Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, And Clemson’s Defense Shine During College Football’s Action-Packed Week 2

Best Game: Washington State 47, Boise State 44, 3 OT

It was a toss-up between this and Iowa vs. Iowa State, but I could not bring myself to type out “The game of the weekend was ¡El Assico!” Besides, the matchup between the Cougars and the Broncos was your typically insane #Pac12AfterDark matchup that has become a staple of late night college football viewing.

Through three and a half quarters, it looked like the No. 21 Cougars were going to fall on their homefield. Boise State’s Curtis Weaver scooped up a fumble and returned it 55 yards with 10:53 remaining to give the Broncos a 31-10 lead. Scoring 21 points in 10:53 is tough, and it’s usually hard to fathom when you’ve scored 10 points in the previous 49:07 leading up to it. Further complicating matters is that Washington State’s offense only scored three points in that time.

But because Mike Leach football is extremely weird, the Cougars came roaring back, scoring 21 unanswered points to finish the game and force overtime. They did this by nabbing a pick six and completely eschewing the running game — over the aforementioned final 10:53, Washington State threw the ball 20 times and ran the ball once, with that one run coming on a 3rd-and-20 on their final possession before overtime.

The sides traded field goals during the first overtime, then exchanged touchdowns during the second extra frame. The third overtime featured Boise State kicking a field goal, Washington State getting the ball back, and Cougars running back Jamal Morrow flying into the end zone to take home the win.

Player of the Week: Lamar Jackson

Coming into this season, a bunch of dudes had Heisman hype. Sam Darnold’s name came up a ton. Saquon Barkley’s name, too. Baker Mayfield may be the frontrunner now (we’ll get to him in a few), Derrius Guice and J.T. Barrett were as well. There were a whole bunch of players who got thrown around, but curiously, one name that didn’t get nearly as much attention as the rest was Jackson.

There are reasons for this, namely that only one person has won the Heisman twice. And while Jackson had good odds — he opened at 7/1 to win the award, only Mayfield and Barrett were higher — you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who picked him to win.

Jackson reminded everyone why he won the award last year with a legitimately thrilling performance against North Carolina. He went 25-for-39 with 393 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions through the air. He added 132 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. It was incredible.

The thing that makes Jackson such an unreal player is that he’s equally lethal with his arm and legs. There are plenty of players who have done this, but Jackson might mix the two better than anyone since … Marcus Mariota? Vince Young? I don’t know. But when he’s on his game, as he was on Saturday, he can bolt past defenders just as easily as he can drop a dime that makes you do a double take. I mean, look at this.

https://twitter.com/DylanADeSimone/status/906578828180336640

That kind of speed, vision, decisiveness, and agility is ridiculous for anyone, let alone a quarterback. And then you remember he nearly threw for 400 yards in addition to this and all you can do is laugh. To the NFL team that drafts him: Please, let Lamar be Lamar and don’t try to turn him into the kind of boring, run of the mill quarterback that populates the league now.

Biggest Surprise: Duke grinding Northwestern into dust

There wasn’t really anything stunning that happened this week, so instead, let’s show some love to the Blue Devils, which were picked to finish sixth in the ACC Coastal. Both Duke and Northwestern were still expected to be pretty solid teams, although on Saturday, they didn’t even look like they were close to being on the same level.

The Blue Devils outgained the Wildcats, 538-191. They won the time of possession battle, 41:18 to 18:42. Simply put, Northwestern did not have the football, and when they did, they didn’t get the chance to get into any kind of a rhythm. The usually brilliant Justin Jackson carried the ball seven times for 18 yards and a score, while Duke quarterback Daniel Jones went 16-108-2. Oh, and Jones included 305 yards through the air, along with two more touchdowns.

A tip of the ballcap to Duke for winning this one. At the very least, they showed that they might end up being competitive in their division.

Best Moment: Baker Mayfield plants Oklahoma’s flag at midfield

From the time he was a walk-on at Texas Tech, you always knew that Mayfield had a certain swagger about him that was going to eventually make him one of the more entertaining quarterbacks in college football. That didn’t always necessarily mean good, but Mayfield’s confidence in his ability to get the ball to any receiver was always going to make him a must-watch.

Throughout his career, Mayfield’s put up some silly numbers over his career, and on Saturday night in Columbus, he absolutely torched Ohio State’s young secondary: 27-for-35, 386 yards, and three touchdowns, en route to a 31-16 thumping of the Buckeyes.

After the game, that swagger and confidence came through when Mayfield grabbed the Sooners’ flag, ran to midfield, and planted it smack dab in the middle of the Buckeyes’ logo.

