Week two has come and gone, it’s hard to believe we are already through our third week of college football.
This week gave us a few close calls, a few huge upsets, the mercy kill of Scott Frost and a whole lot of questions about the landscape of this college football season. The only thing left to do is dive on in to the madness they week two created.
1. A few teams are already out of the National Title hunt
You had the usual suspects in the top ten when this football season started, all with hopes of a birth in the College Football Playoffs. Now, only three weeks in to the season, a few of them have probably seen their hopes dashed.
Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida, Baylor, Wisconsin, Pitt and Houston all lost this weekend. It’s always a jarring sight when seven top 25 teams go down on one day and it will certainly bring a lot of movement to the AP rankings. For Notre Dame, A&M, Florida and Baylor; this all but guarantees their preseason hopes of a national title are gone.
While Florida and Baylor suffered “better” losses to fellow top 25 football teams, Notre Dame and Texas A&M losing to Marshall and Appalachian State is embarrassing.
Notre Dame looked hapless for most of the game against an inferior Thundering Herd squad, they couldn’t move the football with any type of rhythm and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. They mustered only seven points through three quarters, and by the time they got in a groove it was too late.
A&M at least went down to the wire with a talented App State team, but it doesn’t change the fact that the 6th rank team in the country lost to a group-of-five school that were 18.5 point dogs. That’s a near impossible loss to recover from.
2. Alabama looks vulnerable
The Longhorns were a 20.5 point underdog going into their showdown with Alabama, not exactly shocking for a number one team playing an un-ranked opponent, but still jarring to see the Longhorns as three score underdogs at home. Texas must’ve taken that personal because they came out swinging for the fences early.
The game had all the makings of a huge upset. Quinn Ewers was slinging the football all over the field, Alabama was committing an uncharacteristic amount of penalties and couldn’t get anything going on offense.
After a blazing hot start by Texas QB Quinn Ewers (9/12 for 134 yards) he was driven into the ground, injured and unfortunately ruled out of the game with a shoulder injury at the end of the 1st quarter. An ugly defensive battle ensued for the next three quarters, with neither team able to move the ball much.
The Longhorns defense came to play and kept 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young in check for most of the day, but with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter he stepped up and took Alabama down into Texas territory for a go-ahead field goal.
The Crimson Tide ended up winning 20-19, but considering it took a last second field goal to beat a Longhorns team with an injured backup QB; Bama looks very vulnerable. They played undisciplined, couldn’t get much pressure on Hudson Card and allowed Texas to control the tempo of the game.
They have the next two weeks to get back on track against Louisiana-Monroe and Vanderbilt before diving into the heart of their SEC schedule, but if Nick Saban can’t clean things up it could be a long season for the Tide.
3. USC is going to run away with the PAC12
While they might not be long for the conference, USC is trying to leave the PAC12 with a bang. Two weeks and two dominating performances later, it’s not a stretch to say this USC offense is absolutely dynamic.
Caleb Williams has been dominant completing nearly 80% of his passes for 590 yards and 6 touchdowns in seven quarters of action, while also adding 70 yards on the ground. Pitt transfer and Billetnikoff winner, Jordan Addison has been on the receiving end of that production hauling in 12 receptions for 226 yards and four touchdowns.
When you’re playing Rice and a weak Stanford football team, this level of dominance can’t be taken at face value, but it’s hard to ignore how effortless the Trojans have made it look while teams like Bama, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M have struggled or lost to teams they should’ve beat down.
The PAC12 looks to be a weak conference across the board, Utah and Oregon both already have a loss and this Lincoln Riley offense looks unstoppable so far. I don’t foresee the Trojans being underdogs in any game the rest of this year, all they have to do is execute and they could end up in the college football playoffs by seasons end.