Week 2 college football winners and losers: Michigan and Notre Dame have real work to do to make the playoff

Michigan and Notre Dame are far from playoff ready. Especially on offense.

The two top-10 teams will tumble down the AP Top 25 on Sunday after embarrassing losses. The No. 10 Wolverines were manhandled by No. 3 Texas in a 31-12 loss that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. And No. 5 Notre Dame followed up its 10-point win at Texas A&M in Week 1 with an embarrassing 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish entered the game as 28.5-point favorites.

Both teams sit 1-1 largely because of their inability to pass the football effectively. Michigan didn’t add a transfer after J.J. McCarthy’s departure to the NFL and held a quarterback competition between Davis Warren and Alex Orji. After adding a transfer QB in Sam Hartman a season ago, Notre Dame went the transfer route again and signed Duke’s Riley Leonard for 2024. In addition to Leonard, Notre Dame re-hired former offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock from LSU, where he coordinated an offense that included Heisman winner Jayden Daniels and first-round picks Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas in 2023.

Neither Warren, Orji or Leonard has been an effective passer so far this season. Warren was named Michigan’s starter as Orji has seen limited playing time for the second straight season. After throwing for just 118 yards on 25 pass attempts against Fresno State, Warren wasn’t much better against the Longhorns. He was 22-of-33 passing for 204 yards, but many of those yards came after Texas went up 31-6. A big reason for that deficit? Warren’s two interceptions.

Warren’s story is phenomenal. The senior was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 while he was in high school. He spent more than four months in the hospital getting treatments and is now starting games for the defending national champions. You cannot question his desire or perseverance.

But you…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-08 00:43:47

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