Week 2 wrapup: A look at key action from the 2nd Saturday of the season
Here’s a wrapup of the key action from Week 2 of the 2021 season.
Stanford upsets USC
A week after Stanford was drubbed 24-7 by Kansas State, the visiting Cardinal thrashed No. 15 USC 42-28. Stanford led 42-13 six minutes into the fourth quarter before the Trojans scored twice in garbage time.
USC coach Clay Helton is perpetually on the hot seat, but Saturday night’s outcome will make his chair especially hot this week.
Tanner McKee made his first start at quarterback for Stanford and led the Cardinal to 379 total yards. McKee threw two TD passes in the first half, including one with six seconds left that gave the Cardinal a 21-10 halftime lead. USC kicked a field goal on its first possession of the second half, but Stanford scored three TDs in a 10-minute stretch covering the third and fourth quarters to blow it open.
Stanford cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly had a pick-six in the third quarter and three pass breakups as the Cardinal held USC quarterback Kedon Slovis to 223 passing yards.
Iowa defense rules the day
It appears there’s a football reason that Iowa is known as the Hawkeye State.
No. 10 Iowa won its sixth in a row in its series with archrival Iowa State, beating the ninth-ranked Cyclones 27-17 in a game that wasn’t really that close. The game was seen as the biggest in the history of the rivalry — this was the 68th meeting — and the home crowd went home disappointed.
Iowa managed just 11 first downs and 173 total yards. Yet it was more than enough. The Hawkeyes forced four turnovers and turned them into 20 points, including a fumble return for a TD by middle linebacker Jack Campbell. That return gave the Hawkeyes a 21-10 lead with a bit more than five minutes left in the third quarter and basically ended any doubt about the outcome. It was the third Iowa defensive TD in its first two games.
Iowa scored four times on offense: two TDs and two field goals. The Hawkeyes had a combined 130 total yards on those scoring drives.
Cyclones quarterback Brock Purdy threw three interceptions, completed fewer than half his passes and was benched at the third of the fourth quarter.
Iowa dominated for much of the first half, but the Cyclones had a last-minute TD drive to cut the lead to 14-10 at halftime. But the Cyclones’ first five second-half drives went punt, punt, fumble, interception and interception.
BYU ends streak against Utah
All in all, it was a pretty good weekend for BYU: On Friday, the Cougars officially joined the Big 12, and Saturday night, the Cougars snapped a nine-game losing streak to their archrival by beating No. 21 Utah 26-17.
BYU hadn’t beaten Utah in the “Holy War” rivalry since 2009, and it led to a rushing of the field by Cougars fans.
Jaren Hall threw three TD passes for BYU, which rolled up 231 rushing yards in outmuscling a physical Utes defense. Hall added 92 rushing yards, and running back Tyson Allgeier had 109 on 27 carries.
One of Hall’s TD passes went to Samson Nacua, a Utah transfer who had a TD reception for the Utes against BYU in 2018.
Hogs rumble past Longhorns
Host Arkansas got its rushing attack cranked up and rolled over No. 21 Texas 40-21. The Hogs rushed for 333 yards and four TDs.
Arkansas’ defense was dominant in the first half, which ended with the Hogs up 16-0. While Texas scored on its opening possession of the second half, Arkansas answered with a TD and never truly was challenged again.
The Longhorns had six possessions in the first half, including four three-and-outs. Texas had 78 yards of offense and three first downs in the first two quarters. Star running back Bijan Robinson finished with 69 yards on 19 carries, and 20 came on one run. New starting quarterback Hudson Card struggled as well, going 8-of-15 for 61 yards.
Arkansas linebackers Hudson Henry and Grant Morgan combined for 28 tackles and five tackles for loss. Arkansas had 11 tackles for loss as a team.
Florida State loses for first time to FCS school
Six days after a good showing in an overtime loss to Notre Dame, host Florida State fell to FCS member Jacksonville State on a 59-yard TD pass on the final play of the game. The Seminoles had been 24-0 in its history against FCS opponents.
Rather than playing in a deep prevent to stop a last-play TD, Florida State instead played a base look with a four-man rush. Wide receiver Damond Philyaw-Johnson ran past cornerback Jarvis Brownlee to haul in a nicely thrown pass by Zerrick Cooper at about the 18, then escaped tackle attempts from Brownlee and nickel back Sidney Williams to score the game-winner. Philyaw-Johnson is from Pensacola, Fla., and a Duke transfer.
