Another week of college football is upon is – and there’s storylines a-plenty ahead of a full slate of games. Here are six things to keep an eye on as you watch football this weekend:
South Carolina's Defense: The Gamecocks were humbled 55-28 at home by Texas A&M on the opening night of the season, and after sneaking past East Carolina 33-23 in an unconvincing manner, the Gamecocks face a Georgia Bulldogs squad who were almost as emphatic in beating Clemson in week one as the Aggies were in beating the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks were absolutely shredded by Texas A&M’s Kenny Hill, who passed for a school-record 511 yards, and they will be tested in a different way by Georgia, where the running game is the major threat. Heisman candidate RB Todd Gurley had more nearly three-hundred all-purpose yards against Clemson – 198 yards rushing with three scores, and an electrifying 100-yard kick-off return – and will doubtless be looking forward to plying his trade against an SEC defense. Somehow, the Gamecocks are going to have to stop Gurley, and then stop the rest of Georgia’s legion of talented backs.
It’s no easy task for Steve Spurrier’s men, not when Georgia might be the best team down south, but they somehow have to get themselves up for a game that’ll tell us a lot about the trajectory of the SEC East. Suffice to say, going down 0-2 in conference play this early is just about a death knell in the competitive division. South Carolina’s offense is going to need long, sustained drives to give it’s defense a chance to rest.
North Dakota State: The three-time defending FCS champion No. 1 Bison (pronounced Bizon) have their home opener against the awesomely-named Incarnate World Cardinals on Saturday at a sure-to-be-raucous Fargodome.
ESPN’s venerable College GameDay is making the trip north – it’ll be the first time they’ve re-visited an FCS school – and the Bison will enter the game 2-0 and heavy favourites against a winless Cardinal team.
The Bison are a heck of a program: despite losing their head coach and twelve starters from the 2013 National Championship squad, they’re back amongst it, embarrassing FBS squad Iowa State in week one, and all signs point to giving a fourth consecutive FCS National Championship one almighty shake. Great for football to have the Bison showcased nationally by a show that drives a lot of the weekend’s narrative.
USC: The Trojans appear – fingers crossed – to be a serious Pac-12 threat, and those of us who favour the cardinal and gold can take solace in knowing that USC are the best team in Los Angeles at the moment, and there’s a chance for that point to be further illustrated on Saturday.
A week after the Trojan offense starred in a big win over Fresno State, it was the defense’s turn to take centre stage, stifling Stanford for an important in-conference road win. Steve Addazio’s Boston College squad must somehow find a way to move the football offensively against a bruising, imposing Trojan D – just ask Stanford how good they are.
Star running back Buck Allen, who gashed Stanford on the ground, will likely get a few carries against a BC defense that gave up 153 yards and four scores to Pitt’s James Conner last week. If not, there’s a plethora of talented receivers on the fringes – including some very impressive freshman – to whom Kessler can throw to. And, of course, there’s a hungry defense on the sideline who want to get involved.
Unless there’s a big-game hangover from the Stanford game, this should be about USC impressing those east coast pundits who don’t often get to see them play.
Taysom Hill: The Brigham Young quarterback absolutely lit up an embarrassingly bad Texas defense in in Austin last week and has another national primetime platform on Friday night when the Houston Cougars travel to Provo.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see BYU run the table from here, and if Hill can put up big numbers, there’s no reason to think that he won’t at least be mentioned as a possible fringe Heisman Trophy contender. Can’t waste these primetime games, though.
Texas: Speaking of the Longhorns, after being throttled 41-7 by BYU last start, Charlie Strong’s team, without QB David Ash (concussion) travels to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas to take on a UCLA squad who hasn’t quite lived up to it’s pre-season hype this year, after recording narrow victories over Virginia and Memphis.
A lot of eyes will be on the Longhorns’ response after last week’s embarrassing trouncing, and their performance against the Bruins will be a guide to the mindset of their team going into Big XII play. Obviously no one’s ready to condemn Strong two games into his career, but this could be a long season for a perennial contender if they drop to 1-3. Of course, win against UCLA and suddenly the season doesn’t look quite so bad.
The Big Ten Conference: It was Carnage Saturday for the Big Ten last week, with Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State all losing in primetime showcase games whilst other teams were embarrassed by smaller schools.
Simply put, the conference needs wins, and whilst there’s a few opportunities for wins, teams like Purdue (vs. Notre Dame), Minnesota (vs. Texas Christian), Illinois (vs. Washington) and Maryland (vs. West Virginia) are going to be hard up against it. This is fast becoming a season from hell for the Big Ten and we’re only into the third week. At least the conference opener between Rutgers and Penn State guarantees at win for a Big Ten squad.
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