DEL OLALEYE

Week 2 college football around the country recap

Del Olaleye
Sep 12, 2018, 6:00 am
Dabo Swinney has a decision to make. Bob Levey/Getty Images

Clemson is Kelly Bryant’s team

Clemson stuck to their plan of playing Trevor Lawrence in the first half. Of course when he threw a touchdown pass on his first play in the game the Rece Davis/Kirk Herbstreit love fest about Lawrence went into overdrive. But when Clemson needed plays to be made in the second half it was their senior signal-caller Kelly Bryant who got the call and the job done. The vibe at Kyle Field was awesome and the 12th man had it going but Bryant made enough of plays with his arm and his legs to keep Clemson rolling. That third and long strike to Amari Rodgers in the first quarter was big time. He followed that up by shaking one of the Aggies best defenders in Otaro Alaka on the way to end zone on the same drive. Those type of plays continued in the third quarter as the Aggies made their push. Dabo Swinney leaned on his senior QB and Bryant answered the call. Because of Lawrence’s immense talent Bryant may have to prove himself every week to people outside of the program. Inside the program? There shouldn’t be any questions.

Expect the unexpected in Arizona

After two weeks everything we thought we knew about the state of football in the Grand Canyon State needs to be thrown out. Arizona State beat a top 15 team in Michigan State in a defensive battle on Saturday night. Herm Edwards killed the game off with superb clock management and the team who’s nickname he didn’t know when he took the job is 2-0. Meanwhile, Kevin Sumlin made his return to Houston coaching Arizona and trailed 38-0 before scoring a point. Through two weeks all of us are dummies and Coach Herm is a Sun Devil legend in the making.

Oklahoma loses a Heisman Candidate

Rodney Anderson suffered a season ending knee injury in the second quarter of the Sooners 49-21 victory over UCLA. Anderson scored 18 total TDs in 2017 and was expected to be leaned on more this season after the departure to the NFL of Heisman winner Baker Mayfield. Oklahoma’s offense scored 63 and 49 points respectively in the first two games of the season and it appeared the show on offense was simply rolling along. With Anderson no longer available to be the feature tailback look for the Sooners to rotate backs until one of the backups emerges.

Hate Watch Game of the Week: LSU vs Auburn

Nothing against LSU really but once your team embarrases mine on national television I become a bit irrational. LSU’s first true road game of the season just happens to be against a top 10 team in Auburn who plays at a different level when they’re at home. Joe Burrow is completing less than 50% of his passes through two games as the LSU starter but his Tigers are 2-0. His first test in a hostile environment is against an Auburn defense who made life difficult for Washington’s Jake Browning in week one. I hope Auburn beats LSU into submission.

Current Hate Watch Record: 2-0

Kentucky beat Florida to end their 31-game losing streak to the Gators. The Gators touch a sign before they walk on the the field at The Swamp that says “Only Gators Get Out Alive.” Really that hasn’t been true for a while but Kentucky was one of the few teams that the statement actually still applied to. That is no longer the case. Now was the time for Wildcats to end the streak. They got it done.

 

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A New Role

R.C. Slocum will help decide our National Championship

R.C. Slocum. Wikipedia

Yesterday it was announced that former Texas A&M; Head Football Coach R.C. Slocum will be on the College Football Playoff committee for the next three years. He hasn't coached since 2002 but he hasn't been away from the game. He's been voting in the NFF college football poll and just last year resigned as chair of the American Football Coaches Foundation. He'd been the only president they had ever had. But he decided he needed a new challenge and a few months ago Bill Hancock, the executive director of the CFP committee called. It didn't take long for R.C. to agree to be on board.

"It's a great honor in terms of the committee affecting college football. It's one of the most prestigious committees out there. It's a way to give back. I've spent my whole life in college football. I was wondering which way it would take me. To be at the forefront is exciting."

It'll cut into his golf game but it won't cut into watching his Aggies. The committee meets during the week in Dallas which is a short drive for him from College Station. It's made up of a very impressive group of Athletic Directors, former coaches, a professor and now a four star general.

He's going to watch as many games as possible and do his best to put the best teams in the playoff.

"There's no right or wrong. I want to be able to be able to defend why I voted that way. I expect in those meetings I'll be able to say why I think this team is better than that team. I've always said, 'Look at it like it's a horse race. Which one would you put your money on?' I'll just try to be fair."

As far as changing the system, maybe an eight team playoff? The old ball coach didn't want anything to do with that.

"It wouldn't be very corporate of me to speculate on that. I'm just waiting to see what we do and how we do it. Every argument sounds pretty good while they're making them. This is what we have. We'll just go with that for now."

"I see a game that's as popular as ever. There are more and more games on TV but there's still 100,000 people in the stands and you can't get a ticket. Back when I coached there was a lot more defense. People were running the wishbone. Last week we had two Texas quarterbacks in an NFL playoff game. We didn't have any quarterbacks in the NFL back in the day. 7 on 7 has changed everything. And everyone talks about the quarterbacks but do you see the catches that these guys are making? It's an exciting time."

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