Aggies, now-Big Ten Trojans are tapped to win in Top 25

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Without further adieu or really any clue, Gazette scribbler R.B. Headley begins his quest to pick every major college football game this season except for that beautiful Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Wreck upset of No. 10 Florida State last week.

“I’m ranking Georgia Tech No. 1, Georgia No. 2 at this moment,” Really Brainless declared.

R.B. has not studied many pre-season depth charts or read previews — so this may be his best pickin’ weekend in decades.

Week one feature a simple rundown from tonight through Labor Day’s weekend finale:

TONIGHT

RUTGERS over Howard (watch out for these Knights off their bowl win over Miami Hurricanes last December), No. 24 NC STATE over Western Carolina (sorry, die-hard Catamount fans reading this), UCF over New Hampshire (Scott Frost’s winning tradtion at his all-time best job opportunity), BUFFALO over Lafayette, BOWLING GREEN over Fordham, uhh, CENTRAL MICHIGAN over Central Connecticut (a new rivalry sprouting between Centrals?), TOLEDO over Duquesne (prounced Du-ques-knee...not really).

No. 11 MISSOURI over Murray State (old Mizzou best ranking since maybe Kellen Winslow, Sr., or at least Blaine Gabbert), No. 22 KANSAS over Lindenwood, NORTH CAROLINA over Minnesota (Gopher boat rowing crashes right away).

COLORADO over North Dakota State (we need Buffs to be 1-0 entering Lincoln), COASTAL CAROLINA over Jacksonville State, UAB over Alcorn State, TULANE over SE Louisiana, NORTHWESTERN STATE over Tulsa (shocker??), No. 12 UTAH over Southern Utah, ILLINOIS over Eastern Illinois, SAN JOSE STATE over Sacramento State.

FRIDAY

ARMY over Lehigh (Cadets start strong), No. 16 OKLAHOMA over Temple, MICHIGAN STATE over Florida Atlantic, DUKE over Elon, WISCONSIN over Western Michigan and TCU to win at Stanford.

SATURDAY

NO. 1 GEORGIA over No. 14 Clemson, No. 8 PENN STATE over West Virginia, No. 25 IOWA barely beaks past Illinois State, VIRGINIA TECH at Vanderbilt, MARYLAND over Connecticut, LOUISVILLE over Austin Peay, PURDUE over Indiana State, PITTSBURGH over Kent State, NAVY over Bucknell, No. 15 TENNESSEE over Chattanooga, No. 17 OKLAHOMA STATE over South Dakota State, CINCINNATI over Towson, WASHINGTON STATE over Portland State, No. 2 OHIO STATE over Akron, No. 4 TEXAS over Colorado State, No. 19 MIAMI over Florida in the Swamp, INDIANA over Florida International, and YES NEBRASKA barely over Utep Miners, EASTERN MICHIGAN at Massachussetts, APPACLACHIAN STATE over East Tennessee, IOWA STATE over North Dakota.

OHIO U at Syracuse, UTSA Roadrunners over Kennesaw State, AIR FORCE over Merrimack, NORTHWESTERN over Miami Ohio; NORTHERN ILLINOIS over Western Illinois, BOISE STATE at Georgia Southern, OLD DOMINION stuns South Carolina, MARSHALL over Stony Brook, CALIFORNIA over UC Davis, NORTH TEXAS at South Alabama.

MISSISSIPPI STATE over Eastern Kentucky, LIBERTY over Campbell, VIRGINIA survives Spiders of Richmond, EAST CAROLINA over Norfolk State, IDAHO STATE stuns Oregon State, No. 5 ALABAMA over Western Kentucky and No. 6 MISSISSIPPI over Furman.

No. 18 KANSAS STATE over UT-Martin (Bill Snyder-like opening cupcake), ARKANSAS STATE over Central Arkansas, SOUTH FLORIDA over Bethune Cookman, BAYLOR over Tarleton State, HOUSTON over Unlv, MIDDLE TENNESSEE over Tennessee Tech, SAM HOUSTON at Rice, TROY over Nevada, MEMPHIS over North Alabama.

No. 3 OREGON over Idaho, No. 20 TEXAS A&M over No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 MICHIGAN over Fresno State (closer than most will expect), AUBURN over Alabama A&M, UCLA at Hawaii, TEXAS TECH over Abilene Christian, KENTUCKY over Southern Miss, BYU over Southern Illinois, GEORGIA TECH over Georgia State.

SMU over Houston Christian, LOUISIANA TECH over Nicholls, SAN DIEGO STATE over Texas A&M-Commerce, UTAH STATE over Robert Morris, NEW MEXICO STATE over Southeast Missouri State, No. 21 ARIZONA over New Mexico, WASHINGTON over Weber State.

SUNDAY

No. 23 USC over No. 13 LSU (big Trojan Big Ten statement for coach Lincoln Riley).