Three takeaways and much more to wrap up Week 2, which definitely did not disappoint in giving us thrilling finishes throughout the afternoon and night.
1. Who’s hitting the panic button?
Overreacting to what a team shows us in Week 1 often ends up being pretty unnecessary or unreasonable. College teams tend to bounce back in a big way from bad losses, and you’re usually never as good or as bad as you think. But coming out of this week, a few fan bases are now in freak-out mode, and rightfully so. The realization that this really could be a more miserable season than anticipated starts to set in after Week 2.
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The pessimism is reaching dangerous levels in Knoxville after BYU dropped an inexplicable 64-yard bomb on Tennessee at the last minute which turned into two overtimes and a crazy 29-26 stunner. The Vols are 0-2 for the first time since 1988 and the pressure on Jeremy Pruitt is about to get a lot more real.
Florida State is in similar shape after blowing a 21-point lead against Louisiana-Monroe, going to overtime and escaping on a missed extra point attempt. That 45-44 ballgame offered more concerning evidence about the state of the Seminoles’ defense. As our Tashan Reed wrote, at some point you’re starting to wonder whether this team is actually capable of fixing its shortcomings.
Chip Kelly at UCLA is another second-year coach struggling to get on a roll. The Bruins are 0-2 after losing 23-14 to a San Diego State team that beat an FCS school, Weber State, 6-0 in its season opener. Next up? Oklahoma comes to the Rose Bowl, then UCLA travels to Washington State and Arizona. The season is about to get worse before it gets better.
How about Miami? Manny Diaz and the Hurricanes are winless as well after giving up a go-ahead score with a minute left and missing a potential game-tying field goal in the final seconds of a 28-25 loss to North Carolina. After playing Florida in Week 0, they had two weeks to get ready for this UNC team, which is off to a hotter-than-expected start, and wound up with their first 0-2 start since 1978. They still have a lot to figure out and two weeks to try to get right before ACC play gets tougher.
Things are not going well at USF, either. Charlie Strong’s Bulls have now lost eight in a row dating back to last season following a 14-10 loss at Georgia Tech. Their new offense is off to a brutal start, with one touchdown through two games. Quarterback Blake Barnett was benched in the third quarter Saturday in an effort to give the team a spark. USF needs to find answers before it plays SMU and BYU in the next few weeks.
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Nebraska isn’t in all-out panic mode, but the 1-1 start to Scott Frost’s second season has been concerning. The Huskers blew a 17-point lead in front of a sea of red in Boulder and wound up with a 34-31 loss. You can’t put that all on a missed field goal in overtime by their punter; it never should have come to that. They squandered a chance to make a statement and won’t be back in the Top 25 until they string a few wins together and prove they deserve it.
And then there’s Michigan, which survived on Saturday but can’t be feeling great about how it got there. We’ll come back to them.
But, hey, the sky isn’t falling everywhere. Clay Helton is 2-0, and his freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis looks legit after a 45-20 blowout of No. 23 Stanford. Does that put any less pressure on Helton in this hot-seat year? No, probably not. It’s still going to be an uphill fight. But the Trojans are playing with some resilience and increasing confidence, and it sure did show in the second half. There’s plenty of programs out there who need to find a way to capture that magic before this season goes totally sideways. —Max Olson
2. Texas and Texas A&M are close but not there yet
The Longhorns and the Aggies, those rival exes who definitely don’t care about each other one bit, went into Week 2 with incredible opportunities. Texas had its biggest home game since arguably 2006, a top-10 showdown with LSU. Texas A&M had a chance to take down the king, traveling to meet No. 1 Clemson again after nearly stunning the Tigers a year ago. The in-state bragging rights if either had pulled off a victory would be serious. And neither got it done, in different ways but for similar reasons.
