College football is officially back in full swing, and Week 2 of the 2024 season once again reminded everyone why this is one of, if not the, greatest sport on the planet. There was a little bit of everything during this week. Top teams won comfortably and established themselves as the best of the best, but that’s not to say that there weren’t some surprises (yes, I think we all know who I’m talking about here).
Alright, I can’t come up with anything else to say in the intro, let’s talk about some football!
Another week, another Georgia blowout
Georgia is apparently pretty good at this whole football thing.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this one, but it’s notable because of how dominant the Bulldogs have looked and how much better they’ve looked than pretty much everyone else. Georgia dominated Tennessee Tech in Week 2, winning by a score of 56-3. Quarterback Carson Beck carved up their defense to the tune of 242 yards and five touchdowns. I thought he was too inconsistent last season, but he has vastly impressed me this year. I know it’s only been two weeks, but he’s my Heisman frontrunner at this point in the season.
Put simply, this was comically easy for Georgia. They showed that they are just better than essentially every other team in the country, and they are the best team in the country until proven otherwise. Next week’s game against Kentucky, which is in the primetime slot at 7:30 p.m. EST on ABC, will be a good opportunity for Georgia to come into a raucous environment in Lexington and show just how good they are.
And the way they’re playing right now, I’m leaning towards the scenario where the ‘Dawgs walk into Lexington and dominate the Wildcats on primetime. Why? That’s simply because it’s just how good this team has been.
Ohio State is also pretty good at this whole football thing
I will admit something: the slow start Ohio State got off to in their season-opening game against Akron made me just a little bit nervous. For a team of the Buckeyes’ caliber and a team that has as much talent all across the board as they do, getting off to that semi-slow start against the Zips made me a tad bit anxious. They ended up dominating in the second half, but still.
What happened Saturday in Columbus was nothing short of pure and utter dominance from Ohio State throughout the entire game. Yes, I am aware that they were facing Western Michigan, but it was still a great all-around performance. Quarterback Will Howard threw for nearly 300 yards and a score. Quinshon Judkins showed exactly why he was perhaps the most sought-after transfer in the portal this past offseason, rushing for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith continued his white-hot start to the season, catching five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, that touchdown being an unbelievable 75-yard score off a strike from Howard. TreVeyon Henderson added 66 rushing yards and two scores on the ground as well.
Ohio State has the best one-two running punch in the entire country hands down. Howard has shown the ability to make all kinds of plays with his arm and his legs. Jeremiah Smith might be the Buckeyes’ WR1 and it’s been all of two weeks. There is so much depth and talent on this team, and with this win, things are all going according to plan thus far.
Texas made its case as a top-3 team in the country
Texas was ranked No. 3 in the latest AP Poll, but they needed a dominant, resume-building win against a good team in order to firmly cement themselves as one of the best teams in the country.
They got just that on the road against Michigan.
The Longhorns walked into the Big House in Ann Arbor and thoroughly dismantled the Michigan Wolverines, and no one played better than quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers established himself as a legitimate contender for the Heisman Trophy, as after a semi-slow start in the first quarter, he began to carve up Michigan’s vaunted defense to the tune of 246 yards and three touchdowns.
Michigan never really had a chance in this game, and it’s officially confirmed that they have a quarterback problem after the departure of J.J. McCarthy. By the end of the third quarter, the ‘Horns were up 31-6, and the game was over way before then.
Going into the season, Texas was coming off a College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Washington, but I felt like they needed to have a truly dominant season in order to cement themselves as a top-three team in the country, and my trust in Ewers was still not completely there. Now, everything has changed. Ewers looks like a Heisman candidate, and Texas looks like a complete lock for the College Football Playoff.
And again, I know it’s only been two weeks, but this team looks like they are poised for a deep postseason run.
Penn State’s defense may not be as stout as we thought
Perhaps this is a spicy take, because defenses having a bad game or an off game is not exactly a paranormal occurrence in the realm of college football.
