2021-22 NCAA Football (Week 2)

Saw some of: 

(12) Oregon 35-28 (3) Ohio State

Kept waiting for the Buckeyes to take control of this match and they never did. Good W for Oregon, they were the better team throughout on both sides of the ball--and I don't think this was a just 'any given Saturday' phenomenon, I was really much more impressed with Oregon than with Ohio State. The QB was firm, the RB was a beast who made big plays, the speed on the edge defense was impressive and the made the big plays late when they needed to.  Oregon was just flat out good, a deserved top 5 team for now. 

(10) Iowa 27-17 (9) Iowa State

Man, Iowa was the better team but State made so many fluky mistakes, that it warped my perception. I'm pretty sure Iowa is for real but this game kinda makes it hard to tell because it doesn't feel possible that they were this much worse than Iowa State. Good W for Iowa, if they can keep it going against Penn State and Wisconsin, they could find themselves in the playoff--definitely a team to keep an eye on. 

(13) Florida 42-20 South Florida

The Gators so dominated the 1st half of this game that it's easy to overlook how soft they looked in the 2nd half. Don't get me wrong, Florida was the better team and should be a competitive squad all year. But the way they mailed it in after halftime is a little creepy. Oh, they got 'Bama next week, perhaps I'm just being overly critical. 

(5) Texas A&M 10-7 Colorado

Gotta be honest: I was totally rooting for Colorado to sting the Aggies. All I saw was the 4th quarter when it felt like the Buffaloes were finally wearing down. A&M fumbled away the go-ahead TD at the goal line, but were able to hold Colorado off and then get that go-ahead TD on their next possession to steal a late W on the road. Yeah, I get it: early season, non-conference road games don't get the juices flowing, but overcoming those letdowns is what a good team does. Am I supposed to be impressed that they pulled out the W or suspicious that it took them so long to subdue a mediocre opponent? (For now, I'm more suspicious than impressed)

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Alabama, (2) Georgia, (4) Oklahoma, (6) Clemson, (7) Cincinnati, (10) Iowa, (11) Penn State, (17) Coastal Carolina, (18) Wisconsin, (19) Virginia Tech, (20) Ole Miss, (23) Arizona State, (24) North Carolina, (25) Auburn 

Won but did not impress

(5) Texas A&M. (see above: more suspicious than impressed)

(8) Notre Dame. Come on, Irish. You trying to get the coach fired or what?

(22) Miami. I get that at home against App State isn't always the easiest match, but come on, Hurricanes. In order to get back in the mix (an L to Alabama is not a season-killer), you gotta handle your business and this is not inspiring confidence. 

Bad beat 

(9) Iowa State. Man, it was not Iowa State's day, they Sideshow Bob-bed that rake over and over again this afternoon. They can't be this bad but how good are they? I went with 'bad beat' because I think Iowa is legit good and I would be surprised if Iowa State plays this bad again this year (which means watch out, Oklahoma!).  

Not good

(3) Ohio State. I was impressed by Oregon, I think they're really good and I could've put this in the 'bad beat' category, but I was wildly unimpressed with the Buckeyes. I was underwhelmed by their LBs and their pass rush, nor did I love their QB (perhaps the most uninspiring 500 yds/3 TD performance I've ever seen) or their special teams. This is a nice team but not a classic Buckeye squad. And after watching Iowa this week and Penn State last week, feels like the Buckeyes could be in some trouble this season. They've bounced back from early season losses before, we'll see how this focuses them going forward. 

(14) Southern Cal. Not good, felt like USC was ready to have a bust out season, but if you can't beat Stanford, you don't go far. 

(15) Texas. I had a feeling Arkansas was waiting for the Longhorns. And the fact that I'm still not at all impressed by Arkansas is not good for Texas.

(21) Utah. Hmmm....so is Utah overrated or is BYU underrated?

Next week's interesting matchups

(8) Cincinnait @ Indiana (yeah, I know this isn't the 1962 NCAA tournament, but it is an interesting test for the Bearcats; Indiana can sling it and they've already played a top 10 team this year, they won't be intimidated)

(1) Alabama @ (11) Florida (boom! Your marquee matchup of the week!)

(22) Auburn @ (10) Penn State (hmmm....this is an out-of-nowhere match...okay, I'm in)

(19) Arizona State @ (23) BYU (finally gonna the age old question: are either of these teams actually any good?)