Everyone will be talking about how crazy this week was with the big upsets (and it was crazy), but I would like to point out that in FBS vs. FCS matchups this Gweek, the FBS won 30 out of 34 games. Yes, that means four teams lost to FCS schools. You ready for them? Weber State pounded Utah State 35-7; Holy Cross defeated Buffalo 37-31; Incarnate Word outscored Nevada 55-41; and Eastern Kentucky took down Bowling Green 59-57 in 7 OTs. Also, Gardner-Webb almost beat Coastal Carolina (31-27). I feel like there are maybe four FCS wins against FBS schools in a year, so it is impressive to have four in one week (maybe, I do not know, I never looked).
- Georgia (2-0)–#2–W 33-0 Samford–The Bulldogs jumped to the top spot, mainly due to ‘Bama’s performance.
- Alabama (2-0)–#1–W 20-19 Texas–They should have lost this game. I will give every team one bad game.
- Ohio State (2-0)–#3–W 45-12 Arkansas State–I would have jumped Ohio State to #2, but maybe Notre Dame was not that good.
- Michigan (2-0)–#4–W 56-10 Hawaii–Ready for the Wolverines to play someone…looks like week 7 against Penn State will be their first real game.
- Clemson (2-0)–#6–W 35-12 Furman–Still not 100% sure about the offense.
- USC (2-0)–#7–W 41-28 Stanford–Williams & Addison…an impressive duo.
- Oklahoma (2-0)–#10–W 33-3 Kent State
- Michigan State (2-0)–#11–W 52-0 Akron
- Oklahoma State (2-0)–#12–W 34-17 Arizona State
- Tennessee (2-0)–#14–W 34-27 OT #13 Pitt–I thought this was a great game and either team could have won, talk about equally matched teams. I look forward to Tennessee vs. Kentucky, but in my opinion neither team is ready for Georgia.
- BYU (2-0)–#24–W 26-20 OT #9 Baylor–Time to give BYU some respect.
- Kentucky (2-0)–#21–W 26-16 #25 Florida–I was not nearly as high on the Gators as other rankings.
- Wake Forest (2-0)–#15–W 45-25 Vanderbilt
- Arkansas (2-0)–#17–W 44-30 South Carolina
- NC State (2-0)–#19–W 55-3 Charleston Southern
- Penn State (2-0)–#20–W 46-10 Ohio–This was exactly the type of game I wanted to see from the Nittany Lions. They scored easily against the Bobcats, gave plenty of reps to Allar and even Veilleux. The defense was aggressive. Yep, fairly perfect win against a MAC opponent.
- Miami (2-0)–#22–W 30-7 Southern Miss
- Baylor (1-1)–#9–L 26-20 OT #24 BYU
- Utah (1-1)–#18–W 73-7 Southern Utah
- Ole Miss (2-0)–HM–W 59-3 Central Arkansas
- Pitt (1-1)–#13–L 34-27 OT #14 Tennessee
- Texas A&M (1-1)–#5–L 17-14 Appalachian State–I thought the Aggies may have an outside chance to jump into the conversation with the top three schools. How does App State go from giving up 63 to UNC, to then holding Texas A&M to 14?
- Oregon (1-1)–#23–W 70-14 Eastern Washington
- UNC (3-0)–NR–W 35-28 Georgia State–I do not know if they deserve to be ranked, but they can put up points (averaging 51.3 points per game), but they do not play defense.
- Texas (1-1)–NR–L 20-19 #1 Alabama–They should have won this game. The real test will be if they can survive without Quinn Ewers for the next 4-6 weeks or is Hudson Card good enough to get the Longhorns through UTSA, Texas Tech, and WVU before playing Oklahoma.
Honorable Mention
Florida State (2-0)–BYE
Cincinnati (1-1)–W 63-10 Kennesaw State
Coastal Carolina (2-0)–W 31-27 Gardener-Webb
Auburn (2-0)–W 24-16 San Jose State
Florida (1-1)–L 26-16 #21 Kentucky
Watch List
James Madison (2-0)–W 63-7 Norfolk State–JMU plays App State in two weeks and that is a game I am looking forward to.
Appalachian State (1-1)–W 17-14 #5 Texas A&M
Maryland (2-0)–W 56-21 Charlotte–Maryland loves to start out with some high scoring victories, then they turn back into Maryland. Maybe this year will be different. Next week they have SMU, then they face: Michigan and Michigan State. If they are ready to move up as a competitive team, they need to show up against those two.
Kansas State (2-0)–W 40-12 Mizzou–I had Mizzou on my watch list, and KSU ends up crushing them. Football is crazy.
Oregon State (2-0)–W 35-32 Fresno State–The Beavers beat Boise State in week one and now Fresno State. They are in first place in the MWC.
The best game next week is #17 Miami at #22 Texas A&M. If the Hurricanes can leave College Station with a win, they will jump up there in the rankings. This is also the Aggies chance to get things back on track after that loss to App State. Other games I am interested in following: #13 Wake Forest vs. Liberty; #11 BYU at #23 Oregon. I want to check out Marshall at Bowling Green. I was tempted to give Marshall an HM or put them on my Watch List, but I need to see a big win against BG. Easy for a PSU fan to root for Marshall since Charles Huff was an assistant coach under James Franklin.
Penn State travels to Auburn and this should be another good game. I have no clue how good Auburn is this year, but they are probably going to be tough to beat at home.
