College Football Week 2 Review

WEEK 2 REVIEW
Week 2 is complete and we are starting to see some surprising trends in the major conferences. For the second straight week a Top 5 team from the Big XII goes down, while the ACC and Big Ten have winning but less than stellar weeks on the gridiron.

ACC:
OVERALL RECORD: 14-9
WEEK 2 RECORD: 9-2
1-1 (2-2 overall) in conference
8-1 (12-7 overall) out of conference
5-1 (7-6 overall) vs 1A opponents
3-0 (6-2 overall) vs 1-AA opponents
2-0 (2-4 overall) vs BCS conference teams
WINNERS:
Georgia Tech, 30-27 vs Clemson
Duke, 35-19 @ Army
North Carolina, 12-10 @ Connecticut
Wake Forest, 24-17 vs Stanford
Virginia Tech, 52-10 vs Marshall
Boston College, 34-7 vs Kent State
Florida State, 19-9 vs Jacksonville State
Maryland, 38-35 OT vs James Madison
North Carolina State, 65-7 vs Murray State
LOSERS:
Clemson, 30-27 @ Georgia Tech
Virginia, 30-14 vs TCU
BEST WIN: North Carolina Tar Heels
For the second straight week I find it hard to select a team with the best win from the ACC simply because they still lack any impressive wins. You could argue that GT coming back against Clemson was big, or the way that VT rebounded to destroy Marshall, but I’m going with UNC going on the road and coming from trailing 10-0 in the fourth quarter to squeak out a victory.
WORST LOSS: Virginia Cavaliers
We have a repeat winner already! Virginia has lost in back-to-back weeks both games that going into the season they expected to win. And the sad thing is not only did they not win, they haven’t been close. Granted TCU has high expectations this season and was expected to be a competitive game for the Cavs, but scoring only 28 points in the first two games of the season is bad, especially with both games at home and one being against a D1-AA squad in William & Mary. As if things couldn’t get any worse, take a look at the Cav Man riding in on his horse during the pregame against TCU this past week.

THIS WEEK:
Georgia Tech @ Miami – Thursday 7:30, ESPN
Boston College @ Clemson – Saturday NOON, Regional TV coverage
Duke @ Kansas – Saturday NOON, Versus
East Carolina @ North Carolina – Saturday NOON, ESPN2
Middle Tennessee State @ Maryland – Saturday 3:30, ESPN360.com
Nebraska @ Virginia Tech – Saturday 3:30, ABC/ESPN2
Virginia @ Southern Miss – Saturday 3:30, CBS-CS
Gardner-Webb @ North Carolina State – Saturday 6:00, ACC Select
Elon @ Wake Forest – Saturday 6:30, ACC Select
Florida State @ BYU – Saturday 7:00, Versus

BIG EAST:
OVERALL RECORD: 11-4
WEEK 2 RECORD: 5-2
1-1 overall in conference
5-2 (10-3) out of conference
3-2 (5-4) vs 1A opponents
2-0 (6-0) vs 1-AA opponents
0-2 (0-3) vs BCS conferences
WINNERS:
Pitt, 54-27 @ Buffalo
Rutgers, 45-7 vs Howard
West Virginia, 35-20 vs East Carolina
Cincinnati, 70-3 vs SE Missouri State
South Florida, 35-13 @ Western Kentucky
LOSERS:
Syracuse, 28-7 @ Penn State
UCONN, 12-10 vs North Carolina
BEST WIN: West Virginia Mountaineers
Much like the ACC it is tough to find good wins in this group last week, however I think the WVU win was important for their team. They lost to ECU last season pretty badly and this was a revenge game for the Mountaineers. Although they had only a 1 point lead at the half WVU shut out their opponent in the second half for the second straight week.
WORST LOSS: UCONN Huskies
This was a tough one, because neither of these two losses were that bad. Syracuse lost last year to Penn State 55-13, so this game, being at Happy Valley has got to be somewhat of a moral victory. On the opposite end of things UCONN had a 10-0 lead at home with under 11 minutes to play before the wheels fell off. UNC, who beat UCONN 38-12 last year, got awarded a safety and the game winning two points when there was a holding penalty called on the Huskies in their own end zone with 1:32 remaining.
THIS WEEK:
Louisville @ Kentucky – Saturday NOON, ESPNU
UCONN @ Baylor – Saturday 5:00
Florida International @ Rutgers – Saturday 5:00
Navy @ Pitt – Saturday 6:00, ESPN360.com
Cincinnati @ Oregon State – Saturday 6:45, FSN
Charleston Southern @ South Florida – Saturday 7:00, Bullsvision
Northwestern @ Syracuse – Saturday 7:00, Big East Regional
Wet Virginia @ Auburn – Saturday 7:45, ESPN2

