Week 2- Winners, Losers, Observations and Overreactions!

Summary

We’re going to get to the b1g, so I won’t beat it to death here except to say that there are bad days, and then there are these days… 

Our two top 25 matchups didn’t disappoint as Oregon and USC won the day and gaining ground and momentum in their conference and playoff chances.  The rest of the Pac-12, eh.  Beamer Ball is back as Virginia Tech won big at “The Shoe” and looked like Hokie teams that ruled the ACC in the early ’00.  Baylor, Texas A&M and Clemson all eclipsed the 70-point mark.  And, finally, I think every talking head and expert in college football would love to have their preseason top 25 back- see. Ohio State (5), UCLA (7), South Carolina (9), Wisconsin (14), Nebraska (22), North Carolina (23), Washington (25).

 

Winners

 

Oregon

The Oregon Ducks made a statement on Saturday with a decisive win over b1g favorite Michigan State.  The Ducks struggled early and found themselves down 27-18 early in the third quarter but Marcus Mariota and the Oregon offense came roaring back, scoring 28-straight (21 in a seven minute span) to bury Michigan State by a final score of 46-27.  The win puts the Ducks front and center in the early college football season as the team to beat.

 

USC

USC’s win over Stanford on Saturday should put the Pac-12 on alert (if they weren’t already) that Sark and the Trojans are among the conferences elite.  Despite the issues with depth, SC was still able to win a physical, hard fought game against Stanford and in doing so, step out in front of the Pac-12 South.

 

Virginia Tech

Let’s get this out of the way and acknowledge that Braxton Miller is out and this just isn’t the same OSU team.  Frank Beamer, Bud Foster and the Virginia Tech Hokies deserve all the credit in the world for the road win at “The Shoe” on Saturday night.  The Hokies won the way the Hokies have traditionally won, play great defense, run the football and keep it close with a chance to win late.  We’ll see what the rest of the season hold for Beamer and VaTech but for this week, they’re the darlings of college football.

 

Will Muschamp

Live it up Will, live it up.  After a nightmare 2013 and long offseason, no one needed this game and this win more than Will Muschamp.  The Gators completely dominated Eastern Michigan on Saturday to the tune of 65-0, put up 655 yards of offense, limited EMU to seven first downs and forced five turnovers.  For the next six days, Coach Muschamp’s seat has cooled and with Kentucky coming to town next week things are looking up in Gainesville (at least for now).

 

 

Losers

 

The b1g

Losses by Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan should pretty much wipe out any hopes Jim Delany had of his conference playing in the inaugural College Football Playoff.  Aside from these three, the rest of the conference looked pretty shaky.  Nebraska narrowly escaped against McNeese State, Penn State struggled with Akron, Illinois had to come back to beat Western Kentucky, Purdue and Northwestern lost to mid-majors Central Michigan and NIU.  Iowa, Maryland and Minnesota all won by a narrow margins against sub-par competition.  The only team that really looked good on Saturday was Wisconsin and they even struggled early against Western Illinois. 

 All in all, I don’t think Saturday could have gone much worse for this conference.

 

The Pac-12

Yes, I know Oregon won a huge non-conference game and might be the No. 1 team in the country and USC had an impressive win over Stanford.  However, for all the offseason talk about how the Pac-12 had evened out with or passed the SEC as the best conference in the country, the results on the field have not matched the hype.  I’ll give you Oregon, USC and even Stanford.  These are three top 10 caliber teams but where’s the rest of the conference.  ASU is probably the fourth best team in the conference right now but they’re 2-0 against powder-puffs.  Washington and UCLA, two teams that were expected to compete in their respective divisions (not to mention, UCLA being a trendy CFB Playoff pick) have looked dreadful in their first two games with an average margin of victory of 5.5 points over- Hawai’i, Eastern Washington, Virginia and Memphis.  Arizona has been lackluster in their two wins, Washington State, a team that was expected to take the next step this year is 0-2.  There’s good teams in this conference and I think they’ll improve over the course of the season but given all the preseason hype, the Pac has definitely cooled. 

