Another week has come and gone in the 2017 college football season, and although there were some out of the box happenings once again, it was a fairly straight forward week of happenings. Here are my observations from the week that was:
Point One: Oklahoma Is Now A Legitimate Contender
I had stated earlier last week that Oklahoma was likely to take advantage of the Ohio State secondary much as Indiana had the previous week. The Sooners and Baker Mayfield did just that, and he shredded the Buckeyes defensive backfield and LB corps all night long, as Oklahoma took a 31-16 win at Ohio State in Columbus. What was even better was Mayfield planting an OU flag on the Ohio Stadium field after the game. He has since apologized, but he should not have. The Buckeyes should be trying to apologize for making everyone believe that JT Barrett and their offense had turned a corner. They haven't. With that win, Oklahoma now has to be considered as a front line contender for a national title, even if they still have some extremely difficult conference games upcoming in Big 12 play.
Point Two: USC Struggles Against Western Michigan Were an Abberation
The Trojans looked seriously vulnerable against Western Michigan in the opener, and that left the door open to believe that Stanford had a better than average shot at knocking off USC at the Coliseum on Saturday. Not so fast. The Trojans woke up fro their slumber, and showed David Shaw and company that they were very much alive, and even though Sam Darnold tossed another couple of picks, he won yet another big game and got yet another big win on his resume. He just keeps moving up to the top of the QB heap.
Point Three: The Roof Is About to Cave In On Louisville
While Lamar Jackson is still piling up yardage and unlimited footage for TV highlight reels, Louisville does not look like a team that can sustain their current tempo and win an ACC title. The defense is the problem, as it is forcing the Cardinals offense to win games in shootout fashion weekly. The Cardinals are allowing 31.5 points per game in the first two weeks of football, and that is a scary number if you are a Louisville fan. As was proven last season, when injuries started to mount, the defense cannot put your offense into that position every week, and Lamar Jackson cannot carry the team every week for the duration of the season...again. The roof is going to cave in soon if this issue is not rectified. They allowed North Carolina, who does not have a legitimate QB threat, 400 yards of offense.
Point Four: Cancellations Will Have a Major Impact On AAC Race
I get why games were cancelled this weekend, but what I do not understand is why efforts were not made to move those games, or reschedule them altogether. FAU continued on the road and played Wisconsin, an stayed in Madison extra time as was needed to avoid the storm. FIU found an alternate venue against Alcorn State, and with little time to spare, boarded buses to Birmingham to play that game. USF and Miami cancelled road games that would have taken their people OUT of harms way. UCF cancelled a game at home in Orlando, when the game could have been moved up by a couple of days and played out.
The issue here is that four AAC teams cancelled games that were conference dates that now will not be made up, because their idiotic conference championship game got in the way. There is no reason wh the conference title game could not have been moved back a week to allow the games to be played out later, if needed.
Now UCF and USF, as well as U Conn, will play just seven conference games, as will Memphis. If any one of these teams wins a conference title by a half game, say with a 7-0 or 6-1 record, over a team that goes 7-1 or 6-2, this will be the idiocy that causes it. Remember this for later in the year.
Point Five: The Big 10 East Race May Be More Open Than We Thought
With Ohio State losing to Oklahoma, and showing major flaws on offense in doing so, Penn State may have a deeper hold on the East in the Big 10 than we had previously thought. Columbus is no longer an undefeatable fortress, and Penn State has rolled in two games against Akron and Pitt. Michigan is also showing major issues on offense, but their defense is first rate. However, if the defense starts suffering injuries, and depth starts to dwindle, that offense is going to get exposed in a hurry. Maryland, while showing some issues on defense, certainly has a better offense than anyone thought they would have. They have scored 57 points per game against Texas and Towson so far. The competition improves for them as we move forward as well, but so far, Maryland looks like a player. Michigan State is also improving quickly after solid wins over Bowling Green and Western Michigan, and is allowing just 12 points per game after a 2-0 start. Even the offense is better, scoring 31.5 per contest. If this continues, the East becomes more of a meat grinder than it already was.
Point Six: Oregon's Defense May Still Be a Mess, But Nebraska's Problems Are Far Deeper
The Oregon/Nebraska contest was considered to be one of the peak interest games of the week, and they put on a solid show in the Ducks' 45-38 win in Eugene. Oregon is still having issues that have plagued them for two years in that their defense is still hit and miss. After dominating the Huskers to the tune of a 42-14 lead at the half, the Ducks then went into cruise mode and allowed Nebraska to dominate the second half. This is an issue that will carry with the Ducks into PAC-12 play, and Jim Leavitt is doing all that he can to plug it up.
That said, Nebraska is pretty much about as bad as I had thought that they would be, and maybe worse. Their defense is probably one of the worst Nebraska has had in recent memory, and after allowing 4oo yards passing to Arkansas State a week ago, they allowed another 365 yards passing to the Ducks, and 566 yards of total offense. Bob Diaco went into hiding after the Arkansas State game, and then tried to weasel his way out of it later last week, but there is no hiding from this. Tanner Lee, the beloved transfer from Tulane, tossed four picks, and now has just five TDs to four INTs on the season. That's hardly an auspicious start to his Nebraska career. The run game also lacks depth, with Tre Bryant having to carry the entire load right now. If these three issues do not get fixed, the Huskers will struggle to finish ahead of Purdue in the Big 10 West.
Point Seven: The FCS Curse Is Alive and Well
The FCS bug bit two more times this week against FBS opponents. South Dakota defeated Bowling Green, and New Hampshire took down Georgia Southern. Howard almost found a second consecutive FBS win, as they fell short to Kent State 38-31. In all, Liberty, Howard, James Madison, New Hampshire, Tennessee State, and South Dakota have now all claimed wins, and that is saying something for the little guy. Your school's scheduled date against an FBS school can now no longer be circled as a sure thing win moving forward.
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