College football preview - week two

Last week's predictions: An ugly 4-6.

This week's key matchups:

Kansas at University of Texas-El Paso: Line - KU by 12.5. Prediction - KU by 14. Look for a probable high-scoring game, the kind KU fans became accustomed to last year when Kansas would have to out-score opponents. UTEP has a very good air game and too many questions were raised last week about the Jayhawks' pass defense.

Iowa at Iowa State: Line - Iowa by 6.5. Prediction - Iowa by 8. Is Iowa as bad as two late FG blocks in order to beat Northern Iowa? I don't think so--the Hawkeyes will show up this week in Ames...and win.

Bowling Green at Missouri: Line - MU by 20. Prediction - MU by 17. Gary Pinkel is 0-2 versus Bowling Green while at Mizzou but that streak will end this Saturday. Can Blaine Gabbert replicate his tremendous outing in week two?

Kansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette: Line - KSU by 7. Prediction - KSU by 4. Louisiana-Lafayette only lost by 8 last year in Manhattan. A key will be Kansas State's special teams play--make the same mistakes as last week and this one will be a loss.

Colorado at Toledo: Line - CU by 4. Prediction - CU by 7. I'll be optimistic and suggest that Sunday's horrid loss in Boulder to Colorado State was a bad first game. If the Buffs fall at Toledo, look for the howls about Dan and Cody Hawkins to become a crescendo.

USC at Ohio State: Line - USC by 7. Prediction - Ohio State by 3. I'm not convinced that Matt Barkley is ready to go into the Horseshoe and navigate a win. Yeah, I know, the Big Ten is awful this year but I'll take Terrell Pryor over Barkley in the QB duel and go with home field advantage.

Notre Dame at Michigan: Line - Notre Dame by 3. Prediction - Michigan by 4. Don't remind me--I picked Nevada over the Golden Domers as my "upset special" last week. It not only didn't happen--Notre Dame looked good. But, so did Michigan...and this game is a home one for Rich Rod and the Wolverines. It'll be close but I've got to go with Michigan.

Others:

Oklahoma State over Houston, Texas over Wyoming, Texas Tech over Rice, Oklahoma over Idaho State and Nebraska over Arkansas State.