Cal Hopes to Maintain Momentum in Home Debut vs. Texas Southern

Week 1 of the college football schedule produced some dramatic results involving teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

No ACC team made more noise than Florida State, which stunned then-No. 8 Alabama 31-17.

Tenth-ranked Miami earned added respect with its 27-24 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame.

And Cal scored a decisive 34-15 road win over an Oregon State that Vegas expected to win.

The Bears didn’t climb into the AP Top-25 with their triumph, but they did soar 21 spots in The Athletic’s rankings of every FBS team. Cal was No. 84 in the outfit’s preseason rankings but now resides at No. 63.

In the video at the top of this story. Cal coach Justin Wilcox gives a scouting report on Texas Southern, which will visit Berkeley on Saturday for the Bears' home opener.

Florida State jumped from No. 49 to No. 3, according to The Athletic, and Miami climbed from No 13 to No. 4.

Even as ACC teams posted a 12-4 record to open the season, it wasn’t all good news for the conference.

Clemson lost a heavyweight battle against LSU, 17-10, but suffered just a modest drip, sliding from No. 2 in The Athletic ratings to No. 6.

The outcome wasn’t as good for rookie college coach Bill Belichick and North Carolina, which got pummeled 48-14 by TCU and skidded from No. 50 in The Athletic poll to No. 76.

Here are the Week 2 matchups:

(Point spreads provided by DraftKings; rankings from the AP Top-25)

FRIDAY

— James Madison (plus-13.5) at Louisville, 4 p.m., ESPN 2

Louisville coughed up three turnovers last week against Eastern Kentucky and still won 51-17. If the Cardinals clean that up, could be trouble for JMU.

SATURDAY

No. 11 Illinois (minus-3) at Duke, 9 a.m., ESPN

Tulane transfer Darian Mensah made an impressive debut with Duke, passing for 389 yards with 3 TDs and 0 interceptions. Illinois will be a tougher task than Elon.

Baylor (plus-2.5) at No. 17 SMU, 9 a.m., CW Network

The Mustangs will look to run the ball against a Baylor defense that surrendered 307 rushing yards in a loss to Auburn last week.

Virginia (plus-2.5) at NC State, 9 a.m., ESPN2

Virginia demolished Coastal Carolina 48-7 last week but is still a road underdog against ACC rival NC State, which comes of a 24-17 win over East Carolina.

Central Michigan (plus-22.5) at Pittsburgh, 9 a.m., ESPNU

Eli Holstein threw four TD passes last as Pitt zonked Duquesne 61-9 in the first cross-town in 85 years. It may be 85 more years before they bother to reschedule this one.

UConn (plus-6.5) at Syracuse, 9 a.m., ESPN+/ACC Extra

You wonder where Syracuse devoted attention to on defense this week after a 45-26 loss at Tennessee, which had 247 yards passing and 248 on the ground.

East Texas A&M (no line) at Florida State, 9 a.m., ACC Network

Who does the scheduling at East Texas A&M? SMU last week, FSU on Saturday. Who’s next?

Western Carolina (no line) at Wake Forest, 11 am., ESPN+/ACC Extra

The Demon Deacons escaped with a 10-9 win over Kennesaw State. They’ve got to be better in this one.

Troy (plus-33.5) at No. 8 Clemson, 12:30 p.m., ACC Network

Troy is not happy that Clemson feels like it has something to prove. This could get ugly.

Gardner-Webb (no line) at Georgia Tech, 12:30 p.m., ESPN+/ACC Extra

After beating Colorado at Boulder, the Yellow Jackets are sure to win this one against an FCS foe, right? Probably, but in their only previous meeting back in 2008, Tech squeaked out a 10-7 victory.

Texas Southern (no line) at Cal, 3 p.m., ESPN+/ACC Extra

Cal is supposed to win this game, so don’t expect much of a bump in The Athletic’s rankings, regardless of the scoring margin. The Bears have never lost to an FCS team; the Tigers have never defeated an FBS opponent.

Bethune-Cookman (no line) at No. 5 Miami, 4 p.m., ESNN+/ACC Extra

Another uphill climb in the city of Miami for the Wildcats, who lost 42-9 at Florida International last week. We don’t expect this one to be as close.

North Carolina (minus-13.5) at Charlotte, 4 p.m., ESPN+

The line on this game dropped from minus-21 to minus-13.5 after UNC performance against TCU.

Vanderbilt (plus-1.5) at Virginia Tech, 4:30 p.m., ACC Network

Vandy won this match 34-27 in overtime last season at Nashville. VA Tech quarterback Kyrone Drones, who passed for 322 yards and two TDs in that matchup, will be eager to flip the that result a week after a 24-11 season-opening loss to South Carolina.

Boston College (plus-4.5) at Michigan State, 4:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock

Seven different players scored touchdowns last week for BC in its 66-10 undressing of Fordham. Points won’t be that east to come by at East Lansing.

Stanford (plus-18.5) at BYU, 7:15 p.m., ESPN

We’re conceding that Stanford is better than Portland State. But 69 points better? That’s how many points BYU put on the Vikings last week in a shutout victory.

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