 

Texas

Between suspensions, injuries and Taysom Hill, things aren’t looking good for the 2014 Texas Longhorns.  This team will gradually improve as the season progresses and they’ll compete hard every week but I think you can pretty much throw this year away.

 

Vanderbilt

No Bueno.  I didn’t think Vandy would win but I thought Coach Derek Mason would at least make this team competitive.  So far they’ve been outscored 78-10, out gained 898-445 and managed 22 first downs to their opponents 51.

 

Leonard Fournette

You had 92 yards and a touchdown against Sam Houston.  Settle down squirt.

 

 

Overreactions

 

Okay, okay, Oregon rolled in the 2nd half but why do they jump a team who didn’t lose?  Oregon-Michigan State: I understand this was two top ranked teams coming together for a week two “playoff primer,” but that doesn’t mean that it is time to just hand the Ducks a spot in the playoff and better yet the national title. One of the many overreactions from this game comes from Oregon jumping Alabama in the AP poll. I understand the fact they the Ducks were able to run away with this game in the second half is impressive, but let’s not forget they were 12.5 favorites at home against the Spartans. This game was overhyped by all of the talking heads on whichever network you choose to watch and still the odds makers decided that Oregon had an obvious advantage to keep them nearly two touchdown favorites. Before I start rambling on about the hype machine, my point is, let’s not treat this as the game of the year and the Ducks rolled a top quality team. Michigan State was not picked to win its conference to start the season and its odds increased about 15 percent when Ohio State lost Braxton Miller. The bottom line is Oregon is a talented team and is most defiantly a top 5 or even top 4 squad, but jumping Alabama because of one game against a good not great Michigan State team, I think not.

 

Wait, who is on the USC sideline arguing with the refs? Steve Sarksian calling Pat Haden to come to the sideline. Can someone please explain this one to me? As long as I have been watching college football I have never seen this. Who calls their AD down to the sideline to help argue a call? I am not sure how to analyze this correctly. Is it Sark’s fault? Is it Haden’s? I am going to go with a combination of both. For Sark, really? You felt the need to call your AD down to the field to help you argue a call? When has that ever worked and why the hell would you call the AD? What could Haden possibly have done to change the referees mind? For Haden, come on, you are a Division I Athletics Director and a member of the college football playoff committee making you one of the most high-profile people in the sport and you allow yourself to get pulled into petty BS unsportsmanlike penalty on the field. I was wondering as I was writing this what Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott would do to USC and it came out as I was in the middle of this sentence. Scott chose to go harsh on this fining Haden $25,000 and reprimanding Sark. My feeling good call. Good on you Scott to make sure that coaches and ADs know this is not ok.

 

Good for BYU, but let’s hold off the Playoff talk.  I am going to highlight the BYU-Texas game a little later in this post, but I need to put this in the overreactions. No. BYU will not make the College Football Playoff...even if it goes undefeated. If the Cougars run the table they will be without a win against a ranked opponent and show me exactly what their quality wins would be. I can say Texas is not right now, the Longhorns are looking at a 5 to 6 win season.

 

 

Observations

 

Ouch! the B1G took one on the chin: I don’t want to give this too much play today because it is getting beat to death everywhere else, but all of the week two results came out as bad as possible for the conference. Its favorite Michigan State got rolled in the second half at Oregon. Ohio State looked average at best against what looks to be a sneaky good Virginia Tech team. Michigan, oh Michigan, that was not even a contest and even though I am not a Notre Dame buyer yet, the looked pretty darn dominant over that Michigan team. Nebraska needed the last second heroics of Ameer Abdulla to defeat McNeese State. Northwestern lost at home to North Illinois, who I will give is a pretty good team, but shouldn’t be beating the Wildcats a home. To top it off Purdue got rolled at home by Central Michigan. Wisconsin rolled over Western Illinois and the Minnesota rushing attack looked good against Middle Tennessee that is about all this conference can hang its hat on right now. With all of that said I am going to officially put the B1G out of the playoff conversation, with only one exception, we see absolute craziness the rest of the season and a one loss Wisconsin or Michigan State sneaks in because of the better conference beating up on each other.

