Week 2 Reactions: Ewers has swagger, Nebraska pummels Colorado and is Notre Dame in trouble?

Intro [Music] clock is ticking on a Saturday night which means one thing it is now time for the college football Power Hour I am Caroline Fenton that is Adam brenaman and he is Jason Fitz and we were treated to some true college football chaos today we had heavyweight versus heavyweight we had the the culture debate today with Colorado in Nebraska we got a lot of statement wins and some gritty upsets today in college football but let's start with the big game in the Texas vs. Michigan big house Texas goes into Michigan with a statement butt whipping over the Wolverines what would we learn Adam well Caroline I like that we're talking culture already in the first first minute of the podcast so I I forgot my sh class I forgot my shot class uh but I mean you just said it a statement win for Texas proving that they are clearcut one of the top few teams in college football I think it really showed us that that tier of Ohio State Georgia Texas maybe Alabama uh is in a class of their own at the top of college football and and I'll say this Quin ERS has solidified himself as the best quarterback in the country uh the national media has slept on him I'm guilty of it of of trying to find someone other than quins to be the best qu in the country but he proved that he is that guy the off platform throws the athleticism the ability to scramble there was a third down and seven play where he pump faked and showed the athleticism uh to to pick up the first down playing quarterback nowadays is is as much like playing shortstop as it is anything else being able to throw from different arm slots being able to throw off balance and Quin showed all of that today think about this the only quarterback in history to beat Alabama and Michigan in consecutive Seasons with the records that they had really impressive job and and Steve sarkeesian has recruited at a top three level for multiple years uh in that that depth is finally showing at Texas on the offensive line on the defensive line and they prove that they're one of the top teams in college football and I think they also showed depth in the Run game as well I mean last season you lose Jonathan Brooks their leading rusher last season to the NFL you lose CJ Baxter to an injury in the off season well that's fine because frankly Texas's Run game doesn't look like it's taken a hit whether it's Quinn yers running the rock himself whether it was true freshman Ryan Wingo with a massive touchdown run Jerick Gibson Jaden blue like they've got plenty of depth in the Run game so Texas's offense is so multip however they want to slice you and dice you in a hurt and opposing defense they can do it Quinn y obviously like you just stated but also in the Run game as well we saw that on full display in the big house I think we have to sort of recalibrate some of the Quinn conversation too because so much of it was biased by the fact that he transferred early in his career right and so he was one of the early guys to get some name image likeness money and then not work out where he was so everybody suddenly assigned something to him and and look you mentioned brenman being guilty of it I'm guilty of it as we were prepping for the NFL draft even after to the draft the real conversation was well there's not a great class coming up next year it doesn't look like any of these quarterbacks are that guy a year ago we were saying the same thing about you know the Jaden Daniels of the world and Quinn is taking that sort of meteor rise he's a Heisman favorite at this point he's got to be he looks like he's going to be the first draft of quarterback drafted or in that class era like there is this moment of an Awakening of what we're seeing and I think it comes with being with the coach that gets you being in an offense that you understand getting comfortable sort of getting comfortable in your own skin the Swagger of Quinn yers is the underreported part of this you could see it even as he walked to the sideline after some of those throws he's got the shimmy he's got the shake he's got the confidence that all comes from from the system that he's Ino yeah the the the shimmy as you call it is what stands out as well as just the just the Poise and the calmness he shows in the pocket and after these after in the big moments and in the tough moments um you know there's a a stat that that all these coaches track now on football the it's it's something like passes or complet after critical errors like when you make a mistake how do you come back and how do you bounce back from making mistakes he had a couple bad throws ear in that game and bounce back also I I was really impressed with the the second Drive of the game for Texas that first drive uh Texas scored the touchdown but called got got taken off the off the scoreboard due to the I believe it was a legal man downfield or holding or something and then didn't get any points that drive but how do you bounce back then they put that second drive together all the way down the field and Quin Ur showed that Poise show showed that confidence I think just him at quarterback gives that offense and that Texas program a sense of confidence and a sense of we are going to win in big moments and we can finish games out they didn't have the last couple years and think about to and Caroline and I talked about this earlier today climbing the pocket when the disruption was getting to him but then also squaring his hips as he's climbing the pocket to still make some of these throws it's incredible like just watching him rebalance his body to then fling the ball was incredible to me and we didn't see that last year like this is the moment where we have to understand that there's a development process for quarterbacks right we've seen what Sark is doing with them we've seen what Texas is doing with them but we see this this physical control from Quinn that wasn't there in the past and it's just an absolute Difference Maker in the way he delivers the football the accuracy he delivers it with the windows he can throw into I watch this text the team and you're right every single week this is what's going to happen we're going to learn who's a have and who's a have not and we found out you know today through this process obviously I think we already knew michigans have not but this is more proof positive that Texas is one of the absolute Elite teams in the country this year and I think we all kind of knew that going into the season that Texas was going to be very very good that we could all say with confidence Texas is very much so a college football playoff Contender the question was at least for me are they a national title Contender because in a 12 game playoff or 12 team playoff rather you can be a playoff Contender and not be a national title Contender with how much Texas lost this past off season they're two leading receivers and and their two defensive tackles that were two of the best D tackles in college football last year I thought okay well how quickly are you going to be able to fill those holes and make this team mesh well when you go into Michigan the reigning national champions house a place that they don't lose very often and you make a statement like that that proves to me that you very much so are a national title Contender and while I think that Texas is the story of this game Quinn yers is the story of Texas today I think there's still very much so a story involved here with Michigan and how much Michigan struggled how Texas controlled the lines of scrimmage not Michigan how Michigan's defensive line that was really you know their bread and butter last season got bullied by this Texas offensive line at least for a a good portion of this football game and I think too the offense is the biggest concern to me they cannot throw the football Michigan does not have the horses and does not have the offense to keep up with a lot of the best teams in the country Davis Warren I respect the hell out of his story and what he's overcome to get to this point but Davis Warren cannot throw the football further than five to eight yards down field