Collegefootballfan.com Week 2 Steveo’s Salvos

We travel back to Annapolis this weekend for Navy’s American Athletic opener against the UConn Huskies (1-0). The Mids have won 11 straight at home since 2014. UConn defeated FCS Maine last Thursday as PK Bobby Puyols converted a 37-yard FG with eleven seconds remaining for the win. Like Navy, the Huskies are a run oriented team. QB Bryant Shirreff rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries and completed 16 passes for 162 yards. RB Ron Johnson gained 65 yards and scored two TDS. The Huskies ran 50 times for 200 yards. The UConn defense allowed the Maine Black Bears only 40 rushing yards on 19 carries. Will Worth will start at QB for Navy in Collegefootballfan.com Week 2 and replaces Tago Smith who was lost for the year with a knee injury suffered against Fordham. Interesting side note to this game: Shirreff and Navy NG Pat Forrestal both had grandfathers, John and Tom respectively, who played together on the 1957 Navy team that went 9-1-1 and defeated Rice in the Cotton Bowl, 20-7…. Granted the SEC was exposed last weekend opening up with a 6-6 record. However, Tennessee was a 20-13 winner over Appalachian State and favored to win the SEC East. Beware of the Mountaineers of ASU. They were always a perennial FCS power (of course, the win over Michigan). After an 11-2 season last year including an early loss to Clemson and a win in the Camellia Bowl, this program is going to make its mark in the FBS in the Sun Belt conference. We already have them on our schedule next season at their nearby foe, Wake Forest…Christian McCaffrey of Stanford gained 126 yards running, scored two TDs, caught seven passes for 40 yards, returned a kick for 28, and gained 16 on punt returns in the cardinal win over a good Kansas State program, 26-13. He’s the reason we plan to see The Cardinal play at Notre Dame and Cal this year.  We’ve also got Stanford among our Final Four…Michigan State got by FCS Furman, 28-13, getting new QB Tyler O’Connor a start under his belt. He completed 13 of 18 for 190 yards and three TDs. They skip Collegefootballfan.com Week 2 and wait to visit Notre Dame the week after…Alabama hosts a very competitive and confident Western Kentucky team that finished 12-2 a year ago and defeated Rice 46-14 in their opener last week. Then the Tide visits Ole Miss the following Saturday. The Rebels are probably their greatest challenge to the SEC West title this season despite their loss to Florida State on Monday night. USC hosts rebuilding Utah State before going to Stanford who’s owned the Trojans beating them four of the last five seasons. This two-week stretch will answer our question…Big Ten’s best wins among their 14-2 record on week one: Minnesota over Oregon State and Wisconsin over LSU…FCS Albany defeated Buffalo, 22-16. We will see the UB Bulls host Army, upset winner over Temple that we attended, in two weeks. We also penciled in Army vs. Air Force as a potential change on November 5…No surprise, DeShone Kizer was named starting QB for Notre Dame vs. Nevada this week. We called that. There was no way that two QB system was going to last for the Irish. It changed during the comeback led by Kizer despite the 50-47 double OT loss at Texas. We thought it would last a game or two, but it lasted only into the second half…You had to love the Texas’s play-calling in that game though. Frosh QB Shane Buechele’s arm gets the Horns down field and then they bring in 250-lb Tyrone Swoopes when the get inside the ten and put him in the shotgun to get a running start into the line. It’s going to take a big defensive line to stop him in that situation…AAC’s first week went 10-2. Biggest win of course, Houston 33-23 over Oklahoma. They’ll be joining the Big 12 in the future. We look forward to seeing them play at Navy on October 8. They beat the Mids a year ago, 52-31. The Brigade will be pumped for that. The Cougars will be the highest ranked visitor to play at Navy-Marine Corps in a long time…Penn State at Pitt this weekend during Collegefootballfan.com Week 2. Neither team showed everything in their respective wins over Kent State and FCS Villanova respectively. All the stops will be pulled out this Saturday for sure. The revival of this long, lost rivalry will hopefully be renewed to be played every year again…TCU, one of our choices to be among his year’s Final Four, struggled against FCS South Dakota State into the fourth before their 59-41win. And we always think of HC Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs as defense oriented…No. 14 Washington beat up Rutgers, 48-13. Long season ahead for RU. They get a reprieve against the Howard Bison this weekend, 52-13 loser to the other Big Ten team on their schedule, Maryland. We will see the Scarlet Knights at home against New Mexico (1-0) the following week. The Knights have probably notched that game as a “win” already. That means that they will lose. We call it “RU-tude”… Florida struggled to a 24-7 win over UMass leading only 10-7 heading into the final period, and Steve Spurrier was in the House! UMass?…Colorado over Colorado State in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, 44-7. QB Sefo Liufau went out last year when we saw CU lose to USC. He completed 23 of 33 for 318 yards and a TD. Go Buffs!…Hawaii travelled through what? Twelve time zones to get beat in Australia by Cal 51-31 in Australia and then by Michigan, 63-3, within eight days. There has to be a better way for the Rainbows…Best FCS Wins – Richmond 37-20 over Virginia; Albany 22-16 over Buffalo; Northern Iowa 25-20 over Iowa State; Eastern Washington over Washington State, 45-42…What a difference a coaching change can make. Dino Babers at Syracuse took over and QB Eric Dungey responded completing 34 of 40 for 355 yards and two TDs against FCS Colgate. Let’s see what happens this weekend when they play rising Louisville, who dumped Charlotte, a second-year FBS team, 70-14. We will see what happens…Best SEC losses: Wisconsin 16-14 over LSU; South Alabama 21-20 over Mississippi State; West Virginia 26-11 over Mizzou; Southern Miss 44-35 over Kentucky (Mike Stoops is a goner), and Florida State over Ole Miss, 45-34. We still have the Rebels in our Final Four winning the SEC which may not mean much this year…Enjoy Collegefootballfan.com week 2. We will also see Montclair State and FDU Florham open their seasons in a D-3 game this Friday night.