 

Are the Hokies for real? Virginia Tech looked purely dominant against Ohio State in my opinion. Bud Foster and his defense smelled blood in the water with unproven quarterbacks playing for the Buckeyes and he made them look bad forcing three picks. The Hokies aren’t flashy, but are ranked No. 13 in total defense and their offense looks serviceable, it helps not having a tight end playing quarterback. I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon to Blacksburg just yet, but watch out the Hokies could make for some interesting TV late in the ACC season.

 

The NCAA Gets One Right: Good for the NCAA to alleviate some of the pressure on Penn State by announcing Monday that it can return to postseason play. I think this was a case of, ‘haven’t the kids who have had nothing to do with anything that went on there in the 1990s and early 2000s, paid for that enough?’ My answer was yes. I have never been ok with something like this happening off the field and the players get punished on the field. If the NCAA wants to take away money from the program or something like that fine, but taking scholarships and postseason play away from kids who did nothing wrong is not ok. Good for the NCAA to reinstate PSU into postseason play it couldn’t have come at a better time for the B1G.  

 

BYU may have Texas’ number: Good call by Jeremy last week to put BYU @ Texas on the other games to watch and add Taysom Hill to the players to watch. I horribly overlooked that and the Cougars ran over the Longhorns in Austin. I understand there are growing pains in a new system, but talent vs. talent Texas should be able to beat BYU at home. The fact that it was 6-0 BYU at half, I was like ok Texas has to get its feet under it without Ash at quarterback. Then BYU rolls of 28 straight in the third quarter on its way to 248 yards on the ground and a 41-7 boat race of Texas. It doesn’t get any easier for Texas this week either with UCLA making the trip to the Lone Star State.

 

 

Players of the Week

 

James Conner, RB, PITT

Conner was a one-man wrecking ball on Friday night against Boston College.  Conner ran all over the Eagles to the tune of 36 carries, 214 yards and a touchdown.

 

Taysom Hill, QB, BYU

Hill was one of our impact players going into this game and boy, did he deliver.  For the second year in a row Taysom Hill and the BYU Cougars ripped the Texas Longhorns on the ground.  Though they didn’t quite hit their 550 rushing yards from a year ago, they still ran for 284, with Hill accounting for 99 of those yards. 

 

Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon

Mariota had a heck of a day against a good Michigan State defense combining for 360 yards of total offense, while tossing three scores. He truly is what makes this Oregon offense go and he most certainly should be in the Heisman conversation.

 

Everett Golsen, QB, Notre Dame

Golsen tossed for 226 yards and three scores in the Irish’s 31-0 drubbing of Michigan. Golsen looks like he is one of the better quarterbacks in the country this season. If he can keep making plays he could help the Irish navigate their brutal schedule a little easier.

 

Danny Shelton, DL, Washington

4 sacks. I know this is against Eastern Washington but give the guy some credit. Four sacks against anyone is a good day. Shelton also had two sacks against Hawai’i giving him six for the season. If he can keep up that production he could be playing for some postseason honors.

 

 

Top 25 Picks Review

 

#1 Florida State 37, Citadel 12

 The final score here is a little misleading as FSU only had eight possessions in the entire game (nine if you count some 20 seconds at the end of the game).  The offense was efficient, though they did struggle to convert in the red zone.  Not a pretty win for the ‘Noles, but a win.

Jeremy- FSU 51, Citadel 10

Nick- FSU 45, Citadel 7

 

#2 Alabama 41, Florida Atlantic 0

One point shy… Oh, well.  Alabama had no trouble taking care of FAU in a lightning shortened game and along the way got some good action for their 2^nd string, or 1b-string quarterback, Jacob Coker.

