Week one of college football is behind us, so let’s turn our attention to the second week. In this weekly series I will point out the games I feel college football fans should keep an eye on. At the end I will highlight the games that our regional (Charlotte) college football fans should watch out for. Week one brought us a pretty lackluster schedule, as pointed out in last week’s article, but did give us some good games with a few upsets…we’re looking at you, Tennessee. Week two should be at least just as good, if not better than last week. Let’s dive in.

#12 Texas A&M at #1 Clemson

Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

This game is expected to be a very good one, and will be a rematch of last year’s meeting. Texas A&M was Clemson’s biggest challenger last season as they took the game down to the wire before Clemson pulled it out late. And everyone knows that the Tigers would go on to win every game and go undefeated. So the Aggies will be hungry to get what they came so close to getting last season. This will also be Clemson’s biggest challenge on the season, since the ACC is not what it used to be in football. If they win this game, their odds of going undefeated again in the regular season will increase quite a bit. We also had a Texas A&M player guarantee a victory earlier this week, so take that for what it’s worth.

#25 Nebraska at Colorado

Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

I’ve got this as a game to keep an eye on because I believe it will result in Nebraska getting beat and a top-25 team going down. I would love to see the Cornhusker program be good again because it’s been a while and I believe it would be good for college football, but they looked very shaky last week at home against South Alabama. Now they go on the road in a tough environment against a Colorado team I believe is getting better under new head coach Mel Tucker. This just feels like a game where Nebraska will struggle to get much going and end up losing to a decent Colorado team.

#6 LSU at #9 Texas

Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

This is the college football game of the week, and where ESPN’s College Gameday will be set up, for good reason. This game will be magnificent. When I think of non-conference college football games, this is exactly the type of matchup I want to see…two powerhouses competing against one another with their conference’s reputation on the line. LSU has been very good and has been Alabama’s biggest competitor (up until Georgia recently) and Texas is trying to make a comeback as one of college football’s best teams again after some rough years in the last decade. With Matthew McConaughey guest picking on ESPN this weekend, I don’t see how the Longhorns lose this one. Alright, alright, alright.

Regional Games of Interest

Charlotte at Appalachian State

Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

These two teams played each other for the first time last year and it resulted in a 45-9 Appalachian State victory in Charlotte. This year the two teams will meet on the mountain in Boone, NC. Both teams have new head coaches since they played last year, which will bring some differences, but I expect the outcome to be very similar to the one last year. Charlotte hasn’t had a football program for too long and has a ways to go before they reach App’s level. The crowd tomorrow should be a little extra crazy as well. The Mountaineers always draw well, but with so many people in this area having heavy ties with one of the two schools, it will bring out the best of the competitive edge between them.

Miami at North Carolina

Saturday, 8:00 p.m.

North Carolina is coming off a big win to South Carolina last week. And when I say “big win” I mean the importance of it to the program going forward under new head coach Mack Brown after a disastrous season last year. It gave everyone a confidence that will be very important as the Tar Heels go through their schedule. So, they will bring in Miami, a formidable opponent who gave the 8th ranked Florida Gators a good game last week. If the Heels can pull it out in front of a sold out crowd, they will already have the same number of wins they had last season and there will be a buzz around Chapel Hill for football that hasn’t been present in a long time. And it’s under the lights in prime time. I’m ready.

College Football Games to Keep an Eye On: Week 2