Week 2 What Are We Learning

Quick ones locally...

Michigan State pass defense a giant concern.

MSU QB1 Chiles protecting the ball better.

Michigan OL struggled both games run blocking. Take away 3 Haynes long runs (75,59 and 56) and they are at around 3 ypc.

Michigan injuries are piling up.

Mateer is exactly what I thought he'd be at OU. He's running a bit more than I thought, so far.

Mateer will win the Sooners a game they shouldn't and also vice versa with his mentality. What a warrior though. He's a different kinda Baker in that regard.

SMU and Baylor is a perfect example of not giving up.

Clemson hangover. I still cannot believe that ML was less than 200 and the ats was -2.5 with under 3:00 left in the first half and the score 16-3. Crazy! I didn't bet enough there, but something felt wrong.

Navy defense wasn't good despite the 2h shut out.

Valiant effort by Kansas. They are moving in the right direction @Teapot9 .

Shout out Mo State @cubsker

Speaking of Cubsker, Nebraska improved week #1 to week #2. September 20th is their chance at a statement win (in at least, name).

Syracuse players rewarded with sprints? WTF.

USC and Washington will score, but also give up some points. SMU and Baylor fit that bill too.

Penn State schedule is brutal, as we've pointed out. I feel like they are going through the motions with nothing to get excited about till OSU.

USF, wow. What a start. I don't think Boise will be a landmark win at the end of the year, but bottom line is they won!
 
B.A.R. said:
Quick ones locally...

Michigan State pass defense a giant concern.

MSU QB1 Chiles protecting the ball better.

Michigan OL struggled both games run blocking. Take away 3 Haynes long runs (75,59 and 56) and they are at around 3 ypc.

Michigan injuries are piling up.

Mateer is exactly what I thought he'd be at OU. He's running a bit more than I thought, so far.

Mateer will win the Sooners a game they shouldn't and also vice versa with his mentality. What a warrior though. He's a different kinda Baker in that regard.

SMU and Baylor is a perfect example of not giving up.

Clemson hangover. I still cannot believe that ML was less than 200 and the ats was -2.5 with under 3:00 left in the first half and the score 16-3. Crazy! I didn't bet enough there, but something felt wrong.

Navy defense wasn't good despite the 2h shut out.

Valiant effort by Kansas. They are moving in the right direction @Teapot9 .

Shout out Mo State @cubsker

Speaking of Cubsker, Nebraska improved week #1 to week #2. September 20th is their chance at a statement win (in at least, name).

Syracuse players rewarded with sprints? WTF.

USC and Washington will score, but also give up some points. SMU and Baylor fit that bill too.

Penn State schedule is brutal, as we've pointed out. I feel like they are going through the motions with nothing to get excited about till OSU.

USF, wow. What a start. I don't think Boise will be a landmark win at the end of the year, but bottom line is they won!
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Here's a big one, and I want to look at the box and break it down ..

Michigan State was HORRIBLE in 3rd quarters last year. Tonight was quite the flip, on both ends.
 
Nebraska won by 68. They also were stuffed on 4th and goal from the 1 and fumbled on the 1. Defense and special teams didn't score. Thats how dominant the offense was. Akron really, really bad.
 
A team can hold the ball for 27 minutes in the 2H. Army did that yesterday. There's lopsided TOP. And there's that. Never heard of such a thing.

After the Hawaii gameI knew I'd be fading Stanford from that point on. That will continue after the ineptness against BYU. Just a bad team devoid of any talent including its starting QB.

Gundy should keep NIL thoughts to himself.

Napier should skip September altogether.

Adding attendance of a BYU night game to my list. It's never ending there - at any game, every time the cameras pan to the crowd, it's craziness, happiness, passion and much more. One of the best environments in the sport - all without (theoretically) an ounce of alcohol involved. Admirable yet not relatable to me. I'm going to experience it at some point.

I love Manning and will die on a hill with him. But there are many CFB QBs who look better than him right now. If you watched the entire San Jose game yesterday, and not just the highlights, you'd agree. Horns, in general, are an enigma. Last year's team would beat this one handily. Season is still young but I'm leery on how it's going to play out.
 
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NIL and the portal are having the desired effects. Parity everywhere. Very few opportunities for any team to coast through a game anymore.

I know it was against ULM, but I saw what I wanted to see from Alabama last night. We'll need to see it on a consistent basis, but if they can play fast and loose, I think they'll still have something to say about how the 2026 season gets written.

I echo Frank's thoughts on Texas. I didn't watch it too closely, but my Longhorn BIL did and he said pretty much the same thing. He may be a little pessimistic, but he thinks Texas is a 9-3 team right now.