if Donovan Edwards you thought was going to be kind of like the Saving Grace for this offense was limited to 40 yards rushing today so that's the concern for me moving forward for Michigan is who's scoring points for this team yeah I I was shocked to see how Michigan performed in this game I I thought they would come to play I thought this would be a close game you this was only a game for the first quarter and a half I mean it it was it was the game was over before it even got to halftime michig Michigan got ran off the field against Texas and they look like a completely different Michigan team than the one we've seen the last couple years in the Big 10 uh I I think what this game showed us is Michigan is outclassed by probably the top six seven teams in the Big 10 I mean Ohio State's better than Michigan Oregon Penn State USC Nebraska maybe Iowa maybe Washington I mean Michigan cannot move the ball on off and and I said it last week Michigan's quarterback situation is a complete mess and was mism mismanaged to the highest degree by shiron Moore I like shiron Moore he's a good coach he's going to be a great head coach at Michigan he completely boted the quarterback situation this offseason his biggest mistake was not going out and bringing in a transfer quarterback that can lead your program to wins not finding a guy who's won a lot of games that brings confidence to your program instead he put all his chips on in with Alex or and Davis Warren as you said at Caroline I respect Davis Davis Warren's story he's been through a lot in his career he is a good football player he should not be the starting quarterback at the reigning National Championship program that just not how it should be in college football and the fact that Alex orgy did not win that quarterback battle in training camp is alarming uh so they need to figure things out quickly in an arbor or it's going to be a long season in a very tough Big 10 conference quite frankly I was shocked at the Michigan team we saw today it's not just alarming that he didn't win the the job it's alarming that in now two straight weeks of struggles offensively they just haven't been willing to turn the page and I hear everything you're saying about more the head coach and we all like him as a human being but that's sort of changing the way we're covering this because most of the time when a coach is blowing it with the quarterback we immediately look at that Coach and say Gody doesn't know what he's doing he's in over his head he's out of control like he doesn't have the pulse of the program if you can't figure out your quarterback position we don't usually hand that as a media we don't usually handle that with tremendous great I feel like we're doing that because everybody likes more the story and everybody likes the stories of Michigan but this isn't about the story it's about the product on the field and the product on the field flat out sucked like there's no nice way to say this and if you can't figure out a better way to manage that quarterback room man it's going to get into a roar quickly because fans are not going to accept being bad for a long time you got to figure that out you got to figure it out now because it's going to be one of the benchmarks you're judged by as a head coach you get hired and fired in this sport because of that position I don't care if it's high school football or college football and surely the NFL if you cannot get that position figured out you're not going to last very long but Michigan is not the only big time program to be going through some quarterback woses that were especially on display today everybody pour one out for the entire city of Southbend Indiana and all of our Northern Illinois vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans out there Northern Illinois goes into Notre Dame and takes it 16 to 14 fths is the sky falling at Notre Dame no man the sky is yes absolutely everybody's going aptic everybody's lost their mind like my phone was blowing up with every Notre Dame fan I know except for Mike Go Jr who's ghosted me I don't know where Gojo is so I'm worried about him right now he went quiet he went dark he went dark like everybody else T me say the season's over everything's done I can't believe it like this is guys this is one of those moments though where I keep looking you talk about culture raise glass take a shot part of the culture of Notre Dame part of the culture of Marcus Freeman is losing games when you're a heavy favorite and you shouldn't and that's a problem that's a problem when you're not in a conference because you lost the wiggle room you're not in the ACC you can't turn around and say oh okay we lost three or four games it's not a big deal if you're Notre Dame this loss undid all of the good that came from a win last week and now all of a sudden as confident as we were a week ago that this was a playoff team I I'm equally confident now they don't have a path to the playoff because they're not conference and they blew a game they can't get past ad I'm like this feels like a a catastrophic loss for the pro for the program yeah in my mind mentally I I've kind of had to compartmentalize week one and week two for Notre Dame because I was so high on them after week one and thought that this was Notre Dame team that was a sore uh shoe in for the five season of the college football playoff uh and then they go out and look like a completely different program I mean guys I'll be honest I'm watching this Notre Dame dur the Illinois game I don't see a huge difference athletically on the the field between the two teams I don't see a Notre Dame athlete who was just blowing the doors off of Northern Illinois a middle of the road ma team I mean I I was I did not I did not see that on the field um the offense was lackluster I thought Mike denrock for as much as I've talked about on this show how good he's been as offens coordinator how he was at LSU a a bad plan against Northern Illinois put Riley Leonard in tough situations although Leonard did not play well himself either um special teams was abysmal two kicks two block kicks including the game field goal uh I think Marcus Freeman needs to be held accountable and you just said it Fitz I mean you can't show up like that in a game where you're supposed to win by 40 points uh it is unacceptable and it is definitely unacceptable at Notre Dame like without a doubt that is the place you cannot do it that Notre Dame was almost gifted an opportunity to go to the to go to the col football playoff this season with their schedule uh the way the way their their schedule lined up but the nice thing about football is you got to go do it out you got to go play it out every single week and Notre Dame did not show up but in Marcus Freeman's tenure we're talking about in his three years a loss to Marshall a loss to a three and9 Stanford team in a lost to Norther Illinois all at home I mean the the the seat the seat for Marcus Freeman is gonna get pretty hot pretty fast as these playoff hopes start to diminish a little bit I will say this though last comment on Notre Dame is that they're not completely out of the playoff if they were to win out and and and and have one loss nor Illinois but I mean when you show up and play like that against a team like Northern Illinois it does not give many people many hope around the around the program this is where I think our our conversations about the playoff maybe need to adjust a little bit like after Florida State lost to Boston College after week one I still heard so much conversation of well mathematically they can still make they can still make the college football playoff I'm like I don't need your analytics and your math and all of your number crunching to tell me that you that they can still make the college football playoff because yes sure the numbers might say that there is still a chance but my eyes are showing me that that's not a playoff team like I don't like and and yes Notre Dame still very much so has a path to the playoff but if the offense can figure something out yes there's absolutely still a path because what we saw against Texas A&M was a college football