College Football Review: Week 2

 Game of the Week: No. 21 Baylor (26) vs. No. 9 Baylor (20) 

In the game that most people on the West Coast were awake to see, two top 25 teams battled it out into overtime as BYU got a huge win over Baylor. It wasn’t the prettiest game to see, but it was certainly the most entertaining even when you factor in the missed field goals which just delayed BYU’s signature win. While the loss for Baylor is disappointing, this could prove to be a respectable loss as BYU has now catapulted up the rankings and have another ranked matchup this up and coming week against Oregon. If BYU continues to win, and Baylor gets back to their winning ways, all should be fine for the Bears, but that will continue to enhance BYU’s resume as well. 

Player of the Week: Caleb Williams, QB, USC (20-27, 341, 4 TDs)  

It has begun…

If you did not have Caleb Williams in your Heisman Watch, you do now. Williams and the Trojans took care of their first PAC-12 matchup beating up on Stanford 41-28, with Williams leading the way with four touchdown passes. 172 of those yards, and 2 of those touchdowns came from standout Jordan Addison, who I strongly considered making the ‘Player of the Week’. Sometimes I am just too partial to the quarterbacks. But Addison may be emerging as the best receiver in the country, and should surely be moving up the draft boards. 

Disappointment of the Week: Top 20 Contenders

What the hell happened this week? Notre Dame loses to Marshall at home, Wisconsin loses to Washington State at home, and Texas A&M loses to Appalachian State…at home!  Let’s work our way up on this one…

While nobody was penciling in the Badgers as a 2022 playoff team, Wisconsin has one of the biggest advantages in College Football, they are a good program in the Big 10 West. Which means all you have to do is basically win out your Big 10 schedule (you can be forgiven if you lose to Ohio State) and then you have a chance if you win in the Big 10 title game to get a shot at the championship. But a loss at home to Washington State? Cross out the Badgers and the rest of the Big 10 West from any playoff consideration (How many years do we have to wait for USC and UCLA?) 

Next we have Notre Dame. After a respectable loss to Ohio State a week ago, Notre Dame headed into their season opener looking to find some sustained success on offense, but found themselves playing catchup all afternoon to the Randy Moss-less Thundering Herd. All Notre Dame had to do was, at the very least, survive Marshall, regroup and they would still be in consideration as a legitimate playoff contender. Now you have to wonder when is Notre Dame going to find that first win? Can we just assume they will be able to handle the Golden Bears of Cal in a week's time? This could be one of the worst turnarounds in the last 20 years of Notre Dame football. 

And then we have the Aggies. Listen, there is no shame in losing to Appalachian State (at least that’s what I tried to tell myself 20 years ago when Michigan lost to them) but considering the expectations Texas A&M had this season, once again we are scratching our heads in College Station. When will this team be great? When will they live up to the expectations? And when will they finally become the team that was supposed to challenge Alabama in the SEC? They continue to have major questions as the quarterback position, despite having top 10 recruiting classes each year and you have to wonder when they are ever going to figure it out.

Is it possible we start hearing about Jimbo Fisher being on the hotseat? 

Game to Watch: No. 13 Miami vs. No. 24 Texas A&M

As previously mentioned, Texas A&M was one of those disappointing top 20 teams who lost at home this week, but they have no time to feel sorry for themselves as the Hurricanes come into town. This game is a marquee matchup of programs who have high expectations every year, but seem to fail to deliver. If the Aggies want to right the ship, a signature win over Miami is the best way to do so, and perhaps put them back into serious consideration for an SEC title. But back to back losses for the Aggies will have the 12th man wondering when it will finally be their year? For Miami, a win against A&m would be a real shot in the arm for the program, a great signature win for Mario Cristobal, and perhaps the real contender for the ACC. A loss, won’t end the year for Miami, but would really tamper expectations. 

Coach K’s Top 10:

Ranking	Team	Comment
1	Georgia	Georgia won’t be challenged again til October, so for now, we can carve them into the top spot.
2	Alabama	Alabama had a rough day in Texas, but considering how the rest of the top 10 did this week, I feel fine leaving them at 2.
3	Ohio State	That’s the Ohio State offense we were expecting.
4	Michigan	Michigan finally committed to a quarterback and its J.J. McCarthy…for now.
5	Oklahoma	The offense still looks like a Lincoln Riley offense, but the defense looks like a Brent Venables.
6	Clemson	Still major question marks on the offensive side of the ball.
7	USC	If the Trojans can keep beating teams they are supposed to beat, then they are the PAC-12 best chance.
8	Oklahoma State	With how well both Oklahoma’s are playing, and Baylor and Texas making some noise as well, the Big 12 is not out of it yet.
9	Arkansas	A good quarterback and a strong defense can win you a lot of games, even in the SEC West. Arkansas is going to be a problem
10	Kentucky	That was a difficult environment, but that Kentucky defense quickly thwarted the Anthony Richardson Hesiman campaign.

2023 NFL Mock Draft:

Pick	Team	Player	Position	College
1	Houston	C.J. Stroud	QB	Ohio State
2	New York J	Will Anderson	DE	Alabama
3	Seattle	Bryce Young	QB	Alabama
4	New York G	Will Levis	QB	Kentucky
5	Cleveland	Jaxon Smith-Nigba	WR	Ohio State
6	Atlanta	Jalen Carter	DE	Georgia
7	Washington	Cedric Tilman	WR	Tennessee
8	Jacksonville	Jordan Addison	WR	USC
9	Chicago	Jarrett Paterson	C	Notre Dame
10	New England	Antonio Johnson	CB/S	Texas A&M