After the week two games ended, it occurred to me that the push for a playoff spot may turn out to be futile where the Big Ten is concerned! In trying to choose four playoff teams, we will have a dog fight right up to the final bell. There were so many upsets and near-misses this week, though, that to discuss only the Big Ten would be to do an injustice to some of this season’s upstarts who are making a little noise early.
South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona all survived scares as double-digit favorites against what most considered the undercard conferences. Washington got into a shootout with Eastern Washington as they piled up 109 combined points in Seattle, ending in a three-point victory for the Huskies. Meanwhile Washington State got vanquished by the Wolfpack in Nevada and Oregon State barely survived Hawaii’s 23 points in the fourth quarter to win in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Now, back to the Big Ten. Urban Meyer stated that he welcomed Virginia Tech and their aggressive defense. Tech’s defensive guru Bud Foster made sure he got his wish and a lot more as the Hokies limited the Buckeyes to 9 of 29 passing and stole a solid victory at the Horseshoe. Powerhouse Michigan State looked really good in the first half at Autzen Stadium, but wilted under the constant diversity of the Ducks’ attack. Michigan meanwhile, was making Notre Dame and standout Everett Golson look like a force to be reckoned with, getting whitewashed 31-0 in this final meeting. The Huskers subdued FCS McNeese State with 20 seconds to go as Ameer Abdullah took it to the house, salvaging the victory in Lincoln. Meanwhile, in MACtion, the little conference that could took another bite out of the Big Ten with victories by Northern Illinois and Central Michigan over Northwestern and Purdue respectively. The largest margin of victory by a Big Ten school over the weekend was Penn State’s victory over Akron, which worked out to 18 points.
The SEC had another powerful performance at the expense of any and all other conferences. San Jose State came down South and was handcuffed by the Auburn Tigers. In Gainsville, the Gators continue to make improvements with a solid 65 points against Eastern Michigan. LSU pounded Sam Houston, and Lamar got even rougher treatment from Texas A&M. Then you have to take into account that Vanderbilt looked terrible against Bo Wallace and the Rebels of Ole Miss. So far the biggest surprise or eyebrow raising comes from South Carolina, where the Gamecocks look surprisingly vulnerable after getting gashed through the air by East Carolina in a tight 10-point victory. South Carolina’s schedule doesn’t get any easier, with Georgia up next. The SEC currently has nine teams in the top 25 in the weekly polls.
ACC: The ACC gets some love this week with that huge upset at Ohio State, but remember I warned people that Virginia Tech would not be down for very long! Clemson, Florida State, and Louisville all coasted in tune-up games leading into weeks three and four. North Carolina surprised me with a less than stellar game against San Diego State. The Tar Heels had to score 17 fourth-quarter points just to win at home and stay in the top 25. North Carolina State won back-to-back games for the first time in two years, and Pitt positioned itself at 2-0 with a victory over Boston College. Duke and Georgia Tech have also fast tracked early with 2-0 marks.
Big 12: Coach Strong admitted that the Longhorns would not compete for the national championship. Proving himself right must have been painful on Saturday! BYU came into Austin and scored some serious third-quarter points against a feeble Texas attack. The Cougars will be another Independent that could garner consideration moving forward this season. West Virginia and Baylor laid on some serious points in their victories over FCS opponents in preparation for the conference schedule ahead. Oklahoma traveled to in-state foe Tulsa and put up 52 big ones against the Golden Hurricane. Perhaps the biggest surprise on the Big 12 front was the spirited effort by Iowa State, as the Cyclones made K-State work hard for a narrow four-point win. The Wildcats needed 12 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take down Paul Rhoads’ squad.
PAC-12: I stated early in the season that the Pac-12 was the Wild Wild west, only better, and it seems now that I could be correct, with reservations. I expected Arizona, Washington State and UCLA to raise the banner a little higher this season. Arizona ran into an upstart that seems to love to make a little noise. U-T San Antonio is the new kid on the Texas college front and has rolled out a competitive team in a very short period of time. The Wildcats scored only 6 points in the 2nd half and had to hold off a very determined push by the Road Runners to escape Texas unscathed. In Reno Nevada, QB Halliday threw for another amazing 380 plus yards, but this one dimensional Cougars squad couldn’t match the Wolfpacks Cody Fajardo who rushed and passed for 100 plus each and put Washington State at 0-2 after the Rutgers loss in week 1. UCLA continues to be an enigma. Brett Hundley certainly doesn’t look Heisman worthy as the Bruins squeaked out another win over the Memphis Tigers. UCLA could be in trouble heading into Conference play if they don’t get it figured out real quick!! The defense put up 21 points against Virginia last week but allowed Memphis to score 35 this week. The reason for this concern could be cross town rival USC. The Trojans have a big Pac-12 win under their belt over Stanford and lead the Pac-12 South. This certainly wasn’t a signature win by any means as the 13-10 win probably dictates, but it does put Stanford in a big hole early in the campaign in the Pac-12 North. Last but certainly not least was the performance of Marcus Mariota in Oregon’s gutsy win over Michigan State. The ebb and flow of this game seemed to favor the Spartan’s by half time, until the fabled 2nd half adjustments took effect. Michigan State seemed to have no reply to the rapid fire TD’s that the Ducks pushed across in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Mark Dantonio isn’t used to giving up 40 plus points to anybody.
The question that remains to be asked is will the selection committee take the Big Ten seriously enough after week 2 to even consider them as contenders??