playoff caliber defense that's the big thing for me in what we saw against Northern Illinois and maybe maybe a fantastic and Elite defensive performance against Texas A&M made it really easy for us to ignore some of the red flags that we saw in College Station offensively because really the only offense or majority of the offense that we saw last week was plays that Riley Leonard made with his legs and it was dinking and D dunking in the passing game and it was kind of Death By A Thousand Cuts and it wasn't until a couple of touchdown drives late in the game where Notre Dame really pulled away offense was hard to come by early in that game and those offensive woses really reared the their ugly head against Northern Illinois when the defensive performance took Leaps and Bounds and steps back where's that Elite secondary that we saw in College Station where's that Elite defense that we were sold and that we saw with our own eyes against Texas A&M that was the the biggest shock to me fits but I think you guys are both frankly wildly wrong about the college football playoff I'm going to go back to that for a second because think about this you got to have Equity you can gain back now right like so everything they put in the bank with the Texas A&M win they just took out of the bank with this loss to Northern Illinois now look at the rest of their schedule they have two tough games remaining Georgia Tech who might not be tough we don't know and USC so the only hope that they have is that USC goes lights out looks like one of the best teams in the country and they win that game anything short of that they're basically Liberty with a golden dome on their helmet they're playing trash the whole way so if they play Trash the whole way it doesn't matter if they win convincingly they've given the committee one reason to say and when we are in this spot where all of a sudden we're going to look around and we're going to say well man how do you leave Penn State out how do you leave Ohio State out how do you leave or like we're going to have so many atlarge teams that are competing for these spots that will have played through the gauntlet of the Big 10 and The Gauntlet of the SEC I'm we just watched Tennessee who we'll talk about later tonight Tennessee likely not going to win the SEC they're sure as hell playoff team to me I I look around and they'll all have the chance to build a resume and while they're building a resume over in this sandbox way off to the side is Notre Dame just playing with cupcakes hoping that somehow they can stack their cupc cakes into a sand castle that ain't going to work for the college football playoff committee but you just hit on the key Point sure they might be Liberty but they've got golden helmets and if Notre Dame wins out you're telling me an 11 and one Notre Dame team that beat USC went on the road at Texas A&M and yeah they lost to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season but you know what it's like in December fits everybody forgets about September everybody forgets about weeks one and two unless you did something really great it's the golden helmet they're Notre day they go 11- one sure they don't have the advantage of getting a first round by and playing in a conference Championship game but an 11- one Notre Dame team absolutely gets into the college football playoff no matter how soft as baby poop their schedule might be now 11 and one might be a far cry based on the product that we saw on the field today but that's the path for me yeah I I think there's without a doubt that 11 and one Notre Dame team with a one with one loss to Northern Illinois and week two gets in the CSV a playoff as in the top 12 teams I think that I think that's a lock I think there could be a conversation depending on how it plays out that a two- lost under Dame team with a loss to a if USC is really good they lose to then that that could be a conversation as well for a top top two or top 12 seed but I think to your point Carolina about the the Notre Dame offense the the alarming part of of what we saw was that you know Riley Leonard did not play well in this game I mean he had two interceptions he they didn't throw the ball vertically uh there was there was some hesitancy on on his part I thought no no explosive plays for for the Notre Dame offense uh I think that's an area where it if if you bring in Riley Leonard all the talk was that he just needs to go manage the game he needs to control the clock control the ball not turn it over but at some point you got to score some points I mean you got to score enough points to beat Northern Illinois you can't just manage the game and get and try to try to kick a game-winning field goal so that offense is going to have to flip a switch pretty fast if they want to do what we just talked about and run the table and have a shot to make the playoff you guys are still wildly wrong I'm just going to say you guys are still wildly wrong I we're we're months removed from Florida State being undefeated and missing like I I I totally dis I just on the record the show 12 teams though 12 teams yeah yeah but all I'm saying is I've covered the the playoff committee every year and and I've gone through the mock playoff selection process I've done all of this in my career I'm telling you a two loss or three loss Big 10 or SEC team that's gone through the gauntlet is going to get in they are not going to reward the soft schedule of Notre Dame I don't think that all of the Commissioners are going to be as nice and all the people on the committee are going to be as nice to the golden dome as you guys do well we'll see if it plays out I now want this to be a bet moving forward in the show I will be the contrarian and say that you guys have both lost your mind we yeah I mean hey I'm I'm happy to to make that bet with you I think one loss Notre Dame team gets in the playoff two loss is probably a stretch on my part there but I I just think I think it's a it's a possibility depending on how all everything else plays out but this point about the schedule fits that you just made I think it's a good one when you talk about we've talked about Notre Dame schedule being a positive for them up to this point and how this is a great schedule for them because if they can win out they get the playoff and all of a sudden very quickly turns into a negative when now now they're talking on their schedule is not going to be the how easy how easy it is and how it helps them it's going to be how easy it is and how it hurts them now that they have this loss on the resume that's the double-edged sword of having a softer schedule is yes your path to the playoff at the beginning of the Season might look really really clear but you still have to play those games and you still have to win those games and that makes your margin for error so much smaller another team that comes to mind when we talk about that is Missouri that they have a lighter SEC schedule and I know they still got Alabama on the schedule and I believe they have another you know top you know contending SEC team on their schedule but compared to the rest of the SEC it's fairly light which you could say okay well great that's an easy path for Missouri but if you drop a game or two and your best wins are guess seven and five and eight and four teams then suddenly your resume looks a lot a lot weaker and I think we talk about a 12 team play off obviously it feels really big it's expanding times three from what we're used to but uh the room gets crowded when you think about it and it gets crowded quickly um Adam I have a question for you a team that won today by the hair of their chinny chin chin I don't know if this guy is falling I don't know what the concern level is um Bowling Green vs. Penn State but I thought that it was funny to watch this game and this was Bowling Green Penn State what's the temperature with Penn's date is there concern there with a WI win over Bowling Green yeah I think the temperature of Penn State is is pretty normal I I they I I've talked to some people around the program yeah come on uh yeah yeah I mean I I think I mean here's the difference in what happened