Must Watch: Week 2

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Week 1 of the season provided quite a bit of excitement and last week Chad let you know where to look for it. We saw four teams defeat an in-state FBS rival and some great games that went right down to the wire.

Here are a dozen games that I believe are “must watch” games for the second weekend of the season:

• Stony Brook started their season with a home victory over North Dakota. Going into the season I wouldn’t have picked this game as a must watch, but after seeing Temple lose to Army by 15 in Week 1, I think the Seawolves have a shot at an FBS upset in this game.
• In their first game of the season YSU eventually put a hurting on Duquesne. This game on the road at West Virginia will give us a better indication of where Coach Pelini’s team is at for 2016.
• Mercer opened their season at home in the AGS Game of the Week. They put on a great show after digging a hole early against The Citadel, but came up just short. Their preparation for the triple option should have them ready for this game and the team will be hungry to get a win against an in-state rival. Georgia Tech is coming off of a long trip to Ireland and an emotional win over Boston College. I see some upset potential.
• Illinois State started the season with a lopsided win but did not look impressive in doing so. Week 2 takes them on a short bus ride to their in-state rival Northwestern. The Wildcats are coming off a loss to Western Michigan, so I can’t write off the possibility of a Redbird upset. This will be a better gauge of how Illinois State has recovered from some of their off season losses.
• This has to be the game of the week in FCS football. Eastern Washington is riding high after defeating their in-state rival from the PAC-12, Washington State, and North Dakota State is 1-0 after surviving an overtime scare in the Fargodome from Charleston Southern. Anything can happen when you match up the power run game of the Bison against the air attack of Copper Kupp and the Eagles.
• One of three match-ups between the Big Sky and the Missouri Valley in week 2. Northern Arizona is consider a Top 40 team at this point in the season and they head to Macomb, IL to take on a Top 25 Western Illinois squad who got a good win over their in-state rival Eastern Illinois. This game should give us a better idea of where both squads stand heading into conference play.
• Northern Iowa is 0-5 against Montana since 1981. This will be the second game of the series to take place in the UNI-Dome, and first since 1987. Montana is still working on installing the offense of their Head Coach Bob Stitt. This quick hitting air attack could pose problems for the UNI defensive backfield if the front seven doesn’t create enough pressure. UNI is coming off a big win against their in-state FBS rival, Iowa State. They established a strong run game against a Big 12 opponent in Week 1. This match up is similar to EWU and NDSU in regards to the power game vs. the air attack.
• Furman started Week 1 with a strong performance against a highly ranked Michigan State team. The Citadel went to Mercer and won a hard fought game to start the season with an early lead in the SoCon. This game will establish a battle for the SoCon title or will but Furman in a hole for playoff eligibility.
• Week 1 didn’t tell us a lot about either of these teams, but McNeese State will take the short trip to Lafayette and has the opportunity to come away with the win. The Cowboys lost players and coaches in the off season, but they will be fired up to get a win over the FBS team just down the interstate.
• Both of these teams beat up on some cupcakes last week, but this game should let us know if either or both of these teams are legit playoff contenders in 2016. I expect a close game in Conway.
• Maine should be 1-0 with an FBS victory, but they have another chance at getting a scalp from the upper subdivision when they head to the Glass Bowl to take on Toledo. I anticipate that Toledo is a better team than UCONN, but this is still a game you will want on your radar just in case.
• The 2015 runner up heads to Baton Rogue to take on a LSU team coming off a rough start to their season in Green Bay against the Badgers. I won’t predict a Gamecocks win, but this seems like a game worth checking out to see how JSU stacks up.