The opening weekend of college football is only days away. Here are my picks for the Big 10 games. Winner in bold. There really isn’t much to say about these games. There shouldn’t be any surprises.

Thursday, Aug 31

Minnesota
at Kent St

Northwestern
at Miami (OH)

Saturday, Sept 2

Montana
at Iowa

Vanderbilt
at Michigan

Idaho
at Mich St

Indiana St
at Purdue

Akron
at Penn St

I’m tempted to pick Akron in an upset. I think Penn St won’t be nearly as good this year, but I can’t see them losing at home.

N. Illinois
at Ohio St

Wisconsin
at Bowling Green

Last year Wisconsin got surprised by Bowling Green in Madison, but still won the game. I can’t see the Falcons giving the Badgers as good of a game even at home.

Western Michigan
at Indiana

E. Illinois
at Illinois

I’m very tempted to pick the Panthers in this game. E. Illinois had a decent record last year and Illinois is still adjusting to the Ron Zook era. I still can’t pick against the Big 10 in this one.

Clean sweep for the Big 10. Week 2 will be a little tougher.

The season starts in a little more than 2 weeks and we have the second preseason bowl projection, this time from si.com. They have Iowa playing in the Outback Bowl against Tennessee. They also have Penn St in the Capital One, Michigan in the Rose and Ohio St playing Notre Dame in the championship. That puts Iowa at fourth in the Big 10. I can’t see Penn St finishing ahead of the Hawks. My preseason prediction was pretty conservative and I had the Hawks finishing tied for third with Wisconsin.