We thought we had things figured out in college football until Week 2 rolled around and left us all scatching our heads a little bit. Here is how last week’s top ten fared:
- Ohio State Buckeyes – Defeated Hawai’i 38-0 – God bless Hawai’i Head Coach Norm Chow’s bunch
because they gave a valiant effort in Columbus on Saturday. While Auburn, Georgia & Notre Dame (more on those in a moment) were elsewhere playing poorly, the Buckeyes weren’t exactly having their way with the Rainbow Warriors who are the early leaders for the coveted ‘Uniform of the Year’ award. The Ohio State defense did hold USC transfer quarterback Max Wittek to under 100 yards passing but Hawai’i almost held Ezekiel Elliott under 100 yards rushing as well and did keep all three of the Buckeye quarterbacks out of the end zone. - Alabama Crimson Tide – Defeated Middle Tennessee 37-10 – If there was ever a game that could be
used to define ‘Alabama Football’, this past Saturday’s win could be it. The Crimson Tide never got in a hurry but eventually eclipsed the 200 yard rushing mark in the 4th quarter while defensively not allowing a touchdown until late in the 4th quarter when mop up duty was well under way. Heisman candidate running back Derrick Henry found the end zone three times in the game on only 18 carries and both quarterbacks got some quality snaps against one of the better Conference-USA defenses. - TCU Horned Frogs – Defeated Stephen F. Austin 70-7 – The formula in Fort Worth, Texas, for
forgetting a sub-par performance against Wisconsin is to drop 70 on a team the following week and that is exactly what TCU did in Week 2. The Lumberjacks never stood a chance against the other boys in purple on Saturday. TCU racked up over 600 yards of offense and were out-first downed 30 to 9. Believe it or not, I did manage to watch about five minutes of this game on Saturday and the best thing I saw was that Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin stayed in the pocket and worked on his passing ability and didn’t run hardly at all. It’s hard to take anything constructive from a 63-point win but somehow I did. - Baylor Bears – Defeated Lamar 66-31 – Let’s put it this way, the Bears should send a ‘Thank You’ card to
Auburn Head Coach Guz Malzahn for being the goat this week because had it not been for the Tigers overtime win over FCS-opponent Jacksonville State, America’s eyes would be cutting to Waco. The Bears didn’t look good at all on Saturday against FCS-opponent Lamar who managed to pick off Bears quarterback Seth Russell three times. As always, the offense threw over 700 yards on the board but the defense allowed 31 points on the scoreboard as well. There are plenty of opportunities to praise the three 100-yard rushers or two 100-yard receivers but it is apparent that Baylor still has a lot of work to do. - Michigan State Spartans – Defeated (7) Oregon 31-28 – So far, this is the most impressive win for any
team in college football in 2015. Last season, Sparty was locked up in a tight ball game with the Ducks in Eugene but laid a big egg in the second half and was outscored 28-3. Fast forward to Saturday night where the Ducks and Spartans were tied 14-14 when senior Spartan quarterback Conner Cook led his offense to 10 quick points that turned out to be enough for the win. Michigan State’s defense has been one of the best in the country the last couple of seasons but are a couple notches below that mark this season but defended the Oregon Ducks offense pretty well. Now Michigan State has to fight against complacency until their late November meeting with the Buckeyes. - Auburn Tigers – Defeated Jacksonville State 27-20 in overtime – Now is the time to hit the panic
button Tiger fans. The mighty Gamecocks of Jacksonville State who hail from the Ohio Valley Conference had the 6th ranked team in the country on the ropes and for all intents and purposes should have won the game. Auburn needed a last minute touchdown drive to send the game into the extra period. New defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s defense allowed the Gamecocks to out gain the Tigers 438 to 401 and had no answer for junior Jacksonville State receiver Josh Barge who finished the game with 14 receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown. Tigers quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who has been hailed as the second coming of Cam Newton, looked confused at times and threw two to the other team in the narrow win. - Oregon Ducks – Lost 31-28 to (5) Michigan State in East Lansing – Last season the Ducks defeated the
Spartans in Eugene and the Michigan State finished the season with a Cotton Bowl win over Baylor so all is not lost in for the Nike Death Star. Transfer quarterback Vernon Adams is essentially learning to play the position at the FBS level on the fly and it was a crash course in East Lansing against a still pretty good Michigan State defense. The good news is that Adams was great when he needed to be with both of his touchdowns coming in the 4th quarter when the Ducks were attempted to mount a comeback. Take away the 9 penalties and 2 turnovers and who knows, Oregon might have walked out with the victory. - USC Trojans – Defeated Idaho 59-9 – We haven’t seen the Trojans tested yet but so far it Heisman
candidate Cody Kessler has been all-business with his latest performance eclipsing the 400 yard mark with 3 touchdowns. My favorite wide receiver in college football, Juju Smith-Schuster who is also a card-carrying member of the All-Name team, had a career day with 10 receptions for 192 yards and 2 trips to the endzone. The Vandals haven’t been good ever and I seriously doubt that Paul Petrino survives the season but sometimes you’ve got to beat a team as bad as you can just to see what you’ve got. I think USC did that on Saturday night. - Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Defeated Virginia 34-27 in Charlottesville – No matter how hard I try, I
can never get a solid reading on how well Notre Dame will perform in a game. The Irish jumped out to a quick 12-0 1st quarter lead over lowly Virginia but went into halftime down 14-12. Midway through the 3rd quarter was when disaster struck the Irish offense when junior quarterback Malik Zaire broke his ankle on a scramble. Notre Dame was leading at the time and put another score on the board before the Cavaliers stormed back tot ake the lead. Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer performed admirably until the final minute when he led the Irish down the field like a seasoned veteran before uncorking a 39-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining for the win. - Georgia Bulldogs – Defeated Vanderbilt 31-14 in Nashville – A road game in Nashville is typically not a
‘true test’ game but Saturday’s trip to the Music City was just that for the Dawgs. The good news is that all three facets of the game scored on Saturday with the offense putting up points, a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown and a game-sealing 88-yard interception return for a touchdown. The bad news is that there are still some growing pains to be had on offense after only converting four 3rd down conversions on the day. Vanderbilt’s defense is nothing to write home about but that’s solid back-to-back performances against Western Kentucky’s Brandon Doughty & Georgia’s Nick Chubb.
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