Confetti from a football weekend

And clearing the stage for the next one.

COLLEGE

Kansas 55, West Virginia 42 (OT); Kansas State 40, Missouri 12: The Jayhawks have scored 111 points in going 2-0, and the Wildcats walloped former Big 12 partner Missouri. In Kansas’ case, it came down to hiring a coach (Lance Leipold, pictured) instead of a name (Charlie Weis, Les Miles). Leipold had coached Wisconsin-Whitewater to six Division III championships, then took Buffalo to two bowl victories. Last year was his first year, and Kansas won at Texas to snap a 56-game road conference losing streak.

Kansas State went the same route, hiring Chris Klieman, who had won two FCS titles at North Dakota State (one with Carson Wentz). The Wildcats went from 4-6 to 8-5 last year, winning the Texas Bowl. Deuce Vaughn, at 5-foot-6, is one of America’s best players, rushing for 18 touchdowns last year and three in the first two games of 2022.

Kentucky 26, Florida 16: Mark Stoops became Kentucky’s alltime winning coach, passing Paul W. (Bear) Bryant as the Wildcats frustrated Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. Going upstream in the SEC is a fool’s errand, yet Kentucky went 5-3 in league play in 2018 and 2021, the first time it’s happened since 1977. No wonder Stoops got his back up when John Calipari referred to Kentucky as a “basketball school.”

Alabama 20, Texas 19: This one was signed, sealed and delivered by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, because the Crimson Tide got outplayed from snap to whistle by Texas, which lost quarterback Quinn Ewers in the first half. Alabama’s longest pass play after two games is 25 yards. By the way, cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry has indeed secured an endorsement deal with his favorite beverage. His real first name is Ga’Quincy, but his grandmother decided he looked “just like the Kool-Aid man” when he was delivered.

Appalachian State 17, Texas A&M 14: This was not that close. A&M got one offensive touchdown (the other was on a kickoff return) and gained a total of 186 yards.

Georgia Southern 38, Nebraska 35: This happened 363 days after USC fired Clay Helton, who took the Georgia Southern job, surveyed a roster that went 3-9 last year with triple-option personnel and went to work. GSU is now 2-0, and after the game Nebraska fired Scott Frost. That required a $15 million buyout that would have been only $8 million had the Cornhuskers waited until Oct. 1. But Nebraska’s hypertension would have become chronic by then.

If you nurse the dream of making big money while not doing much, get hired by Nebraska. Since 2005 the school has bought off football coaches, basketball coaches and athletic directors to the tune of $50 million. And if you’re a school that’s considering the Big 10, check out Nebraska’s death spiral since it joined up.

Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41: This is notable because (A) the FCS school from San Antonio beat a Mountain West school even though it was penalized 18 times and (B) the game, in Reno, ended in a smoky haze, thanks to the Mosquito Fire.

Air Force 41, Colorado 10: “Power conference school” is a subjective term. The Buffaloes followed up a 38-13 loss to TCU with this stinker. J.T. Shrout, the quarterback who replaced Brendon Lewis, went 5-for-21. This week? A trip to Minnesota, which throttled a much better Colorado team, 30-0, last year. In a fair world, Colorado would have traded schedules with UCLA.

NFL

L.A. Chargers 24, Las Vegas 19: Conspicuous by his absence on Sunday was Raiders’ pas rusher Maxx Crosby. He had one of the team’s three hits on Justin Herbert, but Vegas never sacked the Chargers’ QB.

Kansas City 44, Arizona 21: Without Tyreek Hill, Patrick Mahomes posted a 144.2 QB rating, second-best in his career, and hit 30 of 39 passes for five touchdowns and no picks. In five season openers, Mahomes has never had a QB rating lower than 122.3. Kansas City plays the Chargers Thursday.

Chicago 19, San Francisco 10: It’s permissible to give Trey Lance a hall pass because of the monsoon at Soldier Field, but everyone else was waterlogged, too. The second-year quarterback wasn’t very good, with 5.9 yards per attempt. This is why you hang onto Jimmy Garoppolo, because the 49ers still have no idea exactly who they took with the third-overall pick last year.

New York Giants 21, Tennessee 20: New coach Brian Daboll was lauded by his decision to go for two points, but if the Giants had muffed it they would have ruined an impressive five-and-a-half minute drive to get there. Saquon Barkley looked like a Penn State Heisman Trophy candidate again and — wouldn’t you know? — quarterback Daniel Jones looked first-round worthy, too. Tennessee got both its touchdowns from Kyle Philips, the UCLA rookie receiver who was the No. 163 pick in the draft.

Washington 28, Jacksonville 22: Carson Wentz led Washington to two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the win. Eventually the debut of Jacksonville’s Travon Walker, the first-overall draft pick from Georgia, could be more significant. He had a sack, an interception and a tackle for loss.

Seattle 17, Denver 16: Nathaniel Hackett’s introduction to Denver fans could have gone better. The new head coach (and son of former USC coach Paul) wound up with two time outs in his pocket as kicker Brandon McManus tried, and missed, a 64-yard field goal at the end. He had a first down, and all three time outs, at the Denver 49 with 1:24 left.

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