Week 1 of college football: OVER. Week 2 of college football: HERE NOW. We were treated to some pretty wonderful football over the first week of the season, which happened over the course of five days because the start of the college football campaign inexplicably (but, to be clear, thankfully) takes up almost an entire actual week.
This week, the sport has one game that serves as a clear-cut headliner, and while the remainder of the slate isn’t exactly loaded, we should still be in for a fun Saturday. We’re here to get you ready like we do every week, as of last week, when we started doing this.
The Game Of The Year (Of The Week): No. 3 Texas vs. No. 10 Michigan
The defending national champs did not look especially great last week, as it took them until the fourth quarter to put Fresno State away at home in new head coach Sherrone Moore’s debut. While the Wolverine defense was outstanding (and should be all season long), there are real questions about their ability to take care of business on the offensive side of the ball, especially through the air.
The good news is we’re going to learn a lot about Michigan right away, as Texas is coming to town in an increasingly rare non-conference matchup on a college campus between a pair of teams with national title aspirations. The Longhorns were incredibly impressive last week, as they shut out Colorado State, 52-0, behind a smothering defense and a workmanlike showing from Quinn Ewers.
Michigan is obviously going to need to find a way to move the ball consistently against a rock solid Texas defense — look for how they use backup QB Alex Orji as a way to find a spark in the running game — but the matchup I’m most excited for is between Wolverine corner Will Johnson (who is the best defensive player in the nation) and Ryan Wingo, the incredibly exciting true freshman receiver for the Longhorns who flashed in his collegiate debut. With respect to Colorado State, he’s about to go from playing the game on easy to playing the game on the hardest possible level, and it should be a blast to watch.
Lock Into This One: No. 23 Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse
Not exactly the most box office slate in the world this week, although there are a bunch of really solid games that should be pretty compelling throughout the afternoon. As such, I’m gonna throw a game involving a pair of teams that I generally find interesting this year. The Bees were incredibly impressive in a win over Florida State in Ireland to kick off the season, as they showed off some nastiness and physicality that should bode well for them this season. They followed that up by taking care of business against Georgia State, which is not always easy for teams that play immediately after coming back from Ireland, thanks in large part to a very effective ground attack.
Syracuse, meanwhile, hit the transfer portal hard under new head coach Fran Brown, and has brought in talent that should have them in bowl contention right away, even if it took them a bit to create some separation from Ohio. They have one of the best running backs in the ACC in LeQuint Allen, one of the best tight ends in the country in Oronde Gadsden, and a battle-tested QB in Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord. The thing that could end up deciding this game, though, is how another transfer — ex-Texas A&M edge rusher Fadil Diggs — is able to get after Tech quarterback Haynes King, who has started the season well.
Under-The-Radar Banger: UTSA vs. Texas State
There are a lot of nice games a little farther down the card this week, but let’s go with a matchup between two solid G5 programs in Texas. Both of these teams are capable of putting up plenty of points, and are in the process of breaking in new quarterbacks — the Roadrunners turned to former Colorado QB Owen McCown and the Bobcats are the latest stop for well-traveled signal caller Jordan McCloud, who was fantastic at James Madison last year. It’s very possible UTSA wins the American and Texas State wins the Sun Belt this year, so this one has all the makings of being an early season G5 banger.
Message Board Meltdown Game Of The Week: Appalachian State vs. No. 25 Clemson
Buddy, if Clemson doesn’t look good this week against App State, look out. There’s no shame in losing to Georgia, everyone that’s played the Dawgs in the regular season has done that for more than three years. However, the Clemson offense looked worse than expected, even factoring the opponent, and if Cade Klubnik doesn’t bounce back against an App State team that’s always frisky, the Clemson faithful are going to have some thoughts about his status as the starting QB and Dabo’s future. The Tigers are more than two touchdown favorites against the ‘Eers, and they could really use a comfortable win to keep the spotlight on Florida State’s failures and not end up right alongside the Noles. An honorable mention here goes to Colorado-Nebraska, but that’s less a message board meltdown situation and more a national TV meltdown situation given how every game involving the Buffs (who are 7.5-point road underdogs) gets discussed now.
Who Won The Heisman Last Week?: Cam Ward, QB, Miami (FL)
There are a few possible answers here, but Cam Ward’s performance in a big-time matchup in the Swamp puts him ahead of some of the other Heisman favorites who piled up stats against lesser opponents. Ward was 26-of-35 for 385 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, and aside from that early INT that came from forcing a ball back over the middle, it was about as good a quarterbacking performance as you’ll see. Ward was in full control of the offense and made throws we haven’t seen from a Miami QB in a long time, giving Canes fans reason to really believe they finally have it right at that position.
Best Bet: South Carolina-Kentucky UNDER 42.5
I stand by the Georgia State play last week, but sometimes you go 1-of-4 in the red zone for three points and lose by 2.5. That’s the magic of betting on college football. This week, there aren’t a lot of great games on the schedule, but we’re headed to Kentucky for a matchup of old SEC East foes in a game that should be a defense-first battle. South Carolina struggled to move the ball on Old Dominion and Kentucky wasn’t exactly a juggernaut on that side of the ball against Southern Miss. The real concern here is turnovers, but the game flow should be a lot of running the ball and playing the field position battle.
