Our glorious sport is back in full, and Week 1 was full of reminders of why we all love college football so much. Let's go over some highlights, some upsets, and some statement performances!
Top 10 Headlines
#1 Georgia started out slow, but turned on the jets in the second half to run away from #13 Clemson 34-3. The Dawgs are the best team in the country until proven otherwise.
#7 Notre Dame grinded out a tough 23-13 victory over #20 Texas A&M in College Station. The Irish should be favored in every game going forward and will be nicely set up to make the 12-team CFP field if they take care of business.
#8 Penn State looked unrecognizable from past seasons in the best way possible. Their new-look offense scored on three touchdowns of 20 or more yards in a convincing 34-12 victory over West Virginia in Morgantown.
You good, #3 Oregon and #9 Michigan? The new Big Ten conference mates struggled to put away lesser foes in FCS Idaho and Fresno State respectively. Wins are wins, but they are eyebrow-raising scores this early on.
#2 Ohio State, #4 Texas, #5 Alabama, and #6 Ole Miss all rolled, allowing a combined 6 points between the four of them.
Best of the Weekend
#19 Miami went out and spent a ton of resources to improve this offseason, and for at least one week it looks like it paid off. QB Cam Ward looked like a Heisman contender as he diced up a hapless Florida secondary, turning Gainesville into Canesville in a 41-17 rout.
Unfinished stadium? No problem for Vanderbilt! The perennial SEC cellar dwellers knocked off trendy ACC pick Virginia Tech in overtime, even after missing a short field goal at the end of regulation.
In what turned out to be a much more competitive game than I was expecting, defense won the day for two schools that were terrible at it last season. #23 USC prevailed 27-20 over #13 LSU thanks to some big stops and some bigger throws from QB Miller Moss. QB Garrett Nussmeier wasn't bad for the Tigers, but the pass defense was, and for a school that calls itself DBU, the secondary did not look the part. USC now has a key non-conference win and LSU has some things to shore up ahead of SEC play.
Iowa passing downfield?!? Cade McNamara slung a 31-yard TD to Jacob Gill in the 40-0 Hawkeye victory. Just ignore the pick he threw that went off the back of his offensive lineman's helmet.
A week after FSU's kicker wowed with two 50+ yarders in Dublin, North Carolina's kicker came through with several clutch FGs to get them a road win over Minnesota, while the Golden Gophers kicker missed a potential game-winner as time expired.
Youngsters shine: Texas’ Arch Manning and Nebraska's Dylan Raiola each recorded their first touchdown passes, Jeremiah Smith hauled in two Buckeye touchdown passes and 17-year old Ryan Williams dazzled for Alabama.
Worst of the Weekend
New season, same old Buffs? Colorado still can't run the ball worth a damn and their secondary looks suspect again, but man is the star power electric. Shedeur Sanders was phenomenal and both WRs Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn eclipsed 130 receiving yards, and they needed every bit of it to eke by FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
It didn't really answer any questions we had about this team from last year, and they get no respite with a trip to Nebraska next weekend.
#13 Clemson's time as a powerhouse is over. It's been over for a few years, but Saturday's drubbing at the hands of #1 Georgia only solidified it. They'll only go so far with no transfer talent, and Cade Klubnik isn't a difference maker at QB. Their ceiling and floor screams 8-4.
It's going to be a long season for Florida. This team has regressed mightily across Billy Napier's three seasons in Gainesville despite record investments in the program. After seeing them get thoroughly outplayed by rival Miami at home (a game I got to attend), it's hard to see Napier lasting the season. At least we got to see the debut of heralded QB recruit DJ Lagway after Graham Mertz left the game with an injury. He might be their only source of hope this year when you look at the Gators’ upcoming schedule.
Texas Tech barely escaped FCS Abilene Christian 52-51 in overtime, saving themselves from being the biggest Big 12 embarrassment of Week 1. That would be Houston ruining Willie Fritz's Coogs debut with a listless 27-7 home loss to UNLV.
Just when we thought the wild weekend in college football was over - Monday night came.
Florida State dropped to 0-2 in ACC conference play after being upset at home by Boston College, 28-13, on Monday. It was the first home loss in FSU program history as a preseason top-10 team and a double-digit favorite. FSU is also just the third FBS team in the last 45 years to lose its first two games of the season as a double-digit favorite.
It's early and we're in a different era of college football's postseason, but the ACC’s chances at multiple CFP teams are looking grim. The other preseason top contenders in the conference, Clemson and Virginia Tech, are 0-1. Maybe a sneaky team will emerge, but these teams with preseason hype are off to a rough start.
Three interception of the year candidates in Week 1: Florida Atlantic's Buggs Brown had this wild pick on the first play of their loss to Michigan State, Georgia's Malaki Starks went airborne for this acrobatic takeaway, and this Robert Morris DB needed only one hand to snag this arm punt.
First Jump Around of the year at Camp Randall and the broadcasters got in on the fun. Also in the same game, a Western Michigan DB played leap frog with a ref.
Did you know Carson Wentz still had college eligibility?
Longest drive of Week 1 belongs to North Dakota. They executed a 23-play, 12+ minute drive in their loss to Iowa State, converting 6 first downs… all for only 3 points on a field goal.
Former Gators head coach Dan Mullen had some thoughts during Florida's non-competitive loss to Miami.
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy might need some help with the new in-helmet communication CFB implemented this season.
This is exactly how Kent State drew up this touchdown off a fumbled punt return.
During Arkansas’ blowout of FCS Arkansas Pine-Bluff, they declined two 15-yard penalties at the beginning of each half because the Golden Lions didn’t wear contrasting uniforms with the Hogs.
1. Travis Hunter, Colorado WR/CB: Travis Hunter showed again why he was once the top overall recruit in the country. His three receiving touchdowns tied a Colorado single game record (the third one was particularly impressive), while providing solid defense at corner. He played all but two of Colorado's 116 snaps, missing one due to his helmet coming off during a play.
2. Cam Ward, Miami QB: The Washington State transfer made things look easy in the Swamp, effortlessly dicing up Florida to the tune of almost 400 passing yards and 3 TDs. His throwing motion is so smooth it almost looks like he isn't trying. He definitely is though.
3. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB: All Ashton Jeanty did in the first game of his Heisman campaign was set a single-game Mountain West rushing record with 267 rushing yards and a Boise State single-game record 6 touchdowns in a shootout win over Georgia Southern. He's a legit RB1 candidate for next year’s NFL Draft.
4. Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona WR: In the Wildcats’ first game as a member of the Big 12, star receiver T-Mac had the second most receiving yards in a game in league history. His 304 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns helped the Wildcats roll past New Mexico 61-39. He did this on 10 catches, so that's 30.4 yards a catch!
5. Devon Dampier, New Mexico QB: Though the Lobos are 0-2, it's by no fault of their quarterback. He put up almost 400 scrimmage yards himself against a top-25 team in #21 Arizona. He'll be really fun to watch when New Mexico begins conference play