Looking Ahead: ND Opponents in Week 2

Irish Schedule	Week 2 Opponent	Score	Season Record
Texas Longhorns	Rice Owls	W 42-28	1-1
Virginia Cavaliers	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	L 34-27	0-2
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	Tulane Green Wave	W 65-10	2-0
UMass Minutemen	@Colorado Buffaloes	L 48-14	0-1
Clemson Tigers	Appalachian State Mountaineers	W 41-10	2-0
Navy Midshipmen	Open Date	N/A	1-0
Southern Cal Trojans	Idaho Vandals	W 59-9	2-0
Temple Owls	@Cincinnati Bearcats	W 34-26	2-0
Pittsburgh Panthers	@Akron Zips	W 24-7	2-0
Wake Forest Demon Deacons	@Syracuse Orange	L 30-17	1-1
Boston College Eagles	Howard Bison	W 76-0	2-0
Stanford Cardinal	UCF Knights	W 31-7	1-1

At the top, Texas righted the ship after getting blown out in South Bend last week by destroying Rice in Austin. The offense still isn't clicking on all cylinders, but the Horns looked better with Jerrod Hurd taking a majority of the snaps. Things haven't been completely corrected, however, because despite scoring 42 points, the Texas QBs combined for just a 5-10 line for 128 yards. They did add two TDs through the air, and Hurd had just under 100 yards rushing. RB Jonathon Grey added a TD on the ground. The Horns also had punt and fumble return TDs to complete the blowout. The score makes the game appear closer than it really was, too as Rice scored two TDs in the fourth quarter when Texas was playing their backups. While the Irish escaped Virginia, next week's opponent Georgia Tech blew out Tulane 65-10. The Yellow Jackets racked up 439 yards on the ground, and were efficient through the air adding two TDs. Despite playing two inferior opponents in their first two games, Georgia Tech's triple option attack looks to be the real deal. Out west, UMass opened their season with a blowout loss to Colorado. The Minutemen were in the game through the first 20 minutes or so, but failed to score after the 12:22 mark of the second quarter. Senior WR Tajae Sharpe was a bright spot for UMass making 11 catches for 138 yards.

After catching some heat from Brian Kelly regarding scheduling earlier this week, Dabo Swinney and the Tigers beat new FBS program Appalachian State 41-10. The Tigers started slowly scoring just three points in the first quarter, but dropped 28 points on the Mountaineers in the second quarter. Sophomore QB Deshaun Watson had a nice day throwing for 248 yards, three TDs with one pick on 19-26 passing. The Tigers rushing attack left something to be desired as they racked up just 140 yards on 44 carries, but much of that was in second half garbage time while running out the clock. Southern Cal had no troubles with Idaho as they racked up 737 yards in a 59-9 blowout win. Cody Kessler was nearly perfect going for over 400 yards with three TDs while WR Ju-Ju Smith finished just shy of 200 yards receiving to go with his two scores. Southern Cal did have some issues on third down going just 1-6, but since they didn't even reach third down on a number of series, it wasn't a major concern for the Trojans. Southern Cal also put their pass blocking problems behind them. Cody Kessler was sacked six time last week, but he had no such problems this week.

Temple pulled off another upset win over a bigger program, this time beating Cincinnati on the road. Former Irish QB Gunner Kiel threw for 427 yards and two TDs, but tossed 4 picks. Owls QB PJ Walker had a much more pedestrian stat line, but didn't turn the ball over, and matched Kiel with two scores of his own. Temple RB Jahad Thomas had a huge day on the ground racking up 193 yards and a TD on 26 carries. He also added a 100 yard kickoff return TD. The Owls will face another ND opponent, UMass, next week. Pitt managed to beat Akron 24-7 at home on Saturday, but it wasn't pretty. Missing star RB James Connor, the Panthers struggled to move the ball on the ground rushing for just 127 yards on 46 carries. Pitt QBs combined for a solid 18/25 and 180 yards passing, but considering the opponent, Pitt fans were probably hoping for more. The Panthers travel to Iowa next week which should give everyone a better idea of how good this Pitt team can be.

Wake Forest and Syracuse opened ACC play in the Carrier Dome on Saturday with the Orange coming out on top. The Deacons actually led at halftime 17-13 behind a rushing and passing TD from QB John Wolford. The Deacs QB finished with 373 yards on 30-45 passing, but threw three interceptions. The Wake Forest running game was non-existent as the team ran for just 64 yards on 30 carries (2.1 YPC) after adjusting for sacks. Boston College beat anFCS opponent for the second consecutive week blowing out Howard 76-0. The Eagles were up 62-0 at halftime before slowing down in the second half. The Eagles looked fantastic in all three phases, but there's not much to draw from the game considering the opponent. Lucky for us, BC welcomes Florida State to Chestnut Hill next week. Lastly, Stanford bounced back from their loss to Northwestern with a 31-7 win over UCF. Kevin Hogan had a nice day throwing for 341 yards and three TDs, but the Cardinal rushing attack was limited to a pedestrian 130 yards on 41 attempts. The Cardinal defense looked good holding UCF under 200 total yards and forced two turnovers. UCF has struggled mightily in this young season, so it's hard to tell if Stanford has improved and put their week one struggles behind them. We'll find out next week, however, when they travel to LA to take on Southern Cal.