It was the second TD pass of the night for Cooper, who began his career at Clemson. Jacksonville State opened its season last week with a 31-0 loss to UAB.
Jacksonville State scored two TDs in the final 10 minutes. The first scoring drive covered 97 yards and began after FSU failed on a fourth-and goal pass from the 3.
Florida cruises but …
One week before Alabama heads to Gainesville, No. 13 Florida looks to have a quarterback controversy on its hands. And if it’s not a “controversy,” it’s certainly a situation.
Florida rolled to a 42-20 win at USF on Saturday and the outcome never truly was in doubt. The Gators led 35-3 at halftime and coasted from there. But one reason Florida coasted in the second half instead of truly blowing out the Bulls is that starting quarterback Emory Jones made some mistakes. The mistakes didn’t matter against the outmanned Bulls; they will matter against the likes of Alabama and Georgia and, really, anyone on the Gators’ SEC schedule not named Vanderbilt.
And while Jones was making mistakes, backup quarterback Anthony Richardson for the second week in a row was wowing fans with big plays — huge plays, actually. Richardson, who is from Gainesville’s Eastside High, wears No. 15 and, like the most famous Gator to wear that jersey, he’s a big, athletic guy at quarterback. But his upside as a passer is better than Tim Tebow’s ever was, and he has a knack for big plays.
Richardson threw only three passes, but they went for 152 yards and two TDs. He threw a 75-yard scoring pass to Jacob Copeland on his first play of the game — the first play of Florida’s third possession — and also threw a 41-yarder to Copeland early in the second period for a 28-3 lead.
Richardson rushed four times for 115 yards, including an 80-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter that completed the scoring for Florida; he tweaked his hamstring near the end of the run and didn’t play after that. Last week, he scored on a 73-yard run against FAU.
Jones, meanwhile, did some good things, too; he threw a perfect 35-yard touchdown pass to Xzavier Henderson and also scored on a 33-yard keeper, both in the second quarter. But he threw two bad interceptions on Florida’s first two drives of the second half — bad in that he waited too long on both throws and missed seeing an obvious defender. He also made what looked to be a bad read on a fourth-down pass from USF’s 1 in the fourth quarter, throwing to a well-covered Nick Elksnis in the back of the end zone.
Jones is a fourth-year junior who has patiently waited his turn, and coach Dan Mullen has been steadfast in his praise of Jones. But while Richardson is in just his second season (and his first season was truncated), his athleticism and big-play ability might force Mullen’s hand — which would mean it’s back to being the backup for Jones.
Texas A&M squeaks past Colorado
Texas A&M’s offense didn’t do much; the Aggies’ defense was stifling. That was enough for No. 5 A&M to escape with a 10-7 win over Colorado in Denver.
Eight of A&M’s first nine possessions went three-and-out.
A&M lost starting quarterback Haynes King to a leg injury in the first quarter, and backup Zach Calzada did just enough for the Aggies to extend their winning streak to 10; that’s the second-longest in the nation, behind Alabama.
Colorado led 7-3 at halftime but managed just one first down in the second half. The Buffs’ defense played well, too, before allowing an 18-yard TD pass from Calzada to running back Isaiah Spiller with 2:41 left.
Calzada finished 18-of-38 for 183 yards.
Notre Dame escapes big upset
Host Notre Dame scored with 1:09 left to cap off a three-play, 75-yard drive that took 26 seconds to fend off Toledo 32-29.
The Rockets, one of the favorites to win the MAC, had taken a 29-24 lead with 1:35 left on a 26-yard run by Dequan Finn. That score came after the Irish’s Kyren Williams had fumbled at Toledo’s 27 with the Irish driving to put the game away. Instead, for the second week in a row, No. 8 Notre Dame needed some late-game magic. Last weekend, the Irish won in overtime at Florida State.
On the game-winning drive, Jack Coan completed passes of 34 yards to Kevin Austin, 6 yards to Michael Mayer and 18 yards to Mayer for the score. The Irish also benefited from two penalties: a holding call on Toledo linebacker Jamal Hines and a pass interference call on Rockets linebacker Dyontae Johnson. In addition, the Irish declined an interference call on Austin’s catch.
