Who looked better: Anthony Richardson or Florida’s helmets?

How about Anthony Richardson in Florida’s helmet. (Don’t ask a USF defender; those guys mainly saw the back of it Saturday in Tampa.)

Richardson’s dominance is just 1 of 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 2 in and around the SEC.

10. Anthony Richardson gives Gators a shot to repeat in East

Last week, Florida’s Cam Newton-lookalike ripped off a 75-yard TD run.

In Week 2, his first pass went for a 75-yard TD to Jacob Copeland.

What’s next? A 75-yard punt return?

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1436747183131332612

That throw wasn’t even his best play Saturday against USF. Later in the half, he shook off 2 tacklers to prevent a sack, threatened to stiff arm another and then outran a 4th Bull for 18 yards to pick up a first down.

Then, on the same series, he faked a QB draw, pulled up and threw a perfect 41-yard rainbow to Copeland for another TD.

I feel bad for Emory Jones, who did everything the right way and can play, too. He can throw it and run it and seems like an ideal fit for Dan Mullen. He had a perfectly placed sideline throw to Xzavier Henderson for a 35-yard touchdown and then added a 33-yard TD run. He’s absolutely good enough to start for most SEC teams.

But he’s not Anthony Richardson. We saw that Saturday. It played out after a puzzling decision (being polite on a Sunday morning) from Mullen in the middle of a drive. Richardson drove the Gators to the USF 7 on 2 runs and a 36-yard throw. He lost his helmet. By rule, Richardson had to exit and Jones had to enter, but Mullen didn’t have to stay with Jones. He gave Jones 4 shots and couldn’t finish the deal. His 4th-down pass into double coverage fell incomplete.

The next time Florida touched the ball, Richardson turned a simple zone-read into an 80-yard TD run. Again, broken tackle, stiff arm, outrun the fastest guys on the field. Rinse, repeat. In 2 games, he has the 2 longest TD runs in the SEC. He already has more 70+ yard runs than the Gators had in all of 2020.

He attempted 3 passes Saturday. He completed all 3 for 152 yards. In other words, in 3 throws, he produced more yardage than Jones did (151) in 22 attempts.

There’s no controversy.

Anthony Richardson is the guy who can take down Georgia and he has to get the chance to take down Alabama next week. He has earned the right. He’s the most dangerous offensive weapon in the SEC and he might be Florida’s next Heisman Trophy winner.

Jones didn’t lose the starting job. Richardson won it.

9. I’m not going to argue …

I might take it one step further. I love occasional alternate helmets. Florida’s 9/11 inspired tribute might be the coolest helmet in college football history.

8. Save the excuses, Aggies

Backup QB. Bad call. Blah, blah, blah.

Here’s the thing: Plenty of teams have quality backup QBs. Heck, I just anointed Florida’s backup QB the Heisman front-runner. So nobody wants to hear — now or in 8 weeks when résumés are picked apart — that you had to rally in the final minutes to outlast Colorado because you lost your starting QB in the opening series.

Second … as much fun as it is to blast the officials, they got the pivotal call right. Zach Calzada fumbled the football at the goal-line.

Be thankful Calzada overcame it by engineering a season-saving TD drive.

If you’re angry this morning about Saturday’s performance, the question you should be asking is why your $90 million head coach threw it 40 times (38 with his backup QB) and only ran it 29 times. Weren’t we told all offseason these Maroon Goons 2 were more talented than last year’s group? Yes, the scheme eventually worked. Scoreboard is the final judge and jury. But that had far more to do with Colorado and Isaiah Spiller making huge catch after catch.

The biggest takeaway: Colorado owned the line of scrimmage. Nothing that happened Saturday suggested Texas A&M is even remotely close to Alabama.

7. There’s no stopping Stetson Bennett

Georgia’s former walk-on savior-turned-scapegoat was back in the starting lineup Saturday against overmatched UAB.

Bennett threw 5 TDs in the opening half. That’s 1 more TD pass than there are Stetsons in his family!

That also equaled the program record shared by Matthew Stafford, Aaron Murray, DJ Shockley, David Greene and Joe Cox.

And now … Stetson Bennett IV.

6. 6 quirky questions

1. Does Georgia have a QB controversy, too? (No.)

2. But … wouldn’t you love to see Stetson Bennett vs. Zeb Noland next week between the hedges? Underdawg vs. Underdog.

3. Is 25.0 yards per carry a typo? No, that’s Anthony Richardson’s average after 2 games.

4. Are we really sure the Texas A&M QB competition was that close?

5. Was there a prop bet that Mercer’s longest TD in 2021 would come against Alabama?

6. Is Nick Saban still yelling after Alabama blew a coverage and allowed a 60-yard TD throw against Mercer?

5. Ranking the Power 5 conferences

1. SEC: Texas A&M is wildly overrated, but Florida belongs in the top 10.

2. Pac-12: Last week UCLA took out ranked LSU. This week Oregon took out No. 3 Ohio State — in Columbus — without its 2 best defensive players, and Colorado damn near upset No. 5 Texas A&M.

3. Big Ten: Thank goodness for Iowa.

4. ACC: NC State was a trendy dark-horse pick to unseat Clemson? Come on, man. And then FSU lost to Jacksonville State? At least Miami held on to beat Appalachian State.

5. Big 12: Texas’ embarrassing loss might expedite its defection, and not only did Kansas lose to Coastal Carolina, it was expected.

4. The 4 Playoff teams are …

1. Alabama, 2. Georgia, 3. Clemson, 4. Cincinnati.

Remember when we looked at Cincy’s schedule and circled back-to-back games against ranked Indiana and ranked Notre Dame? Cincy likely will be favored against Indiana, and Notre Dame just had to rally to beat Toledo. The Irish are 2-0 by a combined margin of 6 points. Cincy will have 2 weeks to prepare, too.

3. Tennessee’s loss was …

Encouraging.

Coaches get fired for compiling too many moral victories, but Pitt is a pretty good team and I think Tennessee found its QB in Hendon Hooker.

Frankly, I was surprised Hooker didn’t win the job in fall camp. Joe Milton has the strongest arm in college football (history?), but still has a bit too much Luke LaLoosh in him. From 60 yards out, he’s as apt to hit the mascot in the back of the end zone as he is a receiver in the end zone.

Hooker isn’t as flashy, but he’s more productive. He gave Tennessee a chance to win Saturday.

2. Is Ohio State out of the Playoff race?

That’s a great headline question, but the real narrative after the Buckeyes lost to Oregon is: Is Ohio State vulnerable in the Big Ten?

Obviously, the Buckeyes have to win out, including another B1G championship, to reach the Playoff. The wiggle room disappeared Saturday.

The question is, after 2 up-and-down performances, do you believe these Buckeyes are the best team in the Big Ten?

Most teams have gap years. This might be one for the Buckeyes, but we won’t know for another month, at least. Ohio State’s next challenge will come on Oct. 30 against Penn State.

1. Texas, it’s not too late to back out …

I mean, if you think Arkansas was rough …