But a team of Penn State’s caliber, a defense of Penn State’s caliber, barely escaping with a win and being carved up by…Bowling Green? That cannot be a good sign.
Defensive coordinator Tom Allen, who coached Indiana from 2017 to 2023 before taking the DC job in Happy Valley, did not have a good day Saturday and his defense did not play particularly well. There’s no way around it. At the end of the first quarter, Bowling Green was up 17-7. At halftime, it was 24-20. Bowling Green was still leading. Connor Bazelak, who played at Indiana for Allen before arriving at Bowling Green, had two touchdowns by halftime.
The Nittany Lions did end up winning the game off a 41-yard touchdown from Kaytron Singleton, but letting the Falcons be in the game the entire time is not a good sign for a team that has College Football Playoff aspirations.
I said last week that Penn State got one of the best wins of the young season when they went into Morgantown and thoroughly beat West Virginia in front of a hostile crowd. I said that this team felt different than Penn State teams of the past.
Well, if this game is any indication, maybe what I said was a little premature.
Oregon is still trying to figure out who they are
It would be great if the Ducks could get on that, and get on that quickly.
Through the first two weeks of the season, Oregon is still trying to find themselves a bit, as they were in a close contest with Boise State and even though they managed to escape with a 37-34 win, it’s hard to imagine that this win was one that many Oregon fans felt good about.
Dillon Gabriel had a good game, and he did look more comfortable than he did last week when he seemingly wasn’t allowed to throw the ball more than 10 yards downfield. Kidding, obviously, but he did connect on a 67-yard touchdown bomb to Evan Stewart and then hit Stewart again a little later in the game for another score from 34 yards out. That connection looks like it will be lethal throughout the season.
However, the defense was a bit concerning. Now, Boise State is absolutely no slouch, as they’re one of the best non-Power 4 teams in the nation. Some even considered them to be a sleeper pick to beat the Ducks this week. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but the fact remains that Oregon was unable to put them away easily. One big area of concern was the run defense for the Ducks, as Ashton Jeanty ran all over them to the tune of 192 yards and a whopping three touchdowns.
Oregon did win the game, but there are still some questions with this team. Who do they want to be? Are they an offense built around a lethal aerial attack? Do they want to throw it all around the yard or do they want to run through everyone?
These are questions that Oregon needs to figure out the answers to quickly if they want to maintain their high ranking and their potential for a deep College Football Playoff run.
And last but not least…
Notre Dame just suffered the worst loss of the season
Now there’s the Notre Dame we all know and love!
I knew, I just knew, there was a reason I couldn’t completely trust this team. I tried to ignore it after the great win on the road against Texas A&M. I tried to ignore that feeling based on how elite their defense, particularly their secondary, looked. I tried to ignore that feeling based on how new quarterback Riley Leonard displayed so much toughness and willed the team to a win, no matter what he had to do.
But now, I’ve been spooked. And I’m unsure if I can trust this team again.
The Fighting Irish took a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois off a field goal with about 30 seconds left that gave the Huskies the lead. When Notre Dame tried to take the lead right back with a potential game-winning 62-yard field goal, it was promptly blocked to send the Irish home with the loss.
This game was strange because one would think that with Notre Dame’s first drive of the game, the contest would end up being a blowout win for the Irish. But right after that first drive the wheels started to come off. At halftime, the Huskies held a 13-7 lead, and Notre Dame’s offense looked sluggish and out of sync. Notre Dame did score a touchdown to retake the lead, but their next three drives consisted of two punts and an interception by Leonard.And the drive right after Leonard’s pick, Northern Illinois got the clock all the way down to thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter and buried the field goal that would prove to be the game-winner.
This is one of those losses that you just cannot escape over the course of the season if you’re Notre Dame. It doesn’t really matter if you’re perfect from here on out, this loss will not go away. Fortunately, the schedule doesn’t look too daunting from here and the rest of the ACC is kind of a hot mess right now. That definitely helps out.
But all things considered, this was…bad. Really bad.
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