Games to Watch: Week 2

Week 2 is always a little rough.  You have the teams that played in the big neutral site openers back home against cupcakes, or you have teams with their marquee non-conference games.  There's a few conference matchups thrown in to keep things interesting, though.

Since I'll be out of town for most of the day Saturday (until the primetime games), and Tony already found decent under the radar games, this week's list is a bit on the short side.

Friday, September 5
7 PM
Pitt at Boston College, ESPN.  Already mentioned as under the radar, but I'm interested in the cross divisional matchup from the ACC.  Could be two teams in the middle or bottom of their divisions, but it helps the conference picture take shape.

Saturday, September 6
3:30 PM
USC at Stanford, ABC.  This is the marquee conference matchup of the day.  I'm a little surprised that the Pac-12 is offering it so soon, since they traditionally like to get all of their non-conference games out of the way.  Even though both of these schools need to make room for Notre Dame later on, the Pac-12 usually waits until week 3 or 4 to start conference games.  Either way, I'm all for conference games that help shape the conference picture at this point.

Richmond at UVA, ESPN3.  I'm interested in this from the local perspective.  UVA's defense scared me a little last week, since I wasn't expecting much.

7:30 PM
Michigan at Notre Dame, NBC.  This classic rivalry plays out for the final time (for now) in a rare night game at Notre Dame.

8 PM
Virginia Tech at Ohio State, ESPN.  This is the big test for VT this season, and is the big non-conference matchup of the day.  Both teams have something to prove with new QBs, and this is where we find out exactly what kind of teams we have here.