Going to be on the road most of the day so getting this done early
1) Yesterday could not possibly have been much better for Mizzou fans. We'll break some of these down more in-depth, but Missouri won and all of the following teams lost: Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee. I mean, I guess if you really wanted to be greedy Illinois would have lost to UCONN, but the Illini managed to gut out a tough 31-23 win over what might be the worst team in FBS football so you'll have to settle for five out of six.
2) I debated where to start with the games I mentioned above, but so that I'm not viewed as taking joy in the misery of others, let's go with LSU/Texas. What a phenomenal football game. Man, that was fun to watch. Joe Burrow is the real deal. I wasn't sold, but 31/39 for 471 and 4 touchdowns. And LSU needed every damn bit of it because Sam Ehlinger was every bit as good going 31/37 for 401 and 4 scores. Every time I'd flip away to check on another game, I'd turn back and someone was either in the red zone or already kicking off. Truly just a really, really fun football game.
3) Now the misery, which may be thickest in Knoxville. The Vols lost a game they couldn't lose.
With about 20 seconds left, BYU was facing third and 11 from its own 15 yard line and didn't have a timeout. Tennessee led 16-13. Barring a crazy bounce on a Hail Mary like in Auburn/Georgia a few years ago, there's no way to lose this game. But then one of the Vols' DBs lost his man and got spun around on the sideline. The BYU QB made a perfect pass and Micah Simon picked up 64 yards. The Cougars hustled to the line, spiked the ball and kicked a game winning field goal. No truth the rumor Jeremy Pruitt was transported to the hospital for emergency coronary surgery right then. In OT, there really wasn't that much suspense what was going to happen. The Cougars pushed the Vols around. Literally.
At least they're making history though. It's Tennessee's first 0-2 start since 1988.
4) In part two of, "it couldn't happen to a better group" we visit Boulder, CO. The Big Red Horde took over Folsom Field, largely so they could tell you about what great fans they are and how they were back because Scott Frost is the Messiah. They were not the fans celebrating at the end.
Nebraska blew a 17-point halftime lead. Colorado scored 24 in the fourth quarter. The game ended with the Huskers' punter trying a field goal because I guess the kicker had been hurt, I'm not sure. Either way, the kick wasn't close and to the shock of AP top 25 voters, the Cornhuskers will not go undefeated. Mel Tucker did start his CU career 2-and-0 though.
5) Good news for Kansas fans: Les Miles is the head coach and everybody knows him. Bad news for Kansas fans: It is not 2011 and Lawrence is not Baton Rouge. Worse news: The players haven't changed much. The Jayhawks lost to Coastal Carolina 12-7. It's not what you'd call a great loss. The Chanticleers were 5-7 in the Sun Belt last year. But they did beat Georgia State a year ago, which beat Tennessee a week ago, which means Coastal might be able to finish 12th in the SEC. Anyway, Kansas lost and now has not started a season 2-0 since 2011 (!!!). The Jayhawks will not be favored to win another game. The best shot, honestly, might be when West Virginia comes to town on September 21. That should be the difference between 1-11 and 2-10. Shoutout to former Tiger Mike Bedosky, who's probably pretty tickled this morning. If memory serves, his son plays for Coastal Carolina. Carrying on a family tradition of rejoicing in the misery of the Jayhawks.
6) I feel like I keep kicking people when they are down. Therefore I will not go into detail on Arkansas' 31-17 loss to Ole Miss. The Razorbacks aren't great you guys.
7) I do need one more bit of misery though. Florida State is a bad football program. I don't know how much of that goes on Jimbo Fisher and how much goes on Willie Taggart, I just know it's true and I like it. The Noles blew a big lead and lost to Boise State in week one. Last night, they should have lost to Louisiana-Monroe in what appeared to be a mostly empty Doak Campbell Stadium. ULM missed an extra point that would have tied the game at 45 and sent it to a second overtime. College kickers, man. None of that was even the most embarrassing thing that happened in Tallahassee.
