Let’s dive into the week that was in college football and hit all the highlights on the SoBros Network’s College Football Roundup.
*I thought it would’ve been impossible for college football to top that historic Week 1, but thanks in large part to the Sun Belt, here we are with our jaws agape in Week 2. Marshall went into Notre Dame and shocked the Irish. Appalachian State went to Texas A&M and upset the Aggies a week after losing a track meet to North Carolina. And, Georgia Southern got Scott Frost fired at Nebraska. I think that means that the Sun Belt owns college football now. It belongs to them. This is where college football lives now. It’s unbelievable – they realigned and expanded this offseason to add more teams, and of the 14 teams the conference now fields, only two of them (Southern Miss and Georgia State) sit at 0-2. Six teams sit at 2-0, while the remaining eight are at 1-1. There’s some legitimate coaching talent in this conference. There’s some legitimate NFL talent in this conference. All hail the Sun Belt, folks – let’s get ’em an automatic New Years Six bid next!
*I have never seen a Nick Saban team play so undisciplined and sloppy in such a disastrous and destructive fashion. Alabama absolutely deserved to lose to Texas on Saturday, but thanks to the Bryce Young magic, they survived and advanced. So, what did we learn from that game? Is it that Texas is back for real this time? Is it that Alabama isn’t really the contender we thought they’d be? I don’t know about all of that, but I’m willing to say right now that we learned that the Georgia Bulldogs are clearly the best team in the country right now. If Alabama doesn’t sort their shit out, they’re going to get creamed by Georgia, assuming they get through Arkansas, Tennessee, etc..
“Don’t do that shit!” -Nick Saban, presumably referring to his defense throwing up the horns down gesture. pic.twitter.com/NiLM5osIoN
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) September 10, 2022
*We can make our “future Alabama analyst: Scott Frost” jokes all we want, but the fact is that that would actually make a ton of sense for an Alabama team that looks like it could use the help on offense however it can get it. I don’t regularly watch the Nebraska program closely, so I’m curious as to how exactly things went so sideways for Frost, who was once considered one of the greatest minds in the game, and one of its brightest up-and-comers. How do you flame out that bad? There’s going to be a killer 30 for 30 on this one day…
*The Big Ten East looks like it’s going to be a collision course between Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State yet again. Don’t get me wrong – I’m here for it. That’s going to be a hell of a division race to watch unfold this season. But, it does seem somewhat criminal to have all of these college football powerhouse in one division, when the Big Ten West is probably going to send Minnesota to the Big Ten Championship. I’m just saying, folks.
*I still have some concerns about that Clemson Tigers offense. 35 points on Furman? Furman’s quarterback, Tyler Huff, was the leading passer in the game? Clemson was favored by 45.5 in this game! I’m curious to see how the ACC plays out because Clemson could stumble into an undefeated season because of its defense. I’m still not sure of what to make of Miami, NC State, and Wake Forest, but there may not be too many obstacles in the way of a playoff spot for the Tigers. Notre Dame doesn’t look like what we thought they would. This team has National Championship aspirations, but I’m not sure it’s a National Championship team right now.
*The Tennessee Volunteers showed some gumption in going to Pittsburgh and outlasting the Panthers in one of the most entertaining games of the weekend. If you’re a Vols fan, you have my express written permission to start getting hopeful. They have Akron this weekend before a massive showdown with Florida the following week, and a trip to Baton Rouge to follow that. I don’t think 5-0 is off the table at all, and if they get there, and if Alabama continues to play the way it did against Texas, man…..that’s going to set up an all-timer for the Third Saturday in October.
*The Kentucky Wildcats did exactly as I’d expect the Kentucky Wildcats to do. They tried to pin Anthony Richardson in the pocket and make him throw the ball to beat them and it worked. Richardson did throw the ball, but he threw it to the Wildcats defense for a pick-six that was ultimately the difference in the game. Now, we can kind of cool it with the Richardson hype after one game. I still like the way this Kentucky team is constructed and the way it’s coached. This squad has a legit chance at a New Years Six bowl.
*Good for the Washington State Cougars, and good for Nakia Watson! The Cougs out-Wisconsin-ed Wisconsin and won with a punishing run game and stout run defense. Jake Dickert has taken that tough brand of football to the Pac-12 and is finding success with it. I don’t know how far Washington State will go in this conference, but this should absolutely be a bowl team in 2022.
*The Group of Five doesn’t have a clear contender right now, and they don’t even have a single team in the top 25 of the AP Poll, so the Houston Cougars are far from eliminated from New Years Six contention. But, it does look like any miracle run at the College Football Playoff, a la Cincinnati a season ago, has been squashed in Week 2.
*If you weren’t already bought in on BYU, now’s the time to buy in. And, here’s this week’s meme of the week:
EMBEd
My Current Bowl Projections
- Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Clemson
- Peach Bowl: Georgia vs. Michigan
- National Championship: Georgia vs. Ohio State
- Rose Bowl: Michigan State vs. USC
- Orange Bowl: NC State vs. Arkansas
- Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Oklahoma
- Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Marshall
If you haven’t already, be sure to go subscribe to the College Football Roundup Podcast, on which Steven McCash and myself break down all the action from the college football world and look ahead to the week to come.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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