It’s very, very easy to get mad at Mayfield for this, but I loved watching him make one last statement before walking out of Ohio Stadium. Last year, the Buckeyes marched into Norman and beat the Sooners by 21. This year, Mayfield — who struggled in the 2016 matchup — marched into Columbus and returned the favor. Mayfield and the Sooners waited a year for this opportunity, took advantage of it, and made it a point to celebrate.

Best Play: Deontay Burnett goes full extension to reel in a touchdown grab

This week didn’t have any especially ridiculous plays, so let’s give it up for Burnett, who did his best superman impression by getting parallel to the ground to haul in this catch from Sam Darnold.

This was the kind of throw by Darnold that makes NFL scouts salivate — dude flicked his wrist while rolling out to his right and put it in the one spot where his teammate could get it — but man, what a grab by Burnett. Stanford was something of a trendy pick to upset their opponent this week, but Burnett’s nine receptions, 121 yards, and two touchdowns helped the Trojans seal a 42-24 win.

Best Performance: Clemson’s Defense

As it turns out, the team that won a national title last year is still extremely good. Who knew?

With all due respect to the Tiger offense, if Clemson is going to repeat as national champions this year, it will be carried by its defense, which is nasty. This week, it went against Auburn, which boasted the most hyped transfer quarterback in some time in Jarrett Stidham. Apparently, Clemson thought it would be fun to just ruin his evening, as Auburn accrued 117 yards of total offense. Stidham went 13-for-24 with 79 yards, while Auburn ran the ball 42 times for 38 yards. Part of this was because Stidham was sacked 11 times.

Christian Wilkins and Austin Bryant anchor a scary defensive line, while the linebacker trio of Dorian O’Daniel, Tre’ Lamar, and Kendall Joseph will give any offensive coordinator nightmares. The Tigers are fast, physical, and fun to watch on defense, and made a serious statement on Saturday by putting on one hell of a show against Auburn.

Biggest Disappointment: Ohio State

Here are two things that may be true:

1. Ohio State looked really bad on Saturday night during its 31-16 loss to Oklahoma, and

2. Ohio State still might end up being the best team in the Big Ten by the end of the season, and could win the conference/make it to the Playoff.

Time will tell on that second thing — the Buckeyes will be rested off of their bye before hosting Penn State in October, but trips to Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan could be problematic. Run through those games and beat Wisconsin (probably) in the conference title game, and the Buckeyes will have a really strong resume, even with the loss to the Sooners on there. Easy enough.

But that’s down the road, and right now, it’s hard to be anything other than disappointed in the Buckeyes. Allowing 31 points to Oklahoma — which in addition to Mayfield has an outstanding line and a head coach in Lincoln Riley who cut his teeth as a dynamic offensive coordinator — is nothing to be ashamed of. The issues, though, come with the fact that Ohio State only scored 16 points.

Urban Meyer teams are known for putting up silly offensive numbers. This is also true for Kevin Wilson, the team’s new offensive coordinator who won the Broyles Award for turning the Sooners’ offense into a juggernaut in 2008. The two should be able to throw together an unstoppable offense in their sleep.

Instead, six of the eight quarters Ohio State has played this season have been rough. In fairness, they’re breaking in a new offense with a new running back and a number of young players along the offensive line and at receiver, but when you have national championship aspirations, this isn’t good enough. That’s especially true for J.T. Barrett, who came into the year hoping he could re-capture his Heisman-caliber 2014 form. Against the Sooners, he went 19-for-35 for 183 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, along with 18 rushes for 66 yards on the ground.

The Buckeyes should get better as the year goes on, especially on offense, and if we see a rematch of this game during the College Football Playoff, it should be closer. But for now, this was a rough showing for Meyer’s squad.

Hilarious Box Score of the Week: Louisiana Tech’s one rush for -87 yards

I enjoy college football because I enjoy when extremely dumb things occur during a sporting event, and dumb things frequently happen in college football. Take for example this moment in Mississippi State’s 57-21 win over Louisiana Tech. At one point in the fourth quarter, Louisiana Tech faced a 2nd-and-goal on the six yard line. Then, this happened.

Because it was recovered by Louisiana Tech, this went into the books as a one yard rush for -87 yards. Every player’s inability to recover the ball for eighty seven cot dang yards is just perfect. This is what the drive looked like in Mississippi State’s official box score:

The fact that it so seamlessly goes from MS06 to LATECH07 is the best part. Or how the play is attributed to TEAM. Louisiana Tech had to convert a 3rd-and-goal from their own seven. Shockingly, they were unable to, running the ball on third down and punting on fourth.