Well the first week is in the books. Let's take a look at what I learned this past week.
The Pac-12 entered this season looking to challenge the SEC for best conference in the Nation. Instead they looked downright embarrassing in the first week.
First and foremost, #20 Stanford went to Northwestern as heavy favorites against the Wildcats. Instead, the Wildcats defense showed that Kevin Hogan still cannot spark the Cardinal offense. Northwestern had no issues in a 16-6 win. Luckily for Stanford, another Northern Division team looked even worse.
Washington State, led by high octane offensive coach Mike Leach, took a dismal 10-0 lead into the half against FCS Portland State. The Vikings used a 10-0 run in the third to tie it heading into the fourth quarter. There it seemed the Cougars were lost, Portland State scored first in the final quarter to take a 17-10 lead. The Cougs tied it up with a little over nine minutes to play, but the Vikings used a near seven minute drive late to win it 24-17.
The South contributed with a loss by #16 Arizona State to unranked Texas A&M. At least that was a loss to a Power Five program, a team in a stacked SEC West. Add in Washington's loss to #21 Boise State - no shame there - and Colorado's weird loss in Hawaii - a hell of a lot of shame there - and it turned into a horrible week for the conference.
Weak 1?
If you thought that Week 1 was kind of a snorefest, you're not alone.
Opening weekend gave us the beauty of 87 games involving FBS teams. Of that, only 11 pitted Power Five vs. Power Five (for this, I included BYU as a Power Five to save us); another 47 (more than half, for you math nerds) featured FBS vs. FCS programs. There were 22 Power Five teams that opened against the FCS, with the Cupcake Award going to the ACC (7 vs. FCS).
There were also 23 games played between Power Five and Group of Five teams.
While most of the FBS feasted on the FCS cupcakes, a handful choked on them. Two from the Power Five lost to FCS teams, Wazzou (who we made fun of above) and Kansas (South Dakota St., we'll make fun of that shortly). Two were Group of Five teams in Army (Fordham) and Wyoming (North Dakota).
Bad Blood Cheap Shot?
Vernon Adams Jr. transferred from Eastern Washington to Oregon late this summer and quickly earned the starting job as the Ducks' quarterback. As luck would have it, Adams' first game was against his former team, the Eagles.
Despite Adams being a popular teammate, some of his former EWU teammates reportedly didn't appreciate him jumping ship.
Adams briefly left the field and was examined for a concussion following a fourth-quarter targeting hit by John Kreifels. Prior to the hit, Adams was torching his former squad for 340 yards of offense (246 passing, 94 rushing), and 2 passing touchdowns.
Adams and the Ducks had the last laugh, defeating the Eagles 61-42 in the opener.
Jayhawks Gonna Jayhawk
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
New coaching in Lawrence (Weis out, David Beaty in) brought optimism that Kansas might be able to slowly turn things around. That optimism quickly disappeared as the Jayhawks became the first Power of Five team to lose to a FCS team. And, fittingly, they did it in prototypical Jayhawk fashion.
Trailing South Dakota State by three with less than 10 seconds remaining, the Jayhawks were in position to, with a spike, attempt a game-tying field goal. Instead, well, the Jayhawks fumbled the snap.
Yes, quarterback Montell Cozart fumbled the snap prior to what was supposed to be a spike to stop the clock, putting the finishing touches on a 41-38 loss. And, given that this Power Five team has won just 12 games since the end of the 2009 season, that was a fitting exclamation mark on the opener.
300 lbs. of Beast
Robert Nkemdiche is a 296 lb. defensive tackle for Ole Miss. Saturday afternoon he caught a 31-yd touchdown pass in his teams victory.
Saturday Reset
Below is a quick recap on the weekend.
- Derrick Henry (147 yards rushing, 3 TDs), punishing run defense propels Alabama to an impressive win over Wisconsin.
- Texas cannot find the endzone for the third straight game in blowout loss to Notre Dame.
- Newcomers help push Texas A&M to a home
- Bobby Petrino looks like an idiot in a close loss to Auburn.
- Mangum Miracle at Memorial: BYU stuns Nebraska on last-second Hail Mary.
- Temple wins for the first time in 40 attempts vs. Penn State.
- Smurf Turf was not kind to Chris Petersen and Washington.
- Baylor's offense seemed sluggish (by their standards), eventually blow out SMU.
- Welcome to the FBS Charlotte. 49ers win debut over Georgia State team that people forget are FBS also.
- Pretty or not, TCU wins in Minnesota 23-17.
- South Carolina eked out a win over North Carolina.
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