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College football Week 1 predictions: FanSided expert picks

By Patrick Schmidt

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles looks for a receiver during the 2016 Capital One Orange Bowl against the Michigan Wolverines at Hard Rock Stadium on December 30, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles looks for a receiver during the 2016 Capital One Orange Bowl against the Michigan Wolverines at Hard Rock Stadium on December 30, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images) /
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College football Week 1 is here and that means it’s time to start making predictions and picks for the best games of the week.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. College football is in full bloom with a loaded Week 1 schedule on tap beginning on Thursday night and ending on Monday night. Sure, there were a handful of games last weekend, including Stanford routing Rice from Australia and Colorado State fared had a notable Week Zero showing as well. But that was just the appetizer to the main course. Last week was onion rings and jalapeno poppers. This week is all about the steak and loaded baked potato.

The biggest Week 1 game is No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Florida State playing at the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday night. In what may be a preview of a College Football Playoff game, the game pits Nick Saban against his former offensive coordinator at LSU, Jimbo Fisher. Saban is undefeated against his former assistants and Fisher is undefeated in season openers. One thing is going to give when the Crimson Tide and Seminoles clash on Saturday night.

That’s one of the five games my colleague and fellow college football editor for FanSided, Jack Jorgensen, will be picking this weekend. Each Friday, we’ll pick the winners for the five biggest games of the week straight up and we’ll have a running tally to see who has bragging rights at the end of the year in January and who has to pay for the other’s beer and wings.

Below you’ll see our picks for Alabama-FSU as well as Michigan-Florida, West Virginia-Virginia Tech, Texas A&M-UCLA and Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech.

Saturday: No. 11 Michigan vs. No. 17 Florida – 3:30 p.m. (ET) – ABC

Schmidt: Michigan

Jorgensen: Michigan

Saturday: No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 1 Alabama – 8:00 p.m. – ABC

Schmidt: Alabama

Jorgensen: Florida State

Sunday: No. 22 West Virginia vs. No. 21 Virginia Tech – 7:30 p.m. – ABC

Schmidt: Virginia Tech

Jorgensen: West Virginia

Sunday: Texas A&M at UCLA – 7:30 p.m. – Fox

Schmidt: UCLA

Jorgensen: UCLA

Monday: Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech – 8:00 p.m. ESPN

Schmidt: Tennessee

Jorgensen: Tennessee

Recap: We both like the Fighting Jim Harbaugh’s to defeat the depleted Gators who seemingly have half their team suspended. It’s really “only” eight percent of the roster, but we exaggerate.

I like Alabama to roll while Jack is going with the mild upset. We both agree the loser of this game will still be in the College Football Playoff, so this could be the first of two meetings between the two powerhouse programs.

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We also differ on the WVU-Va Tech game. My guy instinct was to pick the Mountaineers on the strength of Will Grier making his team debut, but I changed my pick and went with Justin Fuente’s Hokies despite them breaking in a new quarterback after Justin Evans inexplicably declared for the NFL Draft where he went undrafted. I’m totally hedging my bets here, while Jack is going with Dana Holgorsen and the Mountaineers.

Texas A&M has started 5-0, 6-0, and 5-0 the last three seasons but we have the Aggies starting 0-1 with a loss to Jim Mora Jr., Josh Rosen and the Bruins who are looking to rebound after a dismal 4-8 campaign last year.

Finally, we both have the Champions of Life emerging with a victory against the Yellow Jackets on Labor Day from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Tennessee may not appear as strong on paper as they did the last two years but don’t sleep on the Vols who are seemingly being discounted as SEC East contenders this year.

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