My National Thoughts - 2013 Week 2

Welcome back to another My National Thoughts. Again, this is just another way for us as a fanbase to increase our knowledge of the national landscape of college football and hopefully make us all better football fans because of it. And as spring football winds down, I figured itd be nice to continue taking a look back at last season in preparation for the upcoming fall. This article will contain some highlights from the latter part of week 2 of the 2013 season. The first installment can be found here.
Without further ado, lets take a look at some football!

Baylor
I know were not supposed to laugh at/glorify injuries (yup, lookin' at you, CBS), but its not every day you see a defender get kicked in the head by a running back twice during a goal line stand.

Ouch.
Also, Baylor is obscenely good on offense (best in the country when it comes to scoring). It really is too bad their secondary likes to take naps on the field, or theyd be a legit NC contender. Additionally, Baylor has a WR who can reportedly squat 600+ lbs. Thats ridiculous.

Maryland
As much as I hate Randy Edsall and as little respect as I have for him after the way he left UCONN and arrived at Maryland, hes got one heck of a receiver in Stephone Diggs. Diggs very well may be the best receiver in the country not named Marquise Lee (of USCw). That guy just flat-out made plays all year until he got hurt. One of the biggest bummers for me this season was the fact that neither he nor our secondary was fully healthy when the Terps came to Lane this year that wouldve been one heck of a fun matchup to watch.

Georgia
The bulldogs are a really interesting team. If they could get their junk together in the strength and conditioning program to cut down on injuries, they could really be a force on the national level. This past year, they had a bunch of holes to fill defensively. What Ive been seeing is a lot of athletic guys playing slow, looking like theyre not too sure of what theyre doing. New coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, after 3 straight national championship stops at Alabama and FSU, will have no shortage of toys to work with, as Georgia returns 10 starters next year. Also, have I mentioned yet that Todd Gurley is really, really good? Cause Todd Gurley is really, really good, yknow, apart from the whole blown-knee situation. His backup, Marshall, is no slouch himself.

BYU
How BYU lost to UVA, I will never fully understand, but Im pretty sure its got a lot to do with the cavaliers defensive line, as well as some execution issues up front for the cougars. Watching BYU dismantle Texas, while also watching them struggle against Washington in the Fight Hunger Bowl, Im a little perplexed. They had the 10th-best rushing offense, in terms of yards, this past year but I think that might have been more of a product of facing below-average defensive lines for much of the season. That said, their Clemson-like up-tempo offense demands defensive discipline and enough speed to cover the entire field, and has a young, athletic QB who can make people pay with his legs.

Texas
After that BYU game, a friend said that the firing of Texas defensive coordinator was like tossing a defective deck chair off of the Titanic. While they did marginally improve down the stretch, the Longhorns defense seemed thoroughly disinterested in putting ballcarriers on the ground. Turns out, even a new DC couldnt save Mack Browns job. I'm OK with it, 'cause I've become a big, big fan of Stacy Searels.

Oklahoma
This game further reinforces an idea Ive picked up on watching these games and the sport as a whole over the past few years: dont ever start a young QB if you can avoid it. A good number of us have fond memories watching Oklahoma embarrass mighty Alabama in the Sugar Bowl this past year, in no small part because of an excellent performance put forth by Freshman QB Trevor Knight. Against an admittedly much-improved WVU defense (lets face it, its pretty hard to be worse at defense than WVU has been in recent years), Knight completed just 50% of his throws and threw 2 picks. As has been mentioned a thousand times before, the game is just too fast, and it takes young guys a while to adjust. The more I watch young QBs struggle, especially early in the season, the more I can see Brewer coming in and taking the starting spot for the Hokies. Hes been there, hes seen college defenses at game speed, and hes been successful in limited opportunities.

West Virginia
Now, WVU surprised me a bit with their defense and rushing attack. They gashed the Sooners up front early and often, but the passing game just couldnt hold up their end of the bargain. Paul Millard, making his second career start, completed just 21 of his 41 attempts, with a meager 5.3 YPA and a pick. Charlie Simms is a playmaker in/out of the backfield, but they clearly had some talent issues on the outside, with receivers that just couldnt consistently shake man coverage or get much after the catch (sound familiar?). WVUs new defensive coordinator had the Mountaineers starting strong, but the defense fell apart later in the season. Heres hoping that downward trend continues as our date with the cousins gets closer.

Well, that's what I've got for the second week. Stay tuned for more random thoughts on the landscape of college football.