PTF: Prediction Time Friday - Week 1

Welcome back, College Football. It's so good to see you again!

Cal knocked off Hawai'i 51-31 in Australia to get the season started a week ago. There were more teams in action last night as Tennessee thwarted an Appalachian State upset with a come-from-behind overtime win, South Carolina stunned Vanderbilt, and Minnesota topped Oregon State in a Big Ten/Pac-12 battle, among other games Thursday.

For those new to the blog, every Friday will be my #PTF, or Prediction Time Friday. On occasion, I'll make picks a day early with some intriguing Thursday night games (i.e. - Sept. 22 when Clemson visits Georgia Tech), but the opening weekend to 2016 is all about Friday through Monday.

I had a decent record picking games in 2015, but I'm looking to build on that this season. With very little to go off of, and plenty of exciting matchups, it will be tough to get off to a good start. But I'll give it my best! Here's the run down on what's being hailed as the best opening weekend in college football ever.

2015 BENched PTF Record (includes bowl picks): 87-38 (.696 win %)

*Rankings below are the AP Top 25

Friday

Kansas State at No. 8 Stanford (Line: Stanford -14.5)
Bill Snyder's Wildcats head to NoCal to open the season. The trip sounds great minus the whole having to deal with Christian McCaffrey thing. Although the Cardinal will be breaking in a new quarterback, the all-purpose king of college football McCaffrey will lead Stanford to a big win.
Stanford 41, Kansas State 13

Colorado State vs. Colorado (Line: Colorado -8.5) - at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo.
Rocky Mountain Showdown
Nothing like an in-state rivalry to get the season started. The upstart Buffaloes may be a surprise team in college football this year. The two have alternated wins for five years, with Colorado winning a 27-24 overtime thriller in 2015. CSU may be in the running for a Big 12 expansion spot, but don't think they are quite ready for Power 5 football.
Colorado 27, Colorado State 14

Saturday

Georgia Tech vs. Boston College (Line: Georgia Tech -3) - at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland
Set your alarm clocks and grab a pint of Guinness! It'll be top o' the morning stateside when the Yellow Jackets and Eagles kickoff from Ireland (7:30 am EDT). This is one of the only conference tilts on the schedule in Week 1. Georgia Tech is looking to rebound from a dismal 3-9 season and should do so as it returns dynamic quarterback Justin Thomas. BC is simply searching for an ACC win after going 0-8 in 2015. We know BC's defense will be stout, but can Kentucky transfer Patrick Towles provide a spark to the Eagles' offense?
Georgia Tech 30, Boston College 17

No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Houston (Line: Oklahoma -11.5) - at NRG Stadium in Houston
Coming off a New Year's Six bowl victory in the Peach Bowl against Florida State to cap a 13-win season, the Houston Cougars are looking to solidify themselves among college football's top programs in 2016. Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. returns as one of the premier playmakers to lead UH's offense. On the flip side, the Sooners return a loaded backfield with Baker Mayfield, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon. There might not be a better offensive backfield trio in the country. Oklahoma got a taste of the CFB Playoff last season and is hungry to get back.
Oklahoma 44, Houston 34

No. 5 LSU vs. Wisconsin (Line: LSU -11) - at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc.
Will Leonard Fournette do the Lambeau Leap? Not if Les Miles has anything to do with it. The Hat laid down the law on the touchdown celebration, which is sad really. LSU is going to score a lot of touchdowns.
LSU 35, Wisconsin 17

No. 16 UCLA at Texas A&M (Line: Texas A&M -3)
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen made waves earlier this week when asked about the crowd noise at Kyle Field. Rosen was asked about playing in front of 100,000 people and he simply said after 50,000 the noise is all the same. Don't expect the farmers to greet the "Rosen One" with their usual "Howdy!" This game was already interesting as UCLA is a Pac-12 South favorite and the Aggies will get their first glimpse of OU transfer Trevor Knight behind center. It will be hot, humid and extremely loud in College Station.
Texas A&M 31, UCLA 27

Mitch Trubisky leads North Carolina into the Bulldogs' backyard
for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against Georgia.
(Photo courtesy Getty Images)

