The second weekend of the college football slate kicked off on Thursday with an intriguing match up between Arizona and Oklahoma State. Behind quarterback Brandon Weeden completing 42 of 53 passes and star wide receiver Justin Blackmon hauling in 12 catches for 128 yards and two scores, OSU proved to be too much in their 37-14 victory.
As Arizona State and Missouri took the field on Friday night, the crowd at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe had an early season upset in their minds. With the fans decked out in black, ASU made an impressive statement behind the superb play of quarterback Brock Osweiler and an outstanding display of poise by the defense after blowing an early 14-point lead. After scoring first in overtime, the defense held ground and the Sun Devils went on to pull off the 37-30 victory.
Saturday once again lived up to the hype, with several big-name schools avoiding major upsets. Virginia Tech was able to avert feisty East Carolina, Nebraska fought off an agressive Fresno State squad, and a struggling Texas team was able to narrowly defeat BYU.
The game of the week however, came on Saturday night in Ann Arbor. Playing under the lights for the first time in the history of The Big House, Michigan defeated Notre Dame in front of 114,000 people. Behind newly appointed starter Tommy Rees, Notre Dame held a seemingly comfortable 24-7 entering the fourth quarter. Stunningly, there were three touchdowns in the final 1:12, with Michigan pulling off the victory with just two seconds remaining when Roy Roundtree hauled in a 16-yard touchdown grab from Denard Robinson.
Biggest Surprise: The manner in which Nebraska struggled against Fresno State has to be the biggest surprise of the week. Taylor Martinez and the Cornhuskers have their eyes set on a Rose Bowl or even more, but in order for that to occur, a lot of adjustments have to be made by head coach Bo Pelini.
Biggest Disappointment: Is Notre Dame really 0-2? After being ranked 16th in the pre-season AP poll, many people were expecting the Fighting Irish to make a run at a BCS game. Even after last week’s devastating loss to South Florida, there would have been a lot of happy people in South Bend had the Irish been able to pull off the victory over Michigan. After head coach Brian Kelly made an adjustment earlier this week by naming quarterback Tommy Rees the starter over Dayne Crist, the Notre Dame faithful were expecting nothing short of a victory. Heading into the 4th quarter up 24-7 had to be extremely relieving for Notre Dame, but the defense collapsed late, and Michigan pulled off the stunner and won the game of the year thus far by a score of 35-31.
Offensive Player of the Week: Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas tied a school record with six touchdown passes as he helped the Ducks rebound from their week 1 loss against LSU by trouncing Nevada 69-20.
Defensive Player of the Week: SMU’s Ja’Gared Davis had a game for the ages. The junior linebacker from Texas recorded eight tackles, had 1.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and recovery in the end zone for the touchdown against UTEP in a 28-17 victory for Southern Methodist.
Play of the Week: Trailing 31-28 against Notre Dame with just eight ticks left, Denard Robinson hit Roy Roundtree with a 16-yard touchdown strike, leading Michigan to an improbable victory in Ann Arbor. Play of the Year?