Texas played a true thriller and a winnable one against a fairly evenly matched foe. But they did just a few too many things they couldn’t afford to do. The two fourth-and-goal failures early and the blitz on 3rd and 17 with the game on the line that Joe Burrow beat are the obvious picks, but the difference in such a tight fight felt like it was LSU’s loaded receiving corps against Texas’ inexperienced corners. The Longhorns’ top four cover guys – Jalen Green, Kobe Boyce, Anthony Cook and D’Shawn Jamison – had a combined three career starts on this defense entering the season. Falling victim to a 471-yard performance from Joe Burrow and letting three wideouts go for 100-plus yards is alarming but not at all shocking. And, clearly, that could portend some up-and-down performances in conference play from this secondary, since it basically lost to a Big 12 offense on Saturday night. But this time next year, all four corners will be juniors and better prepared to survive in one-on-one against such talented playmakers. It’s a microcosm of these Longhorns in some ways. They have lots of talented players who haven’t totally proven what they’re capable of yet.
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Texas A&M, on the other hand, couldn’t get rolling in a 24-10 loss that was much more of a snoozer. The Aggies kept it close enough that it didn’t unravel but never close enough that it felt like the game was about to flip. Too many drops, too many untimely penalties and too many injuries made hanging with Clemson impossible on Saturday. If not for a touchdown with five seconds left, it would’ve been only the second time in Jimbo Fisher’s head coaching career that his offense was held to three points. Fisher walked away still encouraged by this team, but the Aggies could never do what they needed to build up a little momentum and exert some real pressure on the Tigers. And he recognizes figuring out how to do so against the best of the best is a process.
“I keep saying it: We have a good football team,” Fisher said. “And there’s a way, when you get to that level of winning against teams of that caliber who are used to winning, it’s a learned behavior. You have to learn how to hit those critical moments and those critical plays to help keep pressure back on them. That’s something we’re still in the process of getting to and we need to clean up.”
Tom Herman could say the same thing. Both have coached on national title teams. They know what it looks like. And simply put, they’re just not there yet. That’s OK. Texas A&M knew that with its intense schedule and all the tests still ahead. And Texas is still capable of contending for a Big 12 title, but College Football Playoff talk still feels premature for where the program is at in its build-up. Not to say “maybe next year” for these two, but both ought to be far more ready to win those kinds of games a year from now. — Max Olson
3. New year, same problems for Michigan?
A new offensive coordinator and Jim Harbaugh’s decision to step back from that group were supposed to bring changes for the Michigan offense. Two games in, the same issues remain, and the Wolverines were a bit lucky to escape Army at home in double overtime.
Michigan’s offensive line was missing its starting left tackle, but it still had a rough day against an undersized Army front. The Wolverines averaged just 3.3 yards per carry when removing the four sacks they allowed. The home fans booed their own team; Rice had moved the ball better against Army last week. At one stretch that extended from the fourth quarter into overtime, Michigan ran 12 consecutive times and gained 28 yards. That included getting stuffed twice on 4th and 2.
But passing wasn’t the answer either. Michigan’s final overtime drive consisted of three incompletions from Shea Patterson, who might be hurt but is apparently still the choice over Dylan McCaffrey. Patterson also fumbled two more times, bringing his total to five in two games. The Wolverines have fumbled eight times and lost five this year. They fumbled 10 times (losing three) all of last season.
The good news is that wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones was out of a walking boot, perhaps indicating a return at some point. But compare how Michigan has looked to what Ohio State did on Saturday, dominating a good Cincinnati defense in a 42-0 win while still breaking in new starters and coaches, and these again look like teams playing on two different levels.
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New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis came in with a lot of hype after what Alabama’s offense did last year. But Mike Locksley was the offensive coordinator and called those plays, and the two had a bit of a public spat over who deserved what credit. Well, Michigan’s offense is struggling again, and Maryland, where Locksley is now the head coach, has scored 142 points in two games.
There were self-inflicted wounds all over the place, and the offense needs to get cleaned up in a major way if Michigan hopes to win the Big Ten. — Chris Vannini
Surprise of the day: Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson was back on the sidelines for the Red Wolves on Saturday night against UNLV. He rejoined his players by surprising them at their team meeting in this heartwarming video. Anderson took a leave of absence from his coaching duties in August to be with his wife, Wendy, and his family during her bout with breast cancer. Wendy passed away on Aug. 20. The Red Wolves rolled to a 43-17 win.
