ACC & Big 12 Week 2 Recap: Hurricane Irma Impact, Sooners Roll and Lamar Jackson Impresses…Again
Standings and Results
ACC
Big 12
AP Top 10
1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Clemson
4. USC
5. Penn State
6. Washington
7. Michigan
8. Ohio State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Wisconsin
Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida over the weekend and caused significant damage throughout the state. At this point, the death toll from the storm, which which hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4, stands at 11. Additionally, millions are still without power, and many are also without running water.
For anyone looking to help those impacted by Hurricane Irma, there are many charity organizations that are currently responding to areas affected by the storm. A list of several relief organizations, along with a description of each, can be found here.
As a result of Irma, public schools and state universities in Florida were also forced to cancel both classes and athletic events over the past several days. Below is a list of the FBS-level football games that have been affected by Irma thus far:
Week 2*
Memphis at UCF**
Louisiana Monroe at Florida State
Miami at Arkansas State
South Florida at Connecticut
Northern Colorado at Florida
Week 3
Miami at Florida State (moved to Saturday, Oct. 7)
FIU at Indiana
Georgia Tech at UCF
* FAU played its road game against Wisconsin on Saturday, falling 31-14 to the Badgers at Camp Randall. The team, which has practiced in Madison all week, is scheduled to fly back to Boca Raton on Wednesday and expects to play its Saturday game against Bethune-Cookman as scheduled. FIU, meanwhile, moved Saturday’s scheduled home game against Alcorn State to Birmingham, where the Panthers beat the Braves 17-10 at Legion Field. FIU also expects to return to South Florida on Wednesday, but Saturday’s game at Indiana has been canceled.
** Originally, UCF’s game against Memphis was moved from Saturday to Friday, however, the game was canceled early Friday morning out of an abundance of caution. Due to the last minute nature of the announcement, Memphis had already flown in and landed before turning around and flying directly back home. A slower trek saw the Memphis equipment truck drive 821 miles to Orlando and unload everything only to have to reload and drive 821 miles back up to Memphis without the game being played. UCF’s Week 3 home game against Georgia Tech has also been canceled, in part because the Knights’ stadium is being used as a staging area for the National Guard.
Boomer Sooner!
In a highly-anticipated rematch of last year’s Ohio State win over Oklahoma in Norman, the Sooners responded with a road stunner of their own, storming into Columbus and leaving 31-16 victors.
College GameDay was on site for the Top-5 meeting and Lee Corso put his 2-0 headgear record on the line.
Corso goes with the Buckeyes! pic.twitter.com/l8ZrnppIVw
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 9, 2017
Entering the game, Ohio State had lost only two home tilts since Urban Meyer became head coach in 2012, tied for the fewest in the nation over that time. Baker Mayfield didn’t let that stop him, as he passed for 386 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
After the game he wasn’t finished. The quarterback skipped the victory dance he showed us prior to our game in 2014 and went and delivered the knockout blow in the middle of the field. (He later apologized.)
Baker Mayfield just did that. pic.twitter.com/Qo2Aw1pPE8
— ESPN (@espn) September 10, 2017
Tigers vs. Tigers
Clemson and Auburn met in a non-conference battle for the second season in a row. After a closely-fought defensive battle last year saw Clemson held to its lowest point total on the season, it was no surprise that this past weekend’s matchup was much of the same.
Without last year’s national championship offensive MVP and eventual NFL first round draft pick Deshaun Watson under center, Clemson relied on junior quarterback Kelly Bryant and its stout defense to secure their 14-6 victory over Auburn. Bryant threw for 181 yards in the win, but most of his damage came on the ground, where he totaled 59 rushing yards and two scores.
Arguably the best moment of the game came shortly before kickoff when Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was running onto the field. Before he could get over to his sidelines he was stopped by a special guest of his, Jake Pratt. Pratt, who has down syndrome, scored a touchdown in his high school’s preseason game last month and the video eventually went viral. Swinney caught wind of it and invited him to a game.
Check out how their first meeting went down:
Pretty cool stuff! @ClemsonFB #DaboSwinney invited @VHHSRebels football star Jake Pratt to the #AuburnvsClemson game! @WBRCnews pic.twitter.com/dlRSQXYwB9
— ChristinaWBRC (@ChristinaWBRC) September 9, 2017
Mountaineer vs. Marine
West Virginia squared off against East Carolina and they scored… a lot! So much so, that the West Virginia Mountaineer was struggling to complete his push ups following their final touchdown of the game. The push ups got done, however, as the Mountaineer had some help from a Marine pal, who got through his set with relative ease.
to be fair exercise is hard pic.twitter.com/qcj4QlUsqP
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 9, 2017
Lamar Jackson = Good at Football
The defending Heisman winner has taken some heat after a slow end to his season and rough go in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl last season, but doubters be warned: Lamar Jackson is not going away so easily. After a 485-yard performance against Purdue last week, the junior quarterback compiled 525 yards of total offense, six touchdowns (three passing and three rushing) and zero turnovers against North Carolina
Lamar Jackson: not of this world pic.twitter.com/qu1O2yrQjY
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 9, 2017
If Jackson’s early-season numbers seem historic, it’s because they are. In fact, through two wins over Power 5 opponents away from home to open the season, he’s totaled 1,010 yards of offense, good enough for third-most in a player’s first two team games since 2000. And one of the players he trails is himself.
Lamar Jackson has 2 of the 3 seasons since 2000 in which a player accounted for 1,000 yards of offense through his team’s first 2 games. pic.twitter.com/O8v9Uht7Mq
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 9, 2017
Play of the Week
NC State’s Jaylen Samuels tips the ball a couple times before making an incredible grab along the sidelines against Marshall.
Now that’s just impressive. #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/LDoE1smO8y
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 10, 2017
Tweet of the Week
There was a short feature on College GameDay this week about walk-ons receiving scholarships. Sure, we’re a bowl game that brings one team glory and sends another home packing each year, but doggonit, we get the feels too and this video gave us all of them.
When college football teams award full scholarships to walk-ons, it’s always a special moment. https://t.co/CK7oKT8nCE
— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) September 9, 2017