College football week 2 is in the books. After every week fans can take away things from what happened on the field. Here are five things learned from college football week 2.
1. LSU’s New Offense is Working
The biggest matchup of the weekend was LSU vs. Texas. It did not disappoint as LSU was able to hold off a ferocious Texas comeback. LSU’s defense has routinely been good, but the offense was the most surprising thing about the game.
This offseason LSU changed their offensive system to run a spread offense. This was all in an effort to get their playmakers in more open space. Last night, it proved to work. Quarterback Joe Burrow had an amazing game throwing for 471 yards and four touchdowns. Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr. all had over 100 yards receiving. Texas’ defense is far from great, but LSU hasn’t looked this good on offense in a big game in a long time.
2. Clemson Passed Their Toughest Test
In an afternoon game featuring two ranked teams, Clemson got ahead and then coasted to a victory over Texas A&M. Trevor Lawrence had a decent game, even though Travis Etienne struggled to get anything going. The defense was very impressive, slowing down Kellen Mond and the Texas A&M offense, which was the difference in the game.
After beating Texas A&M, Clemson will likely not play a game against a team that is ranked as high the rest of the regular season. There is no such thing as a stroll to the College Football Playoff, but it could feel that way for the Tigers. Their “tough” games the rest of the way are: at Syracuse, at UNC, at NC State and at South Carolina.
3. Ohio State is Still the Class of the Big Ten
With Ryan Day coming to coach and Justin Fields transferring in to play quarterback, there was a little uncertainty for the Buckeyes heading into this season. They won big over Florida Atlantic in week 1 and then wiped the floor with Cincinnati in week 2, winning 42-0. Ohio State certainly doesn’t seem to have taken a step back without Urban Meyer.
The biggest risk to the Buckeyes in the Big Ten East, at least at the start of the season, is their rival up north. Michigan had to go to overtime to beat Army, although Oklahoma did the same thing last year and still made the CFP. It didn’t look great for the Wolverines though, with Shea Patterson struggling. They have a lot to clean up in the coming weeks. Ohio State should be considered the best team in the Big Ten until someone knocks them off at this point.
4. Old Rivals Need to Play Every Year
College football fans can’t get enough good games or rivalries. Unfortunately, with conference realignment, some of the old rivalries have not been played recently. Fortunately for fans, some teams have done right and scheduled these games in their nonconference schedules. This weekend Nebraska and Colorado played again and it did not disappoint.
Colorado was facing a 17 point deficit heading into the second half in Boulder. They regrouped and scored 31 second-half points to send the game to overtime. In overtime, the Buffaloes were able to hit a game-winning field goal. It was a great game and a rivalry, exhibiting everything that is great about college football. More of the games need to be scheduled.
5. The Pac-12 is Struggling
The Pac-12 already had a rough start to the season in week 1 and week 2 just made things worse. A lot of their top contenders have already suffered losses. Washington lost to Cal at home in a very late game. Stanford dropped a game to USC, who was starting a player at quarterback who was third-string just a few weeks ago. Oregon lost in week 1 to Auburn.
With some of the contenders losing, other events are hurting the conference too. Hawaii has defeated two Pac-12 teams already this season in Oregon State and Arizona. UCLA is now 0-2 and looks like they will be in for a long season. USC won this week and Kedon Slovis looked good, but it is an uncertainty as to whether he can keep this up. The conference will need to have some of their teams that have done well (Colorado, Utah, Washington State, Arizona State and USC), to keep winning.
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