The 2022 College Football season has slid through Week Two with some absolutely wild performances. It provided fans with an immense amount of unforgettable moments. There were the usual big-time blowouts that come with early-season non-conference games, but those were overshadowed by some game of the year candidates.
Here is a look at the best games from Week Two of the 2022 College Football season.
Honorable Mention: Holy Cross def. Buffalo 37-31
It does not take a game with a couple of Power-5 conference schools to put together an excellent performance. The week two matchup between Holy Cross and Buffalo was just one of the many examples of that.
For the majority of the first half, Buffalo was in complete control. They were up 14-0 before Holy Cross finally put up a TD five minutes before halftime. Buffalo responded with a TD to jump back up by two scores, but with only a few seconds remaining in the half Holy Cross scored to make it 21-14 at halftime.
Holy Cross nearly controlled the entirety of the second half. After outscoring Buffalo 14-7 in the third quarter the game went into the final quarter tied at 28. The fourth quarter was rather lackluster. Holy Cross took the lead with a field goal which they held until Buffalo recorded a game-tying field goal with 31 seconds left.
Instead of just playing for overtime Holy Cross utilized a couple of big plays to get to around midfield with only a few seconds left on the clock. Holy Cross QB Matthew Sluka launched a pass towards the endzone which Jalen Coker reeled in for the first successful Hail Mary attempt of the season.
5) Texas Tech def. No. 25 Houston 33-30
One of the most highly anticipated games of the week proved to be quite interesting for a variety of good and bad reasons. A very solid Texas Tech team took on Houston, one of three teams to participate in another game of the week, in yet another overtime game.
It was a sluggish start, to say the least. Texas Tech began the game with an opening drive field goal. After that, it was very quiet. The proceeding six drives resulted in five punts and a fumble for a measly 107 total yards of offense.
The latter half of the first half provided a lot more entertainment. With the help of a short field, Houston was able to record a game-tying field goal despite going only 12 yards. The remainder of the half was all Tech who recorded two TDs and sent the game into halftime up 17-3.
The second half started with a bang as Houston only needed four plays to go 67 yards for their first TD of the day making it only 17-10. Then it went silent again with three straight punts, a missed field goal, turnover on downs and a Houston interception. After a quick turnover by Houston, their defense immediately stepped up with a massive Pick-6 to tie the game at 17 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Tech then continued to hurt themselves with their second missed field goal and a second interception over their next two possessions. With under a minute remaining Houston got the go-ahead field goal off the turnover. Despite their struggles, Tech went down the field quickly and notched the game at 20 with a last-second field goal to send it to overtime.
After both teams matched each other with a TD in the first overtime Houston was held to a field goal in the second overtime. That did not prove to be enough to keep the game going as Tech ran the ball in for the game-winning TD.
It was not a pretty game in the least. There were 10 punts, three interceptions, three missed field goals, two turnovers on downs and one fumble. Outside of all of these issues this game was up in the air all game long and provided plenty of intense and nail-biting moments until the very end.
4) Kansas def. West Virginia 55-42
For the second straight week, West Virginia was a part of a Top-5 game of the week. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of it both times. Rather oddly, the team on the winning side is Kansas, one of the worst teams in all of college football over the past decade.
The game started with West Virginia jumping out to the immediate lead with a touchdown in both of their drives in the first quarter. Kansas put together a great drive on their second possession as they scored a TD three seconds into the second quarter. Each team got the ball two more times before half time and each team put up two more TDs. After a wild first half, the game went into halftime with West Virginia up 28-21.
It looked like the second half was poised for more back-and-forth action, but that was not the case. Six drives into the second half Kansas outscored West Virginia 21-3 to jump out to a 42-31 lead. However, West Virginia did not give up. Their next possession resulted in a field goal to bring them within eight. After forcing a three and out, West Virginia marched 85 yards in under two minutes to score a TD as well as the clutch game-tying two-point conversion.
It was only right that this game went into overtime. It began with Kansas putting the pressure on with a go-ahead touchdown. On a crucial third down, QB JT Daniels threw a game-ending Pick-6. For the second straight week, West Virginia came up just short of a victory due to a Daniels Pick-6 late in the game.
It is pretty crazy to consider the fact that Kansas is 2-0 this season after they won only two games in their previous 25 games. Also, they have won their first two games of the season for the first time since the 2011 season. Finally, they are looking to accomplish something they have done only five times in the previous 12 seasons: win three games in a season.
3) UTSA def. Army 41-38
The third of three teams with back-to-back games of the week is UTSA. Just like last week, UTSA is on this list because of an incredible overtime battle. This week’s opponent was Army who, despite spending almost all of their time running the ball, knows how to put up a ton of points.
As mentioned Army is primarily a run team. Despite this, they got the scoring going with a one-play drive where Tyhier Tyler threw for a 77-yard TD. The second quarter saw plenty of action as both teams recorded two TDs to send the game into halftime with Army leading 21-14.
