COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKLY RANT
One week of the college football season in the books, and it
did not disappoint.
Have I mentioned how much I love teams going out and
challenging themselves in the non-conference?
In the Opening Week of the season we had neutral site games between
Alabama and Florida State, Michigan and Florida, West Virginia and Virginia
Tech as well as Tennessee and Georgia Tech.
We were also treated to Maryland at Texas and Texas A&M in the Rose
Bowl against UCLA in other Power 5 match-ups to open the season. The fun part about those games is that none
of them disappointed. Maybe the
competitiveness of the games may not have been what everyone hoped for in some
of them, but all of them helped us learn a little more about the teams involved
and give us a better forecast of what we might be able to expect from them this
season.
The big game last week was obviously #1 Alabama vs # Florida
State. The final score, 24-7, was not as
telling as one would think. Alabama
dominated in one aspect of the game, Special Teams, and that was the
difference. Both defenses dominated for
stretches, long stretches as a matter of fact.
Both offenses struggled to get the ball to their play makers in
space. As for Special Teams, Alabama
blocked a punt and a FG, Florida State also fumbled a kickoff. All 3 of those plays made a difference on the
scoreboard. The blocked FG just before
the end of the 1st half, allowed the Crimson Tide to hold a 10-7
lead at the break. The blocked punt in
the 3rd quarter led to 3 more points for Alabama. FSU then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which
Bama turned into 8 (touchdown + 2pt conversion) 1 play later. Late in the game came the blow that most
people are taking away from the game, when FSU QB Deondre Francois was sacked
from behind injuring his knee. After the
game, it was discovered that Francois would be out the rest of the year with an
MCL tear in that knee.
Not to kick a man when he is down, but I don’t see this as
big of a loss as others appear to, simply because I have never been a huge fan
of Francois. This Florida State team was
built around a fierce defense and a safe QB.
That can still be the recipe for the Noles success behind freshman QB
James Blackman, who probably has a higher ceiling than Francois when you really
break it down. Getting reps in this week
vs LA-Monroe would have been nice for Blackman, but that game has been
cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.
Blackman will now get his 1st career start again rival Miami
in Week 3.
As for Alabama, they are good. Shocking, I know! However, I’ll stay off the hype train for at
least a few weeks more. The Alabama offense
was very unimpressive against Florida State.
Yes, that could possibly be the best defense that Bama faces this year,
but I still expected more growth from QB Jalen Hurts between his freshman and
sophomore years. Hurts completed just 10
passes in the game for 96 yards, 53 of which came on 1 play.
Alabama’s five scoring drives looked like this:
9 plays, 44 yards = FG
5 plays, 85 yards = 53-yard TD pass
4 plays, -1 yard = FG
1 play, 11 yards = TD
6 plays, 16 yards = FG
9 plays, 44 yards = FG
5 plays, 85 yards = 53-yard TD pass
4 plays, -1 yard = FG
1 play, 11 yards = TD
6 plays, 16 yards = FG
Not all that impressive.
Alabama is good, but the offense needs to be much better if they want to
be great.
WHAT ELSE I LEARNED
IN WEEK ONE
*Michigan is in reload mode, not rebuild: The Wolverine defense looked big and fast against the over-matched Gators. The offense is still
a work in progress, but with nearly 6 weeks before their next big challenge (at
Penn State) the young team will have plenty of time to grow.
*Speaking of that Florida offense, it stinks: The Gators had a 3-man QB race in camp and
apparently still have no QB’s. Could be
another long season for the Jim McElwain and the Gators.
*The Big Ten East had a nice opening weekend: Maryland was the surprise contributor there,
with a 51-41 win over Texas, ruining the debut of new Longhorn Head Coach Tom
Herman. Rutgers didn’t look awful
against Pac-12 North favorite Washington.
Indiana show signs of promise in their loss to Ohio State. Michigan State and Penn State each won easily
over their MAC opponents.
