College Football 2018: How to binge-watch Week 2
Evening slate
Iowa State at Iowa, 5:00 p.m. EST, FOX
Just like Nebraska, Iowa State’s opener was canceled over inclement weather, so the new look Cyclone will kick off 2018 with a road trip to their biggest rivals in Iowa City. This is obviously a brutal way to start this season, but this should be an awesome matchup. Iowa’s defense looked dominant last week, and their offense is more talented than usual. If Iowa State can win, they may be a legitimate Big 12 contender, but if Iowa wins, they could be within striking distance of the top 25 already.
One sentence sell: This is abnormal for this rivalry, but both teams have pretty exciting quarterbacks in Nate Stanley and Kyle Kempt, and with two good defenses, it should be a fun battle to watch before the bigger games start.
Clemson at Texas A&M, 7:00 p.m. EST, ESPN
Even if I don’t think this game will be very close, it is the primetime ESPN game and the game that ESPN’s College Gameday will be in attendance for. Texas A&M has a ton of question marks on their roster, and after one week, I don’t think a single one has been answered. If they come out and look awesome, it’d be a great start to the Jimbo Fisher era, but I just don’t see it happening.
One sentence sell: Clemson doesn’t seem super confident in Kelly Bryant at quarterback, and Texas A&M’s defense is pretty good so this one might get a little out of hand.
Utah at Northern Illinois, 7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN News
I have no idea why Utah is going to Northern Illinois for this game, but I’ve got the feeling that they may not like the result. Northern Illinois got crushed by Iowa last week, and Utah destroyed Weber State, but this could still be a pretty intriguing matchup. NIU’s defense is awesome, and could cause some issues for an offense that I don’t trust at all.
One sentence sell: If Clemson starts blowing Texas A&M out early, this is a solid game to switch to until 8:00 p.m. games start.
Penn State at Pitt, 8:00 p.m. EST, ABC
This is another game that depends on one of the teams being better than we expect (Pitt), but after a disappointing showing last week, we’ve got plenty of questions about Penn State. Those questions, especially on defense, paired with the possibility of Pitt being good, and this being a night game at Pitt could make for a pretty interesting possible upset.
One sentence sell: It’s a rivalry game, and if it’s close, we could see some more late-game heroics from Trace McSorley.