Jeremy- Alabama 41, FAU 10

Nick- Alabama 38, FAU 13

 

#4 Oklahoma 52, Tulsa 7

The Sooners rolled against Tulsa and through two weeks look like the most complete team in college football. 

Jeremy- Sooners 45, Tulsa 13

Nick- OU 45, Tulsa 14

 

#5 Auburn 59, San Jose State 13

This one got ugly quick as Auburn rolled to a 38-10 halftime lead and finished off San Jose State with ease.  Next up… a trip to the “Little Apple” to take on Kansas State.

Jeremy- Auburn 51, SJSU 20

Nick- Auburn 42, SJSU 24

 

#9 Texas A&M 73, Lamar 3 

“Kenny Heisman” kept rolling against Lamar.

Jeremy- TAMU 55, Lamar 14

Nick- TAMU 52, Lamar 17

 

#10 Baylor 70, Northwestern State 6

… and that was without Bryce Petty.

Jeremy- Baylor 60, NWSt 7

Nick- Baylor 63, NWSt 10

 

#11 UCLA 42, Memphis 35

We wondered going in to this game if UCLA would snap out of their funk.  Unfortunately, it was more of the same for Jim Mora and a Bruins team that just doesn’t seem to have any answers.  For the second week in a row, UCLA struggled against a less than average team, barely holding off Memphis. 

Jeremy- UCLA 37, Memphis 17

Nick- UCLA 41, Memphis 13

 

#12 LSU 56, Sam Houston 0

Who needs experience when you’ve got these youngsters?  Les Miles’ LSU Tigers shredded Sam Houston and some of his super-frosh stole the show.  Freshman QB Brandon Harris accounted for 115 total yards and two touchdowns.  Leonard Fournette led the Tigers with 92 rushing yards and a Heisman worthy 4-yard touchdown run.  Finally, sophomore Travin Dural had 140 receiving yards and three touchdowns… on three receptions. 

Jeremy- LSU 34, Sam Houston 10

Nick- LSU 38, Sam Houston 3

 

#17 Arizona State 58, New Mexico 23

Ho-hum… someone wake me up on September, 25^th when they play someone worth mentioning… Oh wait…

Jeremy- ASU 47, UNM 17

Nick- ASU 52, UNM 20

 

#18 Wisconsin 37, W. Illinois 3

The final score doesn’t quite tell the whole story here.  The Badgers, in true b1g fashion struggled early against Western Illinois, leading only 9-3 at halftime.  Wisconsin is going to be a good team but they still have a long way to go.

Jeremy- Wisconsin 55, W. Illinois 10

Nick- Wisconsin 45, W. Illinois 24

 

#19 Nebraska 31, McNeese State 24

Eesh!!!  Ameer Abdullah deserves a statue outside Memorial Stadium after this one.  Abdullah saved the day and maybe Polini’s job with a 58-yard catch and run, breaking tackles snatching the Huskers from the jaws of defeat.

Jeremy- Nebraska 51, McNeese St 17

Nick- Nebraska 63, McNeese St 24

 

#20 Kansas State 32, Iowa State 28

Iowa State came out swinging against K-State and actually led 28-20 going into the fourth quarter.  Eventually, the Wildcats offense woke up with quarterback Jake Waters putting the team on his back to the tune of   377 yards of total offense a late touchdown to pull K-State through.

Jeremy- K-State 41, Iowa State 20

Nick- K-State 33, ISU 17

 

#21 South Carolina 33, East Carolina 23

I figured ECU would give South Carolina some trouble and they did.  With their next four games against SEC opponents, including Georgia, South Carolina might be in some serious trouble. 

Jeremy- South Carolina 41, ECU 27

Nick- South Carolina 35, ECU 14

 

#21 North Carolina 31, San Diego State 27

UNC is just one of many preseason top 25 teams that we need to just sell. 

Jeremy- UNC 41, SDSU 21

Nick- UNC 38, SDSU 28

 

#23 Clemson 73, S Carolina State 7

That’s more like it.  Sure it was S Carolina State but this is a great warmup for a young Tigers team that has a trip to Tallahassee in two weeks.

