2017 Week 2
September 12, 2017
What a great weekend of college football. On Saturday night we got the old man cave going, with four bigtime matchups at once.
Now during my days working in television we'd have a few of us "personalities" and the support staff in a side room with several TVs going at once.
It's a little different where I am now, we're surrounded by former coaches. And what a treasure that is, we had Coaches John McKay, Woody Hayes, Bud Wilkinson, and Shug Jordan among others. It was great to pick their brains. And, even better, Coach Parseghian had just gotten through processing in time for the Georgia vs. Notre Dame game.
That was an exciting field goal battle between the Bulldogs and the Irish in South Bend. The stadium shots featured a lot of UGA fans who made the trip to the Midwest. I haven't seen a sea of red like that since my last bout with hemorrhoids.
The other big games also lived up to their billing. In a Pac 8 tussle Southern Cal pulled away from Stanford behind the fine quarterback play of Sam D Arnold. I'm sure his parents, esteemed actors Tom and Roseanne Arnold, were proud.
Clemson won a battle of the Tigers over Auburn by a 14-6 score. That sets Clemson up well in the SEC North race.
In a battle of top 5 teams Oklahoma pulled away from Ohio State 31-16 in Columbus. Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield was brilliant and I predict he'll be honored with two Heisman trophies and a statue in Norman depicting his flag-planting in the turf of the Buckeyes' home field.
Coach Hayes was none too pleased with the OU star's actions. He said "damnit, Beeno, watching that punk plant a flag in the turf at Ohio Stadium was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen in football! He brought shame to the entire sport! If you're going to plant a flag, drive it into the ground, don't just hold it there! I always told football players to follow through with every motion! His effort was weak and a humiliation for Oklahoma and their strength and conditioning program!".
My Pitt Panthers fared rather poorly at Penn State in State College Station, losing 33-14. No, I still haven't seen JoePa around here at all. It is a sore subject, nobody wants to say where he is.
Later on, in their shared State College Station stadium, Texas A&M pulled away from a feisty Nicholls State team, winning 24-14. I'm not sure what's wrong with A&M this year, I don't think they stand much of a chance in the Southwest Conference race.
Cross-state rival Houston went to Tucson and beat Arizona. Houston's city foe, the University of Texas at Houston, went behind the Zion curtain and held off Bring 'Em Young 19-13 in an exciting intersectional battle.
The Big Ten had some struggles. Oregon held off a late Nebraska comeback to win 42-35. Rutgers lost to the Eastern Michigan Emus. And Duke destroyed Northwestern in this year's SAT inspired "Battle for the #2 Pencil".
We had some exciting overtime battles. Iowa outlasted Iowa State 44-41 in a single overtime. Washington State beat Boys' State 47-44 in triple overtime. Now I'm still a bit confused about these overtime rules. They keep telling us that teams must go for two in triple overtime but Boys' State just kicked an extra point without even scoring a third OT touchdown and Washington State scored but just left the field.
The strangest event occurred in Mississippi State's game against La Tech. La Tech had a bad snap that bounced and was kicked toward their own goal over 80 yards. The last time I saw a bunch of Frenchmen run backwards that quickly there was a Panzer chasing them.
It set up a tough situation for La Tech and their coach, Lou Holtz's son Skip. They were facing 3rd down and goal from their own 7. Just like his father, Skip was pretty creative and caught Mississippi State off guard by running a draw play for 21 yards. This was a smart move, as it shortened the field and allowed for an 89-yard field goal attempt that was just off to the left, before bouncing around at midfield.
Next weekend will be great too, with Tennessee tackling the Florida Gators, Texas flying out to take on USC, and Kansas continuing its Mid-American Conference schedule with a visit to Ohio U. Talk to you soon!