No. 18 Georgia vs. No 22 North Carolina (Line: Georgia -2.5) - at Georgia Dome in Atlanta
Heralded junior QB Mitch Trubisky gets his first start in a Tar Heel uniform. All he did in a secondary role last season was complete 40-of-47 passes (85.1%) for 555 yards and six touchdowns with no picks. All the playmakers are back for the Heels, but it won't be the offense that is the problem. Remember the last time out for the UNC defense - Baylor rushed for 645 yards in the bowl game. Nick Chubb should be licking his chops. The Georgia Dome will be rocking as the Bulldogs make the hour trip from Athens, along with their faithful who filled up Sanford Stadium to the tune of 93,000 for the Red and Black Spring Game. New top Dawg Kirby Smart named Greyson Lambert his starting signal-caller. Buckle up for this one. It has potential to be the best game of the weekend.
Georgia 38, North Carolina 37

No. 20 USC vs. No. 1 Alabama (Line: Alabama -11.5) - at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
The history of - and between - these two schools should not be overlooked. USC thumped Alabama 42-21 in Tuscaloosa in 1970. Then-head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant had not recruited black athletes, whereas the Trojans were integrated and running back Sam Cunningham tore up the Tide defense. Bryant changed his ways the next season. A brief history lesson there, but Saturday night in Arlington won't be very historical. Nick Saban and the reigning champion Crimson Tide start an entirely new offensive backfield, but may have the best defense in football once again. This will be the fifth season Saban begins the year with a first-year starting quarterback. The previous four resulted in a combined 52-4 record with three national titles. I can't see this one being close.
Alabama 42, USC 14

No. 2 Clemson at Auburn (Line: Clemson -7.5)
Probably the nation's most talked about team this offseason was the Clemson Tigers. Offensively, it's been discussed ad nauseam that the ACC Tigers return virtually everyone including Heisman front-runner Deshaun Watson. There are some question marks on defense, but most think this team will develop quickly and make another run at the Playoff. Auburn, however, is soul searching after back-to-back sub-par seasons by SEC standards. Gus Malzahn enters on the hot seat. A big home loss to open the season could turn up the flames quickly.
Clemson 44, Auburn 24

BYU vs. Arizona (Line: BYU -1) - at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Heartbreak hit Tucson this summer when Arizona lost a senior offensive lineman who was found dead one morning. Certainly his teammates will be playing with heavy hearts, and BENched would like to send its condolences to the Wildcat Family. On the field, we know Rich Rod's offense will be fast and BYU will see what it can get out of Taysom Hill. The oft-injured, sixth-year quarterback has been brilliant in his career when he's remained healthy. Should be a nice night-cap to the full day of games, if you can stay up late for it.
BYU 34, Arizona 31

Sunday

No. 10 Notre Dame at Texas (Line: Notre Dame -3.5)
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly seemingly will implement a two-quarterback system with DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire splitting duties. The Irish hope someone steps up to provide some consistency. At Texas, Charlie Strong joins Malzahn as a coach on the hot seat to start the year. Another sub-.500 record and Strong will be searching for a new job. Will his job security lie in the hands of a true freshman quarterback in Shane Buechele? More than likely, yes. He's sort of Colt McCoy 2.0. But how much of Colt and not Case McCoy he is remains to be seen. Don't be surprised if the Horns pull off the upset.
Notre Dame 27, Texas 21

Monday

No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State (Line: Florida State -4.5) - at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
Labor Day Night closes out the weekend with a bang. Ole Miss is in all kinds of hot water with the NCAA, something Florida State knows a little bit about. Chad Kelly proclaimed himself as the best quarterback in college football at SEC Media Days. The Rebels will need someone to step up on offense because his trusty go-to receiver Laquon Treadwell is in the NFL and Ole Miss lost the majority of its offensive line. Kelly could be running for his life against a talented FSU front. The Noles have a redshirt freshman quarterback - not unlike 2013 - as Deandre Francois has been named the starter. Luckily for Francois, he has one of the nation's best backs to hand the ball of to in Dalvin Cook. Could be wrong here, but the belief is the Rebels' time has passed.
Florida State 28, Ole Miss 24

-BtW

The Evening After...

In keeping with Sunday tradition, The Morning After is alive and well, albeit a tad late. Sorry, folks. I ran in the Route 66 Half Marathon this morning. Set a new PR too (that's Personal Record for you non-running folks)! Anyway, here we go...

1) It is really difficult for me to sit here behind the computer screen after a 20-point win that led to Clemson's undefeated home and ACC records this season and be critical. Clemson has never finished 8-0 in ACC play and is riding a 14-game winning streak dating to last season. It's only the third time in Tiger history that the football team has started 11-0. What a time to be a Tiger!

