Best Bets had a better week in Week 2, but still not good enough. I hit 2 of 5 one week after an 0-for-3 showing. I nailed 2 games right on the money — Tennessee over NC State, New Mexico State to keep it close with Liberty — and missed on Oregon by a touchdown. (Dillon Gabriel missed back-to-back would-be touchdown throws in the fourth quarter that would have pushed the Ducks’ total to 44 points. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.)

The other 2 misses were complete whiffs.

Clemson smacked the stuffing out of App State. If we just took the final 3 quarters of the game, then sure, App State would have covered. The problem was that Clemson had a 35-0 lead after the first quarter.

What?

And then Kentucky completely s*** the bed at home against South Carolina.

Let’s look at the red.

(My Monday column did much better this week — 7-3. The over hit in Arkansas-OSU. A bet on Texas -6.5 cashed. The over hit in Penn State-Bowling Green. The under hit in Kentucky-South Carolina. A bet on Tennessee -7.5 cashed. A bet on Nebraska -7 cashed. And a bet on USC -28 cashed.)

Appalachian State +17 vs. Clemson — MISS

In Week 1, Clemson’s pass game lived along the margins. Nothing was even attempted over the middle. Everything was sideline, sideline, or near the line of scrimmage.

In Week 2, Clemson’s pass game decided to do a complete 180. Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 24 of his 26 passes for 378 yards and 5 touchdowns. He did not throw an interception, and he went 10-for-10 on throws of at least 10 yards. App State only blitzed him on 3 of his dropbacks and Klubnik still ripped apart the coverage. He was 10-for-10 on throws beyond the line of scrimmage and between the numbers.

He didn’t play in the second half.

He was flawless. And he probably orchestrated the best half in Clemson football history.

With Klubnik at the controls, Clemson had explosive pass plays of 17, 18, 20, 29, 33, 41, 51, and 76 yards.

Klubnik had 2 pass plays that produced 50 yards all last season.

Often times things are never as good or as bad as they look after Week 1. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney tried to calm the waters after an ugly opening loss to Georgia, but the issue was nothing looked different from the previous season. Klubnik looked uncomfortable. Receivers couldn’t separate. Drives were a grind.

But this kind of a tendency breaker came entirely out of left field. App State had given up 378 passing yards or more only twice in its previous 93 games. The Mountaineers were also previously 2-0 ATS as a double-digit dog under coach Shawn Clark. Clemson was 12-9-1 ATS in games following a straight up loss dating back to 2011.

Clemson has shown us 2 different extremes through the first 2 weeks.

Oregon team total over 40.5 vs. Boise State — MISS

Oregon is probably a team to avoid going forward. The Ducks can’t consistently pass protect, and the gap between Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel looks a lot bigger than anyone thought it would be.

Through his first 2 games, Gabriel just has not looked downfield.

There are 141 FBS quarterbacks who have had at least 20 dropbacks through the first 2 weeks of the season. Gabriel’s 5.8-yard average depth of target is the ninth-shortest of any of them. Oregon’s attack isn’t predicated on dinking and dunking down the field. Bo Nix threw at least 10 yards downfield on 30.4% of his passes last year. Through 2 games, only 19.8% of Gabriel’s attempts have been at least 10 yards downfield. He hasn’t been good in the intermediate range, and he’s not getting the time necessary to let it rip.

It doesn’t seem like Gabriel is playing with a ton of confidence. He’s hold the ball too long in spots and not doing a good enough job of sensing where the danger is. That’s surprising for a quarterback with the amount of experience he has.

It’s not that Oregon is lacking in deep threats. Wideout Tez Johnson took a punt return to the house in electric fashion against Boise State. Evan Stewart had a 67-yard reception on a straight go route down the sideline where he burned his man. He had a 34-yard touchdown on a post. Traeshon Holden had a 59-yard touchdown.

But the Ducks are making too many mistakes that short circuit drives. They have gone 3-and-out on 6 possessions in 2 games. They’ve lost fumbles 3 times. And they’ve turned it over on downs twice.

Oregon is out of sync right now. Who thought Georgia Southern would have more yardage and score more points on Boise State’s defense than Oregon? This is a team to fade until the offensive line figures it out or the market gets a little more reactive to the Ducks’ start.

Related: Tradition has you covered with promos to use on the top sports betting apps in Ohio. 

Kentucky -10 vs. South Carolina — MISS

It’s fair to ask if Saturday’s 31-6 loss to South Carolina was the worst defeat of the Mark Stoops era in Lexington.

Focus on the third quarter, with quarterback Brock Vandagriff standing in the shadow of his own endzone.

A first-down gain of 25 yards was negated by offsetting penalties. A 9-yard run on the next snap was wiped out because of a holding penalty. A 13-yard run on the next snap was wiped out because of another holding penalty. On first-and-19, Kentucky lost a yard. Vandgriff was lucky to not be picked off on the next snap. Vandagriff was luckier to not be picked off on the next snap after that.

When Kentucky finally punted the football back to South Carolina, boos showered the field and 1 more flag came out for good measure.

The Wildcats weren’t great on offense in their Week 1 win over Southern Miss, but they didn’t need to be. The defense was suffocating and Kentucky dominated field position. Vandagriff was picked off on the opening possession of the game, but every drive after at least moved the ball.

Nothing about the opening win carried over. Kentucky didn’t cross midfield until midway through the second quarter. In the second half, the wheels fell off. The offense had a pair of 3-and-outs, a pair of interceptions, and then a turnover on downs after an 11-play possession gained only 27 yards. Vandagriff finished with 30 passing yards and only 3 total completions, and he was replaced in the fourth quarter.

“We talk about all the time, when we get punched, get hit, we swing back,” Stoops said after the game. “We’ve been beaten really badly by some really good football teams. (But) I felt like our team always fought back. … Today, we didn’t look like a team that wanted to respond. And that’s on me.”

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, meanwhile, told ESPN’s Molly McGrath after the game that there were a ton of narratives about his team after Week 1 that were just wrong. His program came out to make a statement in Lexington.

And he was right! We (I) completely misjudged the Gamecocks after Week 1. The Wildcats didn’t need to play a complete game in Week 1. South Carolina had to fight and grind out a win. That paid dividends.

It’s important to keep things in perspective a bit with South Carolina. The ground game produced just 86 yards and the offensive line gave up 3 sacks. South Carolina went just 3-for-10 on third down and averaged only 5 yards a play. They went 3-and-out on 3 of their first 4 offensive possessions and the offense only produced 24 points. This said more about Kentucky, which was massively overvalued after its Week 1 win.