at Penn State today yes it was a game way closer than what people expected and what everyone thought but Penn State found a way in the second half to dominate the game and take it over um Penn State was up two scores until score at the End by Bowling Green um you know Penn State's defense held Bowling Green to under 100 yards in the second half uh so found a way to really flip the switch there after they came out completely flat uh didn't look good on offense defense was getting run all over which was shocking uh given how how talented this defense is but I I do think that moments like this are good for teams at times because it gives James Franklin an opportunity to say to his team you guys thought you were really good when we beat West Virginia but go watch the first half of this game against Bowling Green and you guys suck um so I I think I think sometimes this can be a good teaching moment for for a head coach the the the key for Penn State now moving forward after watching this game is the wide receiver room there have there has to be someone that can step up and get get separation uh especially when they start playing Big 10 opponents no one got separation today other than their tight end Tyler Warren who had a career day but at some point you're going to need a wide receiver one who can stretch the field vertically and win one-onone can you win one-on-one matchups on third down when everyone knows you're throwing the football I didn't see that today from Penn State that will be the question mark if they want to win a big 10 championship and make the college a playoff the other part is is finding ways to use those two running backs Nick Singleton and KRON Allen in creative ways it's going to be a challenge for Andy cotal necki because those are two of the best players you have on offense but they play the same position I want to see pens say get more creative with those two backs because those two guys should be on the field almost every single play they're two of your best players take one of those receivers out of the game and play with two running backs on the field I I think we need to see more out of that but I was happy with how penid adjusted in the second half and how Drew Aller uh you know kind of doubted in and and had some Elite throws there in the second half of the football game it's funny to me the way you describ that because I was talking to a uh coach this week for one division one program and he said the thing that we all know inside the building is that the margins are thinner than ever between us and our opponents there's just no wiggle room the hardest thing to explain to kids is that the margin is thinner than ever and sometimes we just look at it we presume that everybody in Penn State automatically is going to get up for every game there's a human element to all of this and it's why I think for the most part so far on this show we've tried to have a little bit of Grace for having a bad half having an unengaged half because you can't tell me coming off of going to West Virginia and then you got a home opener against Bowling Green you just you think you're going to walk in and dominate and then you got to have that wakeup call and we see that repeatedly so I don't really fault the need for the wakeup call because at the end of the day we all have to remind ourselves that these are kids that are you know 18 19 20 years old that think that they're golden Gods when they walk on the field because they're automatically better than this team and you just need that wakeup call the fact that they got the wakeup call and they win out of it just like Alabama today same thing like there is some element to me of hey we survived this we got through it now we learn from it and it charges everybody next week we get a little bit more focused and all season that coach can come back to that moment so I think we all have to remember the margins are thinner this isn't Bowling Green versus Penn State 10 years ago there's more Talent spread across more college football anybody can lose on any given Saturday we learned that today we learn that every single week I think players just need to be reminded of it especially when they're in prominent programs coming off of big wins yeah Sky's not falling for me for Penn State for a couple of reasons one you ended up winning the game you found a way to win the game and did you want it to be that close absolutely not did you expect to be holding on to the seat of your pants as much as you were through that game no you didn't but you ended up winning the game two is the things that really stood out to me about Penn State feel very easily fixable seven penalties for 76 yards like whenever you win the penalty battle or excuse me lose the penalty battle like that well those are easy things that you can clean up those are teachable coachable moments you turn that around for you know one for 10 well that's a much different story the second thing that I see is two turnovers for Bowling Green and Penn State got zero points out of them zero points out of two turnovers you have to capitalize on on your opponent's mistakes that's what really stood out to me about Texas and Michigan Michigan turned the ball over three times on Saturday I believe Texas was able to turn each of those turnovers into at least three points if not seven and if I'm mistaken I'm sure somebody will correct me there but just capitalize on the mistakes and cut down on the penalties like those are things that you can fix it's week two there are still learning moments yeah and I think uh Jason to your point to don't sleep on Mac football we let's give the Mac some credit today now me hu the the against Notre Dame um and then Penn State getting taken to the wire by Bowling Green uh I called the rugers akan game today akan looked good in the first half of that game now end up being a blowout I mean the max got some good football I mean a lot and in a lot of the the Jason you mentioned the kind of the the margin the transfers having quarterbacks that that you know maybe are four stars but then go down to player level at the Mac uh and I mean there there's some really good players I think that conference has has kind of been a name for itself this week uh in college football and then and on top of that you know you talking about Penn State Carolina I think yes those those issues are fixable for James Franklin you can fix the penalty thing you can you can fix complimentary football and talk about we have to score when we get turnovers the the pieces are there to make a run I think you look at the Penn State schedule and Penn State will be favored in their next five six games they got Kent State they got Illinois UCLA USC Wisconsin all those games they will be favored in uh bleeding up to their game at home against Ohio State so uh I think the Penn State's got the pieces in place right now to make a run and and if you're a Penn State fan and if you're a Penn State Alum like myself uh you're hoping that this close call against Bowling Green is what your team needed to lock it back in and play the level of football you're capable of playing through the next few weeks so the sky is falling in South Ben sky is not falling at Penn State but after just a quick break we'll get into one thing that we learned in week two stick with us a lot of action lot going on in week two but what was one thing that you learned Fitz Mass hysteria dogs and cats living together like college football is going to be absolutely wild every single week What Did We Learn in Week 2? this year and I love it we talked earlier about the margins but one thing that we're all trying to do is try and figure out how this all normalizes who's really good who's not and there's a couple of encouraging things to me because I said earlier the Habs and the have knots are separating themselves but there's more halves than I think we necessarily give credit for there are there are several teams that early on I think are loaded and ready to make a run that being said there is so much packed in the middle of it like you look at a game today like Kansas Illinois I have no idea what to expect going into that game