BIG TEN:
OVERALL RECORD: 18-4
WEEK 2 RECORD: 8-3
8-3 (18-4) out of conference
7-3 (13-4) vs 1A opponents
1-0 (5-0) vs 1-AA opponents
2-2 (3-3) vs BCS conferences
WINNERS:
Northwestern, 27-24 vs Eastern Michigan
Wisconsin, 34-31 2OT vs Fresno State
Penn State, 28-7 vs Syracuse
Indiana, 23-19 vs Western Michigan
Iowa, 35-3 @ Iowa State
Michigan, 38-34 vs Notre Dame
Minnesota, 20-13 vs Air Force
Illinois, 45-17 vs Illinois State
LOSERS:
Michigan State, 29-27 vs Central Michigan
Ohio State, 18-15 vs Southern Cal
Purdue, 38-36 @ Oregon
BEST WIN: Michigan Wolverines
Picking Michigan here was a no-brainer for two reasons. One, it was a very impressive win for U of M and RichRod. The second reason is how unimpressive the rest of the Big Ten was last week. The largest margin of victory from games against non BCS D1 team was 7 points by Minnesota against Air Force.
WORST LOSS: Michigan State
I may be wrong, but I could have sworn I had heard people picking Michigan State as the sleeper team in the Big Ten this year. How does a team like Michigan State lose to directional Michigan you ask, well they get out gained by over 100 yards and run 20 less offensive plays. This was an inexcusable lose for Mark Dantonio and Co.
THIS WEEK:
California @ Minnesota – Saturday NOON, ESPN
Eastern Michigan @ Michigan – Saturday NOON, Big Ten Network
Northern Illinois @ Purdue – Saturday NOON, Big Ten Network
Temple @ Penn State – Saturday NOON, Big Ten Network
Indiana @ Akron – Saturday 3:30, ESPNU
Michigan State @ Notre Dame – Saturday 3:30, NBC
Ohio State @ Toledo (in Cleveland Stadium) – Saturday 4:00, ESPN+
Arizona @ Iowa – Saturday 4:30, ABC
Northwestern @ Syracuse – Saturday 7:00, ESPN360.com

BIG XII:
OVERALL RECORD: 16-6
WEEK 2 RECORD: 6-4
6-4 (16-6) out of conference
4-4 (10-6) vs 1A opponents
2-0 (6-0) vs 1-AA opponents
0-1 (3-1) vs BCS Conferences
WINNERS:
Nebraska, 38-9 vs Arkansas State
Texas, 41-10 @ Wyoming
Oklahoma, 64-0 vs Idaho State
Missouri, 27-20 vs Bowling Green
Texas Tech, 55-10 vs Rice
Kansas, 34-7 @ UTEP
LOSERS:
Colorado, 54-38 @ Toledo
Iowa State, 35-3 vs Iowa
Oklahoma State, 45-35 vs Houston
Kansas State, 17-15 @ Louisiana Lafayette
BEST WIN: NONE
There is seriously not even one close to impressive win in this bunch. Rice and UTEP both lost their openers, Wyoming snuck by Weber State by a touchdown in theirs and Arkansas State and Idaho State are both 1-AA programs. The only one that even has a win against a D1 school is Bowling Green, they beat Trot in week one. That said Missouri should have still beaten them by more then seven points.
WORST LOSS: ALL OF THE ABOVE
Colorado goes to Toledo and get embarrassed. The same Buffs team that’s coach said they would win 10 games this season is 0-2 and was down 30-3 early in the second half against the Rockets who piled up over 600 yards of offense on Colorado. Iowa State get rolled by their rival by the largest margin in the rivalry in since Iowa won by 43 12 years ago. Kansas State has now scored 36 points so far this season against the likes of UMASS and UL of L. K-State was down 14-2 in this game until the scored their first offensive points of the game on the first play of the 4th quarter. Oklahoma State coming off of a huge win against Georgia once again shows why the Big XII can’t be taken serious, they have no defense! OK State gave up over 500 yards of offense and 21 4th quarter points making it the 3rd straight time that the Cowboys had lost a game after moving into the Top 5 in the polls.
THIS WEEK:
Duke @ Kansas – Saturday NOON, Versus
Furman @ Missouri – Saturday 2:00, FSN PPV
Nebraska @ Virginia Tech – Saturday 3:30, ABC
Tulsa @ Oklahoma – Saturday 3:30, FSN
Wyoming @ Colorado – Saturday 3:30
UCONN @ Baylor – Saturday 5:00
Iowa State @ Kent State – Saturday 7:00
Rice @ Oklahoma State – Saturday 7:00
Utah State @ Texas A&M – Saturday 7:00
Texas Tech @ Texas – Saturday 8:00, ABC
Kansas State @ UCLA – Saturday 10:15, FSN

