College Football Week 2 Highlights

Here is everything you need to know about week 2 in college football.  Week one certainly lived up to expectations as many games came down to the wire.  I expect more of the same for week 2.

The big question as it has been for many years now, is Texas Back?  The Longhorns will play Alabama for the first time since meeting in the 2010 National Championship game. This will be their first regular season matchup since 1922, a century later. Texas is 7-1-1 (.833) all-time against Alabama, the best winning percentage among teams that have played the Tide at least five times.  Alabama is favored by 20.

This is going to be one of the best games of the day in my opinion.  The Cougars as of this post are actually a 3 point favorite in Provo.  These future Big 12 rivals get together for the 2nd time in as many seasons after Baylor won 38-24 a year ago in Waco. The Bears’ QB that day was Gerry Bohanon, whom the Cougars defeated Saturday night at South Florida.  BYU takes another swing at Baylor with Blake Shapen running the Bears’ offense. The sophomore completed 85% of his passes and threw for a pair of scores in Baylor’s season-opening 69-10 win over Albany.

The bad news for Kentucky?  The Wildcats have lost 37 of 40 meetings against the Gators over the last 40 seasons.  The good news for Kentucky?  Head coach Mark Stoops is responsible for the only 2 wins over Florida in the last 35 seasons!  One of those was UK's first home win over Florida since 1986.  The other was the Cats first win in Gainesville (2018) since 1979. Florida QB Anthony Richardson came alive in Gainesville to lead the Gators to an upset over 7th-ranked Utah, their 2nd season-opening win over an AP Top 10 team.  Richardson rushed for 3 TD with 58 yards on scrambles, the most by anyone against Utah since Marcus Mariota in 2014. You can catch this game Saturday night right here on ESPN Southwest Florida.

These 2 schools have at least 2 things in common – a former head coach (Johnny Majors) and transfer QBs.  The jury
is still out for Kedon Slovis at Pitt, but 300 pass yards, 0 interceptions and a win over rival West Virginia mark a great start.  Hendon Hooker hasn’t been spectacular at Tennessee, but the Virginia Tech transfer has been just what the Vols needed. Hooker posted threw 31 Pass TD against just 3 Int a year ago.  Over the last 20 seasons, only Tua Tagovailoa's 2019 season (33TD/3Int) yielded a better TD/Int ratio among SEC QB's(min. 25 TD).  One area of worry for the Vols?  Their pass rush.  Tennessee failed to register a sack against Ball State.  The last time an SEC team failed to sac a MAC team?  That was Tennessee against Ohio in 2016.

College football week 2

The Real Top 25 College Football Rankings are here!  What an exciting week one it was for college football.  I don't trust AP voters and certainly not Coaches Poll voters.  The people voting in both of those polls either don't watch enough college football, vote against other teams on purpose due to regionalisms or simply have their respective sports information directors or other minions vote for them.

I don't do that.  I watched a lot and I mean a lot of college football this entire holiday weekend and it certainly lived up to expectations.  My rankings are not necessarily based on style points.  I take into consideration previous rankings, strength of opponent, home, away or neutral site victories and heart.

You may not always agree with my rankings, certainly they won't be absurd like Craig's NFL pre-season rankings where he had the Chicago Bears ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  No.  I will be as fair and impartial as possible while basing all my rankings on the previous criteria.

I will be posting my Top 25 College Football Rankings every Monday.  They will be out before noon time which is when the AP and coaches poll usually come out.  I am posting this on Tuesday due to the long holiday weekend.

And just for the record, my pre-season college football playoff final four was:

I have Alabama beating Miami in one semi-final game and Georgia beating Ohio State in the other.  My championship game has Alabama beating Georgia in the final.  This obviously is subject to change should these teams stumble at some point along the way.

This poll is for you, the tremendous fans of the Shemon and Sheppard Show.  I hope you enjoy it.

Nice backyard brawl win.  Got a tad lucky late though as West Virginia blew it.

Comfortable win over FCS opponent VMI.  I really struggled with keeping this team in the top 25 at all since I didn't think they belonged there in the first place.  However, I do like their fight song.

The kick is blocked!  The kick is blocked!  Welcome back to the Real Top 25 Seminoles! Well deserved in a tough environment.  Mike Norvell, "phew", Noles nearly blew a two TD lead late in the game.

This was my "can't lose lock of the week" Friday on the Shemon and Sheppard Show.  After a 2 and a half hour weather delay the Cougars jumped out to a 38-0 lead as a 12 point favorite and coasted from there on the road against South Florida.  Baylor and Oregon are up next for this Cougar team.  They win both of those, look out.

The Rebels beat Troy 28-10. TCU transfer RB Zach Evans rushed for 134 yards in the win.

