College football never fails to disappoint. We saw our fair share of thrilling finishes in Week 2, and there were a few close calls for teams in the top 25.
One team in the top 10 nearly suffered one of the biggest upsets in college football history before finding a way to pull out the victory. Another program handed its new head coach his first win. There were a few contests between top-25 teams that helped us separate the contenders from the pretenders, as well.
These are the top takeaways from Week 2.
Jim Harbaugh’s first victory at Michigan showed his old-school tendencies
Things got a bit tense at the Big House on Saturday when the Oregon State Beavers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead over Harbaugh’s Wolverines. However, Michigan bounced back nicely, going on a 35-0 run to finish the game.
Utilizing an old-school mixture of power-running and punch-you-in-the-mouth defense to pummel the Beavers into submission, the Woverines took control of the game and brought pride to their new head coach—not to mention the throng of delighted fans.
In particular, Michigan’s offensive line took a huge step in the right direction, paving the way for 225 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
It wasn’t all fun and games, however. At one point Harbaugh completely lost it on the sideline arguing with an official about a penalty.
In the end, Harbaugh was all smiles after his team dominated its opponent following the sloppy start. The one big concern going forward must be the play of Jake Ruddock, who once struggled to find open receivers, finishing with 180 passing yards, zero touchdowns and one interception.
Auburn (No. 6) offense in trouble as Jeremy Johnson struggles again
For the second week in a row, Auburn nearly lost against an inferior opponent, and Johnson failed to live up to the massive Heisman hype he carried into the season. Jacksonville State almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent college football history, eventually losing in overtime after Auburn’s offense finally woke up in the waning minutes of the ball game.
Johnson’s touchdown pass to Melvin Ray with just 00:39 left on the clock was a thing of beauty, but overall the junior quarterback continues to struggle. Through two weeks, Johnson has completed 32-of-53 passes (60 percent) for 373 yards (seven yards per attempt) with three touchdowns and five interceptions. None of these numbers are particularly attractive, and the touchdown-to-interception ratio is downright abysmal.
The thing that is even more concerning is neither Louisville nor lowly Jacksonville State feature dominant defenses. It makes one wonder how in the world Johnson is going to somehow improve when he faces LSU and Mississippi State the next couple of weeks. Without a doubt, Auburn’s offense is in big trouble heading into Week 3.
Dalvin Cook is the driving force behind FSU (No. 11) offense
Everett Golson busted out with four touchdowns in Week 1, but the former Notre Dame quarterback had a much more difficult go of it against South Florida on Saturday. While he struggled to get anything going in the passing game, Cook took the game over with an eye-opening performance on the ground.
Cook rushed for 266 yards on 30 carries and scored three long rushing touchdowns. His 74-yard burst in the first quarter set the tone for FSU, and it was a thing of beauty.
He just wouldn’t be stopped, and his juggernaut performance carried Florida State’s offense to a big win over an extremely tough South Florida squad that played much better than the final score (34-14) would indicate.
With his outstanding showing on Saturday, Cook now has 422 yards on 49 carries (8.6 yards per carry) with five rushing touchdowns in just two games to start the season. No doubt head coach Jimbo Fisher will continue to trust his star sophomore with a heavy volume of carries throughout the season.
Trevone Boykin bounces back, TCU (No. 3) defense suffers another blow
Boykin didn’t get his 2015 campaign off to a hot start against Minnesota, but he rebounded nicely against Stephen F Austin in Week 2. The Heisman hopeful passed for 285 yards and four touchdowns and showed nice pocket awareness while doing all his damage through the air in this contest.
Big plays were the order of the day, with five TCU receivers catching passes of 28 yards or longer. Boykin was particularly effective throwing to Kolby Listenbee, who caught six passes for 142 yards—including this 60-yard bomb for a score.
A big win was to be expected, and TCU obliged, 70-7.
However, given the fact that TCU’s defense had already taken a big hit earlier in the week—losing both starting inside linebackers for the year—it was nice to see the defense dominate like it did.
Unfortunately, this already depleted unit lost another player when safety Kenny Iloka left the game with a knee injury. He could miss the rest of the season, meaning the pressure is on Boykin even more to carry the Horned Frogs the rest of the way.
Watch out for Ole Miss (No. 17)
While most people would say Oregon or maybe Baylor features the most explosive offense in college football, don’t sleep on Ole Miss this year. The past two games, the Rebels have scored 149 points to open the season. Granted, these contests were against lesser competition, but that’s no different than most SEC teams right now.
Against Fresno State in Week 2, Ole Miss dominated through the air and on the ground, scoring four touchdowns on both fronts. Quarterback Chad Kelly has been magnificent, especially this Saturday, and has already racked up 557 yards and six touchdowns through the air with only one interception.
The crazy thing about Ole Miss’ offensive output to this point in the season is that it’s coming from seemingly every available offensive playmaker, including mammoth defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, who has now scored an offensive touchdown in both contests in 2015. He couldn’t be stopped on this goal-line score.
The real test comes next for the Rebels.
After a couple of easy opponents, Ole Miss now must brace for the fury of the Alabama Crimson Tide. The No. 2 team in the nation awaits in Week 3, and the Rebels must find a way to keep this offensive juggernaut going on the road against one of the toughest defenses in the nation.
Notre Dame (No. 9) skirts an upset but can’t avoid disaster
After destroying Texas at home in the season opener, Notre Dame barely escaped with a win on the road against a scrappy Virginia squad that was obliterated the week before by UCLA and freshman Seth Rosen.