PAC-10:
OVERALL RECORD: 14-5
WEEK @ RECORD: 7-2
1-1 overall in conference
7-2 (13-4) out of conference
5-2 (10-5) vs 1A opponents
2-0 (4-0) vs 1-AA opponents
3-1 (4-2) vs BCS conferences
WINNERS:
Washington, 42-23 vs Idaho
UCLA, 19-15 @ Tennessee
Cal, 59-7 vs Eastern Washington
Southern Cal, 18-15 @ Ohio State
Arizona, 34-17 vs Northern Arizona
Oregon, 38-36 vs Purdue
Oregon State, 23-21 @ UNLV
LOSERS:
Stanford, 24-17 @ Wake Forest
Washington State, 38-20 vs Hawaii
BEST WIN: UCLA Bruins
Although it is tempting to give this to Washington who snapped their D1 worst 15-game losing streak, the Bruins went on the road into the SEC and came back to the west coast with a W. It was not the prettiest of games, but a win is a win. UCLA had only 186 yards of offense, but the defense forced 4 turnovers on four straight Vols possessions to keep their team in the game.
WORST LOSS: Washington State Cougars
Washington State is just plain bad. Dating back to last year they have lost three straight (2 against Hawaii) and 13 of 15 games.
THIS WEEK:
Cal @ Minnesota – Saturday NOON, ESPN
Southern Cal @ Washington – Saturday 3:30, ABC
Utah @ Oregon – Saturday 3:30, ESPN
Arizona @ Iowa – Saturday 3:30, ABC/ESPN2
SMU @ Washington State – Saturday 5:00
Cincinnati @ Oregon State – Saturday 6:45, FSN
San Jose State @ Stanford – Saturday 9:00
Louisiana-Monroe @ Arizona State – Saturday 10:00, FSN Arizona
Kansas State @ UCLA – Saturday 10:15, FSN

SEC:
OVERALL RECORD: 16-5
WEEK 2 RECORD: 6-4
3-3 (3-3) in conference
2-1 (13-2) out of conference
2-1 (9-2) vs 1A opponents
4-0 overall vs 1-AA opponents
0-1 (3-2) vs BCS Conferences
WINNERS:
Florida, 56-6 vs Troy
Alabama, 40-14 vs Florida International
Auburn, 49-24 vs Mississippi State
Georgia, 41-37 vs South Carolina
LSU, 23-9 vs Vanderbilt
LOSERS:
Tennessee, 19-15 vs UCLA
Mississippi State, 49-24 @ Auburn
South Carolina, 41-37 @ Georgia
Vanderbilt, 23-9 @ LSU
BEST WIN: Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia won and avoids starting the season 0-2. It was not impressive, but it was a victory in conference play. No rest this week though as the Bulldogs get another conference foe in Arkansas this week.
WORST LOSS: South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina dominated play outgaining UGA by over 100 yards and holding possession of the ball for nearly 35 minutes, but that wasn’t enough. Now the Gamecocks find themselves at 0-1 in conference play.
THIS WEEK:
Louisville @ Kentucky – Saturday NOON
North Texas @ Alabama – Saturday 12:20
Tennessee @ Florida – Saturday 3:30, CBS
Louisiana Lafayette @ LSU – Saturday 7:00
Florida Atlantic @ South Carolina – Saturday 7:00
Mississippi State @ Vanderbilt – Saturday 7:00
Southeast Louisiana @ Mississippi – Saturday 7:30, CSS
Georgia @ Arkansas – Saturday 7:45, ESPN
West Virginia @ Auburn – Saturday 7:45, ESPN


More to come later in the week with a more in depth look ahead at week 3 as well as predictions!