Oklahoma Lowers The Boomer On Ohio State & Auburn Reaches Offensive Low
After Week 2 it’s easy to see the biggest winners and losers emerge in the 2017 college football season. Here’s how PubClub’s Pigskin Prognosticator ranks them.
Week 2’s Biggest Winners
• Oklahoma & Lincoln Riley. Boom! The Sooners and their young and rookie head coach made a huge statement in whipping Ohio State 31-16. In Columbus, no less. In two weeks OU plays Baylor; keep your eyes covered for that one could get ugly for the Bears.
• Lamar Jackson & Louisville. So maybe he’s Heisman worthy after all. Jackson sure looked like it on Saturday, tho he was certainly aided by North Carolina’s “defense.” Clemson better bring its “A” game to Louisville this week.
• Georgia & Kirby Smart. The biggest – and most accurate – rap on Mark Richt is that his Dawgs would not play tough in all their games. Smart was hired to do that, and in only his second year he’s got a signature win. The running game was strong, the true freshman quarterback played with poise – in Notre Dame Stadium, too – and the defense rose to the occasion. Of course, the Irish are no playoff team as some “experts” had predicted, but this is a huge step forward for Smart and Georgia. Now let’s see if they fold against, say, South Carolina or Vandy.
• Penn State. Hmm. Maybe the Lions are for real.
• USC. Getting rid of the Stanford was huge. Now the rest of the schedule in a very week Pac-12 (keep reading) makes it a cakewalk for the Trojans to play in the conference title game. However, USC has a long tradition of stumbling once unexpectedly during otherwise big seasons.
Week 2’s Biggest Losers
• Ohio State. Okay, that offense that couldn’t score against Clemson is back and the Buckeyes looked inept trying to score. On the other side of the ball, OU receivers were running as if they were on the open plains against the OSU secondary. It looks as if there will be a few dark Saturdays for the Buckeyes in 2017.
• Auburn & Gus Malzahn. How long will the Auburn people put up with Malzahn? Last season, his offense produced fewer second-half yards against Georgia than the Bulldogs had in return yardage. Against Clemson – new coordinator, hyped new quarterback – it produced 117 yards and 11 sacks. Like Kevin Sumlin living off Johnny Manzel, Malzahn is living off Cam Newton and Nick Marshall He won’t be able to do that for much longer.
• The Pac-12. This conference is pathetic. Oregon State is so bad it’s laughable. Stanford’s stomp of Rice proved to be a mirage, which makes it difficult to assess just how good USC is (pretty darn good, but are the Trojans truly an elite team?), Arizona lost to Houston, Arizona State lost to San Diego State (and narrowly avoided losing to New Mexico State the previous week and Washington State only beat Boise State because the Broncos pulled a Texas A&M in the fourth quarter. Washington? Who can tell with that pathetic schedule?
• Kevin Sumlin. Beating Nicholls State only by 24-14 does not help his cause. Next up, LA-Lafayette. Then it’s Arkansas in the first “SEC Coaching Casualty Bowl” of the year.
• Arkansas & Brett Bielema. The guy was brought in to bring a Wisconsin-style toughness and running game to the Hogs. All he’s really brought with him is an engaging personality and a disproportionately hot wife. Bielema might want to spend the buy week exploring a buyout of his contract.
• Notre Dame & Brian Kelly. Barely 250 yards of offense against Georgia.
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