G5 Football Daily

G5 College Football Games You Should Watch In Week 2

These four matchups might be the most intriguing on the schedule this week

G5 Football Daily Staff

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Week one provided its fair share of intriguing matchups across the Group of Five landscape and Wyoming’s upset of Texas Tech highlighted the weekend of college football play. Entering week two, there are several G5 contests which interesting storylines – here’s four that we’re keeping our eyes on at G5FootballDaily.

Ole Miss at Tulane

What’s there not to love about this contest? We have an early season matchup of top-25 teams in non-conference play as Lane Kiffin takes his Rebels to New Orleans to take on Willie Fritz’ Green Wave, who may arguably have one of the greatest 18-month turnaround’s in G5 history.

Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt is one of the top signal-callers in the nation and is a darkhorse candidate for the Davey O’Brien Award.

Mississippi enter as 7.5-point favorites, in large part due to the litany of talented transfers that Kiffin has assembled in Oxford and the play of quarterback Jaxon Dart. Look for this one to be closer than the Vegas oddmakers may think and the Green Wave will keep in close entering the second half.

Florida A&M at South Florida

To say that USF’s football program was in a much-different place when this contest against FCS Florida A&M was agreed upon is an understatement. The Bulls have undergone several different attempts at a rebuild following the departure of Willie Taggart and the end of the Charlie Strong era in Tampa.

The Bulls are coming off a 4-26 three-year stint under Jeff Scott as Alex Golesh looks to find his first win at the helm after USF opened the season with a loss at Western Kentucky.

Meanwhile, the Rattlers have undergone a resurgence in Tallahassee under head coach Willie Simmons, who has been in contention for several FBS jobs over the last two seasons – including the USF job.

The 42-year-old Tallahassee native has won 27 games over the past three seasons, including a rare FCS-playoff berth for an Historically Black College and University. Look for the Rattlers to enter Raymond James Stadium not only with enough talent to compete, but an expectation of winning this game.

James Madison at Virginia

Obviously, it’s been a tremendously tough stretch for the Virginia football program. Former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was already in the midst of rebuilding the Cavilers, when an unspeakable tragedy occurred in the killing of UVA players D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler.

Attempting to rebuild the program was challenge enough before the senseless tragedy shook the young men at UVA.

Former FCS program James Madison was ineligible for bowl contention in their first season at the FBS level last year, but was undoubtedly one of the top programs in the Sun Belt in 2022. Look for an emotionally charged game in Charlottesville, as Elliott and UVA will look for a victory while in-state JMU have a chance to go 2-0.

UTEP at Northwestern

It’s already been an up and down season for Dana Dimel’s Miners in El Paso. The opened the year with a disappointing loss to first-year Conference USA club Jacksonville State on the road and bounced back with a 14-point win over FCS Incarnate Word.

Now, Dimel’s club heads to suburban Chicago, facing a Northwestern program that’s been swirled in controversy ever since the dismissal of longtime Wildcats’ head coach Pat Fitzgerald shortly before the start of the season.

UTEP opens as a 1.5-point favorite for Saturday’s contest at Ryan Field in Evanston – in large part because of Northwestern’s horrendous opening-week contest against Rutgers. If quarterback Gavin Hardison can play a smart game and not turn the football over, there’s more than enough room for running back Deion Hankins to carry the Miners to a Power Five win. 

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