College Football Plus : Sun Belt is simply dazzling.
It started in the Midwest in mid afternoon, dipped south for a few hours and then headed north to what has become the vast wasteland of college football.
Power 5 conferences and the Sunbelt Conference have seldom been part of the same paragraph, not to mention the same sentence,
But in Week 2 of what looms as a wild and crazy college football season, the Sun Belt flexed its muscles against Power 5 conference type teams who brought double digit favorite credentials with them as well as iconic names, Notre Dame, Texas and Nebraska
Say hello to the Sun Belt's three horsemen of the apocalypse: Marshall, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, all of whom created chaos with victories which weren't decided until the final minutes or seconds.
Consider: Marshall 28, Notre Dame 21
Appalachian State 17, Texas A&M 14
Georgia Southern 45, Nebraska 42.
Where to begin, and where to end?
We weren't aware that Gerry Faust was back roaming the sidelines Under the Golden Dome, or maybe it just seemed that way after the Marcus Freeman error? at ND begin with the first 0-3 new coach start in ND history.
Freeman is now winless in three tries after Saturday's loss to Marshall, which was characterized by ineptness in which the Irish followed their gritty performance in an opening loss to Oho State, with a primarily inept one against Marhall in Freeman's home opener at Notre Dame.
The Irish band has yet to play the ND victory march with meaning since Freeman was named head coach last December, replacing the quickly disappearing Brian Kelly.
One bowl game loss (Oklahoma State), one road loss (Ohio State) and now a home loss to Marshall complete the sad trifecta for Freeman..
The honeymoon period in South Bend is long gone and divorce court may appear on the docket if the Irish don't self-correct
Next up is a home game against California, which looks winnable but the Bears are contented -2-0 after beating UNLV on Saturday
.Appalachian State's 17-14 win over Texas A&M shouldn't have surprised all that many people.
The Mountaineers first became prominent 15 years ago with a stunning win AT Michigan in 2007.
They gave North Carolina all they wanted a week ago in a 63-61 loss and now have won AT Texas A&M.
It is not too early to speculate the Mountaineers as the Power 5 rep in a New Year's Six bowl game if they can run through what is now a tougher than expected Sun Belt Conference..
And finally we have Georgia Southern's 45-42 "upset'' of Nebraska. With the hapless Huskers the word "upset'' has become an oxymoron under Scott Frost, who has now lost the Nebraska student body who chanted ""Fire Frost'' after the game.
Twelve hours later, the calls were answered when Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts officially pulled the plug. Associate head coach Mickey Joseph will run the team the rest of the season, beginning with this week's preparation for long time rival Oklahoma.
Whether the Huskers can salvage this season remains debatable, but the
Frost factor is now gone.
***
Who's Hot
USC
The Trojans upward climb continued Saturday with an expected 41-28 win over Stanford. New coach Lincoln Riley's transition from Oklahoma with his imported (also from Oklahoma) Caleb Williams continues. Williams was a sizzling 20 0f 27 for 341 yards and 4 TDS against the Cardinal. There's more to come as USC becomes Show time in the Pac-12.
UCLA
Keep an eye on the Bruins who are a quiet 2-0 with wins over Bowling Green and Alabama State. The Bruins next two games are against South Alabama and hapless Colorado, which should put them at 4-0 going into back-to-back home games against Washington and Utah and a road game at Oregon.
That will determine how far Coach Chip Kelly's team has climbed back.
Arkansas
If there is a threat to Alabama in the SEC West, it might be The Hogs. Coach Sam PIttman's team is 2-0 with wins over Cincinnati and Florida, both quality Top 25 type team
Syracuse
Not much was expected of Syracuse this season, but solid wins over Louisville and UConn has led to a 2-0 start, with Purdue, Virginia and Wagner (all winnable games) looming.
Who's Not
The list is long.
Notre Dame
The Irish run of 10 win seasons is now very much in jeopardy and new coach Marcus Freeman has some major repair work to do on the Irish machine.
Football in Colorado and New England.
Colorado State are a combined 0-4, while UMass, Boston College (the three FBS schools in New England are a combined 1-5, which is very tidy 1-9 and UConn, which has it only win over FCS Central Connecticut hasn't beaten an FBS school in three years.
Contrast that with FCS Holy Cross which surprised Buffalo in a 37-31 win, The Crusaders have now won 2 games, which is more than BC, UConn and UMass have combined.
Army, Navy
Both are a combined 0-4. Thank heavens for the Air Force, which has taken off to a smooth 2-0 start.
Play it Forward (Games of Note next week)
Miami at Texas A&M
Oklahoma at Nebraska
Georgia at South Carolina
Top 10
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. USC
5. Clemson
6. Michigan
7. Michigan State
8. Oklahoma]
9. Oklahoma State
10. Arkansas