After an Army TD to begin the second half scoring, UTSA took control. They outscored Army 21-0 through most of the second half. Army got the ball down 35-28 with seven minutes remaining. They went 75 yards in 12 plays to tie the game with a minute remaining. UTSA put together some quick big plays to attempt a game-winning field goal, but the 41-yard kick was missed to send it to overtime.
Army began overtime with only a field goal which meant their defense needed to step it up. After a heartbreaking overtime loss in week one, UTSA aimed to change their luck. On a pass from QB Frank Harris, receiver De’Corian Clark make a spectacular catch for the TD to win the game.
The QBs for both teams showed off some big-time abilities in this thriller. UTSA’s Harris went 32/45 for 359 pass yards and three pass TDs. For Army, their air raid actually outdid their run game. QB Cade Ballard went 11/15 for 221 pass yards and one pass TD while also adding on 58 rush yards.
2) Georgia Southern def. Nebraska 45-42
This game was not expected to be close, but the Sun Belt conference had quite the day on Saturday.
It was not a highly defensive game, especially the first half which featured eight TDs out of the 12 possessions. Each team recorded four TDs which sent the game to halftime tied at 28. The two teams combined for 705 yards of offense in the first half.
The second half began with more offense as Georgia Southern went down the field with ease for a go-ahead TD. After this, the offense began to sputter a little bit. The next six drives included three punts, a Nebraska TD, a Georgia Southern field goal and a Georgia Southern interception.
The turnover created by the Nebraska defense put their offense on the field down three, 98 yards from their desired destination. Going back to the offensive onslaught trend, Nebraska took 15 plays and almost six minutes to go 98 yards for a go-ahead TD. Unfortunately, their defense could not hold the lead. Georgia Southern went 75-yards in 11 plays for a go-ahead TD with 36 seconds remaining. Nebraska’s offense responded by going 43 yards to set up a 52-yard field goal attempt which just missed to the left.
Nebraska was on the wrong side of yet another one-score game. This made Nebraska 5-22 under Scott Frost in one-score games including 10 straight such losses. It was also their eighth loss by only three points out of those 22. All of this culminated in Nebraska firing Frost as their head coach on Sunday morning.
For Georgia Southern, this snaps a 12-game losing streak against Power-5 conference teams. The last time they won against a big-time school was November 23, 2013, when they beat Florida 26-20.
1) No. 1 Alabama def. Texas 20-19
The game of the week shaped up to be highlighted by some unexpected struggles and an insane finish. Alabama came into Texas as huge favorites, but Texas played the No. 1 team in the country better than anyone could have predicted.
The game began with a ton of action. Alabama scored a field goal and Texas scored a field goal. Alabama scored a TD and Texas scored a TD. After four drives the game was tied at 10 and that is how it stood for a long time. After five punts and a missed field goal by Texas the game went into halftime tied at 10.
The first four drives of the second half were all three-and-outs, but then Texas drove down to the red zone. Despite being at the 19-yard line they failed to convert and settled for a field goal. Following another Alabama punt Texas drove down to the point of first and goal at the seven. Once again their offense failed to make a big play and they settled for a field goal to extend the lead to 16-10.
Following six straight drives resulting in punts, Alabama waited until late in the game to make some noise. With 13 minutes remaining the Alabama offense stepped up and the Texas defense fell asleep. In 11 plays over 4.5 minutes, Alabama swiftly reclaimed the lead with a TD to make it 17-16.
Texas responded with a horrendous three-and-out. Nevertheless, their defense stepped it up with a massive fourth down stop to get the ball back with 3:42 remaining. Texas took it all the way down to the 25-yard line with 1:42 remaining. What needs to be noted is that Alabama committed an inordinate amount of fouls. On a second down play running back, Bijan Robinson was quite obviously faced masked, but the officials missed it. Instead of half the distance to the goal for a first down Alabama was bailed out. On third down QB Hudson Cord was sacked which forced the go-ahead field goal to make it 19-17.
Even though only 1:29 remained, Alabama had the reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young ready for another big moment. Taking advantage of some lackluster Texas defense, Young led Alabama down the field with ease. He set up the game-winning field goal for kicker Will Reichard who nailed it.
The biggest lesson learned for Texas is that they need to take advantage of great opportunities. Texas had three second-half drives where they landed in range of the endzone and were held to three points each time. Also, it shows some serious resiliency for Alabama that they were able to win after having six punts, four three-and-outs and 15 penalties for 100 yards.
The College Football season is in through two full weeks of mayhem. It is extremely difficult to pick a Top-5 when seven ranked teams get upset, six games went into overtime and the first hail mary of the season was completed. There is no doubt Week Three will find a way to top this excellent weekend. Some of the games this weekend to look forward to include No. 1 Georgia vs South Carolina, No. 13 Miami vs No. 24 Texas A&M, UTSA vs 21 Texas, Texas Tech vs No. 16 NC State and so much more.
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