right and I don't know how much of that plays forward into what the what we'll see next week you know you you think about some of the action we've seen over the course of the day and how close these games are and how much down to the wire they're coming how you can have a bad half and suddenly rebound like college football this year is more chaotic than it's ever been so I think a everybody needs to relax a little bit but we also learned that it's going to be the most unpredictable season we've ever seen who tries to find the way to normalize the emotion through that and just get through it it feels like more than ever this season is a get through it season for all of these teams in the regular season you can't get two up you can't get two down because every single week there will be total chaos like is Boston College good or is Boston College not good is Georgia Tech good is Georgia Tech not good like these are things we still don't really have answers to and I kind of love every answer to that yeah and I think that's part of what these head coaches are telling their teams right now is in we've been talking about Notre d That's What Marcus Freeman has to tell his team like guys you you may think this guy is falling everyone's reacting to week one and two but this thing is wide open we have no clue how it's going to play out you look at the big 10 I'm not even sure who the best few teams are in the Big 10 right now I mean it it it could be I mean ruers could be up there Nebraska may be up there how good is Oregon like how good is like we don't know maybe Michigan rattles off a bunch of wins here and ends up being we don't know how it's going to play out and I think that the the parody in the sport is a really good thing and I do think it credit to the transfer portal and nil it's allowed a lot of these programs to compete and it's allowed players who are really good players to transfer when they're not playing when they're not getting on the field and when they're in a bad system and it's opened up kind of a door of this Level Playing Field in college football where it's wide open and it's going to be a fun season think about real quick too I mean Sparty goes in today to Maryland an8 and a half Point dog and they win that football game like who who the hell knows like this is a new Michigan State team I have know they're undefeated two and0 I don't know if we're supposed to give them credit yet like I think that's the beautiful thing is like I don't know and we don't have to know like we can let this thing play out we can sort of Slow and Low this like Let It play out and see who's actually any good that that it it's part of the joy of this season to me it's it's going to be one of those Seasons that we look back on I think like 20 years down the road the way that we look back at 2007 the year that every single team that was favored lost to a double digigit dog and there was chaos all over the place we're going to look back on this season like that I think because the way that we approach our expectations the way that we view success in this sport is now completely shifted Adam what' you learn Nebraska is for real and and this was a big test for Nebraska we've talked about their schedule and how it plays out for them uh they had the statement in week one but guys I mean to show up against Colorado the way Nebraska did uh and win by multiple scores is a huge statement for this program I don't care how good Colorado is this season I don't care if colado ends up being terrible this win we will look back on in in as a Monumental win for the Matt rule era and for this Nebraska season in 2024 because it is the biggest stage of the season so far for for maybe any college football team I mean this is anytime you play Le you play Colorado everyone is watching and to have your best players show up the way they did to have Dylan Rola the five-star freshman play the way that he played um to show he's a legitimate five-star for the offensive line to protect ra the way they did and then the most impressive part the Nebraska defense this looks like it you know what this defense reminds me of in Iowa defense when Iowa's defenses were the top one or two in the country that's what this Nebraska defense looks like they are lights out they're long at defensive end they have a secondary that their defense coordinator Tony white doesn't have to protect with how he calls call these defensive plays he can bring pressure and not worry about his Corners not being able to cover Nebraska proved today that they're a top 15 team in college football and I don't care about Colorado it's ain't about Colorado it's about the stage Nebraska was on and in the biggest moment their best players played their very best and end up dominating this entire game yeah you know you mentioned that defense should shot him out third and fourth short we saw both of those in this game and Colorado never stood a chance I I I think every week it'll be a take a shot for me when we talk about moving the line of scrimmage Nebraska's defensive line moved the line of scrimmage back repeatedly in this game it was was beautiful to watch you right and you know we've talked also about Matt Rule and I think it takes a second for Matt rule to really bring his own personality I'm gon to say that instead of culture into a program it takes him a second to to to build that into a program he's got the quarterback now that will do that this is this is the beginning of a foundation that sets Nebraska apart for the next several years this is the sort of class you can recruit around it's the sort of class you can build around to show everybody what can be done at Nebraska I I've been to game day environments down there it is one of the wildest experiences I've ever had in my life in any sport anywhere that I've ever been they're going to be recruits to go check it out because they want to play with rayola they want to be a part of it they've got the collective money to be competitive like I think this is about to catapult Nebraska into a different level of conversation in the next five years and you just mentioned it like the the excitement around the program I mean when this thing gets rolling at Nebraska watch out it is an absolute steam train going down the tracks I mean there there's going to be excitement the buzz around that program they're going to sell out every game it's going to be fun to watch if they keep winning these games here and I said it many times Nebraska has the has the possibility to be seven and0 going into playing Ohio State so your Nebraska takes look smart by the way like kudos to you early on and Nebraska was your bold prediction every week they win I'm like ah well I also said that NE Dame was the most impressive team in the country I saw week one and then they so I I I don't want to bring that up but Caroline what what what did you learn week two I I honestly frankly I feel like I learned a lot but overall I think one of my biggest takeaways is maybe a more overarching conversation and it's that I feel like as college football fans we keep searching for a blueprint like we keep searching for a formula to success and I think I'm starting more and more to realize that that blueprint doesn't exist and the more that college football resembles the NFL the more that all bring up examples of the NFL because I think it's appropriate the NFL it's a copycat league a team wins the Super Bowl because they went out and they paid a veteran quarterback a ton of money so what does every other team in the league scramble to do okay well we'll go find our own veteran accomplished quarterback and pay him a bunch of money but then that doesn't work so what becomes the new thing okay well we'll be really bad and then we'll draft a quarterback in the top of the draft and then that guy's going to get to get us to the promised land it's whatever is working we're going to try and copy well right now in college football what's the you know the trendy thing is is the transfer portal okay we'll go out and get a quarterback in the transfer portal well we saw some really brutal performances from transfer portal quarterbacks today and