Florida won 29-26 over No. 7 Utah, marking the 2nd time program history the Gators won its season-opening game over an AP Top-10 team (1969 vs No. 7 Houston).  The Gators secured the victory on an interception in the red zone.  The Billy Napier era in Gainesville is off to a great start!

Are you kidding me?  Defending national champion Georgia faced little resistance against 11th-ranked Oregon in the season opener from Atlanta, winning 49-3. The win is Georgia’s largest win ever over an AP-ranked opponent.  I debated even keeping Oregon in the top 25 after that pathetic performance.  Lucky for the Ducks I dropped them only 8 spots.  Pathetic.

Took a bit but eventually the Wildcats routed Miami of Ohio 37-13.  Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops' 60th victory tied him with Paul "Bear" Bryant as the Wildcats' winningest coach after 10 seasons with the program. 

The Badgers blanked Illinois State 38-0.  They host Washington State next week.

The Razorbacks held off Cincinnati at home with a 31-24 win. This is just the 2nd time in 11 tries that Arkansas opens its season with a win vs an AP-ranked opponent. The last time it happened was in 1974 vs USC.

Spartans with a comfortable win at home against the Western Michigan Bronco's.  They will continue their MAC attack on Saturday when they host Akron.

The Wolfpack won 21-20 over East Carolina. Owen Daffer missed an extra point in the 4th quarter as well as a potential game-winning field goal with 0:05 remaining.

The Trojans sautéed and simmered Rice.  rolled in Lincoln Riley’s debut, winning 66-14 over Rice. The 66 points are the most in a season opener for the Trojans since 1929.

Did you say Utes?  An overhyped Utah team goes into the swamp and loses.  The Gators secured the victory on an interception in the red zone. It marked just the 2nd time in the past 10 seasons that a Top-10 team trailing by one score in the final minute of regulation committed a red-zone turnover. Back in 2014, No. 5 Notre Dame was down 4 against No. 2 Florida State and driving, when Everett Golson threw an interception with 6 seconds remaining in regulation.

Don't ever underestimate the MAC Mike Gundy!  You are a man, but  you didn't cover vs Central Michigan.

The Bears won 69-10 over Albany, its most points in a game since dropping 70 vs Rice in 2015

In Mario Cristobal’s debut the Canes destroyed Bethune Cookman 70-13. The 70 points are tied for Miami’s most ever in a season-opener.  Besides giving up an early 3rd and 23, the Canes defense played very well.  Wildcats QB Jalon Jones is the real deal though.  Why the hell is he not playing at an FBS school?  How about that crowd at Hard Rock also.  Seriously for an FCS opponent it was bigger than most of the crowds all of last season.  Best is yet to come from the CFP bound Canes!

The Brent Venables era started off on a good note for Sooners in a 45-13 win over UTEP.  It’s the Sooners’ 6th straight season-opening win.

The Irish played well for a 17.5 point underdog.  However, in the second half  the Buckeyes allowed 0 points and just 72 total yards in the final 2 quarters in a 21-10 win.  I thought the Irish were way over ranked to start the season but I will show them respect and only drop them to #7.  You are welcome ND fans.  lol

The Aggies shutout Sam Houston 31-0 in a game that was delayed 2 hours and 54 minutes due to weather.
It’s the Aggies’ 2nd shutout ever under Jimbo Fisher.

Blah Blah Blah Georgia Tech is one of the worst teams in the country.  Blah Blah Blah

The Wolverines had no problem in its opener – beating Colorado State 51-7. The Wolverines had no issue losing Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, as they recorded 7 sacks – tied for the 3rd-most under Jim Harbaugh.

Ohio State won 21-10 over Notre Dame behind a strong defensive performance, especially in the 2nd half. The Buckeyes allowed 0 points and just 72 total yards in the final 2 quarters. They have now won 23 straight season openers (including vacated wins), the 3rd-longest streak in the AP Poll Era (since 1936).  Buckeyes were a big 17.5 point favorite and didn't cover.  You drop down one spot in "The Real" Top 25 Poll.

The defending national champs did not disappoint.  The Bulldogs faced little resistance against 11th-ranked Oregon in the season opener from Atlanta, winning 49-3. The win is Georgia’s largest win ever over an AP-ranked opponent.  Georgia QB Stetson Bennett threw for a career-high 368 passing yards and became the first Georgia player over the last 25 years to record an 80% completion percentage in a game.  I am the only one on the Shemon and Sheppard Show that believes in Stetson Bennett.

Alabama rolled 55-0 over Utah State behind 5 passing touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown from Bryce Young. He became the first player in Alabama history with 5 passing touchdowns and 100 rushing yards in a game. His 5 passing touchdowns are also the most in a season opener in Alabama history.