College football Week 2 primer: Georgia faces stiff test in Columbia
Have you recovered from Week 1? Good, because there's a tasty menu of matchups in Week 2 (all games on Saturday):
Top 5 games to watch
5) No. 2 Clemson at Texas A&M (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
This is Jimbo Fisher's first big test as the Aggies' head coach. Kyle Field should be rocking. A&M isn't on Clemson's level ... yet. But Jimbo's side has the athletes to keep this game close heading into the fourth quarter.
New Aggies defensive coordinator Mike Elko will throw every kind of trap and bluff coverage at Kelly Bryant that you can imagine. The young quarterback will need to play mistake-free football, as he still has freshman phenom Trevor Lawrence looming over his shoulder.
Dabo Swinney's men should get the job done. They have more depth than any team in the country, non-Alabama division. The Aggies don't have the horses to compete with Clemson's talent or depth along its defensive line. You can only scheme around such a fundamental mismatch for so long. Expect Clemson to pull away late.
4) No. 13 Penn State at Pittsburgh (8 p.m. ET, ABC)
Teething problems were expected from the Nittany Lions in Week 1. They have a new OC and game-day play-caller. Saquon Barkley is no longer alongside Trace McSorley in the backfield. And the defense is replete with freshman and sophomores (the team ran nothing creative on defense in Week 1).
Here's the other thing, though: Appalachian State is really, really good. They'll be a top Sun Belt team by season's end.
Traveling to Pitt will tell us more about James Franklin's team. How will they adapt to the issues that plagued them in Week 1? Will the young pups on defense grow up quickly? And will McSorley become the kind of quarterback who can elevate those around him?
Spoiler: Yes.
This game has playoff stakes. Penn State has games against Kent State and Illinois coming up. Beat Pitt, and the Lions are staring at a 4-0 start when Ohio State comes to town. Lose, and the Sept. 29 contest against the Buckeyes could see Franklin and Co. eliminated from the postseason discussion before we hit October.
3) No. 17 USC at No. 10 Stanford (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX)
Fun fact: four of Clay Helton's losses as USC's coach have come in September. Two of those were against David Shaw's Cardinal.
USC looked sluggish in Week 1. Its defense was slow to the ball, and true freshman quarterback JT Daniels struggled early before finding his rhythm in the second half. Daniels has all the talent in the world, but things could get rough this week. Stanford sports a veteran squad and uses its personnel in creative ways, particularly with its disguised pressure packages.
On the other side of the ball, the Trojans' defense will be facing a different kind of Stanford offense.
Philosophically, it's the same: big and powerful. But how they succeed is different. It's an explosive unit, built atop back-breaking Bryce Love runs and shots downfield off play-action from K.J. Costello, rather than the 5-yards-at-a-time system we've become accustomed to.
This should be a fun one.
2) Iowa State at Iowa (5 p.m. ET, FOX)
The Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk game (that's really what they call it) is shaping up to be the most entertaining matchup this weekend.
Matt Campbell's offense is all sorts of creative, quirky, and fun. David Montgomery is one of the best running backs in the country. And the Cyclones come into this game fresh after their Week 1 game was canceled in the first quarter due to lightning delays.
Iowa, meanwhile, has a pair of the most gifted pro prospects in the country in quarterback Nate Stanley and tight end Noah Fant.
Fant is college football's premier matchup threat. He's a streaky tight end who moves all over the offensive formation and overwhelms defensive backs and linebackers with athleticism. There isn't a single Cyclone defender who can cover Fant one-on-one. In fact, I'm not sure there's a defender in the nation who can take Fant head to head. He's too big and too fast.
This one will come down to whether Iowa State can move the ball against Iowa's fearsome defensive line. Iowa will put up points, then its collection of pass-rushers can pin their ears back. Keep an eye on Iowa edge rusher Anthony Nelson, who's drawing plenty of attention from NFL evaluators. He won't be hard to miss; his arms are so long they look like they were CGI'd onto his body.
1) No. 3 Georgia at No. 24 South Carolina (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)
This game will go a long way toward deciding the SEC East. And guess what? South Carolina has a real shot to pull off the upset.
You may not have heard, but Will Muschamp has evolved. The ex-Florida head coach is now running an uptempo, spread-option offense with the Gamecocks.
Equally as important: he's adapted his defense. Muschamp is moving his linebackers as much as any coach in the country. His guys go for little walks, manipulating the defensive formation in the same way an offense shifts or motions its receivers.
The goal: muddy pre- and post-snap reads for the quarterback, particularly on option plays.