throughout this entire season you know Riley Leonard is one that comes to mind today that last week we were louing Notre Dame for grabbing Riley Leonard in the transfer portal I looked at pton Thorne at Auburn today who really struggled Cal came into Jordan hero really tough place to play and they whooped Auburn and then everyone is looking at Hugh free is like well why didn't you go into the transfer portal and get a better quarterback so there's all of these different scenarios there are plenty of examples and I think plenty of data to look at transfer portal quarterback sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't recruiting a quarterback out of a high school sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't sticking with a quarterback that maybe struggled a little bit the year before and we'll stick with this guy we're not going to go to the transfer portal sometimes that works sometimes that doesn't so I think it's just week two but I feel like I've learned an overarching lesson about this new era of college football and that is a blueprint does not exist at least not yet in the early stages of this this newvo re college football everything you say makes so much sense the only thing I would say is that sometimes to me and I don't care if we're talking about college football or the NFL uh building a great program or franchise is a lot like weight loss I have friends that have gone out and gotten B gastric bypass right they went out got the surgery and for a few years they're really skinny and then eventually a few years later they're fat again why cuz they never learned any new habits in the process right they got surgery right but but hear me out but the per the people you know that they're like you know what I'm going to I'm just going to exercise and I'm going to limit what I'm eating and I'm going to do it the right way and I'm going to lose weight slowly over time they they learn new life habits all of a sudden they build a foundation right like I don't think there trans portal is gastric bypass surgery it is everybody wants a quick fix I'm just saying like the the transfer portal is OIC okay but at some point you got to learn new habits you got to figure out like a way to build the whole like there's no one answer because what you need is for the 100 kids that are on your roster to be equally as good as the 100 kids that are on this roster and you need the 40 50 people that are part of the coaching and training staff to be equally as good as these 40 or 50 people and then you all need to be healthy at once like nobody wants to hear this because it's hard work and it takes a lot of time just like trying to normalize your life if you're trying to lose weight like you can go the fast way it works and we use I use this example all the time Mel Tucker one year used the transfer portal got himself 100 million bucks all right fine but then what happened the next year Sparty sucked right so this year you've got teams like Colorado that are absolutely out here saying we're going to build through the transfer portal it's not working but you have Old Miss it might work like but realistically the only long-term way to have success as a program is to recruit at the highest level to use the transfer portal at the highest level to have the best coaches and to do all of it over time and that just takes that takes time that takes years to build a foundation where then you can sustain and all of a sudden you're Georgia and you're just restacking every year yeah yeah your Point's really really good and i' like the comparison it's a it's true it's true a little out of left field but it's a true one I mean it's like the portal sometimes is a is a quick fix I I think and Caroline that it's a great point about the multiple different ways to build a program there's a bunch of different ways to skin a cat the one thing that matters at the end of the day is evaluation can you evaluate who the best players are and sign the best players Nick Sabin had a hilarious quote on game day the other day and he said they were talking about Florida State's nil and he goes well you better play the right pay the right players are your [ __ ] out of luck and I thought that was like a great point about college football is nil doesn't matter transfer portal versus High School recruiting doesn't matter if you don't evaluate the right players and sign the right guys and ultimately pay the right guys with nil so I think the the best programs will be the ones that evaluate talent the best and sign the best players and develop those players in their program in a short amount of time to your point Fitz you got to develop them very quickly now cuz you got a win right now but also hold them for the long term but it will always come back to evaluate ation it doesn't matter if you're sounding Dylan Rola out of high school or Riley lard out of the portal you got to evaluate which quarterback get gives us the best chance to win football games and win our conference and make the 12 team playoff and the program and the head coach coaches that evaluate the players the best are the ones that are going to win games and that's not even like a Monumental statement hey you have to evaluate first you can't just pay any sort of Joe Schmo to come in and suddenly become a Heisman Contender it's finding that perfect balance I think the other thing that I learned was uh Texas National Title Contender Michigan not Colorado please for all that is good and holy get shador Sanderson protection please please please just let the man have some time all right we'll take a quick break on the other side dogs and puppies stick with us we just touched on some things we learned we also learned who's all bark and no bite well maybe who's all bite not doing a whole lot of barking behind the scenes Adam who's a dog and who is a puppy from week two and my dog from week two is South Carolina how about the 31-6 win against Kentucky Dawgs & Puppies hell Kentucky to 30 yards passing and I I just think when you when you think about this this South Carolina program under Shane Beamer kind of the the gauge of success is a program like Kentucky that's you know who they compete with the same kind of level in the SEC and they went out and dominated that game played really good defense uh um and and they played well last week as as well so um to go on the road to a place like Kentucky and allow 30 yards passing as a 10-point underdog is a huge win for Shane Beamer and what he's building at South Carolina and I think there's a lot to be excited about about the future of that South Carolina program through three quarters Brock Vandergriff Kentucky starting quarterback three completions three sacks that that is like almost incomprehensible but it's it's a hat to Shane Beamer and that program and limiting what Brock Vandergriff wanted to do and a team that we were talking about last week that barely escaped Old Dominion I thought it's going to be a long season for Lenor sers and his first year as a starting quarterback it's the kind of response that you want to see from having a little bit of a scare in week one and then going on the road against an SEC opponent statement win I totally agree yeah and by the way I I want to make sure that we're all aware Kentucky was getting a lot of love this morning on the pregame programs for no no this kid can play and they can score some points and in the meantime Shane Beamer's over there just like quietly doing his thing right and running under the radar and nobody's paying attention to South Carolina so it's it's a nice opportunity for him to go out and still make the statement that like hey maybe we're overblowing Kentucky a little bit it was a big statement win for them I like that that call by you a bunch Fitzy who's your dog this week uh I'm I'm my I'm my own dog I'm doing this let's just be let's just be real okay on this show on this show on this show uh I told everybody that Nebraska would kick the snot the kick the snot out of Colorado which got clipped off checked got that one right I told everybody that Texas would beat Michigan by 20 I don't know 19 feels like I was pretty close on that