Real Kato Blog: College Football 2022: Week 2 Recap and Week 3 Preview

Michigan, Penn State, and NC State all win easily over cupcake opponents.

Michigan 56, Hawaii 10
It really wasn't even as close as the final score indicates. Michigan raced out to a 42-0 lead at halftime and benched most of the starters for the second half. JJ McCarthy, in his first start, went 11 for 12 for 229 yards and three touchdowns, with his only incompletion being a dropped pass. Blake Corum accounted for 88 of Michigan's 268 rushing yards; five different players had rushing touchdowns on the day. In the first half Hawaii had gained 37 yards and had not crossed midfield. It was a massacre, as we all expected.

JJ McCarthy's impressive showing was the big story, and unfortunately, so was Cade McNamara's struggle when he came off the bench in the second and third quarters. Cade's four drives: 5-and-out, 3-and-out, 3-and-out, interception. Some of the problems weren't his fault, as the offensive line made uncharacteristically terrible blocking errors leading to pressures and sacks. But the Cade we saw last season, where he was adept at avoiding sacks and confident throwing the ball downfield, seemed to be gone. I think we might be seeing the end of Cade's career as a Michigan starter, which is a shame for a guy who led Michigan to a championship last year and was elected team captain this year. But the fact is, the offense runs better with JJ on the field, and that's all that matters.

Otherwise, Michigan excelled in all areas. We still can't tell much from a game in which the opponent was clearly out of its depth, but it bodes well that the team is executing cleanly at this stage of the season.

Michigan vs UConn, 12:00 PM ABC
It's a little weird to see Michigan not schedule one high-quality opponent in the preseason, but it is what it is, I guess. (That won't change in 2023; in 2024 Michigan plays Texas, though.) UConn will be the third sacrificial lamb; they're 1-2 on the year and were just walloped by Syracuse 48-14. UConn's main problem: they can't move the ball. Against Syracuse, QB Zion Turner completed 14 of 17 passes, but for only 92 yards. They only had 97 yards rushing on 27 carries, and 28 of those yards were on one carry.

With a confident JJ McCarthy set to start next week, expect Michigan to have another big day against an overmatched opponent.

Prediction: Michigan 56, UConn 6.

Penn State 46, Ohio 10
Penn State easily dispatched their MAC opponent, mostly by (finally) finding its running game. Nick Singleton had a 70-yard run on his way to a 179 yard total with two touchdowns, on just ten carries. Sean Clifford had an efficient 19/27 day for 213 yards and a touchdown. The defense only allowed 264 yards, holding Kurtis Rourke to just 14/30 for 119 yards. On a day full of upsets elsewhere in the country, it was good to see Penn State get the job done against a lesser opponent. The resurgence of the running game is a good sign; that will relieve the pressure on Clifford and make the offense more dangerous as a whole.

Penn State at Auburn, 3:30 PM CBS
It gets real now, with an away game against a quality SEC opponent. This is the completion of the home-and-home against Auburn; last year Penn State won at home, 28-20. This year's Auburn is 2-0. They've only played cupcakes Mercer and San Jose State (and didn't look great in the latter game), but they've got the athletes to match up with Penn State, and there's every reason to believe this game might be close.

Auburn has always been a run-heavy team, and this year figures to be no exception. They feature a multi-headed attack with Tank Bigsby getting most of the work; he's already got 198 yards on 6.8 yards YPC in two games. Where Auburn might have trouble is in the passing game. QB TJ Finley played decently in a few games last season after Bo Nix went down with an injury, but he isn't terribly accurate. He's already thrown for three interceptions this year and might struggle in the face of Penn State's outstanding cornerbacks.

I think this game could be a low-scoring affair, with defense and special teams being the difference.

Prediction: Penn State 17, Auburn 13.

NC State 55, Charleston Southern 3
Okay, sure, NC State had a big day in its home opener, with Devin Leary getting back to form with a four touchdown day. But... it's Charleston Southern, which isn't even very good for an FCS school. This was a glorified scrimmage and I don't think we learned a thing from it. At best, it's a confidence booster for the team after the scare in week 1. Let's see how things go next week against a legitimate opponent.

NC State vs Texas Tech, 7:00 PM ESPN2
2-0 TTU is coming off a 33-30 upset win over a ranked Houston opponent, and they scored 63 in their opener against FCS Murray State. This is a dangerous offense. Against Houston, sophomore quarterback Donovan Smith was 36/58 for 351 yards and two touchdowns (though he did also throw three interceptions).

This could be a wild one. I'm not confident in State's secondary at this point, so it might be a matter of who scores last. But in a night game at home, I think NC State might squeak by.

Prediction: NC State 42, Texas Tech 38.

Notable Results
The Sun Belt conference had a big day with some major upsets. Appalachian State, coming off its near-upset of UNC, beat #6 Texas A&M 17-14, and really dominated the game defensively. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say maybe Texas A&M was overrated. Meanwhile, Marshall knocked off #8 Notre Dame, thanks largely to three interceptions. Notre Dame looked good against Ohio State, but by the imaginary transitive law of football, Ohio State is slightly better than Marshall. And finally, Georgia Southern upset Nebraska 45-42. Nebraska is a cursed team if I ever saw one.

Washington State beat #19 Wisconsin 17-14. Iowa lost to Iowa State 10-7; Spencer Petras's QBR was 12.1, and Iowa had 150 yards of offense. Is anyone in the Big Ten West any good? The current division leader is Northwestern, who just lost to Duke. Yikes.

#1 Alabama narrowly avoided a loss against a feisty Texas team, 20-19. #21 BYU scored a minor upset against #9 Baylor, winning 26-20 in double overtime. #20 Kentucky beat #12 Florida 26-16; Kentucky could make some noise in the SEC. #24 Tennessee beat #17 Pitt 34-27 in OT. Illinois beat Virginia 24-3.

Games to Watch on TV
The Michigan-UConn game is at noon on ABC. #6 Oklahoma is at Nebraska on Fox. At 2:30, Cal is at Notre Dame on NBC. (Or is the game on Peacock? I can't tell.) At 3:30, the Penn State-Auburn game isn on CBS. #12 BYU is at #25 Oregon on Fox.

At 7:00, the TTU-NCSU game on on ESPN2. At 7:30 PM, #11 Michigan State plays at Washington on ABC. At 9:00 PM, #13 Miami is at #24 Texas A&M on ESPN.

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