"Week 2 Recap”
Written by Wendi
What a wacky weekend in College Football. There were some jaw dropping upsets and close calls. Let’s not forget about blown three score leads in the fourth quarter. Yes, that would be THE Ohio State and Texas game. What looked like a runaway game with a dominating Buckeye team, they got complacent in the second half and just played prevent instead of offense and defense. It didn’t help they missed a field goal and they failed to kick a field goal early by going for it on fourth down (just to not get the first down). Texas came roaring back to life and outscored Ohio State 21-3 in the second half. Big statement win for Texas. And no Chris, Texas is not back. Texas didn’t win that, Ohio State just lost. See what I did there?
There were a couple other Big Ten and SEC matchups. One of the upsets I mentioned was in the Oklahoma and Michigan game. If you watched the game, it was a defensive driven game. Offense was bleak for both teams, but Michigan made the bigger stance on defense and held Oklahoma to only 289 total yards. Michigan’s costly penalties kept the Sooners’ drives alive to tie the game after the Wolverines went up 10-0 at the break. A=However, a late interception by Mateer sealed the deal as the Wolverines scored a touchdown from that mistake. Wolverines only needed 60 minutes to upset the Sooners 17-10.
Mississippi State dominated Minnesota with a lopsided 38-13 victory. The Bulldogs’ QB and RB were the stars of the show and gave Minnesota their first home loss since 2024. I think it’s been awhile, but Mississippi State looks pretty good after the first two weeks and maybe this is their year? Time will tell as the face South Carolina this weekend.
It took until the fourth quarter but Texas A&M finally started to pull away by scoring 24 unanswered points to defeat Arizona State 48-20. The game was competitive until the Sun Devils unraveled with costly turnovers in the fourth quarter. It was a game worth paying attention to as we all had HIGH points on that game.
Whoever thought Purdue and Wake Forest could put on a thriller of a game? Wake Forest edged out Purdue in a 38-36 double overtime thriller. Purdue rallied and scored 10 unanswered points to tie the game and force overtime. This loss for Purdue extends their losing streak to Power 4 opponents to 22 games. Yikes.
Pittsburg relied on a dominant defensive effort to weather a heavy rainstorm and edge out UCF 12-7. Following a 65-minute pregame weather delay, a steady downpour made traditional offense production nearly impossible for both teams. This was UCF’s tenth consecutive road game loss.
BYU had a dominate second half defensive shutout to defeat Arizona 28-17. Trailing 17-14 at the half, BYU held Arizona to only 102 total yards in the second half. BYU looks to be a BIG 12 contender this year.
Coming off a close upset against Oregon last week, Boise State had a rough start against Memphis. Memphis initially flashed elite big-play ability but Boise State unleased a relentless ground assault and adjusted defensively to completely shutout Memphis in the final two quarters. With that second half domination, The Broncos won 38-20.
Tennessee overcame an early special team’s deficit to hand Georgia Tech a 45-24 loss. The ground game proved to be a key factor as well as 18-year-old quarterback Faizon Brandon on his first career road start. Georgia Tech’s two costly interceptions and a breakdown on execution in the second half resulted in a lopsided game.
Iowa erased an early double-digit deficit to beat Iowa State 16-13 after some adjustments. Field goals were a big factor in this matchup, but they typically are in this rivalry. Iowa’s defense locked down the Cyclones in the second half and held them to only a field goal.
On to Pick’ems...
Evelyn, Chris, and Christian have found themselves toward the bottom for 2 weeks straight. But to be fair, 45 points for Christian is still not that bad but still landed him tied for 3rd from last. This is not a great start and games will only get tougher going in to conference play.
Rick and Sean are off to a great start after getting 50+ points in back-to-back weeks and are sitting in 3rd and 4th place.
Myself and Kim are in the top two spots but a lot of people are breathing down our necks. There’s only an 8-point difference from 1st to 8th place. Not much wiggle room but it is still anyone’s game. And yes Cindy, outside of Noah, your two grandchildren are beating you. Don’t get embarrassed by a bunch of kids. I always tell you to be aggressive in your picks. Don’t be afraid to take some chances. Hehe!!
I wasn’t quite sure why Evelyn and Christian put up some big points on the Ohio State/Texas game. Christian, since you are new to this, never go big on a game with Texas in it. Even if you don’t pick Texas. Just don’t. I was a little disappointed in the Buckeyes losing as much as it pains me to say because I wanted to have back-to-back perfect weeks but with their loss, there was a bit of a "Step Brothers’’ movie refence that goes like this:
Michigan beats Oklahoma and Texas fans are delighted
Texas beats Ohio State and Michigan says "Texas, did we just become best friends?”
Ok, maybe not but it was funny how we beat each other’s rivals. It just makes it more interesting down the stretch when Texas plays Oklahoma and Michigan plays Ohio State. Chris, I get that you were probably going for upsets with the Iowa State and Georgia Tech pick, but it’s too early for hail Mary’s. I would wait until the last second (HAHA).
I looked at this week’s picks and I am willing to bet that there will be some more separation from top to bottom. I just have that feeling. Let’s find out on Saturday. Good luck! Not…
Most points for the week: With a $20 payout on the line, I was able to nail 52 points coming off of a perfect week.
Least points for the week: Evelyn has found herself again at the bottom in back-to-back weeks with only 36 points and now after only two weeks, she is 40 points down. It’s still early but you have a lot of catching up to do.
Best pick of the week: I know you don’t want to hear it but my 1 point on Michigan helped me out a lot. GO BLUE!
Worst pick of the week: Evelyn and Chris putting 6 points on Purdue hurt them more than they realize.
Letters to the Editor:
Is the Big 10 declining this season or is it a mirage? That’s a good question. Oregon and Ohio State’s collapse certainly didn’t help that. But only two weeks are down and there is a TON of football left to be played. Ask me again at the end of the year.
Is Texas back?
Don’t start this again...
Here are the rankings after Week 2:
1. Wendi – 107 points
2. Kim – 106 points
3. Sean – 105 points
4. Rick – 104 points
5. David – 103 points
6. Jacob – 102 points
7. Adam – 100 points
8. Teddy – 99 points
9. Sam – 99 points
10. Marc – 99 points
11. Cindie - 97 points
12. Noah - 96 points
13. Mike H - 89 points
14. Christian - 80 points
15. Chris D – 77 points
16. Evelyn – 67 points
There is a 40-point difference between 1st and last place
