Week 8 Preview & Picks: Big Ten, Mountain West, Rice Play Season Openers

October 22, 2020 by Staff

The College Football 2020 season welcomes the Big Ten and Mountain West conferences to the fray this week while Rice also finally plays its opener. If the schedule stays intact - something which hasn't happened yet this season - we will have a slate of 48 games involving 93 FBS teams.

Rice dealt with a massive outbreak of coronavirus that forced the program to postpone virtually all football-related activities until the end of September. The Owls, who only have six games on their schedule and all within Conference USA, will host MTSU on Saturday as a 2.5-point Vegas favorite and a 6.77-point computer pick. However, top returning receiver Bradley Rozner has opted not to play this season.

The Big Ten, which had originally chosen not to play this season, announced in mid-September that it would reverse course and commence play the weekend of October 24 (this weekend). All 14 members will play an 8-game conference-only schedule.

Illinois and Wisconsin will have the distinction of launching the Big Ten season when the Fighting Illini and Badgers clash in Madison on Friday night. Wisconsin is projected by the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com as the conference favorite with an opening power rating of 93.07. That puts the Badgers 1.94 points ahead of Ohio State at 91.13. Within the division, Wisconsin is rated 5.44 power points above projected runner-up Minnesota.

The Badgers opened in the sportsbooks as a 19-point favorite over the Illini on Friday night. The computer gives Wisconsin a 20.47-point advantage.

One of the biggest games in the conference on Saturday features Penn State at Indiana. The Nittany Lions are a touchdown favorite in Vegas, but the computer likes the Hoosiers by a scant 0.98. The computer has both of these schools finishing 6-2.

Another computer upset pick this week has Minnesota by 4.29 at home over Michigan against a 2-point opening line favoring the Wolverines.

The other computer picks of Big Ten games this week are Iowa by 7.84 at home over Purdue, Northwestern by 14.26 at home over Maryland, Michigan State by 12.67 at home versus Rutgers, and Ohio State by 20.84 at home over Nebraska.

Michigan State and Rutgers each open 2020 with a new head coach as Mel Tucker makes his debut with the Spartans and Greg Schiano begins his second stint with the Scarlet Knights.

Boise State, not surprisingly, is the computer's pick to win the Mountain West which is shelving divisions for the 2020 season, joining the ACC and American conferences in that approach. Nine of the 12 members are playing a conference only schedule. Going against the grain are Air Force, Boise State and San Diego State. The AFA was permitted to have non-conference matches with Army and Navy, while Boise State and San Diego State each have non-conference dates with BYU.

All 6 Mountain West contests will be played on Saturday this week with the computer taking Boise State by 11.44 at home over Utah State, Air Force by 7.77 at San Jose State, Colorado State by 14.90 over visiting New Mexico, and San Diego State by 21.46 at home over UNLV. The computer has two outright upset plays with Hawaii by 5.30 in an upset at Fresno State (-3.5), and Nevada by 1.84 at home versus Wyoming (-3).

Five Mountain West schools have a new head coach for 2020 - Colorado State (Steve Addazio), Hawaii (Todd Graham), UNLV (Marcus Arroyo), New Mexico (Danny Gonzalez), and San Diego State (Brady Hoke).

Other top games across the college football landscape this week include Alabama at Tennessee, Iowa State at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma at TCU, and Notre Dame at Pitt.

The Vols will be looking to end a 13-game losing skid to the Tide with the last Tennessee win occurring in 2006.

The Cyclones and Cowboys is a matchup between two of the three Big 12 schools that are unbeaten in conference play. Oklahoma State has won 7 of the last 8 over Iowa State.

Kansas State, which is the only other Big 12 school undefeated in conference play, hosts winless arch-rival Kansas in the 118th Sunflower Showdown. The Wildcats have won 11 straight in that series. Jayhawks' head coach Les Miles will be back on the sidelines this week after personally deciding not to travel with the team for this past weekend's loss at West Virginia. Miles tested positive for Covid earlier this month, but was cleared by physicians on Friday.

Get the computer's pick of every game on this week's schedule:

FCS vs. FBS

31 FBS teams are playing a total of 35 games against FCS schools this season.

Three such game take place this week as FIU entertains Jacksonville State, Western Kentucky hosts Chattanooga, and Army West Point welcomes Mercer. It's the third, and final, game versus a FCS opponent for Army.

FBS teams are 25-0 in such matchups this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are 1,460-127 (.920).

Last year, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games.

These were the FCS wins vs. the FBS in the previous 2 seasons:

2019:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

2020:
August 29: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 31
September 1: Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 (OT)
September 2: North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Streaks

CLEMSON - Won 34 straight regular season games (FBS longest) games. Won 26 straight conference games (FBS longest). Won 26 straight home games (FBS longest). Won 14 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 73-7 at Georgia Tech on Saturday, October 17.
Next: Hosts Syracuse on Saturday, October 24.

NOTRE DAME - Won 10 straight over-all (FBS-longest)
Last: Won 12-7 at home versus Louisville on Saturday, October 17.
Next: Visits Pittsburgh on Saturday, October 24.

AIR FORCE - Won 9 straight over-all (FBS 2nd-longest).
Last: Won 40-7 at home versus Navy on Saturday, October 3.
Next: Visits San Jose State on Saturday, October 24.

RUTGERS - Lost 21 straight conference games (FBS longest). Lost 13 straight road games (FBS longest)
Last: Lost 27-6 at Penn State on November 30, 2019.
Next: Season opener at Michigan State on Saturday, October 24.

AKRON - Lost 17 straight overall (FBS longest). Lost 8 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 52-3 at home to Ohio on November 26, 2019.
Next: Season opener at home versus Western Michigan on Wednesday, November 4.