Northern Illinois at Ohio State---This is probably the best Saluki squad since the 10-2 group from 2002.  We should see a smart effort from them, but Ohio State is the No. 1 team for a reason and should start to pull away late in the first half.  Look for a big Ted Ginn play or two and a Buckeye win.

Akron at Penn State---This game has the potential to be close.  Akron brings back a good quarterback and nearly the entire defense.  The Nittany Lions struggled against South Florida in last year's opener and may be a little slow out of the gate again.  That said, they won the last matchup in the 2003 opener, 48-10.  Penn State gets the win here.

Stanford at Oregon---This one should be wild.  Oregon will be playing its first game without planet-sized DT Haloti Ngata.  Until proven otherwise, Stanford is all O this year and will have to fight for stops against a very good Oregon offense.  I like the Ducks' balance and overall talent here, but Stanford should put up a fight in their second year under coach Walt Harris.

California at Tennessee---I've written plenty about this one.  I like the Bears here, behind the strength of a good defense and their offensive playmakers, back Marshawn Lynch and receiver DeSean Jackson.

Southern Miss at Florida---Southern Miss has consistently been a top 25 team the last few years.  They play good football and can challenge the occasional giant.  However, this may be a bit of a down year.  I expect the Gators to waste little time in dispensing with the Golden Eagles.

Utah at UCLA---Utah is a fringe top 25 team, UCLA is probably destined for the middle of the Pac-10.  The Utes head into this game with a very efficient quarterback in Bret Ratliff.  They should outlast the Bruins in a high-scoring affair.

Hawai'i at Alabama---The Tide are at home this year and should have an improved enough offense to dispatch with the pesky Warriors.  The one worry is if Hawai'i finds a few scores early, they might just be able to distance themselves from the still-subpar Bama offense.  The Tide should dominate with their defense but Hawai'i's bound to get a few TD's or FG's if they're given enough possessions.

Washington State at Auburn---Washington State is greatly improved this year on both sides of the ball.  However, they're at a real overall talent disadvantage here and must play in the Tigers' raucous home stadium.  I think this thing will actually be a fairly even affair but eventually Washington State's confidence will break and Auburn will pull ahead by two touchdowns.

Notre Dame at Georgia Tech---The problem I have with the hype of this game is that I don't know if the Yellow Jackets can score a whole lot of points.  John Tenuta's a great DC but he needs a little more talent on his roster to play an offense like the Irish's.  The Irish should have a fairly easy time and end up with over 40 points for the win.

USC at Arkansas---What a reloading job USC has, and get a tough draw with the opener at an angry Arkansas.  That said, I don't see many ways the Trojans could lose this.  Arkansas' new offensive coordinator has never coached at the college level and is going up against one of the best DC's in all of college football.  The Trojans offense is filled with new faces, but it's very talented and they will eventually find ways to score in this game, somewhere in the range of 20-30 points.  Arkansas will call it a great day if they can score that many.  The Trojans win here.