*Let's not hand the Heisman Trophy over to Sam
Darnold just yet: Darnold spent Week 1 doing his best
impression of other recent USC QB after being thrown into the spotlight,
Darnold opened the season throwing 2 INT’s and zero touchdowns in the Trojans
win over Western Michigan.
*West Virginia is going to score points this season: They only scored 24 in their opening loss to
Virginia Tech, but they put up over 600 yards of offense, which doesn’t happen
every day against a Bud Foster led defense.
That point total is sure to go up once they get into conference play.
*Welcome to the spotlight Josh Jackson and TaQuon
Marshall: Jackson the freshman QB from
Virginia Tech had 336 yards of offense in the game (235 and 1 TD passing, 101
and 1 TD running). Marshall a junior QB
for Georgia Tech accounted for 369 yards of offense including 249 and 5 touchdowns
on the ground. These two dynamic QB’s
should make the wide-open ACC Coastal division even more interesting.
*UCLA is awful and Texas A&M is great: In the 1st
half of football games.
*Texas A&M is awful and UCLA is great: In the 2nd
half of football games.
WHAT I’M LOOKING
FORWARD TO IN WEEK TWO
*More big
non-conference games: After the opening
weekend games that I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t slow down this week. We get even more Power 5 vs Power 5 games
this week. The Primetime Line-Up is outstanding,
with 3 games featuring Top 25 matchups.
Auburn @ Clemson (7pm, ESPN), Oklahoma @ Ohio State (7:30, ABC), Georgia
@ Notre Dame (7:30, NBC). The afternoon
slate isn’t as good, but still some fun games.
Pitt @ Penn State, Iowa @ Iowa State, Northwestern @ Duke (The Education
Bowl), TCU @ Arkansas, Indiana @ Virginia, Nebraska @ Oregon.
*A big non-conference game too: Although the ACC gets underway with
Louisville @ UNC and Wake Forest @ Boston College, the conference opener sure
to have everyone’s attention is Stanford @ USC.
Two of the favorites in the PAC-12 face off in Week 2. Earlier enough in the season for the loser to
rebound, but the winner immediately becomes the conference favorite. USC struggled stopping the Western Michigan
running attack last week. Stanford wins
with defense and running the ball.
*Great late night watching this Saturday: Not to single out just those late west coast
starts, because there really are good games up and down the schedule this week
starting at noon all the way through the final game (San Diego State @ Arizona
State, 11pm kickoff), but I always enjoy getting my last fix of college
football in with good games. This week
we get some off the radar good matchups.
After the primetime schedule that will test the batteries on your remote
control, we have five outstanding late night games kicking off after 10pm
EST. Minnesota @ Oregon State (10pm
FS1), The Holy War between BYU and Utah (10:15, ESPN2), Boise State @
Washington State (10:30, ESPN), Houston @ Arizona (10:30, ESPNU) and the
aforementioned SDSU/ASU game which is on the PAC12 Network.
A GAMBLING EYE
*Cincinnati (+35) @ Michigan – This might seem crazy but, I
don’t think 35 is enough points.
Cincinnati struggled offensively against Austin Peay in their opener, my
guess is that Michigan will be slightly tougher than AP. You also must consider the Asshole Factor
involved when giving up this many point, and Jim Harbaugh scores through the
roof in that category. Harbaugh has never
shied away from running up the score, and this one would be against long-time
Ohio State assistant Luke Fickell in his 1st year at Cincinnati.
*Louisville (-10) @ North Carolina – Something seems off on
this line. North Carolina just lost to a
putrid Cal team at home last week, now they are facing the reigning Heisman
Trophy winner in Lamar Jackson who accounted for nearly 500 yards by himself
last week. On the scoreboard Louisville
let Purdue hang around last week, but the Cardinals also fumbled twice inside
the Purdue 2-yard line. Converting those two opportunities puts the game away
early and could have turned that game into a rout.