I'm certainly not going to criticize a team for struggling against USF in September after the last 2 years, but c'mon Napier, you have to win that game. Total meltdown in the last half of the 4th quarter. The spitting thing is one thing, but Florida had an opportunity to run the clock out and end the game with a first down. Instead they throw 2 incomplete passes and don't even make USF burn all of their TO's. Maybe it makes no difference, but it's never a bad idea to give a team less time to drive the field for a GW FG

Still hard to judge things because who knows how good/bad these teams really are. Glad that we are getting into some conference schedules next week. Should be a pretty good week down south
 
Just very quick off the top of my head:

I hope people value Duke based on the final score of that game yesterday for a few weeks. I think they are still a viable contender in the ACC.

Mizzou had a bunch of shit go haywire early but still outgained a good Kansas team by 300+.

Frank's comments above on Texas, I wholeheartedly agree with.

All this talk about Gronowski at Iowa appears to be nonsense. I was willing to give him another week, but it was pretty obvious after that last drive.

Rich Rod got some work to do. Only 10 points and 250 yards against an Ohio defense that was just trying to be somewhat competitive this year.

Hopefully more later.
 
Spot on regarding Duke. Salty team. I think it lacks a level of size and depth but Illinois is a very physical bunch.

Same with Gronowski. That last drive was pathetic. If your going to play QB like that may as well wear #47. Wait, that would be an insult to the BYU QB,
 
gps_3 said:
NIL and the portal are having the desired effects. Parity everywhere. Very few opportunities for any team to coast through a game anymore.
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Just wanted to comment on the 'desired effects' part. Agree it is having an effect...but nobody desired for that to be the case did they and if so who? Everything resulted from lawsuits against the NCAA and supposed, or now confirmed, unlawful restrictions on players eligibility and compensation potential. There wasn't any kind of scheme where individuals, teams, leagues or media networks wanted more parity and therefore they created the transfer portal and NIL systems - it was forced upon them by legal judgements not for competitive interest to create parity. Which, not saying you are, but that also makes it harder to blame anyone or anything - or the opposite, applaud those that have brought end result.

The consequences of NIL and transfer portal were not desired by anyone beyond the individuals who are benefiting with expanded eligibility and compensation opportunities. There are other results, but they weren't planned out as a driving factor.

You probably did not mean it to be as literal as I took it and that is me how I take things.
 
s--k said:
Just wanted to comment on the 'desired effects' part. Agree it is having an effect...but nobody desired for that to be the case did they and if so who? Everything resulted from lawsuits against the NCAA and supposed, or now confirmed, unlawful restrictions on players eligibility and compensation potential. There wasn't any kind of scheme where individuals, teams, leagues or media networks wanted more parity and therefore they created the transfer portal and NIL systems - it was forced upon them by legal judgements not for competitive interest to create parity. Which, not saying you are, but that also makes it harder to blame anyone or anything - or the opposite, applaud those that have brought end result.

The consequences of NIL and transfer portal were not desired by anyone beyond the individuals who are benefiting with expanded eligibility and compensation opportunities. There are other results, but they weren't planned out as a driving factor.

You probably did not mean it to be as literal as I took it and that is me how I take things.
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That's fair enough, but I think there were definitely those who have been pushing for parity. I agree that the NIL and portal stuff was a Pandora's box that anyone with a brain could see would be a runaway train, but the NCAA decided to try to wish it away and now we need federal legislation to put guard rails up.
 
As well as LSU’s OL held up against Clemson they were equally as bad or worse against La Tech. They lost C Moore on the first or second play of the game and that probably made a big difference. Tech plays a 3-3-5 and constantly had unblocked guys making plays and at other times just flat out beat the LSU OL in front of them.

Tech played three deep almost exclusively and forced LSU to execute the short game and run the ball which they weren’t able to do consistently. They probably should have gone tempo to get into a rhythm but never did, it looked like both teams wanted to get the game over with as quickly as possible.

Potential significant injuries to Moore and TE Green something to keep an eye on.
 
Was at the Carolina game and while I admit it is early, our offensive play calling by Kitchens is a little concerning, especially in short yardage situations. Defense played better yesterday, but reality is Charlotte is horrible and will be on my fade list moving forward as I knew they wouldn't be able to score much given they only put up 11 against a mediocre at best App team, but man they are a mess. I don't bet against my Heels, so all I will say is if you see "pass", like I did in Week 1, that is your clue.
 
Michigan's biggest weakness area is wide receivers. Oklahoma took advantage of that and rushed 7 often, crowded line of scrimage. Moore better develop plays to combat that because that type of defense will continue week to week.

If you woulda asked me to pick a winner at halftime of Duke/ ILL it would have been Duke, MTSU/Wisc would have been MTSU.
My first two plays this morning for wk3 were Duke and Bama.
 
Utah has played nobody but their offense is really fun to watch. True frosh, Byrd Ficklin out of OK has passed Wilson already as the backup and he looked pretty damn good for a skinny 18 year old.