2) All that said, I was disappointed with the lack of a running game. Clemson's two leading rushers were its two quarterbacks, backups Kelly Bryant (58 yards) and Deshaun Watson (44). Wayne Gallman being sidelined surely played a hand in that, but the backups had a tough time getting anything going. Still, the Tigers ran for 171 yards and finished with over 500 yards of offense to extend the school record to seven straight games.

3) Deshaun Watson has been incredible lately, but two ill-advised picks were uncharacteristic. Honestly, I hope a lot of the poor production (running game, breakdowns on defense, INTs) are just a lack of focus playing a really bad Wake Forest team. The Tigers rank 14th nationally in total offense and fifth in total defense through 11 games.

4) What a wild one in Norman between OU and TCU. The Sooners stormed out to a big lead and held on late after Heisman hopeful Baker Mayfield left at halftime with an undisclosed injury that surely was a result of a helmet-to-helmet hit he took in the second quarter. Give credit to TCU, down to its third string QB, for fighting and clawing all night. When the Horned Frogs scored with 51 seconds to go, Gary Patterson elected to go for the win with a two-point conversion. The Sooner defense bowed up and batted down the pass to preserve the win. It also preserved their Big 12 title hopes, which will be decided in Stillwater at Bedlam.

5) How about Sparty? With Connor Cook out, Michigan State rode its backup QB to a shocking upset in The Horseshoe. It appears the Buckeyes' best ballgames weren't ahead of them. They are what they have been all season. When Ohio State struggled in previous games, that wasn't a product of an elite team being bored. Michigan State has proved to be a solid program over the years and Mark Dantonio has the Spartans eyeing another Big Ten title game, if they can get past Penn State. On the other side, turmoil in Columbus following that one. Ezekiel Elliott calls out the coaching staff and says he's definitely not coming back next year. Cardale Jones announced on Twitter this was his final game in The Shoe. Oh yeah, and Michigan - or as Ohio State likes to call them "That Team Up North" - is chomping at the bits awaiting this wounded Buckeye squad. Good luck with that, Urban.

6) Back to Bedlam. Oklahoma State was shellshocked at home by a hungry Baylor squad. Clearly, the Bears and freshman QB Jarrett Stidham went into the OU game with all their eggs in that basket, but the moment was too big for Stidham. Kudos to Art Briles for using that game a week ago as a teaching opportunity and getting his team ready for the Cowboys. When Stidham went out, the Bears kept rolling behind third-stringer Chris Johnson. Johnson looked poised and comfortable running the offense. Baylor kept its Big 12 hopes alive and now needs to win out (at TCU, vs. Texas) and have Oklahoma State take down the Sooners this week. Bedlam it shall be.

7) The SEC (L)East was, well, um, underwhelming Saturday. Florida, the East champion, was taken to overtime by two-win Florida Atlantic. The same happened to Georgia and Georgia Southern, although the Eagles are 7-3. Vanderbilt was blanked by Texas A&M 25-0. South Carolina fell to FCS The Citadel for the program's first loss to a team from the other football division in 25 years - also The Citadel in 1990. And Tennessee won 19-8 over Missouri, who was playing its final home game for Gary Pinkel. As one of my buddies put it, you can't argue the SEC teams go through a gauntlet week-in and week-out. Thanks, Todd Mitchum for that.

8) It was really cool seeing Notre Dame and Boston College playing under the lights at Fenway Park. MLB's oldest baseball stadium hadn't hosted a football game in decades, but a job well done by the Fenway Park Grounds Crew and the two universities for setting up that matchup.

9) Quick hitters: Iowa is the only other undefeated team after a 40-20 win over Purdue. The Hawkeyes can wrap up a perfect regular season at Nebraska Friday. What a tremendous job Kirk Ferentz has done. ... LSU suffered its third straight loss, falling to Ole Miss 38-17. The wires are going berserk with reports that this could be Les Miles' final season in Baton Rouge. Time will tell. ...  Stanford clinched the Pac-12 North and awaits the South winner while that division sorts itself out. The winner of UCLA at USC will meet the Cardinal in the championship game. ... North Carolina wrapped up the ACC Coastal with a 30-27 OT win at Virginia Tech in Frank Beamer's last home game. The Heels locked up a date with Clemson in Charlotte Dec. 5.

10) The last week of the regular season is here. This game scares me more than any other. For one, throw out the records (Clemson 11-0, SC 3-8). It's a rivalry and you never ever know what will happen. Two, it's on the road. Three, the Gamecocks have nothing to lose. This is their bowl game, their national championship, if you will. This team is reeling. They're coming off four straight losses, the most recent against The Citadel. Time for the Tigers to put up or shut up. Beat South Carolina.

-BtW