Jeremy- Clemson 51, SCST 7

Nick- Clemson 42, SCST 17

 

#24 Missouri 49, Toledo 24

Maty Mauk had five touchdowns leading Missouri past Toledo. 

Jeremy- Missouri 37, Toledo 23

Nick- Missouri 35, Toledo 20

 

#25 Louisville 66, Murray State 21

Dear b1g, this is how you put away FCS opponents.  Your friend, Bobby Petrino. The Cardinals ran for 325 yards and held the ball for 42:09. 

Jeremy- Louisville 47, Murray State 14

Nick- Louisville 48, Murray State 24

 

 

Best of the Rest

 

Texas 7, BYU 41

The final score looks bad, and it is, but the Longhorns played better than the 41-7 score would indicate.  The UT defense kept BYU in check in the first half, holding the Cougars to two field-goals in the first half.  Hill and the BYU running game got rolling in the second half however, as the Texas defense just wore down.

Jeremy- BYU 27, UT 23

Nick- UT 28, BYU 27

 

Kentucky 20, Ohio 3

Kentucky jumped out to a 17-0 first half lead and were able to put Ohio away, holding the Bobcats to just three points, 223 yards and 13 first downs.  Kentucky needed to win their non-conference games to have a chance at a bowl.  Two down, four to go.

Jeremy- Kentucky 34, Ohio 21

Nick- Kentucky 34, Ohio 17

 

Washington 59, Eastern Washington 52

Cut and paste- UCLA, UNC, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Nebraska… I get Eastern Washington is a really good FCS team but Washington was supposed to be a contender in the North.

Jeremy- Washington 34, E Washington 17

Nick- Washington 42, E Washington 34

 

Pittsburg 30, Boston College 20

This was a pretty entertaining early ACC matchup and after falling to an early 27-7 third quarter deficit, BC made a late push to make the game a little more competitive.  The story of the game was Pitt running back James Conner who ran for 214 yards on 36 carries.

Jeremy- Pitt 26, BC 20

Nick- Pitt 31, BC 17

 

Northern Illinois 23, Northwestern 15 (Line: NW -7, O/U: 58.5)

Someone please put Northwestern out of their misery.  The Wildcats have lost nine of their last 10 games going back to last season.  PS- how were they touchdown favorites?

Jeremy- NIU 31, N’Western 27

Nick- N’Western 27, NIU 26

 

Florida 65, Eastern Michigan 0

Happiest man in college football:  Will Muschamp.

Jeremy- UF 42, EMU 13

Nick- UF 28, EMU 14

 

Air Force 13, Wyoming 17

The Pokes kept Air Force within striking distance all game and scored 10 points in the fourth to get a hard fought MW win.

Jeremy- Wyoming 20, AFA 17

Nick- Wyoming 17, AFA 13

 

 

Players to Watch- (how’d they do)

 

Taysom Hill, QB, BYU

See our Player of the Week.

 

Ty Montgomery, WR, Stanford

Montgomery played well on Saturday accounting for 196 (83 receiving, 69 kick return, 44 punt return) of Stanford’s 413 yards.  If only they could have found him in the red zone.

 

Shaq Calhoun, DE, Michigan State

Calhoun had four total tackles and the Michigan State defensive line played well for most of the game holding the Ducks to 17 points through most of three quarters and forcing six punts on Oregon’s first 10 drives. 

 

Devin Gardner, QB, Michigan

“If No. 98 gets time and makes good decisions with the football (ie- not fumbling or throwing picks) the Wolverines can come out of the South Bend with a win.”  Gardner was 19/32 for 189 passing yards and had four turnovers (3 INT’s, 1 fumble) in the second half.  Doh!!!

 

Leonard Williams, DE, USC

The Cardinal moved the ball at about an 8-yard per play clip between the 30’s but Williams (11 total tackles and sack) and Co. buckled down when they needed to and held Stanford to a touchdown and a field goal in four red zone attempts. 

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