Budget games Week 1

Possible new logo for the Sun Belt Conference this week

College football is back, and while some match-ups are enticing this weekend, others are a cakewalk. Here are some games where a powerhouse football program is paying a FBS mid-major in need of funds (typically around $1 million) to take a beating.

Arkansas State at No. 8 USC

The Red Wolves went 7-6 last season and played in its fourth straight GoDaddy Bowl. That’s an impressive achievement for the ASU program. Unfortunately, the University of Southern California doesn’t really care about that. The Trojans see a Sun Belt program that should go down easy.

Arkansas State might actually make USC nervous for tiny bit but the Trojans should be able to score at will in this one. Three of ASU’s top four tacklers are gone from a year ago and that’s big problem against USC. Trojans roll.

Louisiana-Monroe at No. 9 Georgia

The good news for Louisana-Monroe is that it defeated a power conference school last season. The bad news is that was Wake Forest. The Warhawks went 4-8 last year and was held to under 100 yards in it’s 31-0 loss at LSU. ULM also lost at Kentucky 48-14. So I doubt Georgia will have much fear here.

Throw in the fact Georgia has won 17 of its last 18 home openers and you have a very long day for ULM in Athens.

Texas State at No. 10 Florida State

Texas State has been bowl eligible the past two seasons (did not get selected) and has a great chance to finally get in. That might not be seen in its opener at Florida State. The Seminoles are 10-1 all-time against current Sun Belt teams.

Florida State is in transition with a new quarterback so maybe Texas State can hang around in this game for a quarter or two. Eventually though, the Bobcat defense with four of its five best tacklers gone from last season will collapse. It won’t be pretty when it does.

Potential for Shockers This Saturday

The past two weeks of college football have been incredible but this Saturday it appears things will be coming back down to Earth. Just two games involved top 25 teams and three of those four schools are outside the top 15. Still, the games are important as someone is probably going down. Ohio State is one such candidate as it could falter at Penn State. In terms of conference races, watch USC at Utah as it will make an impact on the PAC-12 South.

A couple of volleyball games to watch includes UC-Davis at Cal State-Northridge Friday night in Big West play. The big one though is Nebraska at Wisconsin on ESPN2 Sunday. The Badgers are currently on top in the Big Ten and it’s rare for ESPN2 to air a regular season game in volleyball.