8) In a very ho-hum way, the best team in the country just kept rolling. Clemson won its 17th straight in a 24-10 suffocation of Texas A&M that wasn't really that close. The Tigers didn't cover or put up video game numbers, but they did everything they needed to do and were never threatened in the second half. Clemson is at Syracuse, which will not be ranked at kickoff, next week. Other than that, the toughest game is either North Carolina or South Carolina. Probably ought to just go ahead and give Clemson the No. 1 seed and let them sit out the next 12 weeks.
9) The ACC title game could actually be really fun...except Maryland is now in the Big Ten which is the realignment thing I will never get used to. The Terps hung 79 in week one, but it was only Howard, so you know, how much did it really mean? Well Mike Locksley's group put up 63 and humiliated Syracuse yesterday. They're going to be in the top 25 this week. I don't know how much damage they can do in the better half of the Big Ten, but I know nobody's really going to want to face them. Maryland's 142 points are the fourth most through the first two weeks of a season since 1936. Which was a long time ago.
10) Five games I'm going to watch next week other than (maybe instead of) Mizzou/SEMO:
Kansas State at Mississippi State, 11 am (no channel listed): I assume it will be on TV somewhere. The Wildcats are feeling pretty good about the way things have started under Chris Klieman. Are they actually good or are they about to come down to earth?
Alabama at South Carolina, 2:30 pm, CBS: I don't expect it to be a very good game. Ryan Hilinski did look good and the Cocks had 72 and 740 yards against Charleston Southern. Alabama is not Charleston Southern.
Iowa at Iowa State, 3:00 pm, ESPN: I actually have little interest in this game. Someone is going to win it 15-12. The fact that it's on here and that Game Day is going to Ames, tells you about how good next week's slate is (get your yard work and your honey-do's done next Saturday cause you ain't missing much)
Florida at Kentucky, 6:00 pm, ESPN: Are both these teams decent? Are both bad? Will we know after this game?
Buffalo at Liberty, 5:00 pm, ESPN+: So far Hugh Freeze has coached in a hospital bed and a dental chair. What's up next?
My goodness, college football is the greatest
1) Yesterday could not possibly have been much better for Mizzou fans. We'll break some of these down more in-depth, but Missouri won and all of the following teams lost: Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee. I mean, I guess if you really wanted to be greedy Illinois would have lost to UCONN, but the Illini managed to gut out a tough 31-23 win over what might be the worst team in FBS football so you'll have to settle for five out of six.
2) I debated where to start with the games I mentioned above, but so that I'm not viewed as taking joy in the misery of others, let's go with LSU/Texas. What a phenomenal football game. Man, that was fun to watch. Joe Burrow is the real deal. I wasn't sold, but 31/39 for 471 and 4 touchdowns. And LSU needed every damn bit of it because Sam Ehlinger was every bit as good going 31/37 for 401 and 4 scores. Every time I'd flip away to check on another game, I'd turn back and someone was either in the red zone or already kicking off. Truly just a really, really fun football game.
3) Now the misery, which may be thickest in Knoxville. The Vols lost a game they couldn't lose.
With about 20 seconds left, BYU was facing third and 11 from its own 15 yard line and didn't have a timeout. Tennessee led 16-13. Barring a crazy bounce on a Hail Mary like in Auburn/Georgia a few years ago, there's no way to lose this game. But then one of the Vols' DBs lost his man and got spun around on the sideline. The BYU QB made a perfect pass and Micah Simon picked up 64 yards. The Cougars hustled to the line, spiked the ball and kicked a game winning field goal. No truth the rumor Jeremy Pruitt was transported to the hospital for emergency coronary surgery right then. In OT, there really wasn't that much suspense what was going to happen. The Cougars pushed the Vols around. Literally.
At least they're making history though. It's Tennessee's first 0-2 start since 1988.
4) In part two of, "it couldn't happen to a better group" we visit Boulder, CO. The Big Red Horde took over Folsom Field, largely so they could tell you about what great fans they are and how they were back because Scott Frost is the Messiah. They were not the fans celebrating at the end.
