Week 1 of the college football season was amazing and featured huge games between traditional powers that don't often play each other. Hopefully you took advantage of it and enjoyed all of that wonderful football because Week 2 is, well, just not as good.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't watch or follow along. It's college football, so some weird and fun things are bound to happen. There just aren't as many games to circle on the schedule as "must watch" games.
That means it's a bit tougher to pick out lines that stand out, but we did our best in this early look at Week 2 lines and game odds. As always, spreads and over/unders are courtesy of our good friends at SportsLine.
Lines you need to know
Arkansas (+7.5) at TCU: Week 2 doesn't feature many marquee nonconference matchups, but Arkansas-TCU has the potential to be fun. Neither team impressed in the opener with both narrowly escaping embarrassing home defeats to Louisiana Tech and South Dakota State, respectively. Both look to show the Week 1 issues were a fluke on Saturday.
Virginia Tech (+11) vs. Tennessee: Speaking of disappointing, the Hokies and Vols play each other on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The venue will be cool, but the football might not be. The Hokies struggled with Liberty in the first half before pulling away late, and the Vols got all they could handle from Appalachian State at home. Tennessee is still a double-digit favorite, but it has to prove that its line play issues aren't going to be a problem all season.
Penn State (+5) at Pittsburgh: The in-state rivalry gets renewed this year for the first time since 2000, and the Panthers are a touchdown (sans extra point) favorite at home over the Nittany Lions. Neither team played particularly well in their openers, but both won comfortably over lesser competition. In a week lacking juice, this could be one of the most competitive games of the weekend with two teams fired up to stake their claim as best team in the state.
BYU (+3) at Utah: The other big in-state rivalry game will be in the Holy War between BYU and Utah. These two teams do not like each other and BYU, a three-point road dog, hasn't taken down Utah since 2009. Taysom Hill had some moments against Arizona, including the late drive for the game-winning field goal. Utah won 24-0 over Southern Utah as the Utes' defense led the way.
These may raise some eyebrows
Wyoming (+24.5) at Nebraska: Wyoming looked pretty good in an opening win against Northern Illinois at home in a super late kickoff on Saturday. Nebraska might be better this season, but 24.5 is an awful lot of points to lay with the Huskers against a team that showed the ability to run the ball and score points.
Kentucky (+17) at Florida: Florida was locked in a battle with UMass at home and is now laying 17 points in-conference. What a world. Kentucky was awful (AWFUL) in the second half against Southern Miss, blowing a 25-point lead, but I still can't get over this Florida team laying 17 points in the SEC after scoring 24 against UMass.
UConn (+4.5) at Navy: UConn had to comeback at home to beat Maine on Saturday. They have to go face a Navy team with a new quarterback following an ACL tear to their starter Tago Smith, but the Midshipmen would appear on the surface as the better team. The Huskies can be scrappy, but I'm a bit surprised Navy isn't a bit bigger favorite in this one.
Consider staying away
Akron (+24.5) at Wisconsin: Madison will be a madhouse all week after the Badgers took down LSU on Saturday in Green Bay, but I'm telling you, this game stinks. The Zips aren't good -- they needed 21 points in the fourth quarter to pull away from VMI in the opener -- but this screams let down game from Wisconsin. I'm not worried about the Badgers' ability to win this game, I'm just concerned about that hook on the other side of 24. I'm not saying take the Zips, I'm just saying walk away from this one.
Wake Forest (+5) at Duke: Duke laid a beatdown on poor NCCU on Saturday, but we don't know much about the Blue Devils right now. Wake strolls into Durham on Saturday with a beastly defense and one of the nation's saddest offenses after a 7-3 win against Tulane. You'll see this one below in over/under plays, but we don't know enough about how good Duke's offense really is for me to be comfortable on either side of this line with Wake's defense out there.
Western Kentucky (+28.5) at Alabama: Alabama beat USC to a pulp in Arlington on Saturday night by a 52-6 margin and now the Hilltoppers roll into Tuscaloosa. Be wary of just hopping on the Tide and laying these points as Saban has a tendency to pedal off in home games against lesser opponents. That hook could be important on top of the four touchdowns.
Favorite over/unders
Boston College at UMass: Oh we're getting things started off with some weirdness. Boston College and Georgia Tech played to a dynamite 17-14 final score in Ireland in Week 1 while UMass lost 24-7 to Florida in Week 1. UMass' defense isn't all that bad and both offenses have some dumpster fire tendencies, so even with a sub-40 total I'm riding the under in this one.
Pick: Under 39.5
Kentucky at Florida: This was a delightful 14-9 game last year and while the 'Cats played a high-scoring game in the opener, I don't have a lot of faith in their ability to score on Florida's defense. On the other side, Luke Del Rio didn't inspire a lot of confidence in being able to create explosive passing plays for the Gators as they could only find 24 points against UMass. Lock up this under.
Pick: Under 47.5
Louisville at Syracuse: The Cardinals offense looked unstoppable against Charlotte, and they very well could run up 35 points on Syracuse, but the Louisville defense is pretty good and there's still an adjustment period going on for the Orange under Dino Babers. I know we're very excited about Lamar Jackson, but 67.5 is an awful lot of points for this Friday night matchup.
Pick: Under 67.5
Texas Tech at Arizona State: This is such a ridiculous number of points to be taking the over on, but I think both of these teams will get over 35 points without too much trouble, which means 79 is very much in play. Arizona State was in a dogfight early with Northern Arizona before pulling away late and I think Patrick Mahomes has a huge game here. The Red Raiders are always a threat to play in 100 point total games and in a night kick in Tempe on Saturday look for this to be a shootout.
Pick: Over 79
Season O/U Record: 2-2