Week 1 Recap: It was a pretty interesting week 1. Not all that many close games but there were a few surprises. College football is still the best sport out there right now, and the first week just reconfirmed that.
ACC Not Looking Pretty: Everybody’s talking about how bad the ACC looks, and while I think it’s been a little overblown, I admit that the ACC did not have a good week 1. The team thought by most to be the best in the league--#9 Clemson—got blown out by a middling SEC team on a neutral stage in front of the entire country. The team thought by many to be the second best team in the conference--#15 Virginia Tech—lost to East Carolina on a neutral site. Elsewhere, NC State got shutout, 34-0, by a middling SEC team; popular sleeper pick UNC led McNeese State by a point going after 3 quarters and won just 35-27; and Maryland won just 14-7 over Delaware. UVA was slaughtered, 52-7, by USC at home. So, yeah, it looks bad. But there were other positive signs. Wake crushed Baylor on the road, BC shutout Kent State, and Miami, GT, and even Duke won impressively over Division I-AA opponents. I would bet that the ACC isn’t quite as bad as it seems, but it still looks pretty weak at this point.
SEC and Big XII Look Strong: The SEC was looking as dominant as ever until Tennessee somehow found a way to lose to UCLA late Monday night. Mississippi State also lost to Louisiana Tech and Arkansas nearly lost to Western Illinois, but the rest of the conference was impressive, with the highlight being Bama’s stunning blowout of Clemson. But while the SEC may be the strongest conference again this year, they are not alone above the rest of the football world. The Big XII also looks superior to the rest of college football again this year. The lone Big XII hiccup in week 1 was an embarrassing loss by Texas A&M to Arkansas State at home. But the rest of the conference looked good.
Big East Looks Like the Big Easy: Pitt’s loss by 10 points at home to Bowling Green was easily the shocker of the weekend. Combine that with Rutgers’ loss at home to Fresno State by 17, and Louisville’s 27-2 loss to Kentucky, and the Big East looks weaker than it has been in years. Oh yeah, and Syracuse lost 30-10…to Northwestern!
Last Week’s Notable Scores (Every week 1 score is notable because it’s the first week but here are some of the most notable)
Florida 56, Hawaii 10 (And Hawaii continues its fall back into obscurity.)
UCLA 27, Tennessee 24 (OT) (This one soured a great opening weekend for the SEC and really makes you rethink your opinion of both schools. Perhaps Fat Phil really has let Tennessee fall below where it was when he took over. Perhaps Rick Neuheisel really will take UCLA back to where it was in the 90’s.)
Kentucky 27, Louisville 2 (So maybe there is life after Andre Woodson.)
LSU 41, Appalachian State 13 (There was no way App State could sneak up on the Tigers.)
Alabama 34, Clemson 10 (This felt more like a bowl game than a season opener.)
Louisiana Tech 22, Mississippi State 14 (Not a good way to start the year for Miss State. They don’t have too many winnable games on the schedule.)
Utah 25, Michigan 23 (It wasn’t as close as the score suggests. This opens the door for Utah to go undefeated and for Michigan to miss the bowl season.)
Missouri 52, Illinois 42 (This one lived up to its billing.)
Northwestern 30, Syracuse 10 (Greg Robinson should probably be fired at this point, don’t you think?)
Texas 52, Florida Atlantic 10 (No one expected FAU to win but they are expected to win the Sun Belt and to get beat this badly is a little surprising.)
Arkansas State 18, Texas A&M 14 (Remember: Ark St. is supposed to finish in the middle of the pack in the same conference that FAU is supposed to win.)
East Carolina 27, Virginia Tech 22 (Beamer got out Beamered.)
USC 52, UVA 7 (I know Virginia is going to be down this year but damn!)
Arizona 70, Idaho 0 (70-0 over a Division I-A opponent is impressive. Period.)
Stanford 36, Oregon State 28 (Pretty nice start for Harbaugh in his second year.)
Oregon 44, Washington 10 (How much longer will Willingham last?)
Bowling Green 27, Pittsburgh 17 (Talk about not handling expectations.)
Fresno State 24, Rutgers 7 (The post-Ray Rice era gets off to a rough start.)
Cal Poly 29, San Diego State 27 (SD St. has now lost to Cal Poly at home twice in the last 3 years. Maybe they should stop scheduling them.)
Rice 56, SMU 27 (It will take some time for June Jones to turn SMU into the Hawaii of the Southwest.)
This Week’s Notable Games (There aren’t many great matchups in week 2 but there are some interesting games on the slate.)
Thursday
SC @ Vandy (The Gamecock’s look to avenge last year’s loss at home.)
Saturday
GT @ BC (Battle of teams looking to be better than advertised.)
BYU @ Wash (First test for BYU.)
Miss @ WF (SEC vs. ACC.)
WV @ EC (Can EC build on win over VT?)
USF @ CF (Instate battle.)
NW @ Duke (Brain Bowl.)
Mia @ Fla (Another battle of Florida teams and this week’s marquee matchup.)
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