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College Football Week 2 Predictions: Teams That Are Locks to Win This Weekend

Pete Schauer@@Pete_SchauerX.com LogoCorrespondent ISeptember 6, 2012

Sep 1, 2012; University Park, PA, USA; Ohio Bobcats quarterback Tyler Tettleton (4) celebrates after rushing for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-US Presswire
Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

Week 2 of the college football season kicks off on Thursday night when Cincinnati hosts Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, but that's just the start of the second week.

New Hampshire and Minnesota, Auburn and Mississippi State, and Georgia and Missouri will be tight games, while there are a handful of other games—with the best coming on Saturday (obviously)—that are surefire no-doubters in my mind.

Let's take a look at them:

Texas Tech at Texas State (Saturday, September 8 at 7 p.m. ET)

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are 18-point favorites (Bovada) to go into Bobcat Stadium and hand the Texas State Bobcats their first loss of the season.

The Red Raiders' offense rolled Northwestern State in Week 1 to the tune of 321 yards through the air from QBs Seth Doege and Michael Brewer, who combined for three touchdowns.

Senior running back Eric Stephens Jr. added two rushing touchdowns while the Red Raider defense didn't allow their opposition to find the end zone.

Look for Texas State to concede a lot of air yards to the Red Raiders in a Texas Tech blowout.

New Mexico State at Ohio (Saturday, September 8 at 7 p.m. ET)

Fresh off of a 24-14 victory over the new-look Penn State Nittany Lions, the Ohio Bobcats are looking for a home win in front of their home crowd on Saturday.

Ohio junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton was sensational against the Nittany Lions, going 31-for-41 with 324 yards and tossing two touchdown passes.

New Mexico State was impressive in its blowout win over Sacramento State, seeing its sophomore QB Andrew Manley throw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, but they're facing a lot stiffer competition in Week 2. 

The Bobcats are 21.5-point favorites entering this game (according to Bovado) and I don't see them having any trouble covering that spread.

Ball State at No. 12 Clemson (Saturday, September 8 at 12:30 p.m. ET)

It would be a travesty if the Clemson Tigers dropped one before the home crowd, especially as 27.5-point favorites (Bovado).

Senior RB Andre Ellington was superb for the Tigers, running all over the Auburn defense in Week 1 for 228 yards on 25 carries.

As we saw in Ball State's season-opening win against Eastern Michigan, they can be susceptible to the ground game, which is how I expect Clemson to attack them.

As long as the Clemson D can contain sophomore RB Jahwan Edwards (200 yards, 3 TDS in Week 1), Memorial Stadium will be rocking on Saturday afternoon as the Clemson Tigers rout the Ball State Cardinals 

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