College Football Awards, Week 2 (2017) September 11, 2017

(Note:  All rankings are current AP [week 2] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES
Wish I were him: Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

Glad I’m not him: Urban Meyer, Ohio State

Lucky guy: Kirby Smart, Georgia

Poor guy: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Urban Meyer, Ohio State

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jeff Brohm, Purdue

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Dino Babers, Syracuse

Desperately seeking … anything:  Matt Rhule, Baylor

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 19 Kansas State (defeated Charlotte 55-7)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Kentucky (defeated Eastern Kentucky 27-16)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: San Jose State (lost to Texas 56-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Nicholls (lost to Texas A&M 24-14)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Duke (defeated Northwestern 41-17)

Dang, they’re good: USC

Dang, they’re bad:  Baylor

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Ohio State

Did the season start?  Texas A&M

Can the season end?  New Mexico

Can the season never end?  Oklahoma

GAMES

Play this again:  No. 15 Georgia 20, No. 24 Notre Dame 19

Play this again, too:  Utah 19, BYU 13

Never play this again: Utah State 51, Idaho State 13

Close call:  No. 3 Clemson 14, No. 13 Auburn 6

What? Middle Tennessee 30, Syracuse 23

Huh?  New Hampshire 22, Georgia Southern 12

Are you kidding me??  Eastern Michigan 16, Rutgers 13

Oh – my – God:  No. 5 Oklahoma 31, No. 2 Ohio State 16

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP (post-week 2, pre-week 3)
Ticket to die for:  No. 3 Clemson @ No. 14 Louisville

Also:  Texas @ No. 4 USC

Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five  matchup: Oregon @ Wyoming

Best non-Power Five matchup: Utah State @ Wake Forest

Upset alert: No. 10 Wisconsin @ BYU

Must win: No. 23 Tennessee @ No. 24 Florida

Offensive explosion: Tulsa @ Toledo

Defensive struggle: No. 12 LSU @ Mississippi State

Great game no one is talking about: Purdue @ Missouri

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Bobby Petrino of Louisville vs. Dabo Swinney of Clemson

Also:  Randy Edsall of UConn vs. Bronco Mendenhall of Virginia

Who’s bringing the body bags? Georgia State @ No. 4 Penn State

Why are they playing? Mercer @ No. 15 Auburn

Plenty of good seats remaining: North Carolina A&T @ Charlotte

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Morgan State @ Rutgers

Week 1 Take-aways:

This week leaves us with more questions than answers.  For one, Louisville had fewer penalties against North Carolina than they did against Purdue.  All well and good, but is that enough improvement at this rate to be ready for Clemson at home next week?  Regarding the TCU-Arkansas game, are the No. 23 Horned Frogs that good, or are the Razorbacks that mediocre?  The Auburn-Clemson game was a surprising defensive struggle.  What was the bigger surprise:  that Auburn’s defense held the Tigers to only two touchdowns, or that Auburn’s offense – supposedly a specialty under head coach Gus Malzahn – could only muster a measly six points?  Moreover, what does this portend for Auburn’s offense during the rest of the season?

The shocker of the week was Oklahoma’s upset over Ohio State in Columbus.  The question becomes, are the Sooners that good, or are the Buckeyes overrated?  Ohio State has plenty of NFL-potential bodies on both sides of the ball.  What accounts for their lackluster offense this game, and their defensive collapse in the 4^th quarter?  Actually, there is an answer.  The Buckeyes are currently experiencing an identity crisis on offense.  Until they get that cleared up, they’ll continue to fail to play up to their potential this season, and that will be a genuine shame.

Questions aside, let us take a glance at the Big XII Conference.  Simply put, they’re looking good right now.  The Sooners are rolling after their huge win over the Buckeyes.  Oklahoma State has two wins with impressive margins.  TCU embarrassed Arkansas on the road today.  Kansas State won convincingly, even though it was a body bag game.  West Virginia is playing quite strongly right now, though a body bag game against Delaware State next week will obviously be meaningless.  It all adds up to a conference that is playing well and giving the rest of college football cause for notice.  The ironic weak links are Baylor and Texas.  Concerning the Bears, it would only stand to reason that Matt Rhule has not forgotten how to coach.  The turmoil surrounding the player sexual assault scandals, the sudden firing of Art Briles, and the havoc wrought by Hurricane Harvey have all combined to take a serious toll on the program.  Baylor looks shell-shocked right now, and it will be interesting to see if Rhule, who brought Temple to respectability, can keep things afloat at a program with greater potential but higher expectations, too.

Speaking of Hurricane Harvey, that might also account for Texas A&M has not been playing up to their potential, as well as for Texas’ gigantic miscue against Maryland last week.  After all, many players for these two programs, as well as for Baylor, have come out of the Houston area, which is still reeling in the wake of the hurricane damage and the residual flooding damage.  The latter of which alone has for longer-lasting implications than the former.  Let us all pray for those who have been afflicted by that terrible storm, as well as for those who are being afflicted by Hurricane Irma in Florida.  As the floodwaters recede and the area rebuilds and moves forward in general, perhaps the morale of the aforementioned Texas teams shall improve, along with their performances.

Speaking of Hurricane Irma, that storm shall leave implications long into the season, given all the games that have already been postponed.  One notable example is No. 16 Miami vs. No. 10 Florida State.  That game would have been one of the best of the upcoming week.  Little doubt lingers that they’ll find a time to reschedule such a matchup that is A) a heated, in-state rivalry, and B) a game with conference standing implications.  If both teams keep playing to their potential, perhaps both will be ranked even MORE highly by the time they finally butt heads.  Let us stay tuned the rescheduling on Oct. 7!

One final note about an overlooked game for the upcoming week:  Ole Miss at Cal, which kicks off at 10:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time.  While both teams are currently unranked, it does not matter, for it’s always a treat to watch SEC vs. Pac-12 matchups!