College Football’s Biggest Games – Part II

When making your college football picks for 2010, so many factors come in to play: How many returning starters does each team have? What is injury history of the star player? Is the coach any good?

No factor is more important though than the schedule. A favorable one can make a season. An unfavorable one, can break it.

Let’s look at a few more of the bigger games early in this upcoming 2010 season:

Penn State at Alabama, Saturday, September 11: The defending National Champion will have their first tough test of the season when they welcome the young, but always dangerous Penn State Nittany Lions to Bryant-Denney Stadium.

Alabama returns virtually all of their offense, including Heisman Trophy winning running back Mark Ingram (1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns), leading receiver Julio Jones and undefeated starting quarterback Greg McElroy. But will so many losses on defense, including stalwarts Rolando McClain, Javier Arenas and Terrence Cody, will there be enough playmakers to stop college football’s best offenses?

While Penn State wouldn’t be considered one of them, they do return the dangerous combination of Grant Zug and Derek Moye at wide receiver (Who combined for 94 catches last year), in addition to leading rusher Evan Royster. The question no one has an answer for though, is what to expect from new starting quarterback Kevin Newsome?

Keep all these factors in mind when making your early season college football picks.

Florida State at Oklahoma, Saturday, September 11: My, oh my, what a matchup this one is. Jimbo Fisher will coach just the second game of his career against one of the elite programs in the country at Oklahoma.

Luckily for Fisher, former coach Bobby Bowden left a stacked cupboard, thanks to returning quarterback Christian Ponder and an offensive line that returns all five starters. The Seminoles defense is young, but full of playmakers, including cornerback Greg Reid.

At Oklahoma, Bob Stoops once again has talent on both sides of the ball, but like Florida State, it’s quite young. How will Landry Jones adjust to going into this season as the undisputed leader of this team? Can the defense replace Gerald McCoy, Ryan Reynolds and Austin Box off one of the most underrated units in the sport.

Neither team can be a real player nationally unless they win this game. Who’ll be your college football pick?

Arkansas at Georgia, Saturday, September 18: The first game big game of the 2010 SEC slate will feature two teams that provided maybe the most entertaining game of last season, when Georgia went to Fayetteville and won a 52-41 shootout.

For Arkansas, we all know what’s at stake, as they return freakish quarterback Ryan Mallett and his cannon arm to what could be the best Razorbacks teams in years. Mallett will be surrounded by as much play making talent as any quarterback in the league. Can this defense- which gave up 30 points or more in four of their five losses- improve though?

Georgia on the other hand comes into this matchup off a tumultuous offseason that saw the dismal of both a backup quarterback and running back, not to mention the resignation of Athletic Director Darren Evans following a DUI. Aaron Murray is now the man at quarterback, but can he hold off Logan Gray, and the rabid Georgia fans who won’t settle for another 7-5 season?

We’ll find out, as the college football season is only weeks away. And remember, no matter who you like to win it all, it’s never too early to start making your college football bets.