Utah will be in the mix for the Big 12 title. Jason Beck appears to be a very good play caller.
 
football pants are getting shorter every week. Not every player on ever team does it, but the ones who do are now about 3 inches above the knee. Some of them will be wearing shorts with thigh pads by the end of the season.

If Oklahoma had stayed in the Big 12 everyone would be touting Oklahoma as a sure thing for the playoffs and a shot at the national title. But in the SEC every conference team remaining on their schedule is in the top 25 this week

I would have said it was impossible for any team to be so good on defense on so helpless on offense every single year as Iowa is and has been, but I was wrong. It has to be the coaching staff. No team can be this consistently bad on offense unless the staff only cares about defense. But their defense remains so good that Iowa +3x remains one of the best bets in football

Sark, at Texas is not far behind Ferentz when it comes to being conservative. It seemed like every playoff game last year Texas would go into a shell the instant they got a lead, but the instant they fell behind he would unleash the offense.

Gundy should have resigned at Oklahoma State at the same time Saban did. It's very hard to win at Oklahoma and almost no coach in their history every did, but Gundy won four games his first year, then went to bowl games for 18 straight years. He did it by recruiting overlooked players, correctly evaluating their potential, and developing them over five years. He hates everything about the portal and NIL, refused to take players in the portal, and thought his players would all stay and remain loyal. He was wrong. Last year he was a pre-season favorite to win the conference, but lost every conference game and finished dead last, and got worse and worse as the season wore on. He has lost his last two games by 116-3. He's a good coach, but can't stand to deal with the portal and NIL

Cal is under the radar, but has one of the best young Qbs in the country. Their starting QB left and Ott, one of the best RBs in the country, left for Oklahoma, they are in a ridiculous situation playing in the ACC, and the student body cares nothing about football, but Wilcox always has them competitive
 
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TahoeLegend said:
football pants are getting shorter every week. Not every player on ever team does it, but the ones who do are now about 3 inches above the knee. Some of them will be wearing shorts with thigh pads by the end of the season.

If Oklahoma had stayed in the Big 12 everyone would be touting Oklahoma as a sure thing for the playoffs and a shot at the national title. But in the SEC every conference team remaining on their schedule is in the top 25 this week

I would have said it was impossible for any team to be so good on defense on so helpless on offense every single year as Iowa is and has been, but I was wrong. It has to be the coaching staff. No team can be this consistently bad on offense unless the staff only cares about defense. But their defense remains so good that Iowa +3x remains one of the best bets in football

Sark, at Texas is not far behind Ferentz when it comes to being conservative. It seemed like every playoff game last year Texas would go into a shell the instant they got a lead, but the instant they fell behind he would unleash the offense.

Gundy should have resigned at Oklahoma State at the same time Saban did. It's very hard to win at Oklahoma and almost no coach in their history every did, but Gundy won four games his first year, then went to bowl games for 18 straight years. He did it by recruiting overlooked players, correctly evaluating their potential, and developing them over five years. He hates everything about the portal and NIL, refused to take players in the portal, and thought his players would all stay and remain loyal. He was wrong. Last year he was a pre-season favorite to win the conference, but lost every conference game and finished dead last, and got worse and worse as the season wore on. He has lost his last two games by 116-3. He's a good coach, but can't stand to deal with the portal and NIL

Cal is under the radar, but has one of the best young Qbs in the country. Their starting QB left and Ott, one of the best RBs in the country, left for Oklahoma, they are in a ridiculous situation playing and the ACC, and the student body cares nothing about football, but Wilcox always has them competitive
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Good stuff.

Oklahoma has been a potential playoff team since the Mateer signing, in my book.

Schedule is tough but they are in at 9-3 methinks.
 
gps_3 said:
NIL and the portal are having the desired effects. Parity everywhere. Very few opportunities for any team to coast through a game anymore.

I know it was against ULM, but I saw what I wanted to see from Alabama last night. We'll need to see it on a consistent basis, but if they can play fast and loose, I think they'll still have something to say about how the 2026 season gets written.

I echo Frank's thoughts on Texas. I didn't watch it too closely, but my Longhorn BIL did and he said pretty much the same thing. He may be a little pessimistic, but he thinks Texas is a 9-3 team right now.

I'm certainly not going to criticize a team for struggling against USF in September after the last 2 years, but c'mon Napier, you have to win that game. Total meltdown in the last half of the 4th quarter. The spitting thing is one thing, but Florida had an opportunity to run the clock out and end the game with a first down. Instead they throw 2 incomplete passes and don't even make USF burn all of their TO's. Maybe it makes no difference, but it's never a bad idea to give a team less time to drive the field for a GW FG

Still hard to judge things because who knows how good/bad these teams really are. Glad that we are getting into some conference schedules next week. Should be a pretty good week down south
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Bama and the rest of the south had their pick of the litter for decades. Welcome to B1G money.
 
