Week 2 College Football Recap

WEEK 2 PLAYS RECAP

IOWA / IOWA STATE UNDER 42.5

ILLINOIS / DUKE UNDER 48.5

BAYLOR +2.5

BAYLOR/SMU OVER 63.5

KANSAS +6.5

USF +18.5

MICHIGAN / OKLAHOMA UNDER 43.5

VANDERBILT +2.5

UCLA / UNLV OVER 54.5

YEAR TO DATE: 12-7 (+4.86 Units)

QUICK NOTES

• Penn State had a slow start only leading 10-0 against FIU but managed to clean it up in the second half for a 34-0 final. They remain #2 in the AP Poll.

• Oregon dismembered Oklahoma State on live TV. 69-3 Final.

• Clemson almost dropped their pants at Troy. They were down 16-3 at halftime but managed to squeak out a 27-16 win and hold Troy scoreless in the second half.

• Kentucky has Ole Miss’ number. Something about when “these teams meet throw the record books out” kind of thing.

• K-State loses to Army who lost Tarleton last week… yikes.

WEEK 2 OVERALL RECAP

#11 Illinois 45 @ Duke 19

Illinois showed up and they proved they have a bit more firepower on offense than I expected. Altmeyer finished 22/31 with 296 and 3 TDs. Illinois protected the ball well and dominated time off possession with nearly 13 more minutes than Duke. That’s partly due to Duke’s 4 turnovers! This Illinois team is good but will need to keep improving. They enter Week 3 at #9 in the AP Poll before receiving a visit from Western Michigan. They have a make or break stretch coming up with a trip to Indiana next week followed by a home game against USC. They’ll get relieved by a trip to Purdue before welcoming in the Ohio State Buckeyes and visiting Washington. Illinois season starts NOW.

#12 Arizona State 20 @ Mississippi State 24

This was truly a tale of two halves. In the first half Mississippi State outgained the Sun Devils 209-95 and led 17-3 at halftime. ASU marched back in the second half outgaining Miss St 238-59 and taking a 20-17 lead. In the 4th quarter Blake Shapen hit Brenen Thompson for a 58 yard TD with only 30 seconds left! This game ultimately came down to which team could execute more big plays and the Bulldogs won this time. The real question is what does this game tell us? Does this say more about Miss State’s rebuild or are the Sun Devil’s overrated?

South Florida 18 @ #13 Florida 16

Alex Golesh and company deserve more credit than they’re getting for this win. This is a loaded Florida roster that by many accounts was positioned to be good enough to win their schedule. I don’t want people to put Florida down and diminish USF’s accomplishment. This South Florida team is for real and in Week 1 beat the country’s G5 darling, now they’re taking down an SEC Giant. Next week they’ll head to Coral Gables to face off against Miami on the CW. USF is by no means a perfect team but if you let them hang around they’ll make you pay.

#15 Michigan 13 @ #18 Oklahoma 24

I wasn’t fully aware of how good John Mateer is until after this game. He played out of his mind finishing 21/34 for 270 1 TD 1 INT, 19 carries 74 yards and 2 TDs on the ground! This was a good early test that should kick Michigan into gear. Oklahoma is the real deal but I worry how much mileage they’ll get out of Mateer with their schedule. The offense is going to have to remain creative. Underwood came back down to earth this week against the Sooners but showed some flashes. He only finished 9/24 on the day with 142 yards. His age showed a bit in this game, he struggles with layering the ball and too often tries to throw a fastball at everything. If Underwood can develop a touch to his passing game they can open up the deep threat downfield. On Saturday Underwood only completed 5 passes to WRs, that needs to go up. With a major lack in the downfield passing game teams will continue to stack the box against Michigan. I think Underwood will have some good film here and we’ll get to see how he improves before facing off against Nebraska.

Iowa 13 @ #16 Iowa State 16

El Assico doesn’t disappoint! It’s exactly what we expect it to be. Iowa State squeaks out a gritty win at home against Iowa for the first time since 2011! They won on the back of 3 FGs by kicker Kyle Konrardy and TD off the back of an INT deep in Iowa territory and the under hits again. This is a great win for Iowa State and they’ll see Arkansas St before they begin conference play as they look to contend for the BIG12 title under the leadership of Rocco Becht. Iowa on the other hand is trending in the direction I’ve been telling you and that’s why we have their win total under. Gronowski finished the day 13/24 with only 83 yards and 1 INT. So much for that revamped Hawkeye passing game.

Baylor 48 @ #17 SMU 45 (2 OT)

This was the firework show on the CW I warned you about! I told you that Week 1 game against Auburn was not a reason to throw away this Baylor team. The offense looked great and Sawyer Robertson surpassed 400 passing yards for the second week in a row! He finished 34/50 with 440 yds and 4 TD. While Bryson Washington got it done on the ground for 115 yards and 2 TDs. SMU offense played well but they turned it over twice and their defense wasn’t solid enough to hold off the Bears passing attack. This SMU team still has a shot at the ACC especially after Clemson’s almost whoops with Troy and Baylor will tune up against Samford before heading into ASU to begin conference play.

Kansas 31 @ Missouri 42

By all definitions of the word, this was a “Border War”. Kansas jumped out to a 21-6 lead after returning an early Beau Pribula fumble for six. It wasn’t long before the Tigers fought back heading into half tied at 21. Ultimately the Tigers pulled away 35-31 and were bleeding the clock at the 2 minute mark before Jamal Roberts busted a 63 yard TD run for insurance. This one sucks for Kansas bettors as they would have covered if the clock ran out but that 63 yard TD put us just out of reach. Ultimately Kansas did not look good. They finished the day with only 28 yards on the ground and relied on Daniels to get the rest done through the air. The Jayhawks DL game up 261 on the ground, 143 to Roberts and 112 to Hardy. That’s not acceptable if you want to win big games. On the other side, Mizzou is now confident in QB Beau Pribula as he’s eclipsed 300+ yards in both of his starts. Outside of his fumble he looked great along with both RBs and WR Kevin Coleman Jr who tallied 10 catches for 126 and TD on the day. This Missouri team might be better than last years.

Vanderbilt 44 @ Virginia Tech 20

There’s not much to say here I just want to give Diego Pavia and the Dores a shoutout. I told you VA Tech is trending downward and I’m not sure how we haven’t heard more Brent Pry hot seat talk. Like I said they haven’t been a non-conference P4 team since 2017! Something is not right there and whatever they’re doing now isn’t helping. I’d also like to note while transitive property doesn’t directly apply to football, let’s acknowledge this VA Tech team was in a 10-8 game with South Carolina heading into the 4th qtr. I’m not sure if that says more about SC or Vandy but I love the direction Clark Lea has this team heading in.