College Football Week 2: Ohio State and Notre Dame lose big games, so what else is new?
(Editor’s Note: All team rankings are based on the Top 25 Coaches Survey and Sagarin Ratings, Jeff Sagarin’s mathematical and factual ratings among the competition among all 245 Division 1 teams.)
Only 7 teams stayed on top and went 2-0 through the second week of the college football season: Florida, USC, Alabama, California, Boise State, Brigham Young, and Kansas.
No. 1 Florida crushed Troy 56-6 behind Tim Tebow’s career-high 4 touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown.
No. 3 Southern Cal saved the best for last against No. 7 Ohio State to win, 18-15, on the road as rookie quarterback Matt Barkley led the Trojans on a 14-play, 95-yard drive to score with 1:05 remaining. The Ohio State Buckeyes have now lost 7 straight games against top 5 teams, including two national title games and last season’s 35-3 loss to USC in Los Angeles.
Number 4 Alabama defeated Florida International 40-14 as quarterback Greg McElroy completed a school record 14 consecutive passes. Remember that Alabama was the same school that Joe “Willie” Namath led to a National Championship in 1964, and Kenny “The Snake” Stabler led to another National Championship in 1965. Both Namath and Stabler played for legendary Crimson Tide coach Paul “Bear”. “Bryant.
No. 10 California defeated Eastern Washington, 59-7, behind Jahvid Best’s 144 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, one rushing and one on a 22-yard reception.
No. 11 Boise State shutout Miami of Ohio, 48-0, while QB Kellen Moore went 16 of 26 for 307 yards and 4 passing touchdowns.
No. 12 Brigham Young, coming off his 14-13 upset over Oklahoma a week earlier, sidekicked Tulane on the road, 54-3, as QB Max Hall threw for 309 yards and 2 TDs and Bryan Kaiya scored two. times.
No. 25 Kansas battered UTEP, 34-7, on the road behind Jack Sharp’s 104 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.
There were 4 genuine upsets as Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Michigan State hit the turf hard.
No. 20 Notre Dame allowed Tate Focier to throw a 5-yard TD pass to Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left to give unranked Michigan a 38-34 victory at the Big House in Ann Arbor . Freshman Focier was 23 of 33 for 240 yards, 2 TDs, an interception and rushed for 70 yards and a score. Notre Dame’s star quarterback Jimmy Clausen, now a junior, went 25 of 42 for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns, but missed some costly throws.
You can argue about who was the better QB on this day, however, nothing counts more than the final score, and Notre Dame again came out the underdog in a great game.
After defeating Georgia last week, the No. 6 Oklahoma State, a 15-point favorite, let it all go down the drain by losing to Houston 45-35 at home. The Cowboys need to learn to ride again; It seems that they always have more attack than defense.
UCLA quietly got to 2-0 by defeating Tennessee on the road 19-15. The Volunteers, a 10-point favorite, no longer make much of an impression in the SEC.
The Michigan State Spartans, favored by 14.5, let Central Michigan completely embarrass them with a last second 29-27 loss on their home turf. The Spartans had an excellent schedule this year that offered them a chance to lead the table (go undefeated) as they drew both Michigan and Penn State at home and didn’t have to play Ohio State.
Instead, Michigan State was outplayed in practice, outplayed, and deserved to lose.
Five teams went 2-0 and posted good wins to solidify their position as leaders to watch:
No.18 Nebraska, favored by 21, beat Arkansas State 38-9. No. 23 Cincinnati defeated 1-AA SE Missouri State 70-3. Unranked Pittsburgh, favored by 10.5, beat a good Buffalo team 54-27 on the road. Unranked Iowa beat in-state rival Iowa State 35-3 on the road.
Unranked and undefeated Southern Methodist defeated UAB 35-33, and they did so on the road. Now don’t laugh at SMU, give some credit to the Mustangs and coach June Jones; After all, if you’re a fan of Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Rutgers, or Georgia, your team isn’t 2-0, you’re 1-1.
Another unranked team that went 0-12 last year finally won its first game in 16 tries as new head coach Steve Sarkisian and new defensive coordinator Nick Holt pulled off an impressive 42-23 victory over Idaho. Yes, Idaho isn’t much, but Washington will start to win and beat better teams than Idaho. You read it here first.
Here are 19 teams that have gone 2-0 at the start of the season, but their wins haven’t been much considering the competition they’ve been playing:
No. 2 Texas, favored by 32.5, beat Wyoming on the road 41-10, but was unable to cover the gap.
No. 5 Penn State, favored by 28.5, beat Syracuse 28-7, but couldn’t cover the difference.
No. 9 LSU, favored by 14.5, beat Vanderbilt, 23-9, but couldn’t cover the difference.
No. 17 Utah, favored by 14, beat San Jose State 24-14, but was able to cover the difference.
No. 19 North Carolina, favored by 4.5, needed 12 points in the fourth quarter to narrowly beat Connecticut 12-10, but couldn’t cover the difference.
No. 24 Oregon State, favored by 7, beat UNLV 23-21, but was unable to cover the spread.
So seriously, why are Texas, Penn State, LSU, Utah, North Carolina, and Oregon State rated so highly? Answer: Don’t ask anyone to bet on them to not only win, but cover the spread.
Here are the 13 other teams that are 2-0 in no particular order because, frankly, it’s too early to tell if they’re really good:
Missouri over Bowling Green 27-20, Tulsa over New Mexico 44-10, Hawaii over Washington State 38-20, Auburn over Mississippi State 49-24, South Florida over Western Kentucky 35-13, West Virginia over East Carolina 35-20, Texas Tech over Rice 55-10, Boston College over Kent State 34-7, Minnesota over Air Force 20-13, Southern Mississippi over University of Central Florida (UCF) 26-19 and Northwestern over Eastern Michigan 27- 24.
Also Arizona over 1-AA Northern Arizona 34-17, and Colorado State needed a 4th quarter touchdown to beat 1-AA Weber State 24-23.
Here are 5 teams that won their first game, but really need to play a good team and win to think they’re doing anything worth talking about:
No. 14 Oklahoma beat 1-AA Idaho State 64-0, No. 16 TCU beat Virginia 30-14, No. 21 Georgia narrowly beat South Carolina 41-37, Virginia Tech beat Marshall 52-10 and Rutgers defeated 1-AA Howard 45-7.
Every week in college football there are games and wins that make you look twice when you read the scores and look at the teams. Here are 3 from this week:
Toledo beat Colorado 54-38 at home, leaving the Buffaloes 0-2. This made me wonder if sinkholes have developed in the state of Colorado. Much more and the Buffaloes will disappear from the radar screen. Maryland needed overtime to narrowly beat 1-AA James Madison 38-35. Louisiana Lafayette defeated Kansas State 17-15.
Wrap it up, Benny, and throw it in the files; It’s time to get ready for week three of college football competition.
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley