Well, how was everybody’s week 1? If your name isn’t Arch Manning your Saturday morning was pretty good, right? If you don’t hail from Tuscaloosa, Alabama your Saturday afternoon was swell. And if you’re an eight-time Super Bowl winning coach dating a beauty pageant runner up your Monday night was embarrassing…but after typing that entire sentence I think you’re doing pretty well all things considered.
The only college football weekend to feature three top 25 matches delivered great games, highlight
reel plays, and no shortage of social media discourse to last the rest of the season. Lee Corso’s final College Game Day was a three hour tribute that was hard to switch away from. In a perfect bookend to his legendary hosting career, Corso picked the Ohio State Buckeyes to topple Texas and donning the Brutus head, just as he did 28 years ago when he made his first headgear pick. Wunderkind Arch Manning’s Texas debut turned into a nightmare as Ohio State’s defense smothered the new Longhorn signal caller.
Miami and Notre Dame renewed their storied rivalry with a thrilling game that came down to the closing minutes and featured an early candidate for catch of the year by CJ Daniels.
If you’re Boise State you are probably combing every sentence of the rulebook to see if there’s any way to get Ashton Jeanty back from the NFL. The #25 Broncos were walloped 34-7 Thursday night by the USF Bulls and are forever thankful to Alabama for taking the spotlight off of them two days later. The Crimson Tide took their #8 ranking into Tallahassee only to lose their first season opener since 2001.
But perhaps the highest profile embarrassment was saved for the final game of the weekend as the much scrutinized Bill Belichick era began at UNC. Months of media attention and behind the scenes access built a mountain of hype and the first Tar Heel possession lived up to it. The rest of the game did not. TCU scored 41 unanswered points and with the stadium nearly empty at the end of the game claimed a 48-14 dominating victory. Social media was not kind, as usual, and provided some incredible post game grave dancing.
I’d feel bad for Bill, but like I mentioned earlier: six Super Bowl rings and a beauty pageant girlfriend. He’ll be fine.
Week 2, here we go! Schedule graphics courtesy of Projection Sports.
Thursday, September 4 and Friday, September 5
Saturday, September 6 – Broadcast
Saturday, September 6 – Streaming Only
As heavy as week 1 was on marquee games, week 2 is as light. There aren’t really any games that immediately jump out at you screaming “I’m the one to watch”. Michigan @ Oklahoma is the biggest brand name on brand name battle so it’s carrying the most water this weekend. Many are high on the Wolverines so this will be their first test of the year. Kansas @ Missouri is a nice border battle with the Jayhawks rolling in their first two games (special shout out to former Iowa running back Leshon Williams now toting the ball for Kansas).
USF will be riding high after their upset of Boise State and they’ll need every ounce of confidence as they go into the Swamp to face Florida. Can the Bulls make lightning strike twice? Virginia @ NC State is an early conference game for both squads and I’m very interested to see what’s going on with Kansas State as they host Army. The Wildcat’s first two games have been nothing but disappointment. A loss in the rain thousands of miles away to a good Iowa State team is understandable. But to nearly blow it against FCS North Dakota the following week…that’s less so. Kansas State could be in big trouble if they fall to Army.
Georgia Southern and USC isn’t eye catching at first, but guess who Southern’s head coach is. A fellow by the name of Clay Helton. You may remember Helton as the former coach of the same University of Southern California Trojans he’ll be facing Saturday night. You remember Clay Helton’s Trojans, don’t you?
And of course there’s El Assico in Ames at 11:00 am with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff crew on site. Hoping we get a similar result as the last couple times a national broadcast was in town.
Enjoy the start of the NFL as well. Football is back in full force.
