WEEK 2

Trailing 23-3. 2:14 to go in the 3rd quarter. 4th and 9 from their own 42. These were the ashes from which the Longhorns arose.

Arch Manning had looked like shit. His receivers looked even worse. Then, as the 4th quarter began, touchdown Texas. Touchdown Texas. Missed Buckeye field goal. Touchdown Texas. 

Texas 24. Ohio State 23.

And just to make sure nobody accidentally remembered it as anything other than an epic collapse, Julian Sayin threw an interception to end it.

It was the largest fourth quarter comeback ever against a #1 team in the country. Ever.

And Michigan beat #11 Oklahoma after their loss to a MAC school in Week 1. 

College football. I’ll tell ya.

The carnage wasn’t limited to Austin.

Last year, Oregon beat Oklahoma State 69-3. Entering Saturday, Oklahoma State had lost 21 straight games against FBS opponents. Yes, I’ll write it again: TWENTY-ONE STRAIGHT LOSSES TO FBS PROGRAMS. Dan Lanning on the other hand was 35-0 against unranked teams. 

Final score: Oklahoma State 39. #6 Oregon 31.

Ducking crazy.

And one could argue those weren't even the strangest things that happened.

Akron let a random fan call its offense.

Marty Whims II, a 46-year-old CFO and season-ticket holder, won an Arby's promotion to serve as “Offensive Coordinator of the Game.” He helped script the opening possession and called the plays. It ended up being four to be exact. For a total of 23 yards. And a fumble. Tough career for Coach Marty. Still better than Ryan Day on Saturday.

Then there's Chicago State, which didn't have a football team until approximately five minutes ago. The Cougars picked up the first win in program history Saturday by beating Kentucky Christian 78-7. Amen.

As for the rest of the OTC slate, Wake Forest survived Purdue 38-36 in double overtime, needing a reviewed 4th-and-15 conversion before scoring the tying touchdown and winning two-point conversion.

USF trailed Army 24-14 with five minutes left before scoring twice, including the winner on 4th and 6, to stun the Black Knights 28-24.

Mississippi State rolled the Gophers 38-13. 13 also happened to be the same number of rushing yards Minnesota had. Adrian Peterson is rolling in his grave (Note: he’s not dead).

Pitt downed UCF 12-7 in a steady downpour. Cal walked into Syracuse and won 21-18 despite being outgained 436-247. Syracuse committed 15 penalties for 134 yards and threw three interceptions. Duke upset the Illini 31-27. Boise State spotted Memphis a 17-3 lead and then scored 32 of the final 35 points to win 38-20. And North Dakota State beat Air Force 38-32, jumping ahead 35-13 before the Falcons made it interesting with 19 fourth-quarter points.

North Dakota State just might be my darling this season. Stay tuned.

In OTC, we’re two weeks in, and we officially have our first triple-digit degenerate. PickleRicks RicklePicks stands alone atop OTC with exactly 100 points and a name that inexplicably makes me giggle. Rylaw247 sits second with 91, while WahooWa rounds out the podium at 88.

Then there's John Cochtosin, who scored a mind-numbingly pathetic 13 points this week. You almost have to try.

And somehow, the honor of league stinker belongs to Diamond Dave's 1st Entry, sitting dead last with 50 points, exactly half as competent as our leader.

Week Three awaits, friends. Study up. 

               
                     VEGAS

#11 Oklahoma (-4.5) @ #16 Michigan

Wake Forest (-2.5) @ Purdue

USF @ Army (-3.5)

Mississippi State (-1.5) @ Minnesota

UCF @ Pitt (-7.5)

Cal @ Syracuse (-3.5)

Duke @ Illinois (-5.5)

Memphis @ Boise State (-9.5)

#1 Ohio State @ #4 Texas (-1.5)

NDSU (-2.5) @ Air Force

WEEK 1

Give us a second....

Helmets flying. Headsets thrown. Broncos players sprinting onto the field, pointing to the heavens in celebratory gratitude.

The clock read 0:00.

Western Michigan 12. Michigan 7.