It took a miraculous 40-yard touchdown strike in the waning seconds of the game from backup quarterback DeShone Kizer to receiver Will Fuller for Notre Dame to avoid overtime. The touchdown put the Irish over the Cavaliers 34-27, moving them to 2-0 to start the season.
Unfortunately, the program suffered a potentially catastrophic blow when starting quarterback Malik Zaire was lost for the season with a broken ankle. The dynamic dual-threat quarterback had to be carted off the field in the third quarter.
This is a big blow to a program that already had lost starting running back Tarean Folston in Week 1. However, Kizer stepped in and was outstanding off the bench, completing 75 percent of his passes and tossing two key touchdown strikes to propel Notre Dame to victory.
If the sophomore can continue his strong play the rest of the season, then the Irish certainly feature a team capable of earning a playoff bid this December.
Ohio State (No. 1) offense can’t find a rhythm against Hawaii
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer tried everything he could think of to get his offense going against Hawaii at home on Saturday. This was supposed to be a walk in the park for the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, but the Rainbow Warriors stymied the Buckeyes to great effect for most of the contest.
Both Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett played significant minutes, but neither quarterback could get the passing game going, and the Buckeyes were held to just 181 passing yards with zero touchdowns through the air.
Even Heisman hopeful running back Ezekiel Elliot was held in check for the most part by Hawaii. He finished the game with 101 yards on the ground but only averaged 3.7 yards per attempt. His three rushing touchdowns propelled Ohio State to what ended up looking like quite the blowout win, 38-0.
The play of the game actually occurred on the defensive side of the ball when Hawaii quarterback Max Wittek fumbled the ball, allowing safety Vonn Bell to score on a 14-yard fumble recovery for touchdown.
It will be interesting to continue tracking Meyer’s thought process with his two talented quarterbacks throughout the season. Both quarterbacks struggled to get anything going in Week 2, meaning there is a good chance they’ll both continue getting chances to prove themselves in the weeks to come.
Thrilling finish as Oklahoma (No. 19) defeats Tennessee (No. 23)
One of the biggest storylines heading into Week 2 was how these two teams would perform in such a critical contest early in the year. To put it mildly, both teams came out extremely tight, and offensive production was difficult to come by.
Tennessee jumped out to a 17-0 lead, and then Baker Mayfield woke up. He led the Sooners on a 17-0 run of their own to tie things up and force overtime.
Then, in a period of about 10 minutes, three touchdowns were scored. Tennessee’s Jalen Hurd scored to open up the first overtime period, and then Mayfield came alive again for Oklahoma after struggling to get anything going for most of the game. He scored once on the ground and then threw a gorgeous 18-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard to go ahead by seven points.
After shutting down Tennessee’s final bid to tie the game, Oklahoma pulled off a thrilling 31-24 overtime win on the road to improve to 2-0. The Sooners will certainly move up in the rankings after this victory.
Meanwhile, Tennessee fell to 1-1 and is likely to fall out of the top-25 when the latest polls come out early next week.
Oregon (No. 7) beat in the trenches and on the scoreboard at Michigan State (No. 5)
The final score was 31-28, but Michigan State’s victory was more decisive than the score indicates. Oregon was continually getting beat up front—both on offense and defense—and the Spartans controlled the game from start to finish.
Vernon Adams was treated to some rough handling by Michigan State’s defense, which mercilessly blitzed the diminutive quarterback all night long. He ended up throwing two costly interceptions and was mostly running for his life. That said, he did manage to make some incredible plays to keep the Ducks in the game down the stretch, including a late touchdown to Byron Marshall.
It’s worth noting that Adams and receiver Bralon Addison were a treat to watch in the second half. The duo connected on seven passes throughout the game for 138 yards. Addison also added a spectacular 81-yard punt return for touchdown at the start of the third quarter to spark Oregon’s comeback bid.
On the other side, Connor Cook was neither atrocious nor brilliant. He threw two touchdowns and one interception, displaying decent game-manager skills. The defense was the driving force for the Spartans in this contest, along with a strong rushing attack that kept Oregon’s offense off the field as much as possible.
Both teams will remain prominent figures in the national rankings, though it’s likely Oregon will fall out of the top 10 heading into Week 3.
LSU (No. 14) holds on to win over Mississippi State (No. 25) in thriller
This one came down the the wire at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss.
It was a battle of differing philosophies, as LSU utilized a bludgeoning ground attack, led by Leonard Fournette, to control the clock and keep the dynamic passing offense of Mississippi State off the field. Fournette finished the game with 159 rushing yards and three touchdowns, which proved just enough to hold off the Bulldogs.
With just over a minute remaining on the clock in regulation, trailing by two, 21-19, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott needed to move the ball about 60 yards to get the Bulldogs into field-goal range. LSU’s defense had been bearish all night long but Prescott had been getting into a groove throughout the fourth quarter.
With the cool confidence of a seasoned veteran, the senior quarterback drove his team down the length of the field to give kicker Devon Bell a 52-yard field-goal attempt to win the game. The try would have been five yards closer if not for an ill-advised delay-of-game penalty, however.
After a timeout called by LSU head coach Les Miles, Bell went to line up for the kick when Miles called a second timeout. Bell had missed his try to the left after he went ahead and kicked the ball following Miles’ first timeout call, and then he missed his second attempt to the right and short.
LSU’s tight victory keeps the program in the hunt for a top-10 spot in the rankings, while you can be certain Mississippi State will fall out of the top 25.