Real Kato Blog: College Football 2013: Week 2 Recap

Michigan scores a big win against Notre Dame; N.C. State struggles to put away I-AA Richmond.

Michigan 41, Notre Dame 30

Well, what can you say: it was a thoroughly impressive performance by Michigan against a talented Notre Dame team. Michigan led the whole way, for the most part by two scores.

Save for one horrible, falling down, pick-six interception, Devin Gardner played an awesome game, making pinpoint passes (especially to Jeremy Gallon), and rushing for big chunks of yards as well. The offensive line managed to hold off Notre Dame's big defensive tackles, especially in pass protection. Fitzgerald Toussaint ran "effectively" (as Lloyd Carr liked to say), picking up key yards when Michigan needed them.

Defensively, Michigan played its bend-don't-break strategy to near-perfection. Notre Dame made lots of yards, but couldn't convert them into touchdowns when it counted. The defensive line didn't get much pressure against Tommy Rees and the Irish's quick-passing strategy, but the secondary held up extremely well, preventing Notre Dame from making big plays.

Heroes: Devin Gardner, Jeremy Gallon, Blake Countess.

Goats: Devin Funchess and Jeremy Jackson for some poor blocking, but I'm nitpicking, really.

Next game: home against the Akron Zips, which should be less of a challenge.

N.C. State 23, Richmond 21

Really, Wolfpack? It's Richmond, for crying out loud. I'd just started to believe in you, and now this. State turned the ball over four times, and gave up 300 yards passing, against a 1-AA team. Yes, Richmond had only 22 yards on the ground, but still... pass defense was a concern coming into the season, and this game exposed some serious weaknesses.

State has five extra days to prepare for Clemson on September 19th, and they'll need every minute of that.

Other Notable Games

#2 Oregon crushed Virginia 59-10.

#11 Georgia knocked off #6 South Carolina 41-30. The SEC will be a real horse race this year.

Miami (YTM) upset #12 Florida 21-16.

BYU stomped #15 Texas 40-21, leading to Texas demoting its defensive coordinator and putting Greg Robinson in that position. Texas: you are doomed.

#19 Northwestern continues to look impressive, beating Syracuse 48-27.

#25 USC lost to Washington 10-7. I am not unhappy.

Michigan State scored one offensive touchdown in beating South Florida 21-6. The Spartans are now contemplating a fourth starting quarterback. This is not a good offensive team.

Illinois crushed Cincinnati, a team that crushed Purdue last week, 45-17. Is Purdue bad? Uh, they only beat a terrible Indiana State team 20-14, so yeah... Purdue stinks.

Indiana lost to Navy 41-35. Now Navy has that tricky option offense, so maybe this result is a bit fluky, but... in general, Big Teams should not lose to Navy.

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