Power Five teams sluggish early on in Week 2
The second week of the college football season lacks the flair that Week 1 provided in terms of matchups, with many Power Five teams facing weaker opponents this Saturday.
And some of those teams weren't exactly thriving early on, evidenced by these head-scatching halftime scores:
NO. 2 CLEMSON 13, TROY 10: The Tigers' Ray McCloud had a 75-yard touchdown on a punt return but he let the ball loose as he crossed the goal line, thus no touchdown. Before that, Troy scored off a 66-yard touchdown run, which was more rushing yards than Clemson had as a team. The Tigers' offense converted just two of nine on third down and averaged 2.1 yards per carry. Heisman contender Deshaun Watson (14-for-26) looked particularly sluggish, throwing an interception and struggling to find a rhythm under center. [UPDATE: Clemson finally pulled away to win, 30-24.]
NO. 9 GEORGIA 10, NICHOLLS STATE 7: A week after taking care of business against a ranked team, 33-24 vs. then-No. 20 North Carolina, it isn’t going quite as planned this week for the Bulldogs. Superstar Nick Chubb has rushed for only 17 yards on nine carries. Since the beginning of the 2010 season, Nicholls State has won 13 football games. Last season the Colonels played two FBS teams — two bad FBS teams — and lost 47-0 to Louisiana-Monroe and 48-0 to Colorado. [UPDATE: Georgia barely hung on to prevail, 26-24.]
NO. 17 OKLAHOMA STATE 17, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 10: The No. 17 Cowboys opened up a 14-0 lead, but the Chippewas stuck around all game. They went on to pull off a stunning upset on a controversial Hail Mary hook and lateral play. [UPDATE: Central Michigan defeated Oklahoma State, 30-27.]
RUTGERS 14, HOWARD 14: The ending summed up Rutgers' struggles against Howard in the first half. The Scarlet Knights missed a field goal to end the first half, but Howard had called a time out. Then Rutgers missed again. In the first quarter, Howard led 14-7 and out-gained Rutgers on the ground, 159-15. That's not a typo. [UPDATE: Rutgers pulled way ahead in the second half to finish with a 52-14 victory]
ALL THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL ACTION IN WEEK 2