ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

And now comes the part where I embarrass myself on a weekly basis. At least there are four gimmes this week in an underwhelming slate of Big East games -- at least until Monday.

The picks ...

THURSDAY

Connecticut 28, Hofstra 3: There's no chance the Huskies will come in overconfident after feeling disrespected all offseason. And UConn's defense is far too strong for a Colonial Athletic Association team to spring an upset.

Cincinnati 35, Eastern Kentucky 10: Will Ben Mauk get cleared to play by the NCAA in the afternoon and suit up for the Bearcats at night? No, you watch too many movies. Cincinnati won't need him, even as it faces a perennially strong FCS team and holds a few things back for Oklahoma next week.

SATURDAY

Northwestern 31, Syracuse 14: These schools are home to two of the nation's finest journalism programs, so the best two-deep coverage might occur in the press box. Each football team has gone the way of newspaper stock in recent times. But at least Northwestern has plenty of offensive playmakers, like quarterback C.J. Bacher and tailback Tyrell Sutton. Syracuse has got, um ... hey, did you know Bob Costas went there?

Pittsburgh 37, Bowling Green 19: The Pittsburgh bandwagon will need a serious tune-up if the Panthers don't come out strong for their opener. Bowling Green can inflict some damage with an offense that averaged 30 points a game last year. But Pitt should be up for the challenge. If not, I'm going back and rewriting my preseason predictions.

West Virginia 61, Villanova 17: If Scottie Reynolds hits a bunch of three-pointers, then ... oh wait, wrong Big East sport. Too bad for 'Nova. Pat White, Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and all the other West Virginia speedsters will run free all day.

South Florida 55, Tennessee-Martin 9: George Selvie will get four sacks. Then, while he's sitting out the second half, he'll go sack Steve Martin, Tee Martin and Mark Martin just for fun.

SUNDAY

Louisville 23, Kentucky 20: I've gone back-and-forth on this pick about 100 times. It's impossible to predict what's going to happen in a game with so many unknowns on both sides. Finally, I went with my hard-and-fast rule on season openers: When everything else appears equal, take the team with the experienced quarterback (in this case, senior Hunter Cantwell for Louisville) over the unseasoned one (first-time Kentucky starter Mike Hartline).

MONDAY

Rutgers 38, Fresno State 33: Now here's an intriguing opener. I'm expecting a high-scoring, back-and-forth thriller that will liven up your Labor Day cookout. Flip a coin, really, but I'll take Rutgers simply because of the home-field advantage.