give me that one and then I told everybody that Iowa was a bunch of frauds and what did they do they lost to Iowa State I'm three for three on the takes of people were in my Menches to which brings me to the puppies where are all you now cuz like all week my Instagram Clips just blowing up comment after comment after comment people like to comment about my hair they think that my hair means that I suddenly can't talk about football where are you now cuz my hair I can cut off but your team that sucks still sucks so I'm just saying I'm a dog y'all are puppies there we go let's go get fir me up [ __ ] I run through a freaking wall I also didn't know that this segment was reserved for us to just rub all of our our right takes and everybody's face like it's just a wrap sheet of I thought this was going to happen and it did so everybody give me cookie I like that FIP I mean first of all I kill cookie right now but second like if I'm three for three on hot takes and I'm gonna I'm gonna walk it around if I give you one I will give you one dog though that actually you know meant something on the field and I don't think we've given enough love to Sark like Steve sarkeesian is somebody that frankly you know his checkered past is a big part of the story that we always tell on him I think we need to reset and just understand what Sark is doing right now with this Texas team you talk about the motion in the offense you talk about the movement in the off offense the ability to find new ways to get guys into new positions to get them open control from Quinn yers you talk about the coach up of Quinn yers you talk about just an absolute understanding of what they're doing on both sides of the ball a confidence a Swagger to the team as much as we talk about what makes Texas back right now Sark is a big part of that Sark it feels like is back to where a lot of people thought he would be for a very long time and that as a result has Texas back in my mind yeah and I think to your point Jason about kind of that that we've we heard on the broadcast talking about sark's past and what's brought him to this point I think part of that is what's allowed this Texas team to buy into him so much as a head coach what's allowed him to recruit at such a high level and his most impressive job the most impressive thing he's done Caroline talked about earlier was is reload some of the players that he lost to the NFL draft uh even some of those guys to the portal to reload on the defensive line to reload at wide receiver to sign a tight end like Gunner Helm out of high school that was a huge recruiting win gunar Helm had a big day today so Steve sarkeesian deserves a ton of credit and you can tell when you watch the way that Texas plays that they're playing for Steve sarkeesian that that's their head coach they believe in him and uh and I agree with you Fitz my two dogs of the week are Steve sarkeesian and Jason Fitz as well oh let's go Caroline give us a dog if you want if you want to throw me in as a dog also you can but I mean I don't know you have other do F oh Fitz is my dog oh okay and another one I'll go to a different UT that wears orange a game that we haven't touched on yet but was one of my games that I was binging and I wanted it all of and that's the Tennessee NC State game some dogs on that Tennessee defense and when we talk about this Tennessee team we what dominates the conversation is the offense rightfully so it's a Josh hypo coach team we saw his offense on full display in 2022 the number one offense in the country and they run like 17 plays every 30 seconds and they score about 75 points a game and niik yam Ava is one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in college football like I get it I understand why we're talking about the offense Dylan Samson at the running back position was fantastic today but I don't think that the Tennessee defense has gotten nearly enough love for one the development from year two to year four under Josh hyle Tim Banks the defensive coordinator at Tennessee I think has the most underrated job has done the most underrated job I think probably in the SEC and how he's been able to develop that defense like that Tennessee defensive front is absolutely legit NC State couldn't get anything running going in the Run game NC State was in excuse me Tennessee was in graceon McCall's face all game long they forced a couple of turnovers Nico yam leava is going to make some mistakes early we saw it against ncy State he had the bad interception that's going to happen he's young and he's green and he's inexperienced he's got all the talent in the world but sometimes you just got to work through those Kinks a little bit that at Tennessee defense complimented by the Run game complimented by the freak talent that niiko yava has they're going to be able to carry this team until the offense really Finds Its footing in the passing game until nicoo yava kind of irons everything out and we get to see PN matched into this offense this Tennessee defense it's not getting nearly enough love for I think how good it is it's not just James Pierce Jr he is a freaking dog but also Keenan pey and so many other pieces on this defensive line like they've got they've got depth at Tennessee yeah I I agree with all that by the way I think Tennessee at this point right now is the most under ranked team in the country when it comes to Thea po there's no way that you can tell me because they're they're sitting at number 14 that'll change tomorrow when the new rankings come out you can't tell me that there are 13 teams that are better and when we started this whole process of the season I know Caroline you and I both thought that they were sort of a sneaky playoff team ain't nothing sneaky about it at this point Tennessee look like a national championship caliber football team to me they can beat you on both sides of the ball they absolutely can they can score on anybody they will figure that out by the end of the year I believe that and Nico efficient today with some mistakes that's to your point that's going to be part of the story here but you want to talk about a team that I think can absolutely hang with anybody I think it's Tennessee I I think the most interesting matchup that we've got coming soon is Tennessee Georgia because I'm not willing to say right now that Georgia runs away with that football game Tennessee is too Dynamic on both sides of the ball to get blown out by anybody yeah the best part of what I saw from Tennessee today was um when when they weren't playing well on offense the complimentary football of their defense stepping up that that run defense is for real I mean holding holding NC State to you know three points they gave up the the other seven points where pick six I mean that that defense is legit NC State got nothing going and and when yam wasn't playing well the defense had his back and that's what they're going to need throughout SEC play when they play teams like Georgia because he's young the quarterback's young he's going to need help from the defense putting it all together is is is impressive and remember this is a Tennessee defense that wasn't good the last couple years so uh you give give Josh hpel a ton of credit for what he's rebuilt and and the talent he's brought into to that to that front seven no doubt absolutely no doubt also uh the puppies for me um I'll include myself into this not necessarily as self-fulfilling as as Fitz um myself and every other person that took Arkansas plus 7 and a half today because Arkansas did in fact lose to Oklahoma State by eight in double overtime so we're all puppies and I will tuck my tail between my legs with that bad beat I uh I like that one I got another puppy too for you how about uh how about Auburn losing at home to Cal to Cal by seven points um you know just just I didn't get a chance to watch much of that game but just a loss that Hugh frees cannot have at home against a team from out west coming into the SEC uh and and you're I think there were seven to 10 point favorites in that game to lose by touchdown at home is not good and and you know that at some point here Hugh fre is going to have to