Two Utes said:
Utah has played nobody but their offense is really fun to watch. True frosh, Byrd Ficklin out of OK has passed Wilson already as the backup and he looked pretty damn good for a skinny 18 year old.

Utah will be in the mix for the Big 12 title. Jason Beck appears to be a very good play caller.
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Some good teams in that conference wouldn't be surpised by 3-4 teams to be in it at the end.
 
HUNT said:
Bama and the rest of the south had their pick of the litter for decades. Welcome to B1G money.
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According to the recruiting rankings, the SEC still does. Except for traditional B1G teams Oregon and USC. B1G programs, and I'll throw Notre Dame in there too, have been just as dirty for decades. Nobody has clean hands here.
 
gps_3 said:
According to the recruiting rankings, the SEC still does. Except for traditional B1G teams Oregon and USC. B1G programs, and I'll throw Notre Dame in there too, have been just as dirty for decades. Nobody has clean hands here.
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Michigan has a billionaire and Underwood stayed home with a pay raise. One off.
Don’t worry your little SEC head, it’s been a level playing field. And EVERYONE cheats I don’t wanna hear it.
 
TO margin -5 Duke 134th
TO margin +6 Tulane 2nd
Tulane plans on playing 2 QBs. Brendan Sullivan is definitely going to get snaps. That shows you what Sumrall thinks of Sullivan, remember he found the Blue Devil’s now QB in a trash heap and started him outta camp.
Tulane has been real efficient in the RZ
Tulane’s 4-2-5 D should be pretty fired up to play Mensah.
 
twinkie13 said:
TO margin -5 Duke 134th
TO margin +6 Tulane 2nd
Tulane plans on playing 2 QBs. Brendan Sullivan is definitely going to get snaps. That shows you what Sumrall thinks of Sullivan, remember he found the Blue Devil’s now QB in a trash heap and started him outta camp.
Tulane has been real efficient in the RZ
Tulane’s 4-2-5 D should be pretty fired up to play Mensah.
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Brendan Sullivan has always been complete dogshit
 
As for the ESPN+ offering of Tulane - South Alabama, read some of the twitter comments and the serious ones I suspect have it right. Many of the espn+ games are not espn productions. I think people who are used to catching a Tulane or South Alabama game on ESPNU or ESPN2 were surprised to see what they were seeing. But most of the time ESPN is just making a local broadcast of the game available nationally on their platform. If people were complaining about what they saw in that game, they should watch a game on FloSports.
 
s--k said:
As for the ESPN+ offering of Tulane - South Alabama, read some of the twitter comments and the serious ones I suspect have it right. Many of the espn+ games are not espn productions. I think people who are used to catching a Tulane or South Alabama game on ESPNU or ESPN2 were surprised to see what they were seeing. But most of the time ESPN is just making a local broadcast of the game available nationally on their platform. If people were complaining about what they saw in that game, they should watch a game on FloSports.
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This times 1000. You can criticize espn for plenty of things but these were local broadcast issues not espn's.
 
s--k said:
As for the ESPN+ offering of Tulane - South Alabama, read some of the twitter comments and the serious ones I suspect have it right. Many of the espn+ games are not espn productions. I think people who are used to catching a Tulane or South Alabama game on ESPNU or ESPN2 were surprised to see what they were seeing. But most of the time ESPN is just making a local broadcast of the game available nationally on their platform. If people were complaining about what they saw in that game, they should watch a game on FloSports.
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Yes and I'm already tired of getting regional political ads. Think all games outside of the power 4 are just the home team's local broadcast so there will be a lot of announcers who have money on the games lol
 
I kind of like the local guys doing games. They are corny and cheesy and sometimes funny (whether they want to be or not). I don't need well spoken sharp dressed guys trying to make everyone think they are the smartest guy in the room. Give me a guy who covers the team every week who sells insurance Monday-Friday instead of the million dollar announcers. It's college football, not the pros, at least it is supposed to be ;) And the best thing about these broadcasts, is they talk about the actual game and the actual players, not a different game and different players like all the other main network announcers do in their cross-promotions.
 
s--k said:
I kind of like the local guys doing games. They are corny and cheesy and sometimes funny (whether they want to be or not). I don't need well spoken sharp dressed guys trying to make everyone think they are the smartest guy in the room. Give me a guy who covers the team every week who sells insurance Monday-Friday instead of the million dollar announcers. It's college football, not the pros, at least it is supposed to be ;) And the best thing about these broadcasts, is they talk about the actual game and the actual players, not a different game and different players like all the other main network announcers do in their cross-promotions.
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Agreed!
 
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