College Football Week 2 Recap

#3 Texas 31 @ #10 Michigan 12

Texas might be all the way back this year. Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns took a trip to the Big House and kicked their feet up on the coffee table after decimating Michigan. While the score is only 31-12 it was a physical beat down. That level of physicality and professionalism is not something most people thought Texas had in its bag but Sark proved he’s been working on rebuilding that winning culture at Texas. While on the other hand people are starting to question if Sherrone Moore figured out he’s the fall guy yet. With alleged violations under Michigan’s belt no one knows what the future holds. However, I believe if Michigan doesn’t receive a serious punishment the program still has an opportunity to sustain its recent success even without John Harbaugh. But for this season don’t count them out yet. While Michigan isn’t necessarily great, their defense is tough enough to stop almost anyone in the country and will keep them in every game especially at home.

Ewers didn’t have eye popping numbers on the stat sheet but for sure did on the eye test. He finished the day 24/36 246 yards and 3 TDs. Ewers does a great job distributing the ball to his speedy WR core and it led to 3 different receivers catching a TD. The first quarter seemed as if this game was going to be a dog fight but it was in the second quarter when Michigan turned the ball over twice to result in 10 points for the Longhorns. The TE Colston Loveland, who’s regarded as one of the best players on the team, had a ridiculous self caused fumble that gave Texas the ball in Wolverine territory. Texas then proceeded to score a TD and end our 1st half under 21.5 ticket! What a bad beat!!

After half Texas didn’t have to do much but sit on the lead and they scored one more TD just for good measure. Moving forward Texas is going to be the real deal but will need to still show up for the Red River Shootout. If Ewers and co can keep that same energy, it’s hard not to see them in the SEC Championship. On the other hand like I said, don’t count out Michigan yet. If all goes well in the tune up game against Arkansas State they should be a threat to Miller Moss and USC in the Big House.

Arkansas 31 @ #16 OK State 39

We were right there! In no way did we deserve to win this bet but if we got OK State at 7.5 like I mentioned, it would have covered! Arkansas may still be even better offensively than I gave them credit for last week. Taylen Green finished the day 26/45 with 388 yards and 1 TD while rushing for 89 yards on 15 carries. Arkansas RB Ja’Quinden Jackson had 149 yards and 3 TDs on 24 carries! Arkansas outgained OK State 721 to 382 and still lost this game in double OT!!

At the end of the day a few turnovers and some costly penalties allowed Mike Gundy and the Pokes to get back in this game. There are some major concerns here though. OK State’s OL has not been what we expected of them and neither has Ollie Gordon. A major reason Gordon decided to return was because of his OL but it hasn’t paid off yet. Gordon finished with only 49 yards and a TD on 17 carries. That SEC DL made it difficult for them to establish the run game which made it tough for Alan Bowman to take advantage of play action. Both teams' secondaries let WRs loose all day as well. If there’s anything we can take away from this game, Arkansas will continue to score points as the year goes on and find themselves in shootouts that could result in unexpected Ws. Meanwhile OK State has a lot of cleaning up to do before heading into BIG12 conference play if they want to compete for a conference title.

Iowa State 20 @ #21 Iowa 19

I was on an island here and I hope some of you were smart enough to catch the boat. While our under didn’t hit here it’s something you have to hold your nose and take because it’s Iowa. All the stats lead us to the under and even though it missed, I’d take it again if these two teams played next week. But every single talking head, cfb analyst, and twitter handicapper was on Iowa this weekend, except FOR US!

El Assico did not disappoint but it was most definitely ass. Iowa State’s slow start was a bit concerning but they made the adjustments they needed on offense to come back in this game scoring 20 points in the 2nd half. Rocco Becht finished the day 23 of 36 with 265 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Now he managed to get the job done in the 2nd half with some nice throws but displayed some clear weaknesses. Abu Sama had a tough time running the ball for Cyclones because Iowa doesn’t give up much on defense. Once they were able to get playmaker Jaylin Noel involved the entire game changed. So keep an eye out for him in future Cyclone games as the key player that gets this offense moving.

I told you I have no problem being late to the Iowa Offense coming out party and good thing I didn’t get dressed because it wasn’t this week. McNamara finished 13/29 with only 92 yards and 2 INTs. Iowa is still Iowa don’t get fooled. But on the bright side Kaleb Johnson is an awesome RB who they’ll need to continue to lean on. Johnson finished the day with 187 yards and 2 TDs on 25 carries. Luckily for the Hawkeyes they’ll have a chance at home next week against Troy to continue improving that passing game. Iowa State is a dark horse for me in the BIG12 because of their ceiling, but they’re nowhere near it as of now. If this team can continue to get on the same page and establish Becht’s throwing game, I think they could be a threat to anyone in the conference.

#14 Tennessee 51 @ #24 NC State 16

Never a doubt. Like I said, it’s Nico Season. He didn’t have the greatest game on paper but he did gain experience. Nico finished the day 16/23 for 211 yards, 3 TDs, and 2 INTs while rushing for 65 yards and a TD on 8 carries. Now like I said the box score doesn’t jump out at you, but if you watched the throws he made you’d understand. If this was a bad game for Nico, I’d hate to see what a great game looks like from him. He faced ranked competition in an early season neutral site game and of course made a few mistakes but they weren’t costly enough to affect the game. Now he’s going to hit the film room and continue to grow and learn under Josh Heupul as the season goes on so that these same mistakes aren’t happening during crucial conference games.

While this was an embarrassment for NC State, I’m not ready to count them out yet either. They play in a down ACC and have one of the best coaches in the sport. McCall wasn’t as advertised and has begun to really show signs of downward trajectory since his Coastal Carolina days. But unfortunately it’s not all on him as the Vols DL was just as good if not better than expected. The Vols DL generated 3 sacks and 15 TFLs!!! The NC State OL stood no chance. Now why wouldn’t we count them out then? Well the only teams in the ACC with a DL even close to that are Clemson and Miami and NC State doesn’t play Miami. I’ll expect Dave Doren to right the ship and have this NC State team looking in better shape when they play Clemson in two weeks.

Tennessee will face off against Kent State at home before taking a trip to Oklahoma to play the Sooners. I think we’re going to continue to ride the Tennessee train while we can as I expect them to be a serious contender in the playoffs. With a defense that good and a whole slew of playmakers at Nico’s disposal, it’s going to be tough to stop this Volunteer team.

Colorado 10 @ Nebraska 28

Andddddddddd so much for that rebuilt OL. Shedeur was sacked 5 times and I’m sure you’ve heard his press conference by now where he asked, “How many times did Raiola get touched?”. Poor leadership and I’m not going to go into all that so let's talk about the game.

Colorado has not fixed anything they claimed to have upgraded in the off season. The OL is still poor and lets up too much pressure. They also have zero run game. The Buffs finished this game with just 65 rushing yards to Nebraskas 171. It was clear the Nebraska offensive and defensive lines had their way with Colorado. To be honest, I’m getting tired of talking about this Colorado team because they are just not good.

Raiola looked like the guy of the future for this Cornhusker program. He only racked up 185 pass yards and a TD going 23/30 but used his legs to extend plays out of the pocket and pick up key first downs. Nebraska's defense will be the anchor that holds this team together. They generated 6 sacks and 2 more TFLs in the run game. Their pass rush is elite and they’re very physical. I’m starting to love the win total we gave out even more! Rhule has done a good job of keeping the offense balanced and not putting all the pressure on his freshman QB. If Rhule continues to follow suit with how he’s been at previous programs, with this type of talent Nebraska could find themselves 7-0 heading to Columbus.