What a fabulous weekend of football! As promised, here is our Week Two report from our SEC and ACC correspondents. Any guesses on what Universities these two attended?
SEC Updates- Week Two
1. The Auburn Tigers traveled to Starkville, MS to play the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first SEC game of the weekend. The Auburn offense struggled for the second weekend in a row with 5 turnovers in the game and only 216 yards of total offense. The Bulldog’s led for most of the game with quarterback Tyler Russell throwing for 222 yards and three touchdowns, easily beating Auburn 28-10.
2. SEC newcomer Texas A&M had high expectations for their first potential SEC win this week, hosting the Florida Gators in College Station, TX. In the week leading up to the game, a billboard showed up in Gainesville, Florida, claiming that the Gators had been “annexed” by the Texas A&M Aggies (the school denied involvement). Indeed, the Aggies played well in the first half, leading 17-10 at half time. However, the Aggies would not score again, as the Gator offense shut down Aggie running quarterback Johnny Manziel in the second half. The Gators came away victorious, winning 20-17 and jumping up to a #18 ranking in the AP Poll.
3. The other SEC newcomer, Missouri, also had high expectations of a first SEC win against the Georgia Bulldogs in one of the most hyped SEC games of the week. It started earlier in the week leading up to the game, when Missouri Tiger’s defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson tweeted that Georgia plays “old man football”. Additionally, four of Georgia’s defensive players were suspended for the game, feeding speculation that this would be a potential loss for the Dawgs. Missouri led by three points by the end of the third quarter in a close game throughout with an electric sold-out Missouri crowd. However, Georgia put together an impressive scoring drive early in the fourth, coupled with two Missouri turnovers created by Georgia’s Jarvis Jones, and the Bulldogs came away winning 41-20.
4. Arkansas shocked the nation this week losing to the Louisiana-Monroe (“ULM”) Warhawks 34-31 in overtime. Arkansas led 28-7 midway through the third quarter, setting up what seemed like an easy victory, however ULM then put up 21 unanswered points on the Razorbacks. Quarterback Tyler Wilson was out in the second half of the game, suffering a head injury, and the Razorbacks had little offense after that. The game went to overtime, where Arkansas kicked a field goal but ULM scored a touchdown and ended the game with a win. Arkansas dropped from the top 25 rankings after the loss; they were ranked #8 going into the game.
5. The LSU Tigers continued their domination, beating the Pac-12’s Washington Huskies 41-3 in Baton Rouge, LA. The Huskies scored a field goal early on, but they would not score again as LSU dominated the remainder of the game. LSU’s rushing attack, led by Alfred Blue for 101 yards proved to be too much for the Huskies. Other SEC teams with dominating performances over the weekend included Alabama, who beat Western Kentucky 35-0, and Tennessee easily winning 51-13 over Georgia State.
ACC Updates- Week 2
1. Wake Forest came from behind to beat UNC 28-27, thanks to some pretty outstanding play out of Tanner Price and Michael Campanaro. Wake Forest jumped out to a 21-14 halftime lead, but UNC scored 13 straight points to go up 27-21. With 2:09 left in the game, Price scored the game-winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak and ended up running for a career-high two touchdowns and throwing for a career-high 327 yards. Campanaro was his No. 1 target, and for good reason. He showed why he is one of the best receivers in the ACC, with 13 catches for 164 yards — both are career highs.
2. Penn State traveled to Charlottesville, VA to face UVA on their first road game since the conviction of the former assistant Jerry Sandusky on child sexual abuse charges. The Cavaliers scored on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Michael Rocco to tight end Jake McGee with 1:28 remaining to make the score 17-16. As time expired, in a building rainstorm, PSU’s sophomore kicker Sam Ficken missed a 42-yard field goal, his fourth miss of the game, that could have won the game. It left Penn State stunned after its defense, which had played well, failed to contain Virginia on its final drive.
3. Both NC State and Maryland survived their Big East opponents to pull out victories Saturday afternoon. The offense was missing for both teams in the NC State/UConn game with a halftime score of 3-0, but the Wolfpack made one more big play than the Huskies, and that was the difference in the game. Mike Glennon’s beautiful 46-yard touchdown pass to a super-stretched out Bryan Underwood was the longest gain for either team and gave the Wolfpack a 10-7 win over the Huskies. For an offense that was absolutely dreadful in a loss to William & Mary last week, there were major signs of encouragement for the Maryland Terrapins and they defeated Temple 36-27.
4. The Clemson offense picked up right where it left off last week against Auburn, rolling to a 52-27 win against Ball State. Florida State’s blowout of Savannah State proceeded as expected through the bulk of the first half before a delay due to lightning provided the Tigers with a merciful early conclusion. The Seminoles scored on eight of nine possessions in the game, including their first seven, in the 55-0 win against overmatched Savannah State who came away with just 28 yards of offense. BC and VT also breezed through this week’s games against FCS opponents.
5. The Kansas State Wildcats had a dominant performance in the 52-13 victory over Miami. The Hurricanes didn’t have an answer for Collin Klein, the Wildcats’ quarterback accounted for four touchdowns and is considered a dark-horse candidate for the Heisman if he continues to play like he did on Saturday. Duke didn’t have an answer for the entire Stanford offense, who would not take a snap without the lead thanks to a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown following the first series of the game. The Cardinal cruised to a 50-13 win over the Blue Devils.
The Land of the Swoo 