Welcome to the first edition of VIBE CHECK, where we monitor and assess the weekly pulse of college football. Each week, we’ll grade a handful of teams based on on-field performance, off-field shenanigans (good and bad!), message board chatter, and more. This is very (read: not at all) scientific and should be taken very (read: not at all) seriously.
Week 1 of college football was a real rollercoaster, and while Week 2’s schedule doesn’t appear that intriguing at first glance, it’s still a whole weekend of college football. That’s always good.
Let’s take a look at who’s thriving and who is straight up not having a good time.
You Love to See It: The big boys in Florida are trending in the right direction
I guess this won’t be something that everyone will love to see, but Miami, Florida State and Florida have all gotten off to hot starts in 2022. The Hurricanes — THEY BACK? — dominated Bethune-Cookman to the tune of 70-13. New head coach Mario Cristobal did away with the turnover chain before the season but ramped up the scoring behind sensational sophomore QB Tyler Van Dyke.
Florida State won what was arguably the most ridiculous game (UNC-App State is on Line 1) of the week, fumbling the ball at the 1-yard line, allowing a 99-yard drive by LSU, which ended in a touchdown, and then blocked the game-tying extra point as time expired. Super casual win. And if the win alone wasn’t enough to convince you the FSU needle is moving towards BACK, the Seminoles’ band trolled the Tigers in the most incredible fashion.
Not to be outdone, Florida hosted the then-No. 7 Utah in The Swamp and emerged with the biggest upset (rankings-wise) of the early season. Anthony Richardson was outstanding, rocketing him up the Heisman odds list after one week.
Can the Canes, Noles and Gators keep it up? Florida — now No. 12 — will try and beat its second-straight ranked team of the season with No. 20 Kentucky coming to Gainesville. Miami should roll again, but Florida State has a chance to start off ACC play with a win against a Louisville team that looked hapless in Week 1 (although that game isn’t until next weekend).
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: LSU
It’s hard to imagine a start that could have gone much worse to kick off the Brian Kelly era. We’ve already seen Kelly catch flak for his southern accent that keeps emerging and disappearing at random. As mentioned above, the Tigers lost to an FSU team with relatively low expectations in absolutely spectacular fashion. Then, Kelly’s attempt at a joke in Monday’s press conference led to a savage burn by a journalist.
The Tigers play the Southern Jaguars this week, an HBCU program making the short trip across Baton Rouge for the first time in either school’s long football history.
You Love to See It: The contenders
No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 3 Georgia took care of business during opening week, with the Bulldogs and Buckeyes each picking up top-11 wins. The Crimson Tide made light work of Utah State to the tune of 55-0, but it was UGA and (The) OSU that handled No. 11 Oregon and No. 5 Notre Dame, respectively.
Georgia won 49-3 behind a monster game from Stetson Bennett IV, and we might be to the point where the Pac-12’s only hope at a playoff bid is an undefeated USC.
The Ohio State offense took a hot second to get moving, but once they did, it was game over for the Irish.
Alabama has Texas this week, Georgia (which moved up to No. 2) faces Samford and Ohio State takes on Arkansas State, so bet on all three improving to 2-0.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Virginia Tech
Another coaching staff off to a bad start: The Brent Pry era in Blacksburg.
Virginia Tech made its second-ever trip to Norfolk to face the Old Dominion Monarchs. The first meeting, which was in 2018, featured the No. 18 Hokies against the unranked Monarchs.
That was ODU’s first win over a Power 5 program. Its second? Last Saturday against Virginia Tech. It wasn’t just that the Hokies lost. Trailing 10-7 at halftime, the VT assistant coaches got stuck in the elevator, delaying the start of the third quarter.
Once the second half started, VT saw its 17-13 lead evaporate on a nine-play, 59-yard drive that gave ODU a 20-17 lead with just over 30 seconds left. Grant Wells’s fourth pick of the game sealed the deal for the Hokies and sent the ODU fans rushing onto the field (and one fan getting decked by VT player Connor Blumrick).
Even worse, when the players got back to the locker room, the Hokies found some items missing. The authorities are investigating the thefts, thankfully.
Don’t worry, Hokie fans. Your team is only playing ODU [checks notes] every year until 2031.
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: Iowa's offense
In Saturday’s game between Iowa and South Dakota State, offense was at a premium with the Hawkeyes winning 7-3. “What’s the big deal?” you might ask, “Iowa was held to one touchdown!”
Iowa’s defense outscored not just Iowa’s and SDSU’s offenses, they did it with TWO safeties! Two! The two teams went into halftime with the score knotted at 3-3 in a thriller, and the only scores in the second half came with safeties from Iowa.
Unbelievable content.
The two teams combined for 21 punts in the game, and Iowa’s offense had five three-and-outs (of their 10 punts). Don’t fret, Hawkeye fans. Offensive Coordinator Brian Ferentz is on it.
On Zoom, Brian Ferentz said the opener was "frustrating, disheartening."
“Frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed by our performance out there. I didn’t feel like that was reflective" how how they prepared.
— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) September 7, 2022
You Love to See It: UNC's offense
The North Carolina Tar Heels escaped Boone, North Carolina with a thrilling 63-61 victory over Appalachian State. No, you didn’t misread that, and no, I didn’t mistype it. Sixty-three to sixty-one.
UNC’s freshman QB Drake Maye answered the question “What does North Carolina do after Sam Howell?” with an emphatic performance that included four touchdown passes, 352 yards in the air, and another 76 yards and a touchdown with his legs.
The Tar Heels racked up 567 yards of offense in the victory. Great, right?
HOWEVER….
Straight Up Not Having a Good Time: UNC's defense
Oh my goodness, what are we doing. The Tar Heel defense gave up 649 yards to the Mountaineers, and if App State had gone for the PAT on its second-to-last touchdown, this game might have been an overtime shootout. Instead, the Mountaineers failed to get the win at home, UNC returned the onside kick for a touchdown and App State scored another touchdown with nine seconds left on the clock after a two-play, 10 second drive.
Still with me?
The Mountaineers failed to convert the two-point conversion again, falling just short.
When all was said and done, 62 points were scored in the fourth quarter, with FORTY OF THEM coming from App State. Sure, UNC got the job done in the end, but giving up 40 points in the fourth quarter is not going to go well in the long run.
