener for the Florida Atlantic Owls. Many bettors tore up their FAU tickets by halftime in a 63-14 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma. The Owls didn’t even come close to covering the CFB betting line in the loss, but they are decent favorites against the Air Force Falcons this week.... 

The Kevin Sumlin era in the desert got off to a rocky start with the Arizona Wildcats losing their opener last week to BYU. Looking to put the Rich Rodriguez scandal-laden tenure behind them, UA made a great hire getting the former Texas AM coach to come to Tucson. Sumlin actually began his head coaching career with the Houston Cougars in 2008, restoring that program back to national prominence. Sumlin returns to his old stomping grounds in Week 2 for the first time since leaving for College Sta... 

We’ve seen schools bow to corporations to sell their stadium naming rights, or slap the name of a gracious donor on the site. Sometimes the sacred ground gets the name of a legendary coach, but rarely is that coach still roaming the sidelines. Bill Snyder retired following the 2005 season as the Kansas State Wildcats winningest coach. Four years later he was back running the show, doing it inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Snyder and his Cats get a big test from the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Week 2 of the college football season. ... 

Week Two opens on Friday night with a perennial Big 12 Conference title contender against a Group of Five team coming off its first bowl in five years but with a history that shows the inability to sustain success. The TCU Horned Frogs are always in the hunt to win the Big 12 and are expected to be a Top 25 team yet again. Known for strong defenses the Frogs must break in a new quarterback for 2018. The SMU Mustangs are known for their ability to score but also for an inability to even field a m... 

As good as the oddsmakers are at setting lines, it’s not an exact science. Opening spreads for the 2018 college football season rolled out just after Alabama knocked off Georgia for the national championship in January. Not really, but it sure seems like it. A lot can happen in the months that separate the spring from the start of the season in the fall. Players transfer, coaches do stupid stuff to put their programs in peril, and of course there are injuries, which are as much a part of the gam... 

It's hard to believe it's only been five years since Chip Kelly last walked the sidelines of a college football game. The UCLA Bruins went all-in to bring in one of the most coveted names in the coaching ranks in college football, and they've turned the keys to the castle over to him. We'll get to see him sport his new colors in Week 1 of the college football season against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday.... 

To the average college football fan, the only Group of Five team that has a legitimate chance of crashing into the College Football Playoff is UCF, but don’t count out the Boise State Broncos just yet. The Broncos are opening up the 2018 season ranked No. 22 in the nation, and they're going to have a few opportunities to prove themselves this year in a tough Mountain West Conference. The men from the Smurf Turf open up their season in Week 1 on the road with a tough non-conference game against t... 

True freshman don't often start at quarterback in major college football. In fact, the USC Trojans have only had three quarterbacks start as true freshmen during their illustrious history. All three true freshmen to have started previously (Rob Johnson, Carson Palmer and Matt Barkley) went on to play in the NFL. Will the same fate befall JT Daniels? We'll get to see the true frosh in action for the first time in Week 1 of the college football season when the Men of Troy take on the UNLV Rebels.... 

The California Golden Bears started the Justin Wilcox era on the right foot. Wilcox’s first game as head coach of the Golden Bears last year was a win over these North Carolina Tar Heels. California was a sizeable 13.5-point underdog in the game per the CFB betting odds, but Ross Bowers proved to be too much for this secondary. UNC would love to return the favorite and get an important non-conference road victory in Week 1 of the 2018 campaign.... 

The premier game of Week 1 of the college football season will take place in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon when the Washington Huskies face the Auburn Tigers. For Washington, the pride of the program and the PAC 12 as a whole is at stake, with some going so far as to say that the PAC 12 won’t be able to get a one-loss champion in the College Football Playoff if the Huskies don’t win this game. Meanwhile, Auburn is looking to shake off a disappointing end to the season that saw the Tigers drop ga... 

Dana Holgorsen has been seen as one of the sharpest offensive minds in college football over the last two decades. Holgorsen is an innovator who isn’t afraid to try new things in order to get results, and that has helped him succeed in the wide-open Big 12 during his time as head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. He and West Virginia will look to start off right in Week 1 of the 2018 season with a win over the Tennessee Volunteers.... 

As quickly as Rich Rodriguez turned the Arizona Wildcats around, the program went into a funk and RichRod was let go. It was an up and down tenure for the former coach, who won 26 games his first three seasons and posted the team’s first double-digit win campaign in 16 seasons with 10 in 2014. However, three victories in 2016 was the beginning of the end and Rodriguez was jettisoned amid a scandal following the 2017 season. The Wildcats made a good hire in Kevin Sumlin, who opens a new chapter i... 

The last time the Iowa Hawkeyes hosted the Northern Illinois Huskies, it was the beginning of another fantastic season for Northern Illinois. The Huskies were coming off an undefeated regular season and an Orange Bowl appearance, and they were aiming to repeat the feat. Northern Illinois upset Iowa as an underdog per the CFB odds, and the Huskies went on to finish the regular season undefeated once more. The Huskies are a popular upset pick in Week 1 of the 2018 season, and they will look to rew... 

Mark Stoops has continued to slowly lead the Kentucky Wildcats in the right direction. The longest-tenured head coach in the SEC East has rebuilt this program from the ground up, and Kentucky is looking to make it to a bowl game for the third straight season in 2018. The Wildcats will face a somewhat tough opponent in their Week 1 opener though, when the Central Michigan Chippewas come to town. Central Michigan went 8-5 last season and knocked off a Power Five opponent in non-conference play. Ke... 

The Georgia Bulldogs seem to have found their man in Kirby Smart. Smart’s second year in Athens was an unabashed success. Much like his mentor Nick Saban, he started off slow in his first year, but then ratcheted things up to a level that Georgia fans hadn’t seen in decades. The Bulldogs stomped most of their SEC East brethren on their way to a conference title and eventually a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. However, Smart was unable to best his mentor and ended... 

No fan of the Appalachian State Mountaineers will ever forget the team’s first game on the Big Ten Network. At the time, Appalachian State was an FCS team, but the Mountaineers soon launched themselves into the national consciousness. The Mountaineers pulled off one of the most stunning upsets ever when they beat No. 5 Michigan 34-32 in Ann Arbor. It set the program on a crash course with the FBS, where it has been one of the best Group of Five teams since moving up to the FBS five years ago. Ap... 

On Monday night Week One will wrap up with an outstanding matchup of ranked Atlantic Coast Conference teams as the Florida State Seminoles will host the Virginia Tech Hokies. The game marks the debut of new Florida State head coach Willie Taggart who arrives after the ugly departure of Jimbo Fisher to the riches of Texas A&M. The Seminoles were sluggish at the finish of 2017 as everyone knew that Fisher wanted out of town. FSU’s 7-6 finish capped off a stunning fall from the national champio... 

Without question one of the most highly anticipated Week One matchups is set for Sunday night when the Miami Hurricanes travel to Heart of Texas to face the LSU Tigers in the only game for Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium will host the matchup. This primetime showdown of two ranked teams will have the entire country focused on it. For Miami it’s a chance to maintain the momentum started last year in their first season under head coach Mark Richt. For LSU it’s a chance to cool off the hot seat talk in regards to lightly regarded coach Ed Orgeron. ... 

Even though it is Week One the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors have already posted a win following their “Week Zero” annihilation of Colorado State in what was certainly a nice respite for their storm ravaged state. For the Navy Midshipmen yet another winning season and bowl berth is the expectation for a program that is among the most consistent in the country. Both the run and shoot Rainbow Warriors and option-oriented Midshipmen are stark contrasts to each other. This makes for a challenging handicap...