Nebraska blew a 17-point halftime lead. Colorado scored 24 in the fourth quarter. The game ended with the Huskers' punter trying a field goal because I guess the kicker had been hurt, I'm not sure. Either way, the kick wasn't close and to the shock of AP top 25 voters, the Cornhuskers will not go undefeated. Mel Tucker did start his CU career 2-and-0 though.
5) Good news for Kansas fans: Les Miles is the head coach and everybody knows him. Bad news for Kansas fans: It is not 2011 and Lawrence is not Baton Rouge. Worse news: The players haven't changed much. The Jayhawks lost to Coastal Carolina 12-7. It's not what you'd call a great loss. The Chanticleers were 5-7 in the Sun Belt last year. But they did beat Georgia State a year ago, which beat Tennessee a week ago, which means Coastal might be able to finish 12th in the SEC. Anyway, Kansas lost and now has not started a season 2-0 since 2011 (!!!). The Jayhawks will not be favored to win another game. The best shot, honestly, might be when West Virginia comes to town on September 21. That should be the difference between 1-11 and 2-10. Shoutout to former Tiger Mike Bedosky, who's probably pretty tickled this morning. If memory serves, his son plays for Coastal Carolina. Carrying on a family tradition of rejoicing in the misery of the Jayhawks.
6) I feel like I keep kicking people when they are down. Therefore I will not go into detail on Arkansas' 31-17 loss to Ole Miss. The Razorbacks aren't great you guys.
7) I do need one more bit of misery though. Florida State is a bad football program. I don't know how much of that goes on Jimbo Fisher and how much goes on Willie Taggart, I just know it's true and I like it. The Noles blew a big lead and lost to Boise State in week one. Last night, they should have lost to Louisiana-Monroe in what appeared to be a mostly empty Doak Campbell Stadium. ULM missed an extra point that would have tied the game at 45 and sent it to a second overtime. College kickers, man. None of that was even the most embarrassing thing that happened in Tallahassee.
8) In a very ho-hum way, the best team in the country just kept rolling. Clemson won its 17th straight in a 24-10 suffocation of Texas A&M that wasn't really that close. The Tigers didn't cover or put up video game numbers, but they did everything they needed to do and were never threatened in the second half. Clemson is at Syracuse, which will not be ranked at kickoff, next week. Other than that, the toughest game is either North Carolina or South Carolina. Probably ought to just go ahead and give Clemson the No. 1 seed and let them sit out the next 12 weeks.
9) The ACC title game could actually be really fun...except Maryland is now in the Big Ten which is the realignment thing I will never get used to. The Terps hung 79 in week one, but it was only Howard, so you know, how much did it really mean? Well Mike Locksley's group put up 63 and humiliated Syracuse yesterday. They're going to be in the top 25 this week. I don't know how much damage they can do in the better half of the Big Ten, but I know nobody's really going to want to face them. Maryland's 142 points are the fourth most through the first two weeks of a season since 1936. Which was a long time ago.
10) Five games I'm going to watch next week other than (maybe instead of) Mizzou/SEMO:
Kansas State at Mississippi State, 11 am (no channel listed): I assume it will be on TV somewhere. The Wildcats are feeling pretty good about the way things have started under Chris Klieman. Are they actually good or are they about to come down to earth?
Alabama at South Carolina, 2:30 pm, CBS: I don't expect it to be a very good game. Ryan Hilinski did look good and the Cocks had 72 and 740 yards against Charleston Southern. Alabama is not Charleston Southern.
Iowa at Iowa State, 3:00 pm, ESPN: I actually have little interest in this game. Someone is going to win it 15-12. The fact that it's on here and that Game Day is going to Ames, tells you about how good next week's slate is (get your yard work and your honey-do's done next Saturday cause you ain't missing much)
Florida at Kentucky, 6:00 pm, ESPN: Are both these teams decent? Are both bad? Will we know after this game?
Buffalo at Liberty, 5:00 pm, ESPN+: So far Hugh Freeze has coached in a hospital bed and a dental chair. What's up next?
My goodness, college football is the greatest
