#12 Florida at Miami – Saturday, 9/5 12:00 pm EST, ESPN
Strength verses strength and weakness versus weakness in this game. Miami’s offense is led by talented but inconsistent Senior quarterback Stephen Morris and dynamic Sophomore running back Duke Johnson. They also have an experienced strong offensive line. Florida, however, boasts one of the top defenses in the nation and Miami in the past 2 years has feasted on lower level defenses while struggling against good defenses. On the other side of the ball, Miami’s defense has been less than impressive the past couple years, particularly against the run game. Likewise, Florida’s offense has frustrated the Gator faithful, particularly the passing game. Miami’s offense and a rare big crowd at Sun Life Stadium might be able to keep it close, but Florida’s run game should prove to be too much against for Miami.
#2 Oregon at Virginia – Saturday, 9/5 3:30 pm EST, ABC/ESPN2
An intriguing out of conference matchup this weekend that really shouldn’t be much of a game, is up next. Virginia’s defense will give Oregon a little bit better barometer of the their offense after they rolled up video game numbers last week against Nicholls State – Oregon had a school record 772 yards offense with 3 players eclipsing 100 yards rushing. Oregon’s defense might not be tested as much by a Virginia team that only managed 223 yards of total offense in week 1 against BYU. At the very least Oregon and Virginia should give you something to watch between the UF/Miami and South Carolina/Georgia games.
#6 South Carolina at #11 Georgia – Saturday, 9/5 4:30 pm EST, ESPN
The marquee matchup of the day pits two preseason Top 10 teams from the SEC. Georgia’s loss to Clemson in the opener takes a little of the shine off of this game, but it still could go a long way in determining the SEC East as well as having an impact on the National Championship picture. Both teams faced ACC opponents last week and, despite the records, Georgia was the more impressive team in the opener. The Bulldogs came up just short against a Top 10 team in Clemson while South Carolina handled an average North Carolina team without much trouble. In this match up, Georgia should have better balance on offense, despite the loss of top receiver Malcolm Mitchell, while both defenses are equally talented.
#15 Texas at BYU – Saturday, 9/5 7:00 pm EST, ESPN2
The Texas score last weekend over New Mexico State, 56-7, is not necessarily indicative of how the game went. Late in the 2nd quarter, the Longhorns trailed 7-0 before turning it on with 2 minutes left in the half and then unloading in the 2nd half. BYU had a frustrating start to the year dominating Virginia in nearly every category but the one that counts – the scoreboard. They gave up a late TD to lose 19-16. If Texas can’t get their game rolling early, they could be in for a battle. Despite winning 11 straight non-conference road games dating back to 2000, this is the type of game Texas has dropped during their recent 3 year slide. A win here should have Texas undefeated heading into their October 12th matchup with Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.
#14 Notre Dame at #17 Michigan – Saturday, 9/5 8:00 pm EST, ESPN
In the only other Top 25 matchup of the weekend, Notre Dame travels to Michigan for the last time in the foreseeable future. Whether or not this is a “historic rivalry” is of less importance than the matchup on the field. Notre Dame made a surprising run to the National Championship game last season before getting pummeled by Alabama. This year, however, not only are they without their top defensive player, Manti Teo, but also without last years offensive spark plug quarterback Everett Golson. Tommy Rees played impressively last week against an overmatched Temple team. This week he’ll face a much bigger test at Michigan. Michigan had no trouble with Central Michigan last week and rolled up 242 yards rushing despite having no ball carrier eclipse 58 yards. At this point, we really know very little about either of these teams, but should find out a lot more by Saturday night.