College Football Week 2: 3 Things I Noticed

I know what you're probably thinking: "College?! The NFL started yesterday!" Relax, there's still the games tonight. THEN I will talk about Week 1 of the NFL season. Until then...

1. Gary Nova is still mediocre.

Yes, Rutgers beat Norfolk State 38-0. No, the scoreline is not indicative of Nova's poor play. His line would have been awful even if we were playing an FBS team, but we were playing an FCS team (a bad one at that), so it makes it look just that much more terrible. Nova threw for (wait for it...) 150 yards on 12 completions with a touchdown and a pick. He did that against an FCS team. What happened to the Gary Nova who was slinging the ball all over the field against Fresno State? Seriously, where is the consistency? He couldn't even put together a decent drive.

One of PJ's 3 scores. (Photo credit: Washington Post)

He only looked good when we had a short field after a Norfolk State turnover. Once again, it looks like Gary Nova will be the reason Rutgers either goes far or falls flat this year. However, remember how I said I was worried about the defense? That zero on the Norfolk State side of the board makes me feel a lot better. That is supposed to happen against an FCS team. No offense to the directional Michigan schools, but next week should be another game where the defense has a chance to gain more cohesion and chemistry ahead of the Arkansas game. Our running game is also coming together very nicely with Paul James cementing himself as our number one back. The walk-on has supplanted the 5-star recruit at the top of the depth chart. You have to capitalize on your opportunities, and PJ is doing just that. 18 carries for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns is a line any back would love to have. Let's hope this team keeps trending upward as the season goes along.

2. This just in: Oregon scored again.

Last week, I talked about Clemson's chances at a National Championship. This week, Oregon caught my attention. We all know about Oregon under Chip Kelly being this unstoppable offensive force that would just run through almost any defense thrown at them. Mark Helfrich was promoted from offensive coordinator when Chip Kelly left for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he seems to have picked up right where Kelly left off with 125 points scored over the first two games.

(Photo credit: Google Images)

Now, their schedule has a few games to pay attention to as the season goes along. The first is the October 12th game at Washington. That new stadium already claimed Boise State, and that crowd will surely be rocking when the Ducks come to town. Next is the November 7th showdown at Stanford. This game will essentially decide who goes to the Pac-12 title game from the North Division and has given us some great football the past few years. And as always, you can never overlook the Civil War. The Beavers will roll into Eugene on November 29th. No matter how good/bad either team is, this game is always fun to watch like any rivalry game. Oregon is another team I hoping can throw together a season worthy of a National Championship berth so that crystal football can finally leave SEC country.

3. Conference realignment claims another rivalry.

This week was the last time for the foreseeable future that Notre Dame and Michigan will play a football game at the Big House. This is because of Notre Dame's agreement with the ACC. They moved all of their other sports except football and hockey (ACC doesn't have hockey, Notre Dame moved to Hockey East) to the ACC. The ACC agreed to let Notre Dame keep it's independence only if they played 5 ACC schools per year. This left Notre Dame with a decision to make: which rivalry gets put on hold? USC, Stanford, and Michigan State were all obvious ones to keep. The decision came down to Purdue or Michigan. Honestly, I would have told Purdue to kick rocks if I was Notre Dame.

It's sad to see this go. (Photo credit: Yahoo!)

No one outside of Indiana cares about that game. If Notre Dame wants to call themselves a "national program," they need to have national rivalries. Notre Dame/Purdue doesn't have national appeal. I really think it came down to the fact that there's a trophy involved (Shillelagh Trophy) with the Purdue rivalry,which is why that one was kept. Now, I love conference realignment as much as the next guy. It's fascinating to follow, but it's claimed a bunch of historic rivalries. The Lone Star Showdown (Texas vs. Texas A&M) is no more. The Border War (Missouri vs. Kansas) is done. The Backyard Brawl (Pitt vs. West Virginia) is over. It's a sad sight to see because these rivalries and ones like it are what make college football as awesome as it is. I hope that these rivalries can start back up some point soon.