Welcome back to VIBE CHECK, the post where we monitor and assess the weekly pulse of college football. Each week, we’ll grade a handful of teams based on their on-field performance, off-field shenanigans (good and bad!), message board chatter, and more. This is very (read: not at all) scientific and should be taken very (read: not at all) seriously.
Week 2 of this college football season generally feels like a lull after the excitement of the opening week. This seemed especially likely to be the case after Week 1 had so many fun games and exciting finishes.
Well, Week 2 raised the bar. Let’s get to the vibes.
You Love to See It: Kansas?!?!
Don’t look now, but the Kansas Jayhawks are 2-0. This is the first time since 2011 that KU has started with two wins, and the first time they have started Big 12 play with a win since 2009. Lance Leipold’s squad has scored at least 55 points in both games (although it took an OT period to get there against West Virginia). Their 55.5 points per game on offense is the best in the nation. Kansas! Football!
Week 2’s win over WVU was chaotic to say the least. The Jayhawks trailed by two touchdowns a couple times in the first half, but went into the break behind 28-21. The start of the second half was all Kansas, eventually building a 42-31 advantage in the fourth. West Virginia impressively scored eight points in the final four minutes of the game to force OT.
Jalon Daniels (18-for-29, 219 yards, 3 TDs) found Quentin Skinner to take the early lead in the extra stanza, and then Cobee Bryant did this to seal the deal:
And here’s the call from @BHanni in all of its glory 🎙
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!pic.twitter.com/JXlFIf1Nvz
— Kansas Jayhawks (@KUAthletics) September 11, 2022
Kansas will have a stiff test this week with Houston on the road, but Jayhawk fans are loving what they’re seeing right now.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: West Virginia
You know all that super fun and exciting stuff I just said about Kansas? Well, take the opposite and apply it to the Mountaineers. WVU is 0-2 in 2022 with the aforementioned loss to the Jayhawks and a loss in the Backyard Brawl to Pitt by a touchdown.
WVU hasn’t started a season 0-2 since 1979.
The Neal Brown tenure has not been overly kind to WVU fans, and they’re letting folks know about it.
West Virginia has not been ranked for a single week of Neal Brown's tenure.
I think my WVU football expectations are lower than the average person in the fanbase but West Virginia should be ranked at some point in a four year period.
— The Smoking Musket (@smokingmusket) September 11, 2022
Neal Brown's signature win? He's only beaten 4 FBS teams who finished the season with a winning record.
19: K State (8-5)
20: TCU (6-4), Army (9-3)
21: Iowa State (7-6)— Joel (@WVStatsGuy) September 13, 2022
You Love to See It: Sun Belt, Fun Belt
If you’re going to play a Sun Belt team this season, prepare for a battle. The Sun Belt is responsible for two of the biggest wins over ranked teams this season, and they both came in Week 2 as Marshall knocked off No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend and Appalachian State went into College Station and took out No. 6 Texas A&M.
Don’t forget about Old Dominion, either. The Monarchs picked up a season-opening win over Virginia Tech, once again toppling the Hokies (like they did in 2018). ODU will have another chance to bolster the Sun Belt’s resume this weekend as they head into Charlottesville to face a Virginia team that is coming off an egregious offensive performance in a 24-3 loss at Illinois.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Alabama
Look, the Crimson Tide got the win on the road at Texas on Saturday, but for (then-) No. 1 Alabama and their fans, that’s definitely not good enough. Bama was a 21-point favorite against the Longhorns, and Texas’ star QB Quinn Ewers had to leave the game early with an injury. Backup QB Hudson Card hung in there, especially after sustaining his own injury that had him hobbling around for the second half.
With a missed short field goal to end the first half and an apparent safety taken off the board, one could argue Texas snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Regardless, Bryce Young showed why he’s the reigning Heisman Trophy winner with his game-winning drive.
Still, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was unhappy with things and his press conference Wednesday showed some of that frustration in a mini-rant. From the Tuscaloosa News:
“What does what you’re favored in a game mean when you’re favored by 20 points and you lose? Like two teams did this week? What does it mean? It means the people favoring you don’t know what you’re talking about, or the players playing got affected by that. Neither one of them are good.”
Expect the Tide to be ready to roll against UL Monroe on Saturday.
You Love to See It: Ole Miss On A Stick!
Ole Miss is 2-0 to start the season, but that’s not really what I want to talk about. I want to talk about this incredible Week 2 uniform reveal that included one of Mississippi’s hidden gems: gas-station fried chicken — and not just any gas-station fried chicken, but Oxford’s famous late-night Chevron delicacy: Chicken-on-a-Stick. It’s perfect and perfectly captures the vibes. You truly love to see it.
Week 2⃣ Threads 🧵#DripInTheSip | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/LMpBUmrOWK
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 9, 2022
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Notre Dame and Texas A&M
Sheesh. It was not a great week across the board for top-10 teams, but it was really not a good week for the Fighting Irish and the Aggies. Notre Dame had a pretty solid showing in Week 1 against a very good Ohio State team, but Week 2 was disappointing, to say the very least.
The Irish are now 0-3 in the Marcus Freeman era (they lost last year’s Fiesta Bowl by two in his debut), and things don’t look to be getting any easier with Cal, North Carolina, and No. 12 BYU in their next three.
Whereas you have a bit of an excuse with Freeman just getting started at Notre Dame, the same cannot be said for Jimbo Fisher at A&M. It’s Fisher’s fifth season at the helm, and — according to a stat used by The Athletic — the Aggies have more five-star players (8) in its 2022 class than App State has top-1,000 players (6) in the last four years.
If the performance on the field wasn’t enough, Texas A&M stayed in the news cycle after the pre-App State Midnight Yell video made the rounds and then was subsequently taken down.
Don’t worry, Texas A&M. At least you’ll have a chance to rebound against *checks notes* No. 13 Miami.