WMU had become Appalachian State 2.0.. They’d walked into the Big House as 27.5-point underdogs and beaten mighty Michigan, spoiling Coach Whittingham’s big debut. The kind of glorious, inexplicable upset that makes college football college football.

Week One is awesome.

Or at least, that’s how anyone who doesn’t piss maize and blue wishes their Saturday night ended. We all know what came next. We all bore witness to the biggest favorite in college football history to celebrate a win with a field storming. 

Sigh. An offseason of off-field controversy yielded to on-field controversy of a different stripe. At least it was nice to finally have the lawyers back where they belong: out of the headlines and in the suites. Progress. Unless you’re a MAC fan, in which case you better be hoping your commissioner is planning to Al Gore the Supreme Court while hoping for a better outcome.

Saturday offered a glimpse into what the season may hold. Lane Kiffin, coach of Tennessee, USC, Alabama, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss, LSU, sure seemed to be ready to geaux, debuting his Tigers with a 51-10 annihilation of Clemson, holding those other Tigers to a mere 145 yards of production. Woof Dabo. Worst loss of his tenure at Clemson.

Chaos continued in Tallahassee on Monday night, where a massive electrical failure delayed SMU and FSU by nearly two hours. The scoreboard didn’t work. The PA system didn’t work. Coach-to-player communication didn’t work. Sideline iPads didn’t work. Eventually they played football. That didn’t work for Florida State either. The only thing that failed harder than the infrastructure at Doak Campbell Stadium was the team playing inside it. SMU took the W 27-24.

In other OTC-relevant games, Auburn stopped a BOLD Baylor team inches short on a game-winning two-point conversion attempt. Ole Miss drilled a 48-yard field goal as time expired to stave off a sneaky tough Louisville team. Duke overcame a 90-minute weather delay and a decimated Tulane team. Cincinnati handled BC. Colorado State won comfortably by nearly 7x their spread. UNLV beat Hawaii and got the hell out before an impending hurricane. UCLA scored 21 unanswered after a 24-24 start. And Nevada dominated a favored Hilltoppers squad, beating Western Kentucky 49-14. 

Nothing like putting your confidence points on a favorite and watching them lose by five touchdowns.

Welcome back, Pick 'Em.

And welcome to the record-setting 35 entries competing for the One Tru Champ crown this year. Three of you came to play, emerging from Week One with 9-1 records and 54 points: Jonathan's 1st Entry (original name, dude), 404NoPointsFound (way to upend your namesake) and David's USA (tell that to Donald).

At the opposite end sits Juan's 1st Entry, whose 24 points earned our first Stinker of the Week and sole possession of dead last. It takes talent to suck that bad.

Thirty-five entries. Three tied at the top. One standing alone at the bottom.

And somewhere in Ann Arbor, Michigan fans are probably still celebrating the greatest upset of Western Michigan in Michigan history.

College football is back baby!!!

                 VEGAS

Tulane @ Duke (-7.5)

Boston College @ Cincinnati (-7.5)

Baylor @ Auburn (-7.5)

Wyoming @ Colorado State (-3.5)

Clemson @ #11 LSU (-10.5)

UNLV (-3.5) @ Hawaii

Western Kentucky (-1.5) @ Nevada

UCLA (-2.5) @ California

#24 Louisville @ #9 Ole Miss (-6.5)

#19 SMU (-2.5) @ Florida State

WEEK ZERO

ALL WEEK ZERO GAMES:

🍀UNC Vs. TCU(-9)                                        15-10

    San José State Vs. #12 USC(-38)               26-42

    NC State Vs. Virginia(-4)                               8-34

    JAX State Vs. North Dakota St.(-6.5)  7-33

    Sacramento St. Vs East Michigan(-9.5)  17-28

    Hawaii Vs. Stanford(-4)  27-37

    New Mexico State Vs. Florida State(-31.5)   17-31

    Memphis Vs. UNLV(-4.5)   27-21

NOTABLE THURSDAY GAMES: 

         Colorado @ Georgia Tech(-6.5)

         UAB @ Illinois(-28.5) 

NOTABLE FRIDAY GAMES:

        (-24.5)#7 Miami @ Stanford

        Fresno State @ #12 USC(-23.5)