Power 5 (and a little extra) week 2 recap: Still no SEC, Big Ten, or Pac 12
By: The Waco Kid
Photo: David Stacy, Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
I would like to start out by saying if you have the University of Houston on your schedule, for the love of football, please take extra precaution when preparing that week. The only thing constant in this new age of college football is that Houston will have their games postponed. I would urge opposing teams to consider not practicing the week they play the Coogs so there can be no trace contact, it’s not like you are playing Alabama, what are you really prepping for? It’s like practicing to brawl with a younger sibling that is half your size, there’s no point, just roll out of bed and beat that ass. That said, I was looking forward to Baylor’s football debut, because what other school can you think of that would hire an SEC defensive coordinator as a head coach in a conference that doesn’t play defense? Dave Aranda and senior quarterback Charlie Brewer will look to sustain Baylor’s football relevance, which in the Big 12 means winning just enough games to receive a bowl bid.
Speaking of the Big 12, the conference had another roller coaster of a weekend. With only one team in the conference playing, Heisman hopeful Chuba Bubba Hubbard, had an impressive outing against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes rushing for 93 yards and a score on only 27 carries. Behind Hubbard’s mere 3.4 yards per carry, #11 Oklahoma State was able to fend off new in-state rival, Tulsa, 16-7. Mike Gundy’s squad had to use three quarterbacks to get the job done against a Category 4 Golden Hurricane defensive unit. The three combined for a total of 138 passing yards and no touchdowns. Week in and week out Big 12 teams continue to prove that to be competitive they should be absorbed by the Sun Belt, AAC, or Mountain West Conference.
The ACC not only put together some impressive wins, but also some pretty good entertainment. This week’s conference marquee matchup saw the University of Miami take on Louisville. Tate Martell still seems to be an overwhelming challenge in a Where’s Waldo book, impossible to find. And now you won’t even be able to find him in the book as he has opted out of the 2020 season. D’Eriq King showed off his elusiveness last week, this week he shot the Cardinals out of the sky with his 325 passing yards and three scores. Louisville must have missed the warnings because Hurricane King made landfall and there wasn’t a single defender that could stop it. Louisville showed they could not hang with contenders, losing 47-34.
Photo: Al Diaz, Miami Herald
The last known photograph of Tathan Martell.
We won’t spend too much time on Clemson this week because well they played the Citadel and the outcome was just as advertised. Trevor Lawrence and his Rapunzel type hair seemed to be up in a tower that the Bulldogs could not scale. He threw for 168 yards and three touchdowns with only one incompletion in an impressive, but expected, 49-0 win. Will anyone, this season, be able to climb Rapunzel’s tower to achieve the ultimate prize?
The University of South Florida apparently traveled to South Bend. You would have never known that the Fighting Irish weren’t just playing the practice squad, as they sent the Bulls back to Tampa with a 52-0 loss. Ian Book ran for a whopping nine yards but turned those yards into three scores against a ghost town defense. Notre Dame will continue to be a top tier ACC team until any school besides Clemson and Miami (and Miami is still TBD) decide to play big boy football. Duke’s Chase Brice looked like the back up ACC quarterback he’s been his whole career in a poor performance against Boston College, throwing for 217 yards and two picks in a 26-6 loss against an unproven team. But I guess what do you have to prove when you’ve already been a part of a national championship football team? Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman put up some QB1 type numbers in a thriller against North Carolina State. Passing for 236 yards and a score, Hartman and the outstanding rush game of Kenneth Walker III almost put enough points on the board but the Wolfpack ended it on a three yard rush by running back Ricky Person Jr., winning 45-42. Georgia Tech got blown out by UCF, 49-21 and Pittsburgh won another game but are still irrelevant. Change my mind next week against Louisville.
The game of the week was Navy vs. Tulane. The Midshipmen traveled to the Crescent City in hopes of taming the Green Wave. Led by an explosive running back duo, Tulane all but sunk Navy in the first two quarters entering the locker room with a 24-0 lead. Tulane had two running backs who each rushed for over 60 yards. As a team they ended up with a total of 265 yards rushing.
However, Navy came roaring back in the second half behind the leadership of quarterback Dalen Morris who hit Mychal Cooper during the fourth quarter in stride for a 32 yard touchdown to tie the game. With ice water flowing through his veins on a rainy New Orleans afternoon, Navy kicker Bijan Nichols crushed any semblance of hope for Tulane with a last second field goal to end the game. Once the storm had passed and the dust settled, Navy calmed the swells that the Green Wave were able to create in the first half, winning 27-24.
That’s a wrap. Countdown to SEC football, just seven days left.
See you on the couch next week.