Football picks: week 2

Last week: I picked the exact margin of the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game. OK, so my other picks were out by 10 and 24 points, both times picking the loser, but one out of three is pretty good. Player of the week: Florida State LB Buster Davis, whose up-the-middle sacks changed the tenor of their game at Miami.

Ohio State @ Texas -2
If the Texas running game, long unstoppable at home, gets rolling, Troy Smith will have to be Vince Young for Ohio State to win. There's only one Vince Young.
Pick: TEXAS BY 3

Penn State @ Notre Dame -9
Though it's hard to believe a back with the power of Tony Hunt will again be as unproductive as he was against Akron (14 carries for 35 yards), the improved Notre Dame defence should be able to slow him down enough to put Anthony Morelli under enough pressure to crack him. Brady Quinn will be under at least as much pressure, so he'd better continue to earn his Heisman.
Pick: NOTRE DAME BY 1

Clemson -2.5 @ Boston College
No one's going to watch this, since it's at the same time as Penn State-Notre Dame, but it's intriguing enough to necessitate keeping an eye on the score, if only to find out if either of these teams are capable of impeding Florida State's march to the BCS Championship Game. Clemson are stronger on paper, and their offense put up 54 points against Florida Atlantic last week, but their habit of making games closer than they should be, often thanks to blocked punts, works against them when they're favourites.
Pick: CLEMSON BY 6