Friday’s college football storylines to watch

The second day of college football’s week one ramps up the intrigue with more inter-FBS competition and a few ranked teams getting some play. With a heavier dose of bigger programs comes a heavier dose of draft prospects and the hype that surrounds them. Friday’s action will give us a peek into a lot of player trajectory this season.

Wisconsin’s running game will steamroll USF

The Badgers open this season with a lot of excitement about two of their offensive stars. Tyler Biadasz is one of the best offensive linemen in the country and Wisconsin’s best center since Travis Frederick. Biadasz is fundamental in the success of Wisconsin’s other big name prospect, Jonathan Taylor. Taylor has averaged over two thousand yards rushing his first two seasons of college football and Taylor with be running for Heisman contention this season as well as potentially being a first round back.

Wisconsin will open their season against USF (7 PM on ESPN), a team that barely ranked in the top 100 in defense last year while allowing over five yards per carry for opposing runners. This is a recipe for video game numbers by the Wisconsin running game, particularly Taylor. It should be fun to watch him put on a clinic.

Spartan Defense will ruin Tulsa’s weekend

Michigan State has two defensive prospects that deserve attention. Joe Bachie (LB) and Kenny Willekes (EDGE) are both physical defenders who have made a lot of plays at the college level. The latter is a better pro-prospect, but both are deserving of draft attention. Tulsa will be coming to town (7 PM on FS1) with an offense that was in the bottom third of college football last year and Michigan State’s regularly stingy defense will be overwhelming.

Is this the year of Tylan Wallace?

Tylan Wallace is another big time playmaker out of the Big 12. The six foot speedster averaged over 17 yards per catch last year and scored 12 times on 86 receptions. To say he’s a weapon is an understatement. Wallace, who turns 21 after the draft in 2020, could have an unbelievable season and Friday he’ll be able to pad his stats against Oregon State (10:30 PM on FS1).

Laviska Shenault puts his stamp on a rivalry game.

One of the country’s other top receivers will be playing in a late nights game on Friday. Laviska Shenault and the Colorado Buffs will be taking on Colorado State (10 PM on ESPN) to kick off the season. Shenault is a big bodied wide receiver who moves like a running back, doing an outstanding job to create yards with the ball in his hands. Colorado State is a good opening weekend test and all attention will be paid to Shenault, both from fans, analysts and the CSU defensive staff.

Love v. Demons

Arguably one of the most underrated and intriguing match ups of the whole opening weekend is Jordan Love and the Utah State Aggies against The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8 PM on ACCN).

Ironically, Jordan Love started his college career when he was thrown into garbage time when Wake Forest was pummeling Utah State. Love flashed enough in that time to eventually get the starting and now he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.

While many are (rightfully) talking about Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert, Love has an argument for the third best draft eligible quarterback. Not only does he have a big arm and good decision making skills, he’s a dual threat quarterback who will always keep defenses honest.

Wake Forest’s defense is underrated unit across the board, including Carlos Basham Jr. and Essang Bassey. This will be no easy going for Love and the Aggies. However the Heisman and first round hopeful has a great opportunity to kick off the season with a bang and get the Demons off Utah State’s shoulder.