Welcome to another weekly installment where we acknowledge the great performances and mock the terrible ones. Week two did not give us much in the way of bigtime matchups, but there were a couple, as well as a couple of games that were supposed to be cupcake affairs but ended up playing out quite differently.
The Good
Clemson
The nations number one team disposed of #12 Texas A&M, and made it look rather easy in the process. After listening to many in the media pick the Aggies to come into Death Valley and knock off the Tigers, Dabo Swinney’s team made a statement in this one. That being that despite losing 7 starters off of the defense, including 3 first round picks off of that dominant DL, there will be no drop off. They may go about defending some teams differently, but this group will still be one of the best around. Kellen Mond only had 115 yards passing through three quarters and the Aggies could only muster 53 yards on the ground, averaging just 2 YPC. It was another perfectly designed gameplan from D Cord Brent Venables, proving once again why he is the best in the business.
LSU
Sixth ranked LSU went into Austin and knocked off the 9th ranked Longhorns, putting some of the “Texas is back” talk on hold for the moment. Joe Burrow put on quite the show, going 31-39 for 471 yards with 4 TDs. The Tigers rolled up 573 total yards but at the same time gave up 530. LSU has been boasting about a new look, high powered offense, and so far the returns are very favorable. Ed Orgeron and high powered offenses at LSU, who would have thought?
The Bad
Florida State
No, they didn’t lose this week, but they did need a missed PAT in OT to hold on and beat UL-Monroe 45-44. The Noles had a comfortable 24-7 halftime lead, and just like they did last week against Boise St, they gave it up in the second half. James Blackmon hit on 30-40 passes for 282 yards and 3 TDs, but had two costly INTs, one of which was a pick six in the third quarter that sparked the Warhawks comeback. Things have gotten so bad that they’re needing trickeration to beat G5 teams, such as this formation where they had a wideout line up facing the wrong direction.
Florida State paid UL-M $1.65M to come to Doak and turn the heat up on Willie Taggart even higher than it was. Add in a half empty stadium and things are getting close to bottoming out.
Syracuse
The Orange were coming off of a 10 win season and ranked in the preseason top 25. They pitched a shutout against Liberty in the opener and all that stood between them and a first ever visit from the Game Day crew for next weeks showdown with #1 Clemson was a visit to College Park where Maryland was hoping to spoil their plans. And spoil their plans they did. The Terps didn’t just beat Syracuse, they embarrassed them by hanging 63 on them and rolling up 650 yards of offense on a defense that was supposed to be the strength of the team. A visit from Game Day is the last thing on their minds now as it is back to the drawing boards for Dino Babers and crew.
The Ugly
Tennessee
Man, has it gotten ugly in Knoxville. The Vols dropped to 0-2 for the first time since the late 90s and are just 6-16 in their last 22 games. After having to shut their official Twitter account down temporarily last week, it seems fan groups on social media are shutting down this week, such as this one called “Vol For Life” on Facebook.
Outside of any actual threats of violence of course, is there anything more hilarious than this and watching Rocky Top getting beaten like a drum? Didn’t think so.
Sorry………Jason.
I watched all these games Justin and the things that stood out to me were the total lack of defense by Texas and LSU, and the apparent loss of discipline and “Culture” at FSU and TN. Both seemed to have a total lack of focus, energy and discipline.
There’s a ton lacking in Tally and Knoxville both