College football is unpredictable and delightful, which is why we live for what happens on Saturdays. And even though the Week 2 slate didn’t look as enticing as last week’s on paper, it’s precisely why it gave us some of the most interesting results of the season so far, from a shocker in the Swamp to Army’s grind-it-out-at-all-costs win over Kansas State just seven days after losing to an FCS foe.
Each Sunday, I’ll publish my biggest takeaways from the college football weekend. I’ll highlight the most interesting storylines, track College Football Playoff contenders and specifically shout out individual and team performances that deserve the spotlight.
1. Florida has only itself to blame for its brutal loss to USF at home.
The Gators had a one-point lead over the Bulls with less than three minutes to play. They then went three-and-out and ran off a grand total of 10 seconds before having to punt. Then, Florida helped USF along with a pair of defensive penalties, including a boneheaded unsportsmanlike penalty and ejection when Gators defensive lineman Brendan Bett spit in the face mask of USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner. The Bulls quickly got themselves into position to kick the game-winning field goal, and that was that. It was an undeniably bad loss for the Gators and for head coach Billy Napier, whose seat just got red-hot once again.
2. USF has the inside track to the College Football Playoff. Yes, really.
It’s only Week 2, so this take may sound a little premature. But there are only so many opportunities for wins in nonconference play, and USF has made the absolute most of its first two games … with an upcoming matchup against Miami next week. The Bulls now have a dominant win over Boise State (the team picked to win the Mountain West and return to the CFP!) as well as a road win over an SEC team. That resume, by the way, is significantly better than what Boise State had in nonconference play a season ago. And those Broncos not only comfortably made the CFP – they earned a first-round bye! Obviously, USF would need to win the American to be in legitimate contention for the Group of 6 CFP bid. But having a head-to-head win over a team/league you would be compared to (in Boise State/the Mountain West) as well as the win over Florida in your back pocket certainly helps your case when it comes to being the selection committee’s highest-ranked Group of 6 champion. It’s an unbelievably impressive place to be for Alex Golesh’s crew.
Golesh, Aranda headline top coach performances
Joshua Perry explains why Baylor head coach Dave Aranda gets his “helmet sticker” of the week while Nicole Auerbach is giving her honor to South Florida head coach Alex Golesh.
3. Arch Manning is going to be OK.
I can’t imagine how difficult this week has been for the Texas quarterback. He didn’t ask for the excessive hype. But it’s here and it’s going to accompany Manning all season long. No other college football player will be as scrutinized as he will be. And he deserves credit for bouncing back from a tough game against Ohio State with a five-touchdown performance vs. San Jose State — which is exactly the kind of game Manning needed to have against an inferior opponent. It wasn’t all pretty, to be sure. It took Manning most of the first quarter to get going, and even when he threw touchdown passes they weren’t always right on target or with a tight spiral. I still have concerns about Manning’s arm angle and footwork, but this was just the first step. The goal is for Manning to be better a month from now and a month beyond that. And he’ll get more comfortable the more he plays, which will allow Steve Sarkisian to continue to open up this offense for his quarterback.
Arch bounces back with ‘huge improvement’ in WK 2
Nicole Auerbach and Joshua Perry analyze Arch Manning’s showing against San Jose State after struggling in a hostile environment against Ohio State the week prior.
4. Mike Gundy should have kept his mouth shut about Oregon’s spending habits.
I had a feeling that Ducks coach Dan Lanning might run it up on Oklahoma State after Gundy criticized Oregon’s NIL efforts — and said that the Ducks should only play teams with budgets similar to theirs in nonconference play. That’s a pretty ridiculous comment to make as a Power 4 sitting head coach, to another Power 4 sitting coach. It felt like Gundy was preemptively making excuses for losing to the No. 6 team in the country. And, unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. Everyone saw through it, including Lanning and his star quarterback who helped rack up 69 points and 631 total yards of offense to crush the Cowboys. After the 66-point win, Dante Moore said, “When you attack our head coach, it’s like you’re attacking my dad. You’re attacking a family member. … We were gonna keep the foot on the neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard.”
I’m guessing that wasn’t what Gundy was going for. But it is what he got.
5. Is it time to take Oklahoma football more seriously?
I said back in the preseason that I was really high on the Sooners and that quarterback John Mateer would be must-see TV. And we saw why on Saturday night when Oklahoma knocked off Michigan, 24-13, in Norman. Mateer accounted for all three Sooner touchdowns in the game, two on the ground and one through the air, while throwing for 270 yards and running for 74 more. He was the standout in a game that was incredibly physical and a game in which the Oklahoma rushing attack struggled for much of it. The flipside, of course, is that Michigan didn’t seem to trust its passing game with true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and a largely unproven receiving crops (without tight end Marlin Klein, who looked to be something of a safety valve for Underwood last week against New Mexico). That’s a credit to Brent Venables’ Oklahoma defense and what it means for that unit to be directly coached by the head man. Ultimately, this was a huge win for the Sooners and a statement to make in Venables’ fourth season. But we may not necessarily see a huge improvement in Oklahoma’s win-loss record because of how tough the Sooners’ SEC schedule will be — which is worth keeping in mind.
