Week 2 Games of the Week
College football gave us another exciting opening weekend. Not too many upsets, but enough quality games to get the season rolling. Week 2 provides some premier matchups, as four games involve Top 25 teams. Need a reason to sit on your couch all night? College football is giving it to you, and I'll bet you won't be disappointed.
Previously: Week 1 Recap, W1 G5 Top 4, W1 CFP Teams, Gophers
GAMES OF THE WEEK
OVERALL RECORD: 81-41
SEASON RECORD: 3-1
LAST WEEK: 3-1
Last year, Clemson was on its way to winning the national championship while Auburn was just trying to get back to prominence. This year, the stakes are much higher. Both Tigers have playoff aspirations, but both are breaking in brand new quarterbacks. Kelly Bryant made is debut for Clemson in their 56-3 win over Kent State, while Auburn's Jarrett Stidham led his Tigers to a blowout over Georgia Southern. The biggest question will be which quarterback can handle the pressure. Stidham already has playing experience form his time at Baylor, while Bryant just has the Kent State game. The advantage goes to Stidham, but playing in Death Valley is an experience that he doesn't have yet.
Is Clemson really poised for another playoff run? This game will tell us a lot, and having home field advantage will be important to win. Are Auburn and Stidham legit? The Tigers and their quarterback need to show the nation they are an elite team. Winning on the road against the defending champs would send a colossal message to the rest of college football. I'm a believer that Stidham in Gus Malzahn's offense can only mean good things, but I don't know how long it will take for that to come true.
My pick: Clemson 35 Auburn 34
Well, there isn't any "Basic" talk about Ohio State's defense this year, but I'm sure Austin Kendall's comments will still be a focal point. Starting quarterback Baker Mayfield has been respectful of the Buckeyes heading into the game, and he knows what they're capable of doing. His Sooners received a beating at home 45-24, and now they head to Columbus. It's been a wild ride for Mayfield and his team this offseason. He was arrested in February, which added to the laundry list of arrests for Oklahoma, and head coach Bob Stoops retired in June. Now, 33 year old Lincoln Riley takes over for Stoops, and gets the face the #2 team in the nation for his second game.
And boy will that team be ready to play. Ohio State is loaded once again, and they will be receiving a special gift from one of their biggest fans, Lebron James.
The latest Lebron Zoom Solider is now a cleat, and the Buckeyes will definitely look better than the Sooners uniform-wise. They also have the talent to win, and that "basic" defense from last year returned a ton of talent. J.T. Barrett's passing abilities were in question most of the offseason, but he got off to a great start by throwing for 304 yards and three scores last week against Indiana. His top target, Parris Campbell, is a burner but had a big drop last week. Freshman J.K. Dobbins is getting the start at running back over Mike Weber, who is returning from injury. Oklahoma may be good, but this Ohio State team might be better than the one the Sooners faced last season.
My pick: Ohio State 42 Oklahoma 34
It's a battle of the freshman quarterbacks, and whichever young gun can handle the pressure will give his team a great chance of winning. Another interesting battle will be at the line of scrimmage. Notre Dame offensive and defensive lines dominated Temple last week, but Georgia's got better talent on both sides than the Owls.
With Jacob Eason going down with an injury, Jake Fromm took the reigns of the offense and finished the win over Appalachian State. Eason is expected to miss several weeks with a knee sprain, so this is Fromm's team for essentially the rest of the year. He will rely on his two running backs, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, to keep the momentum on their side in South Bend. If the defense can stifle Notre Dame's offense, that should also ease the nerves of Fromm.
Notre Dame started the Brandon Wimbush era and, while he looked like a freshman at times, he seemed to be fairly calm running the offense. He now faces one of the best teams he will see all year, but will have support around him. Running backs Josh Adams and Dexter Williams combined with Wimbush rushed for 391 yards last week against Temple. Wimbush also found his favorite target, Eqanimeous St. Brown four time for 80 yards and one score. The Irish defense also did their part to keep Wimbush calm as they held Temple to 303 yards, including just 85 on the ground.
Georgia's bread and butter is running the ball on offense, but they may have to use Fromm's arm more to move the ball down the field. Notre Dame surrendered 245 yards to a first-time starter, and might not have the speed and size to keep up with Fromm's favorite targets. The loss of Eason stings mostly because he was the leader of the offense and had a good grip on the playbook. This is Fromm's first real taste of college football, which could be concerning if he can't handle the pressure. Notre Dame appears to be on the way back up, but we can't say that for sure after just one week. A win over an SEC opponent would give them plenty of confidence along with a better ranking. There were times last week when the game could have been closer for the Irish, but Temple committed too many mistakes. Georgia won't be that way.
My pick: Georgia 24 Notre Dame 21
Is it weird to think that Stanford is the underdog by nearly a touchdown? If you're a betting man, the under sounds pretty good in this matchup. USC is going to try to get Stanford to quicken the pace, while the Cardinal will slow things down for the Trojans. Whoever dictates the pace of play will get the advantage.
USC struggled early against Western Michigan last week, but they finished on a good note, and not just on the scoreboard. With the game in hand after the Trjoans scored another touchdown, head coach Clay Helton coordinated with Western Michigan to allow long snapper Jake Olsen to get in the game. Jake is blind, and is living out his dream of being on the Trojans team. He finally got his opportunity to get into a game, and the rest was history.
Stanford appeared to be finished after a blowout loss to Washington, but David Shaw kept his team focused. The Cardinal's "down" year resulted in a 10-3 finish. Let's just get this out of the way, this team is better without Christian McCaffrey. It's the last time (hopefully) that I'll say it, but it's true. Now that he's gone, the offense can become more balanced, and we saw last week what can happen when it does.
Both teams didn't show us much last week. USC struggled, but do we really think the Trojans are going to do that again? Not with quarterback Sam Darnold running the show. Is Stanford's blowout of Rice an indicator of how much they'll dominate the Pac-12? Probably not. I don't know how this game will end, but I do know it's the third best game to watch this weekend. That should tell yo a lot about the top two games.
My pick: USC 28 Stanford 17