Williams’ fumble was one of three Notre Dame turnovers.
The win was the Irish’s 25th in a row at home, extending the longest such streak in school history.
Others of note in Week 2
+ Michigan pounded Washington 31-10 to send the Huskies, who opened the season ranked 20th, to an 0-2 start for the first time since 2008 — when the Huskies finished 0-12. A fake punt in the second quarter jump-started Michigan’s offense, and from there, the Wolverines mashed the Huskies. Blake Corum ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns, and fellow tailback Hassan Haskins had 155 yards and a score. Washington scored just seven points in last week’s loss to Montana, and the Huskies didn’t score against the Wolverines until a field goal late in the third quarter. Washington’s first play from scrimmage was a harbinger: The Huskies were called for delay of game.
+ One week after Kentucky threw the ball all over the field, the host Wildcats went heavy with the run to beat Missouri 35-28 in a big SEC East game. Chris Rodriguez rushed 27 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns and also caught a TD pass to lead the Wildcats to the win; his four touchdowns tied a school single-game record. In last week’s rout of ULM, UK passed for 419 yards and ran for 145; against Mizzou, the Wildcats rushed for 341 and passed for 179.
+ Memphis outdueled Arkansas State 55-50 in an absolute offensive smorgasbord. The teams combined for: 14 touchdowns, 10 TD passes, 1,361 total yards, 1,001 passing yards, 168 plays and — incredibly — 12 punts. Arkansas State had 681 total yards, Memphis had 680. Memphis true freshman quarterback Sean Henigan threw for 417 yards (on 22 completions, which is 18.95 yards per completion) and five TDs. Wide receiver Calvin Austin III had six catches for 239 yards (39.8 yards per catch) and three TDs. Tight end Sean Dykes had nine receptions for 143 yards and two scores. And running back Brandon Thomas had 18 rushes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. As for Arkansas State’s individual stars, the Red Wolves had two quarterbacks throw for 276 yards. Layne Hatcher threw for 276 yards and a TD, and Florida State transfer James Blackman threw for 398 yards and four scores. Wide receiver Te’Vailance Hunt had nine catches for 123 yards and a TD, and fellow wideout Jeff Foreman had eight receptions for 198 yards and a score. Also of note: While there were no interceptions, the teams combined for 15 pass breakups.
+ Parker White kicked a 36-yard field goal on the final play of the game as South Carolina rallied past host East Carolina 20-17. White kicked two field goals in the final seven minutes to lift the Gamecocks, who trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter. Zeb Noland, who began preseason camp as a grad assistant coach, made his second start for the Gamecocks and guided the winning drive; South Carolina went 54 yards in 10 plays and 4:54 for the game-winning kick.
+ Pitt rode a 27-point second quarter to a 41-34 win at Tennessee. For the second week in a row, the Vols got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter; the TD was set up by a blocked punt. But Pitt’s Kenny Pickett threw a TD pass on the first play of the second quarter, and by the time the period ended, the Panthers led 27-20 and never were headed.
+ Brennan Armstrong threw for 405 yards and five TDs as host Virginia demolished Illinois 42-14. The yardage total is third-most in school history and the five TDs is tied for second-most. Armstrong threw a TD pass in each quarter for the Cavs, who play at North Carolina next week in what has become an important ACC game because of the Heels’ opening-game loss to conference foe Virginia Tech.
+ Host Army built a 35-14 lead, then held off a furious fourth-quarter rally to edge Western Kentucky 38-35. Army had 73 plays from scrimmage and ran on 67 of them; the Hilltoppers had 59 plays from scrimmage and threw on 40 of them. Army rushed for 339 yards, while Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe threw for 435 and three TDs. There was just one punt, by the Hilltoppers. In two games, Zappe — a transfer from FCS member Houston Baptist — has thrown for 859 yards, 10 touchdowns and two picks.
+ Baylor had three players rush for 100 yards in a 66-7 demolition of FCS member Texas Southern. The Bears rushed for 419 yards and five TDs. Abram Smith (126), Trestan Ebner (125) and Taye McWilliams (102) each rushed the century mark for the Bears, who finished with 714 total yards and did not punt.