On week 2 of the 2018 College Football season

Some thoughts from around the country...

• My biggest takeaway from Texas A&M's near loss to Clemson is that Jimbo Fisher might just have his quarterback in Kellen Mond. I was never a big fan of Mond last year, and it's possible he simply picked the right time to play the best game of his career, but I was really impressed by his pocket presence and his accuracy when throwing on the run.
• I thought Clemson's secondary could have performed better, but they will improve throughout the year and in most cases their defensive line will protect them. My bigger concern coming out of this game is that their offensive line simply couldn't handle Texas A&M's front seven. I thought this would be Trevor Lawrence's breakout game, but instead they leaned on Kelly Bryant's legs to ease the burden on their line. It's fortunate that Clemson develops wideouts so well, because those guys are the ones who carried the team. I think Clemson's best shot at the national title involves letting Lawrence get his reps now so that he's ready for the playoffs; but if their offensive line doesn't play better then I worry about how they will fare against the other elite teams.
• I'm not surprised USC lost - I thought they would struggle to start the year. But to not even score a touchdown is pitiful. I actually thought their power running game looked alright, however they couldn't generate any explosive plays in the passing game. Their offensive line doesn't appear to be any better in pass protection that it was last year; Sam Darnold struggled mightily to overcome their protection issues, and it's not fair to ask a true freshman (even one as gifted as JT Daniels) to do the same. I still think USC is the favorite to win the south division because of their talent advantage, but to not be able to even score a touchdown is troubling.
• Stanford's opponents are stacking the box to stop Bryce Love at all costs. In both games David Shaw stubbornly tried to establish the running game until late in the second half, at which point the KJ Costello/JJ Arcega-Whiteside connection has proven to be a nightmare to defend. I think at some point Shaw's refusal to utilize his passing game early on will cost Stanford against an opponent with a better offense than USC's.
• Notre Dame didn't look very good against Ball State, but the fact that they called so many passes leads me to believe they were trying to practice their passing game against an opponent that they new they could beat in their sleep. You would've liked to see them hold up better in pass protection, and I think Brandon Wimbush still has a ways to go as a passer, but I think the Michigan game was more indicative of how they'll look against Vanderbilt.
• Coming into the year I thought Boise State was the best group of five team, but not a serious playoff contender. UConn isn't great, but the fact that Boise outgained them by 700(!) yards is eye-opening. They were up 41-0 at halftime, so this wasn't just a case of running up the score. To some extent that game was an outlier, but Boise sure looked like a team that can physically overwhelm the other teams in their conference. I think Brett Rypien should feast against Oklahoma State's defense, but if Boise can shut down that offense we have to consider their case for being ranked in the top 10.

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