Let us recap Week 2, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 7 Georgia at Missouri
Final score: Bulldogs 41, Tigers 20
Pregame rant: Sheldon Richardson set it off by describing Georgia as playing “old-man football” following the Bulldogs’ 45-23 win against Buffalo.
“I watched that game. I turned it off, too,” said Richardson in a story by the Columbia Tribune. “It’s like watching Big Ten football. It’s old-man football.”
That’s big words, big fella.
Post-game commentary: The ‘Dawgs welcomed the Tigers into the SEC with a harsh dose of “grown-man football” as Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray called it. Georgia forced three turnovers and scored the game’s last 24 points to prevail.
Freshman quarterback Brett Hundley threw four touchdowns in leading UCLA past the ranked Cornhuskers./AP Photo.
No. 16 Nebraska at UCLA
Final score: Bruins 36, Cornhuskers 30
Pregame rant: It’s homecoming for Nebraska junior quarterback Taylor Martinez, who is from Corona, Calif., which is less than 50 miles from Los Angeles. After throwing for a career-high five touchdowns in Nebraska’s 49-24 opening win against Southern Miss, Martinez is looking to show the Bruins why they should have offered him a scholarship.
Post-game commentary: Brett Hundley showed the nation why the Bruins will be just fine at quarterback. The UCLA freshman was 21-of-33 for 305 yards and four touchdowns in the upset win against Nebraska. Hundley also rushed for 53 yards on 12 carries.
Urban Meyer has Ohio State off and rolling to a 2-0 start in his first year./AP Photo.
As for Martinez, he didn’t throw a touchdown, was picked and got tackled in the end zone for a safety. So much for homecoming.
Central Florida at No. 14 Ohio State
Final score: Buckeyes 31, Knights 16
Pregame rant: Both teams scored 56 points in their opening wins against Mid-American Conference schools.
The Knights rocked Akron, 56-14 while the Buckeyes routed Miami (Ohio), 56-10, in the coaching debut for Urban Meyer at Ohio State.
Don’t expect the Buckeyes to give up that many against UCF, but if they don’t come to play, they could easily fall to the Knights.
Post-game commentary: The two teams combined for fewer points than each of them scored in their openers, but Ohio State is a much-improved team under Urban Meyer.
Just look at Braxton Miller.
This season, the sophomore is completing 66.7 percent of his passes. Last season, he connected on just 54.1 percent of his passes. Miller could always make plays, but if he keeps his completion percentage up, the Buckeyes will be formidable all year.
USC quarterback Matt Barkley is still the Heisman frontrunner after throwing six touchdowns against the Syracuse Orange last week./AP Photo.
No. 2 USC vs. Syracuse
Final score: Trojans 42, Orange 29
Pregame rant: Although Syracuse showed some serious fight in its 42-41 loss to Northwestern as Ryan Nassib threw for 470 yards (for the game) and four touchdowns (all in the second half), it still lost to a second-tier Big Ten school.
Now the Orange must deal with leading Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Barkley and the Trojans, who have just as many NFL caliber players at anyone in the nation including Alabama and LSU. The rout will be on Saturday.
Post-game commentary: The Orange will contend in the Big East, but this game wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. Barkley threw six touchdowns to stay atop the Heisman race.
No. 8 Arkansas at Louisiana-Monroe
Final score: Warhawks 34, Razorbacks 31 (OT)
Pregame rant: Can we just get to the Alabama-Arkansas showdown next week, please?
Post-game commentary: My apologies to the Warhawks. Thanks for giving us an instant classic.
To see Louisiana-Monroe go for it on 4th-and-1 in overtime and get in the end zone on the play was amazing. Kolton Browning, who scored the game winner on a 16-yard run, accounted for 481 yards and four touchdowns.
The Razorbacks missed quarterback Tyler Wilson, who left the game with a head injury, but they led 28-7 in the second half. They had no business losing the game to a 30-point underdog.
Up next for Arkansas? The defending national champions. If he can’t go, Tide will roll. If he can play, the Razorbacks likely lose anyway.
Wide receiver Kevin Benjamin and the Seminoles had their way with Savannah State./AP Photo.
Savannah State at No. 6 Florida State
Final score: Seminoles 55, Tigers 0
Pregame rant: Last week, Oklahoma State ravaged Savannah State, 84-0, in a game could have been even worse.
Unfortunately, the Tigers will get the same treatment against the Seminoles when they visit Tallahassee, Fla.
ESPN is reporting Savannah State will get $860,000 total for playing at Oklahoma State and Florida State. Better put some of that money aside for medical expenses to treat all the injured players the Tigers are going to have as a result of playing the Cowboys and Seminoles.
Post-game commentary: Thank you, Mother Nature.
Here are three games worth watching in Week 3.
Game of the week: No. 2 USC Trojans (2-0) at No. 21 Stanford Cardinal (2-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. FSN.
Pregame rant: The Cardinal want to prove they’ve been more than Andrew Luck, but they’re going to need a lot of luck to get past the Trojans.
Quarterback Tyler Bray can put Tennessee back on the national map with a win against SEC East rival Florida this weekend./AP Photo.
Barkley has 10 touchdown passes to only one interception and has only been sacked twice, but the Trojans haven’t been tested. If Stanford can take an early lead, it will be interesting to see how Barkley fares when the defense knows he’s passing.
No. 18 Florida Gators (2-0, 1-0 SEC) at No. 23 Tennessee Volunteers (2-0), Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN.
Pregame rant: Nice to see the Gators and Vols play a meaningful game. It’s been a while.
Looking forward to seeing how junior quarterback Tyler Bray does against Florida, which is allowing just 15.5 points a game. Bray is completing a career-high 73.8 percent of his passes for 643 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions.
No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0) at No. 10 Michigan State Spartans (2-0), Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC.
Pregame rant: If the Irish are going to show the nation they’re back, a win here would send that message loud and clear. The Spartans have a grown man at tailback in Le’Veon Bell, who has 280 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
However, Notre Dame limited him to 27 yards on seven carries in its upset victory against the Spartans last season.
Even though the Irish squeaked past Purdue, 20-17, last week they did just give up 288 yards of total offense. Now they’re offense has looked nothing like the one Brian Kelly had while at Cincinnati, but maybe Tommy Rees gave them the spark needed to break out against the Spartans.
With two weeks to prepare, quarterback Geno Smith and the West Virginia Mountaineers may have their way with FCS school James Madison early and often./AP photo.
Snooze on these, though.
No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies (2-0) at Pitt Panthers (0-2), Saturday, noon, ESPNU.
Pregame rant: Although undefeated, the Hokies are boring. As for the Panthers, they lost to Youngstown State. Pitt has got to win a game sometime this season and Virginia Tech will give it chances to do so. Add all that up and you have a recipe for catching Zzzz.
James Madison Dukes (2-0) vs No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers (1-0) (FedEx Field, Landover, Md.) Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Pregame rant: Now I’m not sleeping on James Madison. The FCS school has outscored their opponents, 97-10. Know Mickey Matthews from when he was defensive coordinator at Marshall during their glory days in 1990s.
However, WVU has not only had two weeks to prepare for this game, it will be well rested and ready to roll. The Dukes will hang in. For how long is the question.
Idaho Vandals (0-2) at No. 3 LSU (2-0), Saturday, 8 p.m, ESPN3.com
Pregame rant: The Vandals are averaging just eight points this season. They’ll be lucky to score in any fashion against the Tigers.
