Week 2 Stock Report: Buying Iowa State, selling celebrity coaches, Top 25 teams on Fraud Watch
Week 2 was wacky and wild, which is what happens when you have a sport being played by 18-23 year-olds. It’s pretty unpredictable.
We saw Notre Dame lose as a 28-point favorite, while a slew of ranked teams survived the Saturday scaries. So with another set of data points, it’s time to calibrate college football’s latest movement in the Week 2 Stock Report.
Today, we’re talking Iowa State, some Forgotten Programs, teams on #FraudWatch, celebrity coaches and more.
The 2024 Week 2 Stock Report:
📈STOCK UP — Iowa State
Matt Campbell is Iowa State’s best football coach in over half a century, and after losing his first five games in the Cy-Hawk Series, he’s beaten two of the last three years.
The Cyclones erased a 13-0 deficit for a stunning 20-19 win against their bitter rivals, as sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht hit a couple of deep passes (a 75-yard touchdown to Jaylin Noel and then a 30-yard catch and run to Noel to set up the game-winning field goal) and the defense came up with some timely stops in the red zone.
The furious comeback was the perfect illustration as to why I have ISU as a Big 12 dark horse contender this season. They’re hard to kill — or blowout. And if they’re finally going to start winning close games (a major bugaboo in recent seasons) … then look out.
Iowa State is buttoned up defensively — even without multiple starting linebackers including their best player Will McLaughlin — and hopefully, they’ll get healthier later in the year. They play great special teams and Becht is a solid Big 12 quarterback. The receiver combo of Noel and Jayden Higgins might be the most underrated duo in the conference. The fact that Iowa State beat Iowa with star tailback Abu Sama III limited to just 58 yards on 17 carries is also impressive.
Might 2024 be the year Iowa State reclaims its crown as college football’s favorite hipster contender?
📉STOCK DOWN — Celebrity coaches
Two years ago, Colorado and UAB decided to hire unconventional, celebrity coaches.
How’s that working out?
Deion Sanders was at least a worthwhile risk for the Buffs, but aside from quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way talent Travis Hunter being a fun pitch-and-catch duo, Colorado remains an unserious program. They look exactly like they did a year ago — undisciplined, weak in the trenches and full of off-the-field drama.
That rebuilt offensive line? Still booty, as Sanders was running for his life once again and was sacked six times by Nebraska. Colorado was fortunate to get past FCS North Dakota State in Week 1, and despite Coach Prime promising his team would “make a lot of noise” this season, the only tune that’s playing is the sad trombone music.
Not to be outdone, but the Trent Dilfer era at UAB is going swimmingly bad, too. An even more off-the-wall hire than Sanders, Dilfer had never coached college football and got the job over Blazers interim head coach Bryant Vincent, who took over the program during the summer of 2022 when Bill Clark abruptly retired due to health issues. Vincent, a longtime assistant at UAB, led the team to a 7-6 record and players actively pinned for him to get the full-time job. He didn’t, but is now the first-year head coach at Louisiana-Monroe, and his Warhawks team just blasted Dilfer’s Blazers 32-6 in Birmingham. Dilfer is now just 5-9 at UAB — with two of the wins coming against FCS teams.
STOCK HOLDING — Teams on #FraudWatch
A week after winning at Texas A&M, Notre Dame proved fraudulent with its loss to Northern Illinois. On the flip side, maybe Clemson isn’t the fraud everyone thought after the Tigers got blasted by Georgia in Week 1. Dabo Swinney’s exorcised all their pent-up frustrations against App. State on Saturday, jumping out to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter en route to a crushing 66-20 win.
But 60 minutes of football wasn’t so easy for lots of other ranked teams playing inferior competition this weekend. Oregon has looked bad for two weeks in a row and barely slipped past Boise State. Penn State couldn’t stop Conner Bazelak and Bowling Green for two quarters. Alabama (Can the OL really not operate without Kadyn Proctor?) was leading USF by one point in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma (250 total yards of offense) was fortunate to beat Houston, while Oklahoma State (Ollie Gordon is averaging just 3.9 yards per carry this season) and Kansas State (no timing or rhythm in the passing game) were holding onto a pair of horseshoes to escape with wins.
All these teams are still 2-0 and ranked inside the Top 20. They’ve all won their clunkers, but they’ve also shown various signs of shakiness that have them on #FraudWatch.
📈STOCK UP — The Forgotten Teams
Shoutout to a host of programs that aren’t in usually in the college football discourse. I’m talking 2-0…
– Arizona State, which looks like its established an identity under Kenny Dillingham in Year 2. With Cam Skattebo leading the way (33 carries for 262 yards), the Sun Devils ran past Mississippi State 30-23.
– Cal, which won at Auburn despite being down multiple starting offensive linemen, two wideouts and its top edge rusher. Justin Wilcox’s Bears held the Tigers to just 286 total yards and forced five turnovers.
– Illinois, which is 2-0 for the first time under Brett Bielema after upsetting No. 18 Kansas and now has a much more navigable path to bowl eligibility.
– Syracuse, which upset Georgia Tech and looks like it struck gold in the transfer portal with former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord (eight TDs this season). A possible sneaky ACC contender?
– Virginia, which rallied from a 30-17 deficit at Wake Forest to win 31-30 and start 1-0 in ACC play for the first time in five years. Does Tony Elliott finally have a little juice?
– Washington State, which has one of the better offenses in the country in 2024 after smashing Texas Tech 37-16.
📉Stock down SMU’s chances to be competitive in the AAC
This is not how Rhett Lashlee envisioned the 2024 season starting off. The Mustangs were the reigning AAC Champs with a roster stocked with former Power 5 transfers and a returning quarterback in Preston Stone. They had a workable schedule, and while Lashlee expected to take some lumps during the program’s leap to a Power Conference, the hope was they would be competitive right away in the ACC.
Well, best-laid plans and blah, blah, blah.
Three games into the season, SMU had to rally to beat Nevada, whipped a poor FCS team and then lost 18-15 at BYU. The offense is a complete mess (just 3.6 yards) — especially the passing game.
Lashlee has benched Stone multiple times already this season — and he might’ve been pulled for good against the Cougars after starting out just 2-of-4 for four yards with several negative runs. Backup Kevin Jennings hasn’t been any better, though, failing to complete a pass (four-straight misfires) on the final drive against BYU.
On paper, the Mustangs still have a decent path to bowl eligibility but they’re now 0-6 against Power Conference teams under Lashlee and still have TCU + a conference schedule to play.
Good luck.