Friday Tailgate: Week 2 games that will most impact the Playoff
The Football Four is all about the quest to become the last quartet standing when the playoff committee makes its final announcement in December. We’re a long way from that, of course, but the odyssey goes on every week.
Here’s a ranking of the top five games that will have an impact on the playoff picture in Week Two:
No. 5 Oregon at No. 6 Michigan State, 8 p.m. ET, ABC: Most followers of the sport have had this one circled all summer as the first top-10 clash of the season. It’s clearly too early to call it an elimination game. Win or lose, the Ducks will still be heavily favored in the Pac-12 North, which would of course mean a shot at a Power Five conference crown. And, win or lose, the Spartans will still get a crack at Ohio State in the Big Ten race.
But Michigan State has an opportunity to help the league’s profile as a whole, while Oregon will try to show it can handle a hostile environment with new signal caller Vernon Adams at the controls. The 42 points surrendered by the Ducks’ defense last week to Eastern Washington are concerning, but veteran Spartans QB Connor Cook didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in MSU’s opener at Western Michigan.
No. 17 Oklahoma at No. 23 Tennessee, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN: The weekend’s second top-25 clash pits two more members of power conferences. If the Sooners can bring home a "W" from SEC country, they’ll be in the thick of the conversation in the Big 12 along with TCU and Baylor the rest of the way. The Vols hope to affirm the confidence of the poll voters who ranked them in the preseason largely on potential. It figures to be an entertaining contest as well, with Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield looking to exploit a vulnerable Tennessee secondary and Vols TB Jalen Hurd seeking an encore performance of his impressive three-TD outing.
No. 15 LSU at Mississippi State, 9:15 p.m. ET, ESPN: In the SEC West, every game is huge. The fact that this will be the Tigers’ first action after lightning robbed them of their scheduled tune-up against McNeese State adds an additional measure of intrigue. The Bulldogs and QB Dak Prescott got a game under their belts at Southern Miss, but the LSU defense is a significant step up in competition. Standout Tigers RB Leonard Fournette should be fine despite not getting any work in last week, but most LSU fans are anxious to see how QB Brandon Harris performs in noisy Starkville. Altogether now — MORE COWBELL!
No. 22 Boise State at Brigham Young, 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2: These are playoff longshots to be sure, but a road win for the Broncos would at least keep their chances alive. Most important, it would solidify their position as the Group of Five’s frontrunner for another access bowl berth. The independent Cougars are an even tougher sell as a playoff team, but they become a bit more interesting if they can follow up last week’s thrilling victory at Nebraska. They’ll have to proceed without QB Taysom Hill, of course, but Tanner Mangum has a lot of talented receivers at his disposal to test Darian Thompson and the Boise State secondary.
Utah State at No. 25 Utah, Friday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2: It wasn’t a good week as a whole for the Pac-12 with Arizona State and Stanford falling out of the top 25. The Utes held up their end, however, by dispatching Michigan in Jim Harbaugh’s much-ballyhooed debut. They must now avoid the hangover effect from that hyped contest as they host the Aggies, who’d love nothing more than a victory against their in-state rivals from the major conference. Utah State wasn’t exactly dominant in a sluggish opening win against Southern Utah as Chuckie Keeton tried to shake off the rust in his long-awaited return from injury. Utah TB Devontae Booker can again expect to touch the ball often.
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