Incarnate Word at Northwestern State
Both teams are coming off of losses; UIW to Division 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville and Northwestern State taking the cash and the beatdown from Baylor. While UIW’s Trent Brittain looked good in their loss, the Cardinal defense is pretty suspect. I think the Demons take this at home by 14.
Lamar at Houston
This should be Lamar’s second week of being on the wrong end of a lop sided result. While running back Kade Harrington shined with over 200 yards on the ground and two touchdowns in Lamar’s loss to Coastal Carolina, he’s going to be facing an uphill battle against the Houston Cougar’s defense, who are still celebrating the win over Oklahoma last weekend. I don’t think Houston will look past Lamar, and Lamar loses by 50 or more.
Northern Colorado at Abilene Chrisitan
The Wildcats of Abilene Christian gave the Air Force Academy all they could handle but came up short 37-21. This weekend they get to open their home schedule with Big Sky cellar dweller Northern Colorado. This should get ugly quickly at ACU rolls by 28.
Samford at Central Arkansas
UCA can brag as they are the only team with a conference win, destroying HBU on the striped field last weekend. UCA amassed over 500 yards of offense and had 8 different players score touchdowns, two of them on defense. They host Samford, who is coming off a 77-7 win over Division Two Mars Hill. I think UCA wins this game by a touchdown, as the it may take the Bulldogs a while to adjust to the striped surface on Conway.
Texas Southern at Houston Baptist
Welcome to the Houston edition of “The Battle of the Bottom”. I think the only thing going for this is someone has to win. HBU is coming off of the previously mentioned shellacking by UCA, and SWAC bottom feeder Texas Southern took a 29-24 loss vs Prairie View A&M. Normally in a game like this, I’d take the home team, and while HBU is playing in the field on Fondren, Texas Southern will run away with this. Also, the TSU band will probably win halftime too.
Nicholls at Georgia
Nicholls is opening their season between the hedges in Athens. Hopefully they enjoy the beauty of the stadium as this will get ugly quick. Georgia calls off the dogs early but wins by 70.
McNeese State at UL-Lafayette
This is probably the most exciting game for the Southland Conference. The Cowboys travel east to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette (USL to my McNeese fans out there). McNeese looked good in Coach Lance Guidry’s debut, beating Division 2 Tarleton State 33-3 and looks to carry that momentum into this weekend. McNeese leads the series, won the last match in 2007, and takes this one as well. McNeese by 17.
West Alabama at Stephen F. Austin
SFA is coming off their worst season since 2008 and a drubbing at the hands of Texas Tech. While West Alabama are Division 2, they do have a lot of Division 1 talent on their roster via transfers. I’d like to say SFA wins at home by 10, but given that Stevie Austin hasn’t been stone cold in their games against weaker opponents, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an upset.
Southeastern Louisiana at Southern Utah
Both of these schools are coming off of losses to FBS schools, SLU getting drubbed by Oklahoma State and SUU being shut out by Utah. I think when it gets to the end of the season, we will see both of these teams on the post season bubble, which makes this a critical game to build the D1 win resume. I’m giving the nod to the Thunderbirds since they are at home, and think they’ll take it by 17.