👀 Look who walked in‼️#WolvesUp | #NOW pic.twitter.com/YGHmmEY7r7
— Arkansas State Football (@AStateFB) September 8, 2019
Oops of the week: Purdue quarterback Elijah Sindelar did throw for 509 yards and five touchdowns in their 42-24 win over Vanderbilt. But this also happened, which you don’t see too often.
Purdue QB Sindelar almost got a safety for intentional grounding… because he lined up behind the left guard instead of the center!! pic.twitter.com/2enjufLQoh
— Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) September 7, 2019
Honorable mention goes to Florida State tight end Tre’ McKitty lining up backwards, which is either very confusing or some kind of misunderstood galaxy brain-level trickery, given that the Seminoles did pick up a first down on the play.
Here's the Backward Nole play. Idk pic.twitter.com/5M9PN9DtJC
— Sharks with rabies (@thejasonkirk) September 7, 2019
Disrespect of the week: We should’ve known at this very moment that BYU was going to beat Tennessee.
BYU lineman just hucked the Tennessee QB's shoe all the way back to their sideline 🤣 pic.twitter.com/9AmvasAdxq
— Paid man gets bored (@cjzero) September 7, 2019
Rondale Moore play of the day: This honor actually goes to Purdue receiver Rondale Moore, who’s still one of the nation’s best when it comes to making dudes miss. Not one particular play here. All of ‘em will suffice.
Tweet we expect to update many times this year: @BoilerFootball WR @moore_rondale hauled in a career-high in receptions (13) today.
Here are all 13 of 'em. pic.twitter.com/3mX6PX4jKi
— Purdue On BTN (@PurdueOnBTN) September 7, 2019
Catch of the day: Virginia Tech wide receiver Hezekiah Grimsley gets the honor this week for this one-handed grab that he saved at the last second in a 31-17 revenge win over Old Dominion.
.@Huncho_Hez just needs one 😱 pic.twitter.com/C2O43L2QYn
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 7, 2019
And at the FCS level, a shoutout is in order for Northern Iowa receiver Deion McShane for pulling off this crazy 56-yard score in a 34-14 win over Southern Utah.
While we are enjoying this third quarter, let's look back at the score that got this whole thing started. Deion McShane… You are a bad, bad man!#SCTop10 #UNIFight @ESPNAssignDesk @ValleyFootball pic.twitter.com/WEAhtWDPaX
— UNI Football (@UNIFootball) September 7, 2019
Vegas always knows: It did seem a little odd that the line on Maryland-Syracuse opened at Syracuse -3 and then moved all the way to Maryland -1.5 within 24 hours, given that Syracuse was No. 21 in the AP poll and Maryland was going into its second game of the Mike Locksley era. But, hey, don’t doubt Vegas. Maryland won 63-20.
Sweet special teams: Fresno State picked up the two-point conversion against Minnesota in the most creative way possible.
This is a beautiful act of football art pic.twitter.com/a1Aav8gvpZ
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 8, 2019
Worst uniform: Michigan State. Not good. Very bad.
😎 #GoGreen #BeatWestern pic.twitter.com/Tc0iOmyaxd
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) September 7, 2019
Turnover prop of the week: If you thought Nevada could have been a little more ambitious last week with their no-frills turnover towel, here’s a new one: Akron’s oversized turnover pencil. Jordyn Riley came a little too close to poking his teammate’s eye out with this one.
You have to respect a turnover pencil. pic.twitter.com/TiOkenNx2K
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) September 7, 2019
Third-down prop of the week: Georgia Tech continues to innovate when it comes to quirkiness under first-year coach Geoff Collins. This is pretty funny.
I was just informed that during any given third down (i.e. “money down” per Geoff Collins and his staff) Georgia Tech students threw fake three dollar bills with Collins’ face on them up into the air.
…OMG. pic.twitter.com/iziQwH5pQc
— Tori McElhaney (@tori_mcelhaney) September 8, 2019
JK of the week: Stanford-USC was going to halftime … but wait, never mind!
A ref during the Stanford-USC game was “just kidding” about halftime 😂 pic.twitter.com/ue2aztplOB
— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2019
(Top photo of Chip Kelly: Keith Birmingham / MediaNews Group / Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
