College Football Awards, Week 2 (2024) September 9, 2024

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Glad I’m not him: Sherrone Moore, Michigan

Lucky guy: Brent Venables, Oklahoma

Poor guy: Dana Holgorsen, Houston

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Hugh Freeze, Auburn

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Bret Bielema, Illinois

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Desperately seeking … anything:  Kenni Burns, Kent State

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Ole Miss (defeated Middle Tennessee 52-3)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Penn State (defeated Bowling Green 34-27)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Western Michigan (lost to No. 2 Ohio State 56-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Northern Illinois (defeated No. 5 Notre Dame 16-14)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Texas (defeated No. 10 Michigan 31-12)  

Dang, they’re good: Texas
Dang, they’re bad:  Kent State

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Georgia Tech

Did the season start?  Notre Dame
Can the season end?  Akron

Can the season never end? Tennessee

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 9 Oregon 37, Boise State 34

Play this again, too: BYU 18, SMU 15

Never play this again: Indiana 77, Western Illinois 3

What?  Iowa State 20, No. 21 Iowa 19

Huh?  Syracuse 31, No. 23 Georgia Tech 28

Double-Huh?  Illinois 23, No. 19 Kansas 17

Are you kidding me??  Cal 21, Auburn 14

Oh – my – God:  Northern Illinois 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 3)
Best game of the week:  No. 20 Arizona @ No. 14 Kansas State

Keep an eye on this one:  No. 24 Boston College @ No. 6 Missouri

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: San Diego State vs. Cal

Best non-Power Four matchup: New Mexico State @ Fresno State

Upset alert: No. 18 Notre Dame @ Purdue

Must win: No. 16 LSU @ South Carolina

Offensive explosion: Washington State @ Washington

Defensive struggle: Texas A&M @ Florida

Great game no one is talking about: UCF @ TCU

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Kalen DeBoer of Alabama vs Luke Fickell of Wisconsin

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Kent State @ No. 16 Tennessee

Why are they playing? UTSA @ No. 3 Texas

Plenty of good seats remaining: Bethune-Cookman @ Western Michigan

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Ball State @ No. 12 Miami, FL

Week 2 Thoughts:

The second week is in the books, and already, new information has given us fuel for reevaluating.  For some of us, that reevaluation comes in the form of confirmation of suspicion.  Did Notre Dame truly deserve to be ranked No. 5 going into the game against Northern Illinois?  I for one was not fooled, and neither were others.  We chalked it up to the typical media hype about ND, hype which, surprise, surprise, was yet again unfounded.

If one thought that we had the early season body bag games behind us, think again.  Did we really need to see Georgia beat up on Tennessee Tech, or Texas A&M beat up on McNeese, just to name two of dozens of examples?  Ironically, the most lopsided game came from Indiana of all teams, who obliterated Western Illinois 77-3.

But at least some games were interesting and competitive.

BYU @ SMU

This “great game no one is talking about” tuned out to be just that.  The two teams fought hard and closely the entire game, and the fans got their money’s worth in the process…unlike at Indiana, Georgia, Texas A&M, Boston College, Miami (Fla.), Missouri, etc., etc.

Texas @ Michigan

This game was the “ticket to die for”, and going in, how could it not be?  We learned much from this game.  Michigan, the defending national champions, were supposed to be the bullies, the boa constrictor, the team that will keep you in its clutches until you die.  Again, they were supposed to be.  What we forgot was that unlike Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, or Alabama, Michigan is not a team in a position to reload.  When Harbaugh was still there, he recognized this systemic limitation, and thus invested in a robust development program.  The thing is, it takes time to develop players, and when you graduate a heap of them after winning the big one (including your quarterback), the team is apt to not play at the same level.  Plus, Jim Harbaugh has left to coach in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Texas has not only reloaded, they are arguably stronger than last year, particularly in their receiving corps.  But that’s not the half of it.  The Longhorns outgained the Wolverines on the ground, 143 to 88 yards.  That means that Texas beat Michigan up front, even with the latter’s vaunted defensive line.

Texas has some tough teams further into its schedule.  Nevertheless, if they play the way they did in Ann Arbor, it’s a reasonable prediction to say they’ll make the final four of the playoffs.

Liberty @ New Mexico State

This “best non-Power 4 matchup” lived up to its hype, with the Flames triumphing in Las Cruces, 30-24.  Despite the Aggies losing at home, look for NM State to continue to bring a tough game to whomever they play.  To that end, keep an eye on them when they play Fresno State (the team that gave Michigan a surprisingly hard time the previous week) next week.

Houston @ Oklahoma

The Sooners won this game, 16-12.  Needless to say, such an outcome left us scratching our heads.  Is Houston’s defense that good, or is Oklahoma’s offense that inconsistent?  Regardless, the Cougars should consider this result a moral victory, and deserve to leave Norman with their heads held high, with one of the few times where a team loses a game but still looks like they are headed in the right direction.

Colorado @ Nebraska

Nothing like a classic Big 8 matchup, especially with such an intriguing coaching matchup in Deion Sanders vs Matt Rhule.  Going into the season, there were rumors that that Coach Prime had improved his personnel on the offensive line.  Yet the Buffaloes managed to eke out only 16 net yards on the ground, compared to the Cornhuskers’ 151 rushing yards.  Ouch.  The final score of 28-10 reflected that lopsided comparison well.  Looks like Coach Prime has more work to do up front.

NC State vs Tennessee in Charlotte

By the 3^rd quarter, one thing became quite clear:  the Wolfpack may be a good team, but the Volunteers is simply much better.  So much better in fact, that we are all intrigued to see what sort of problems they can give Oklahoma, Alabama, or even Georgia this year.

Arkansas @ Oklahoma State

The Razorbacks came into Stillwater, outgained the Cowboys on the ground by 173 yards, and yet stil managed to lost the game.  It has been said time and again that the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins.  For Arkansas to have such a great game on the ground and still lose it means they had to have made a staggering amount of mistakes.  Looks like Sam Pittman has some further work to do.

Boise State @ Oregon

After the Ducks struggled to beat Idaho last week, many observers of the game called for a pumping of the breaks about all the hype about said Ducks being a shoe-in for the playoffs.  Nevertheless, to their credit, they did manage to break a losing streak against…the Broncos, of all teams, and did so in a game that was arguably the best of the week, in hindsight.