College football predictions for Week 2: Will Alabama cover vs. Texas?

Can Baylor win a tough road game against future conference foe BYU?

The evening and late-game slate looks primed for some upsets. Let’s take a look at how you should pick some of these Week 2 college football games.

Old Dominion at East Carolina (6 p.m. on ESPN+)

Old Dominion, fresh off their Week 1 upset over Virginia Tech, will hit the road to take on East Carolina.

The Pirates were just a few feet away from upsetting a ranked NC State team in Week 1, having missed the game-winning field goal as time expired.

The Monarchs are coming into this game with their confidence level at an all-time high, while ECU may still be dwelling about what could have been last week. Give me ODU to cover in this one. I think ECU will ultimately win the game, but it’ll be a lot closer than 13 points.

Pick: Old Dominion +13.0

No. 20 Kentucky at No. 12 Florida (7 p.m. on ESPN)

I’m not ready to go all-in on the Florida Gators just yet, even as spectacular as that upset over Utah (a top-10 team) was in Week 1.

Kentucky has been much more consistent and has a bigger body of work with their key offensive weapons.

If the Wildcats are able to crack the code on how to slow Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, the Gators are going to be in trouble.

Kentucky is ranked for a reason — they’re a really good football team. Everyone is buying the Florida hype. Here’s your chance to ride the money line and see if that Week 1 game was a product of Utah being overrated and/or Florida’s performance being a fluke.

Pick: Kentucky +180

No. 10 USC at Stanford (7:30 p.m. on ABC)

USC’s offense looked nearly unstoppable last week against Rice. Everything was clicking, which is great considering it was the first game together for many of the team’s skill position players.

Caleb Williams picked up right where he left off at Oklahoma, completing 19 of his 22 pass attempts for 249 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also led the team in rushing yards, recording 68 yards on six carries.

Stanford is going to be well-coached and play good defense, but there’s no way they’re going to be able to hang with this Trojan offense. Jordan Addison, Travis Dye, and Williams have too much talent and can put up too many points for Stanford to contend with. USC wins and wins big on the road.

Pick: USC -8.0

No. 9 Baylor at No. 21 BYU (10:15 p.m. on ESPN)

Baylor is a top-10 team heading into a hostile environment in Provo, Utah to try and unseat the Cougars in Week 2.

The Dave Aranda-led Bears have a balanced attack and a running back room that’s collectively one of the best in college football. Baylor rushed for seven touchdowns in Week 1, which is wild, even if it was against an FCS team.

BYU quarterback Jaren Hall is an outstanding player. He’s got a great arm, doesn’t make many mistakes, and gets a lot of his teammates involved on offense. However, I think Baylor has a strong defense and Hall is going to be hurried a lot throughout the game.

Take advantage of the higher-ranked team being the dog and use that moneyline to your advantage this week.

Pick: Baylor +140

Oregon State at Fresno State (10:30 p.m. on CBSSN)

Oregon State has some momentum after dispatching Boise State last week and Fresno State showed glimpses of their 2021 offensive brilliance against Cal Poly.

Both of these teams scored 34-plus points in Week 1, leading me to believe this game is primed for a shootout. There are few better gunslingers in college football than Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener, who is coming off a season of more than 4,000 passing yards and 33 touchdowns.

The Beavers have a balanced attack and use multiple running backs to wear down their opponents. Fresno State has a good defense, so it’ll be interesting to see how they respond to the multi-pronged attack. Expect this one to end up in a shootout with lots of offense.

Pick: Over 60.5

Mississippi State at Arizona (11 p.m. on FS1)

Mike Leach heads back west, taking his Mississippi State Bulldogs for a rare visit against a Pac-12 team in Arizona.

The Bulldogs looked great against Memphis last week, especially quarterback Will Rogers. The returning starter from 2021 lit up the Tigers for 450 passing yards and five touchdowns. He did so by completing 38 of his 49 pass attempts.

Arizona looked really good in Week 1 when they were up against one of the better teams from the Mountain West last season in SDSU. Jayden De Laura matched his career high with four touchdown passes and recorded nearly 300 passing yards (the fourth-most of his college football career).

It looks like these two teams are set to light it up and score a ton of points with not much defense being played. Take the over on this one, which might even hit in the first half if these teams air it out like they did in their respective Week 1 games.

 Pick: Over 59.5