Week two of college football gave us a pair of early Game of the Year candidates. Unfortunately for the Big Ten, those games came at their expense. This week, we’ll take a look at Iowa’s cathartic win over Iowa State, Oregon’s early-season struggles, and Ohio State’s meltdown against Texas.
Iowa Hawkeyes
This is what I asked for. This is what I wanted.
After campaigning all week on the idea that a nail-biter would be more exciting than a blowout, Iowa’s 16-13 win over Iowa State was exactly what I was hoping it would be. You wouldn’t have been able to tell that if you sat next to me, though.
It’s not a good football game unless I spend the majority of the time hating my team and questioning why I chose to go to school here (spoiler: it’s not and never was about football).
The unquestioned star of these first two games has been wide receiver Tony Diaz, one of not many Iowa players in recent memory that puts the “skill” in “skill position”. Diaz already has 179 yards across two games, more than 100 clear of the next closest reciever.
Even though many fans were expecting a blowout, a win is a win. Iowa is duty-bound to play like an 8-4 team regardless of the opponent.
Oregon Ducks
Oftentimes when I watch college football games that don’t include the Hawkeyes, I find myself mesmerized by how easy other teams make it look. This usually includes Oregon, whose defense is always a level above Iowa’s and whose offense can hang with anybody.
Through two weeks, the Ducks have been making things look awfully hard. From nearly losing to Boise to actually losing 39-31 to Oklahoma State, it’s been a rough start in Eugene.
On Saturday, the Ducks had no answers for walk-on-turned-Group-of-Six-darling-turned-Josh-Allen-reincarnate Drew Mestemaker.
And there might be a reason for that, outside of Mestemaker being an incredible football player.
There’s a theory going around that Oregon has a “tell” in their playcalling. Oklahoma State players mentioned it after the game, echoing Indiana players from their playoff victory last January.
It shouldn’t be an issue this weekend. Dan Lanning could feed Portland State each of his plays, and the Ducks will still probably win by 30.
Ohio State
When the #1 team in the nation leads by 20 in the fourth quarter, they don’t lose. They are 197-0 when that’s the case.
After Saturday night’s 24-23 loss to Texas, Ohio State made it 197-1.
Texas played most of this game like they were trying to get head coach Steve Sarkisian fired, which, to be fair, is something a lot of Texas fans want. The Longhorns looked sloppy and stagnant on offense, done in by drops and bad breaks.
Texas’s silent Sarkisian mutiny was working perfectly until the fourth quarter rolled around, when the Longhorns suddenly began pitching three-and-outs and scoring touchdowns at will. Arch Manning looked like a true Manning for the first time in his career, while Ohio State looked far from the #1 team they were supposed to be.
This week, the Buckeyes take on Kent State on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff. I’ve seen so many ads for this game that I feel like I’m being Mandela Effect-ed to believe that Kent State actually won 57-0 against South Carolina in week one, instead of the opposite.
Roundup
The first Big Ten conference game of the season kicks off this weekend, featuring the two teams that feel the least like Big Ten members: Rutgers and USC.
I’m also intrigued to see how Pat Fitzgerald’s Michigan State team looks against Notre Dame, mostly because if you had to pick one coach who sounds like he should be leading the Fighting Irish, it would be a guy named Patrick Fitzgerald.
Big-picture-wise, this is the final week before conference play really picks up. That’s a good thing, because I don’t know if I can pretend to care about 40-point blowouts any longer.
Stay tuned in with KRUI
Programming features, updates, special events, and more delivered right to you