Real Kato Blog: College Football 2016: Week 2 Recap

Michigan wins big again; NCSU loses to ECU.

Michigan 51, Central Florida 14
It looked dicey early as UCF stacked the defense against the run and Michigan stalled on its early drives. Meanwhile UCF managed to rip off some yards on quarterback scrambles, and the announcers started talking about the ghosts of App State.

But Michigan did something it routinely failed to do under Brady Hoke: it make the necessary adjustments. Instead of continuing to pound the ball against eight- and nine-man fronts, Michigan went extensively to a play-action pass game that resulted in a 312-yard and four-touchdown day for Wilton Speight. Meanwhile, the defense tightened up in the second half, and the game turned into a rout.

This speaks well for the rest of the season for Michigan. If the offense is this versatile and the defense is this adaptable, Michigan will find ways to win games in the second half.

NCSU 30, ECU 33
ECU came out hot early in the game. The game was back and forth all day but State's defense simply couldn't make critical stops when it needed them. The fears I had about the defensive secondary came to life in this game, as ECU quarterback Phillip Nelson was 33 of 43 for 297 yards.

N.C. State's offense had a pretty good game statistically, but was stymied by a few critical mistakes: in particular, two missed field goals and a fumble in the first half, and a near-fumble on a punt return near the end of the game that caused NCSU to have to start its second-to-last drive at its own 4 yard line.

It may be a typical year for NCSU: comfortable wins against weaker opponents, sprinkled with the possibility of upsets here and there, but unless the defense improves rapidly, it's hard to see State keeping pace with teams like Florida State.

Notable Games
#2 Clemson had another lackluster performance, this time against decidedly weaker opposition. They barely held off Troy 30-24. What's wrong with Clemson's offense?

An officiating mistake led to a Hail Mary play from Central Michigan, allowing them to pull off a shocking upset against #22 Oklahoma State, 30-27. There'll be a lot of grumbling about this in Stillwater all year long, I'm sure.

#9 Georgia barely beat FCS school Nicholls, 26-24. This didn't look like the same team that beat UNC a weak ago... it'll be hard to figure them out all season long.

Pitt beat Penn State in an entertaining 42-39 game. Penn State's offense has some life to it, but they'll have to shore up the run defense if they expect to compete in the Big Ten.

#17 Tennessee beat Virginia Tech 45-24, looking much improved over last week.

Northwestern lost to Illinois State 9-7, which seems to mean that we're back to the dark old days of Northwestern football. There's simply not enough talent on that squad to win games.

UNC beat Illinois 48-23, which isn't all that impressive because Illinois probably sucks.

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