The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From Week 2 In College Football
Saturday was WILD. Upsets, blowouts, big time injuries (sorry Quinn Ewers) and THREE top 10 teams going down. Let's unpack what we saw and wrap up a crazy week.
The Good:
USC: I thought as did many that last night was a really tough spot on the road at the Farm against a plucky, well coached Stanford group. The Trojans answered any questions we had about their toughness and preparation. This offense is the best on paper in America and erupted for a huge first half scoring 35 points. Now the second half was a bit concerning due to folding up shop but they still ended up cruising by double digits. Caleb Williams continues to play very well throwing for 4 TD and 341 yards against the Cardinal. USC has now scored 107 points over the first two weeks.
They are deep, versatile and firmly capable of making a deep run in the national title hunt. This team is the best team in the PAC 12 and it's not close. In the end, if this defense continues to do what they can do, this might be a very real contender. Keep in mind they forced 4 turnovers on defense. A great start to the Lincoln Riley era in LA.
BIG Underdogs: Saturday was a nutty day. As I said above, three Top 10 teams ended up losing but there were some other huge upsets around the country as well:
The biggest dog to win outright was Georgia Southern who went into Lincoln and beat Nebraska outright as 23 point dogs. They were as high as +1125 on the money line. Subsequently Sunday afternoon Nebraska head coach Scott Frost was relieved of duties. Take it easy Coach, don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Other big dogs to come in were…
Marshall (+21) beat Notre Dame… the Herd were +1005 on the money line
App St (+18) beat Texas A&M… closed +680 on the money line
Wazzou also beat Wisconsin as 17.5 point dogs, at +635 on the money line
A Benjamin on a parlay on those 4 money lines would've won you back just south of $776k
Also winning as big dogs were Duke (+10.5), MTSU (+14.5), and Kansas +13.5)… I will also give a little love to Texas who outside of some poor coaching and losing their QB1 probably should've beaten mighty Alabama as 21 point underdogs. The Longhorns were not very loved in the betting markets and started Saturday with an easy cover for their backers
I gotta give a more detailed shout out to Kansas and coach Lance Leipold. For the first time since big Mark Mangino was in Lawrence on the sidelines, this program has some tenacity again. They have made it clear they aren't gonna be that same old doormat in the Big 12.Leipod sure can coach and that's clearly what a great hire can do for you. Buffalo, Leipolds old team is a disaster losing last night to Holy Cross.
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My blog picks: 4-1… I also have thrown out several easy winners on Twitter throughout the week and on Saturday as well. Let's keep the good vibes going.
The Bad:
Florida: The Gators made the blog last week in Week 1 as they headlined the Good section after a terrific performance at home vs Utah. They followed it up with a listless performance against SEC mates Kentucky. Anthony Richardson quickly went from Heisman possibility to having issues completing anything of consistency. He was 14-35 with just 143 yards and 2 interceptions. The worry for Florida last night was a hangover to a good win last week. When you're a program that has been starved from success for around a decade, the carryover to consistency can be a rough one. The one takeaway is that the defense wasn't awful and they ran the ball pretty well. It's not going to be smooth sailing for the Gators all year and this was a quick dose back to reality.
North Carolina: Yes, they are 3-0. They won yesterday… but it wasn't easy. I want to highlight how bad this defense truly is. They are a team to completely fade and or bet over the rest of the way. Through three games, the Tar Heels have given up 113 points. The problem is they've faced two Sun Belt teams and an FCS school, Florida A&M who had like 20 kids academically ineligible.
UNC is allowing 535 yards a game, opponents are completing over 68 percent of their passes and they have allowed 5.4 yards per carry. This is the calm before the storm as this group is going be fade city and the OVER palooza should continue. There are a lot of big time offenses left on this schedule they have to face including Miami, NC State, Wake and Pitt.
The Ugly:
Texas A&M: For yet another off season, we heard how great the Aggies were going to be. I for one didn't understand it, yet again. This offense just isn't good and hasn't been good for awhile. In Week 2, they suffered a pathetic loss at home in front of 100k plus as almost 3 TD favorites. They had just 186 total yards and only scored a TD once. This wasn't against Alabama or Georgia… it was against Appalachian St.
Look App St is tough but they shouldn't waltz into Kyle Field and absolutely dominate an SEC team. This team and Jimbo Fisher have yet to develop any semblance of a quarterback. Haynes King sucks and this group has very few weapons. It was more ugly to learn after that fact that they paid the Mountaineers 1.5 million to come to A&M. Hell of a day for them and the FUN BELT LOL
Hawaii: The Warriors are really ugly. This team may have one of the worst defenses ever seen at the D1 level allowing 168 points through 3 games. The offense has been a disaster too scoring just 37 combined points in 12 quarters. In Saturdays game against Michigan, the Wolverines had nearly 600 yards and 10.7 yards per play. In 3 games, Hawaii is allowing nearly yards a play. Just a disaster. The one shred of good news, they play Duquesne on the Big Island next week. They will have to stop looking completely invisible to at least look like a football team. JJ McCarty was playing pitch and catch:
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It's only Week 2…See ya next week!