While most students dread coming back to school for a new year, there is a silver lining — college football. If the first two weeks of the new season are any sign of things to come, then this season is going to be full of upsets, comebacks and Hail Marys.
The first game of the year included the ninth ranked Tennessee Volunteers and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) sacrificial lambs, the Appalachian State Mountaineers, whom some may remember beat Michigan in the 2007 season opener. That marked the last time the Mountaineers beat an Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team, but that did not stop them from giving Tennessee a scare.
Even on their home turf in Knoxville, Tenn., the Volunteers were down 13-3 at halftime. Luckily, a fourth quarter touchdown for the Volunteers sent the game into overtime. On Tennessee’s first overtime drive, quarterback Joshua Dobbs dove for the goal line but came up short and lost the ball on his way down. Thanks to a lucky bounce, the ball flew into the end zone and was recovered by Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd for the eventual game winning score.
As the week went on, there were some notable upsets including fifth ranked Louisiana State University losing 16-14 to the surprisingly strong Wisconsin Badgers. Texas A&M managed to put an offseason of transfers and distractions behind them, pulling off the upset at home against 16th ranked University of California Los Angeles.
The best game of the week, however, and what could end up being the best game of the year, was that of the unranked Texas Longhorns against the tenth ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Austin, Texas. The game was close throughout, but things really went from good to great when Texas lined up to kick an extra point after scoring a touchdown that put them up 37-35.
Just as the play clock expired, Texas managed to get the snap off. The hold was good, but the Fighting Irish blocked a low kick. Thanks to some lucky positioning, it bounced straight into the hands of Notre Dame’s Shaun Crawford, who returned it the length of the field for the rare defensive point after touchdown (PAT) conversion. This granted the Irish two points to tie the game at 37, a score which would ultimately stand for the rest of regulation.
The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, but the Texas defense made a stand in the second down to force a field goal out of Notre Dame. When Texas got the ball, they quickly moved down to the six-yard line. During the second down, quarterback Tyrone Swoopes kept the ball, propelling himself into the end zone and the Longhorns back into the playoff picture.
Out of the four Top 25 matchups in week one, the game to watch was #4 Florida State (FSU) against #11 Ole Miss. It was a true tale of two halves, with Ole Miss dominating the first half, turning Florida State’s mistakes into opportunities and jumping out to a big lead. Things turned around for the FSU Seminoles in the third quarter with FSU outscoring Ole Miss 23-0. They would ride that momentum out to a 45-34 victory.
Although week two saw no matchups between top ranking teams, there was still excitement and controversy as is the norm with college football. This time the commotion came from the matchup between #22 Oklahoma State (OSU) and unranked bottom-feeder Central Michigan (CMU). Fans witnessed one of the craziest endings of a college football game in recent memory as Central Michigan pulled off the huge upset 30-27, with a little help from the referees.
With four seconds left in the game, OSU was winning 24-27 and had the ball on fourth down. In order to run out the clock, they snapped the ball to their quarterback, who threw a pass high and deep into the stands. The ball stayed in the air long enough for the game clock to run out, so the OSU Cowboys figured the game was over and the intentional grounding penalty would be void. To their surprise, the referees mistakenly gave Central Michigan one untimed play from their own 49, and the CMU Chippewas took advantage.
On one final Hail Mary, CMU quarterback Cooper Rush chucked the pass down the field into the waiting arms of his teammate Jesse Kroll, five yards short of the end zone. Knowing he was not in yet, he tossed the ball back to teammate Corey Willis while being tackled, and Willis won the footrace to the end zone to give CMU an unbelievable victory.
The first two weeks of college football were no disappointment. If the electricity on the field keeps up, fans are in for another great year of football.
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