The REAL WEAK ZERO
Week Two of college football brought to you by Gameday Men’s Health in Auburn. Tired of feeling tired? Text 334-209-3706 and start feeling better!
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With Week Two in college football quickly approaching, we wanted to look back quickly at some of the more shocking events with the first full week of the season. There are some HUGE matchups this weekend around the country to help move on from some of the HUGE stories last week. Some of the teams from Week One still may be able to move away from the disappointment, while several have already found themselves at a point of WEAK ZERO like a powerless ship floundering already to the mercy of a raging sea.
Any WEAK ZERO talk begins Thursday night in Boulder, CO. Deion Sanders began his 2024 campaign with a win against North Dakota State. Normally, a “W” to begin the season keeps you and your program off the list of real zeros. But Colorado was pushed around by a lower-level team consistently throughout the night and had to battle at home against their brethren Bison from up north in a harrowing 31-26 victory. Sanders right arm, QB Shedeur Sanders, consistently bailed out the Colorado offense while the left arm, dynamic athlete Travis Hunter, had a Herculean type of effort on both offense and defense to stave the cause. Stop me if you saw this movie last year when the “two-man team” willed Colorado to a mighty four-win season while the offensive line was offensive, the defensive line was pushed around, lack of discipline caused untimely penalties, and Coach Prime hobbled around hapless on the sidelines like Frodo Baggins from The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Guess what sports fans, you get to watch the sequel this weekend as Colorado (+7) travels to rejuvenated Nebraska. The Buffalos routed The Cornhuskers last year at home 36-14. That game left a sour taste in the Nebraska faithful which will be washed out Saturday. Nebraska 38 – Colorado 27.
Was there a bigger loser going WEAK ZERO last Saturday not named Mike Norvell than Dabo Swinney? Talk about a shocking turn of events inside The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in lovely downtown Atlanta. Arrogance is the word that comes to mind first when describing the Clemson head coach. Pigheaded, stubborn, bull-headed, inflexible, and uncooperative are some more. The national mainstream media threw Swinney a massive lifeline Saturday morning giving him the opportunity to state his case multiple times on ESPN interviews including a live one before his game against Georgia about how he has been “mischaracterized” regarding the current state of college football. His disdain for all things transfer portal, NIL, power to the players, fan interaction and every other curmudgeon thought spewing from his whining and jabbering, have painted Swinney as the modern-day Archie Bunker of college football. That kind of fire and brimstone approach is fine and dandy when you win two national championships like Dabo had years ago. But when your team is ill-prepared, sloppy, undisciplined, and pitiful like several of the interviews the head coach has given over the last two years, that barking dog will not hunt. Despite all the rhetoric, grandstanding, peacocking and fake outrage by someone making well over ten-million dollars a year to coach football, Dabo Swinney and Clemson just were not ready for the task at hand last Saturday against Georgia losing 34-3. Clemson returns home this weekend against a salty Appalachian State (+17.5) team that is not afraid to upset so-called “Big Time Programs”. With an offense that managed 76 total first-half yards last week, can Clemson score 17 points? Barely. Clemson 18 – Appy State 17.
Put a spear in The Seminoles. Their season is finished in Week Two by being very WEAK ZERO. Mighty Boston College rolled into Tallahassee on Labor Day absolutely dismantling a once proud FSU program. Head coach Mike Norvell looked clueless, transfer QB DJU looked ragged and slow, the ‘Noles fiery defense from last year still cannot tackle well this year, and Florida State begins the season 0-2 and now dead last in the ACC. On the flip side of that, BC Head Coach and former Tide OC favorite, Bill O’Brien, had The Golden Eagles ready to play. With back-to-back conference losses to Ga Tech and BC, The Noles have an enormous black hole to crawl out from immediately. Memphis (+5) will come to town next weekend hoping to continue the miserable season for Norvell and crew. Has a program fallen faster than FSU since QB Jordan Travis was injured last season causing an undefeated season to go in vain with FSU missing the college football playoffs? The shooting star which once was Norvell just last season is beginning to burn out. Did the Noles hit rock bottom already in Week Two of 2024 or are they still digging? Keep an eye on this storyline because I am not sure if the bye week this weekend is going to help. Early look Memphis 23-FSU 22.
Honorable Mentions -
West Virginia plus head coach Neil Brown and the AU fans who still want to hire this guy one day, Billy Napier, Texas A&M 12th Man, Brian Kelly, Teams beating Sisters of the Poor 100-3, Radio Free Auburn going 0-3 against the spread to start the season all WEAK ZERO!
Few Extras this weekend - Texas -7, OK State -7, Auburn -13.5, South Florida +31, Tennessee -7.5