2024-25 NCAA Football (Week 2)

Games I saw (some of):

Arkansas 31-39 (16) Oklahoma State

The Razorbacks pretty well dominated the 1st half but the Cowboys were able to right the ship and salvage the contest. Disappointing start on the one hand, but heartening finish on the other. My gut feeling is that Arkansas isn't bad and Oklahoma State is probably a bit overrated. 

South Carolina 31-6 Kentucky

Ugh, in a lifetime of watching godawful Kentucky football, this was a notable low point. We knew that one of these teams would be jettisoned from the SEC talk, I thought it would be South Carolina but it is Kentucky. In a season where Vandy is running up the score on people, this is probably the most winnable game on UK's schedule and they were horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. QB play was terrible, special teams was awful, D-line (a recent strength of UK) was nothing special, this was a uniquely terrible display. When I was a kid the Wildcats didn't totally crater until the 4th quarter but they were never in this game--and there's no reason to think they'll be in any SEC games this year if this is what they look like at home to South Carolina. As for the Gamecocks, I dunno, I still suspect that they're not any good but they weren't tested at all here, so this result tells me nothing.

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Georgia, (2) Ohio State, (3) Texas, (4) Alabama, (6) Mississippi, (11) Utah, (12) Miami, (13) Southern Cal, (14) Tennessee, (16) Oklahoma State, (17) Kansas State. (18) Louisiana State, (20) Arizona, (22) Louisville, (25) Clemson

Won but did not impress

(7) Oregon. Hmmmmm....two straight weeks of just-enough offense to get it done. Okay, they're 2-0, can't front on that, but for a top 5 high expectations kinda squad, they have yet to live up to any kind of hype. 

(8) Penn State. 27 points to Bowling Green? What happened to the vaunted brick wall Nittany Lion defense? Again, they haven't faltered yet but they've got a ways to go to look like a squad that can really control a game. 

(15) Oklahoma. Okay, Houston is a pretty good squad, but this game was down to the wire and the Sooners probably ought to be better than that (or maybe Houston is better than we thought....?). 

Bad beat

(10) Michigan. Sorry, Wolverines, the Longhorns are just better. Michigan lost a lot--A LOT--from last year, this season will be an uphill climb. It ain't over for Michigan but this season might be a slog.

(24) North Carolina State. I'm not out on the Wolfpack but the Vols are looking pretty good right now. Would've been a great W but it just wasn't gonna happen. 

Not so good

(5) Notre Dame. Ha! Man, Northern Illinois even got robbed late and still managed to finish the upset. Great win for Northern Illinois, bad loss for the Irish (and it may have finished Texas A&M's season, too, right?).

(19) Kansas. The Jayhawks were probably overrated. I saw none of this game but it looks like they were never really in it. 

(21) Iowa. Really bent over backwards to give this game away late. Seemed like they were the better team for the most part but they didn't put the Cyclones away and didn't finish out the game. Tough L.

(23) Georgia Tech. Why were they in the top 25? Because they beat the Seminoles? Man, we've already forgotten about the Seminoles, so feels like Ga Tech's season has already peaked. 

Next week's intriguing matches

(20) Arizona @ (14) Kansas State (Which one is gonna turn it on and be good? Dunno, might be interesting to see who steps up)

(16) Louisiana State @ South Carolina (Is South Carolina any good? LSU probably wasn't planning on neding their A-game this week but they might oughta bring it just in case)

(24) Boston College @ (6) Missouri (No idea what'll happen here)

(9) Oregon @ Oregon State (Is Oregon gonna wake up or can they just sleep walk through their biggest rival, too? Are the Ducks going to keep getting W's and still keep falling in the rankings?)

Tulane @ (15) Oklahoma (Tulane doesn't suck, so its time for the Sooners to get their game together)