*Buffalo (+16.5) @ Army – The last time that Army was this
much of a favorite was in Germany 70+ years ago. Army ran for over 500 yards last week against
Fordham. Yes, Buffalo is a step up in
competition over Fordham, but it might not be as big of a step as you think.
*Indiana (-3) @ Virginia – I saw nothing from Virginia last
week against William & Mary that lead me to believe that this game should
be anything less than a touchdown spread in favor of Indiana. The Hoosier hung with Ohio State for the 1st
40 minutes of their game with the Buckeyes, only to let a few big plays break
the game open. UVA doesn’t have the
players that tOSU does. Indiana should
be able to score in bunches against the Cavaliers and I don’t think UVA has the
fire power to do the same.
*Pitt (+21.5) @ Penn State – I can’t speak rationally about
this game due to my obvious bias, I just think 21.5 is a lot of points in a
game between rivals.
*Nebraska (+13.5) @ Oregon – Nebraska gave up nearly 500
yards of offense and was outgained by Arkansas State last week. Good luck stopping Royce Freeman and the
Ducks. Freeman finally seems healthy
after two straight years battling injuries.
When healthy he is up there with Barkley and Guice as one of the best
RB’s in the nation. He ran for 150 and 4
scores last week. I think he has another
big week again the Cornhuskers shaky defense.
*Georgia (+4) @ Notre Dame – Georgia is breaking in a new QB
after their starter was injured in their Week 1 win over Ap State, but call me
crazy, I’m just not buying into this version of Brian Kelly’s squad just
yet. I think ND showed some promise with
their dominating win over Temple, especially how they ran the ball, but Georgia
will certainly present a tougher challenge and their defense looked very good
last week.
*Stanford (+6) @ USC – The Trojans struggled mightily
stopping the rushing attack from Western Michigan last week, now they face a
much stiffer test in that area in Stanford.
The Broncos ran for 263 on the ground at a 5.5 average. Stanford ran for 287 in their opener against
Rice, with Bryce Love accounting for 180 on just 13 carries.
PLAYOFF PICKS
It is never too early to start projecting the playoff.
1. Alabama – Still not sold on them as the best team in the
country, but who on their schedule is going to knock them off?
2. Ohio State – This week will be the Buckeyes toughest test
of the season. Get past Oklahoma and
just don’t stumble up in Big Ten play.
3. Oklahoma State – They have the best offense in the
country. If the defense isn’t awful they
should reach the Big XII Championship game with 1 loss, if that.
4. Clemson – The Tigers benefit the most from the Francois
injury. They should be favored in every
game they play this year now. They did
look good last week, but it was Kent State.
We will know much more about them around 11:30 Saturday night.
NEXT FOUR:
USC – I have my concerns with the Trojans, but that doesn’t
discount their talent. Saturday will be
their 1st of many opportunities to make me a believer.
Stanford – I think I am higher on Stanford than most, but
that is mainly due to their style of play and their coach. They still have a question mark at QB, but
Saturday should be a nice test for Keller Chryst as he continues to develop.
Oklahoma – Saturday will be Lincoln Riley’s 1st
test as a head coach. The Sooners can
afford to lose in Columbus, if they can then run through the Big XII
unbeaten. That would have to include
wins in Stillwater for Bedlam, as well as, possibly beating the Cowboys a 2nd
time in a month in the return of the Big Ten Championship Game.
Wisconsin – Do I think Wisconsin is one of the best 8 teams
in the country? NO. Do I see them as
having the make-up and more importantly the schedule to get them into the playoff
conversation? YES. The Badgers have a
massive O-line, a stable of running backs and stingy defense, to go a long with
a schedule that might be one of the easiest to navigate for a contender this
year. They miss Penn State and Ohio
State. They host Michigan, one week
before the Wolverines biggest game of the season.
That is all this week.
Make sure the refrigerator is stocked, the spare remote control
batteries are nearby and enjoy the games!
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