turn this thing around at Auburn and start to win some of these games not just and forget one of the games that forget one of the big games beating teams like C at home in week two you got to win games like that or it's not going to L last very long at Auburn I mean is it time though for Auburn to recalibrate where they really belong in the conversation of the SEC like Auburn fans don't want to hear this but if you look across the board they're they're just not they're not at the same level as any of these Elite programs in the SEC we're talking about it's the quarterback you got to get an elite quarterback in the SEC or you're not going to win Auburn has shown the commitment financially to compete at the highest level I mean they ran Brian harson out of town and paid him a massive buyout to leave I mean like they will move on and spend the money they got to spend they've been recruiting really well I mean you look at Auburn's recruiting they they've been great on the recruiting Trail but you know pton Thorne is not going to get the job done for alurn good player not good enough to win in the SEC week after week and look that ultimately falls on Hugh freze here's why it surprises me in this like the tiniest bit I think we can all agree Hugh fre Hugh frees is one of the brightest offensive Minds in college football when Hugh frees didn't go out and get another quarterback in the transfer portal it was a show me don't tell me that was was showing me and everybody else and pton Thorne we believe in him this is our guy if Auburn and Hugh frees wanted to go out and upgrade at the quarterback position with a transfer portal player they probably could have they've got the money they've got the collective and they've got the the coach with the pedigree that has proven that he can develop quarterbacks and get them into the league and they can score some points so when Hugh freeze didn't go out and get another quarterback that showed me okay he has a certain level of belief and pton Thorne to elevate this program to where it needs to be in year two and look he was wrong at least through two weeks through a two game sample size it looks like that was a misstep on Hugh F's part so while it is the quarterback position that's holding Auburn back that does fall in the head coach's shoulders it it always sticks in my mind you know years ago when I first started at ESPN and I was talking to guys around the college football game when I first started covering at a high level and talking to former players one thing that resonated that everybody said Is We talk so much about the ego of players sometimes we forget the ego of coaches so many coaches believe that they can go out and get somebody and because they're now in charge of them they can make the best of them I I watched a lot of pton thorn at Michigan State and it wasn't good you can talk all day long about weapons but that weapons aren't the reason that you're throwing the ball late weapons are aren't the reason that you're throwing the ball inaccurately like there's a spot here where Hugh frees had to look at it and say all of these things I believe I'm so good at my job I can fix and that that's a dangerous thing for every single coach and that is one of the dangers of the transfer portal you're looking at a player that is often times damaged in some way and then you're asking yourself is it the player is it the coaching staff they're with can I fix it and to me the minute you start relying on pton Thorne to be the person that's going to make you competitive against the best of the best in the SEC that speaks to Hugh frees looking around and saying I can make anybody the best and that's obviously not the case yeah it's a great point about leadership Fitz I mean great leaders are able to admit when they're wrong and some times sometimes admitting you're wrong actually makes you right in the long term and and adds to that level level of leadership you have with your program so for a lot of these cot football coaches you're right they are stubborn and they have massive egos that's how they get to that point and uh and part it's part of why so many of these coaches are successful but uh being able to admit you're wrong is not something a lot of these coaches are good at I mean look at look at dbos Sweeney and how he handles the transfer portal I mean he he W like it's almost I really believe that it's too big of an ego hit for Davos swiy to now say I'm wrong change it he'd rather just you know die on his own sword and and not use it these these guys are confident but a lot of them have also done it one way and one at a high level doing it the way they've always done it it don't have either the awareness or the or the humility to change it uh for the way it needs to be moving forward a dear friend of mine has coined the term MGS and it's a a it's a deadly disease it's called My Guy syndrome and a lot of coaches have it and they they will live in die by quote unquote my guy that I brought him in here so I'm going to keep him here and we're going to get you know the incumbent quarterback yeah he may have been pretty good and won some games but we're going to kick him out of here and I want to bring in my guy and it goes back to what we started the show with coaches get hired and fired general managers get hired and fired in this sport in this business because of that exact position also one thing I want to touch on before we wrap up here uh if you're looking at a box score if you're waking up Sunday morning you're pouring your coffee you're looking at the scores from the night before you're going to see an Alabama USF absolute routing trust me it didn't go that way like that is not what the game looked like in its entirety I thought that we were going to be looking at uh a much much closer game in Tuscaloosa I that I'd see some some bamama tears rolling but nope joyless murder ball it's inevitable I think it was like a one or two score game in the fourth quarter late in the third quarter I got to look at the the actual box score but uh Alabama did not look in the first half of that game but similar to what we talked about with Penn State I think it says something about a team when things aren't going your way you're not playing well and you just don't freak out not everyone's not spazzing out the sideline Jaylen milro finds a way to go dominate the game and they end up they end up winning the game 42 to 16 so I I'm not worried about Alabama but that one look look way too close for comfort for kayin dor in in in game two of his Alabama Bama tenure death taxes in Alabama keeping it close with South Florida yeah yeah I wonder if I wonder if the Roll Tide fans have the same patience with deor having some issues with South Florida as they did with sa I'm just saying everything's a little different right now you know they were a little more puckered up in the fourth quarter of that one but works out for him I mean you're right Alabama gets a big win it it it's fine for them but it was not fine going into the fourth quarter it patience is a foreign word in this sport Carol that your point that's a 2116 game with 645 left in the fourth quarter I mean it's it's it ended 42 to 16 crazy yeah like that way the final score is very much so not indicative of how things went for like three and three quarters of quarters U so Alabama takes that one but that is going to do it for us today and we will be back on Tuesday night with another full recap of week two we'll have some time to marinate on some things maybe want to walk some things back after we've had some time to think on them probably not we'll also take a look ahead to week three what we're watching What we feel like you don't need to watch all of that on the Tuesday edition of the college football Power Hour you can find that on your preferred podcast platform and on the AO Sports YouTube page that is Adam brenaman you can follow him on Twitter Adam brenaman 81 he is Jason Fitz Jason Fitz I am Caroline Fenton 1 like the podcast subscribe to the podcast tell your friends about the podcast leave us a nice little review do all the things we'll be back in just a few days and today we're out