Muschamp will need all of that schematic wizardry against Georgia, which is coming to town for the top-ranked matchup of the week.
The Bulldogs have elite speed all over the field. Their defense is as smothering as ever. It's the same story on offense, where coordinator Jim Chaney pushes the ball into space and lets his playmakers go to work.
The Gamecocks don't have the same kind of juice. They do, however, have star players on both sides of the ball in receiver/return man Deebo Samuel, quarterback Jake Bentley, linebacker T.J. Brunson, and pass-rusher D.J. Wonnum. Every one of them will need to have a big day Saturday.
Player to watch
Khalil Tate, QB, Arizona
What Kevin Sumlin and Noel Mazzone did to football fans across the country last week was a borderline football crime. The new offensive brain trust in Arizona used Khalil Tate on just two designed runs. Two! They took one of the most dynamic players in the country and neutered him.
Tate is at his best when he's able to explode upfield. True, he's become a more nuanced passer, but he still remains the team's best option to move the ball on the ground.
Mazzone's game plan was baffling.
The idea was to have Tate drop back and decide when to take off and use his legs - not pre-ordain it with play calls. That's not a crazy notion, in theory. Practically, however, it's a poor use of his skill set. He's not a slippery runner; he's a straight-line guy. He isn't the kind to survey the landscape then roll out when he sees fit. Tate can sit in the pocket, bounce through reads, and shred a side with his arm. But he's a defined point-A-to-B runner.
Last year, Arizona used all kinds of funky wrinkles to get Tate on the move. The goal: force the defense to defend an extra gap in the run game and open up holes through play design rather than brute force. Rich Rod's staff mixed concepts that don't traditionally go together. This counter-speed option is as creative as it gets:
The running back and offensive line ran a classic single-man counter play. The back started in one direction before suddenly shifting in the opposite direction, while the O-line down-blocked the front side as the back side tackle wrapped around.
Tate, meanwhile, ran a speed-option. He literally sprinted into his back while reading the Oregon edge defender. The defender sat, surrendering his leverage, and Tate blew by him and raced up the sideline for the first down.
Tate ran for 1,411 yards in 2017, averaging 9.2 yards per carry. That was because of designs like the one above, not because he scampered around as a freelancer.
Sumlin admitted the staff erred in Week 1. "We certainly have to do a better job schematically to get him more involved with his legs," he said Tuesday on the weekly Pac-12 coaches teleconference. "It's something we've taken a really hard look at. It can only help to get his legs more involved in the offense." Duh.
It's something to keep an eye on this week as Tate faces an athletic Houston defensive front featuring Ed Oliver.
Under-the-radar matchup
Michigan State at Arizona State (10:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Admit it, you chuckled when you heard Arizona State hired Herm Edwards.
But Edwards is the one laughing now after ASU romped to a 49-7 win over UTSA last week. An upset win over Michigan State in Week 2 would make a great foundation for the program Edwards is looking to build.
It's not that far-fetched. Michigan State needed a late touchdown and an interception to survive Utah State, winning 38-31. Mark Dantonio continues to rely on a run game that doesn't have the talent to match its reputation. Quarterback Brian Lewerke is the best player on Michigan State's offense, yet Dantonio only seems content to let him throw on third downs. If that continues, Arizona State has a chance to score the upset victory.
Coach who needs a win
Larry Fedora, North Carolina
Fedora's seat is getting warm, with the Tar Heels losing 14 of their last 17.
Fedora has gone 40-25 in five seasons with the Tar Heels. He turned around a program beset by NCAA violations into a division winner and helped develop a top-five NFL draft pick at quarterback (Mitchell Trubisky). All of that earned him links to other jobs. The folks at Chapel Hill responded by upping his pay and handing him a new contract through 2022.
Then the progress stopped, and Fedora's goodwill has quickly evaporated. Between the preseason shoe controversy and the early loss to Cal, the pressure has ticked up a couple of notches. Beating East Carolina is a must. Lose, and with UCF on the horizon, Fedora would be staring down an 0-3 start before entering conference play, with games against Pitt, Miami, and Virginia Tech on deck. Gulp.
East Carolina head coach Scottie Montgomery needs a win of his own. The Pirates went down to North Carolina A&T in Week 1 (the third straight year it's beaten an FBS side!). UNC represents a circle-the-wagons game for a doomed staff. Teams in those circumstances usually fold or fight.
Fedora should get another year. His overall resume doesn't scream hot seat. But things are trending downward. An embarrassing loss to a team that might be the very worst at the FBS level would almost certainly put him in a precarious spot.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)