We've had nine stories on Mizzou/Central Michigan and Mitchell will empty the notebook later today. So let's move on to what else happened across the country that caught my eye. We're back for another year
1) Man, it's good to have fans back in the stadiums full force
Absolute chills. And God bless the announcers for laying out and just letting us enjoy it.
I'm not going to make this a separate thought, but you don't want to go into Lane Stadium at night. Especially Thursday or Friday night.
2) Let's track the craziest upsets we saw. In order:
Montana 13 Washington 7
UC Davis 19 Tulsa 17 (biggest upset by the spread for Tulsa in 40 years)
Northern Illinois 22 Georgia Tech 21
East Tennessee 23 Vanderbilt 3 (first time the Dores have ever lost to an FCS team and it wasn't close)
Kansas 17 South Dakota 14 (yes, they really did storm the field. I mean, it WAS the first win in 677 days)
UTSA 37 Illinois 30
3) On the other side, bet on Nick Saban and lay the points. Every week. You'll end up ahead. The Tide was up 17-0 before Miami could catch its breath. The U is better than it's been. It is not ready to compete with the nation's elite. I don't know why anyone would fall for the idea that the Tide wasn't going to absolutely roll in week one.
4) It's all about perception. How come when Penn State and Wisconsin are scoreless at halftime and combine for 26 points in a game where the winning team had 42 yards of offense and one first down after halftime we call it boring and when Clemson and Georgia combine for 13 points we call it great defense?
5) Ohio State has the easiest path to the College Football Playoff of anyone in the country. The Buckeyes were pushed for a while on Thursday night at Minnesota, but had six touchdowns that covered a combined 328 yards and won 45-31. They welcome Oregon to the Horseshoe next weekend, which looked like a titanic battle early in the season. The Ducks struggled to beat Fresno State by a touchdown and lost all-American defender Kayvon Thibodeaux to an ankle injury. He wore a boot and street clothes in the second half. With him, I don't know if they have much of a chance next weekend. Without him, I'm pretty sure they don't. The Buckeyes toughest games after that are Penn State and Michigan State in Columbus and their annual thumping of Michigan, this time in Ann Arbor.
6) The Big 12 possibilities for the playoff both struggled mightily yesterday. Oklahoma did a nice thing by painting Tulane's logo on the field and then almost did a nicer thing by blowing a big second half lead before surviving the Green Wave 40-35. Iowa State did what Iowa State always does in the opening week of the season and struggled to beat Northern Iowa 16-10. Neither is exactly eliminated from consideration, but neither inspired a lot of confidence. The biggest problem is they will probably play each other twice. If they split those games, it's entirely possible they end up knocking each other out of the playoff pictures.
7) How soon do we start taking UCLA very seriously? Beating up on hapless Hawaii was fine, but the Bruins beat LSU 38-27 in a game that didn't really seem that close. Now, I think the Tigers were a little overrated, but that's still UCLA's biggest win in a long, long time. Chip Kelly is in year four and he looks like he might have a pretty good team. UCLA has four ranked teams left on the schedule, but I don't know if Oregon, Arizona State, Washington and USC are actually any good or not.
8) Your darkhorse team to watch for now is the Iowa Hawkeyes. They're very steady under Kirk Ferentz. They're almost always solid and every six years or so they're a top 10 team (8th in 2004, 7th in 2009, 9th in 2015...2021?) Iowa was up 14-0 on Indiana in less than three minutes and intercepted Michael Penix three times. If they can win in Ames next week, they get Penn State at home and Wisconsin on the road and seem like the most likely opponent for Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
9) Best team performance of the week: Rutgers beat up on Temple 61-14 in a game in which the quarterback didn't throw for 150 yards and no player rushed for 60. The Scarlet Knights had five scoring drives of less than 30 yards and got a pick six.
Honorable mention: Iowa, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Georgia
Best individual performance of the week: Michigan State running back Kenneth Evans III carried the ball 23 times for 264 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-21 thumping of Northwestern that got Mel Tucker's second season in East Lansing off to a noteworthy start.
10) Five games I'll be watching besides Mizzou/Kentucky next week:
Oregon at Ohio State, 11 am, FOX
Iowa at Iowa State, 3:30 pm, ABC
Texas at Arkansas, 6 pm, ESPN
Washington at Michigan, 7 pm, ABC
Utah at BYU, 915 pm, ESPN
1) Man, it's good to have fans back in the stadiums full force
Absolute chills. And God bless the announcers for laying out and just letting us enjoy it.
I'm not going to make this a separate thought, but you don't want to go into Lane Stadium at night. Especially Thursday or Friday night.
2) Let's track the craziest upsets we saw. In order:
Montana 13 Washington 7
UC Davis 19 Tulsa 17 (biggest upset by the spread for Tulsa in 40 years)
Northern Illinois 22 Georgia Tech 21
East Tennessee 23 Vanderbilt 3 (first time the Dores have ever lost to an FCS team and it wasn't close)
Kansas 17 South Dakota 14 (yes, they really did storm the field. I mean, it WAS the first win in 677 days)
UTSA 37 Illinois 30
3) On the other side, bet on Nick Saban and lay the points. Every week. You'll end up ahead. The Tide was up 17-0 before Miami could catch its breath. The U is better than it's been. It is not ready to compete with the nation's elite. I don't know why anyone would fall for the idea that the Tide wasn't going to absolutely roll in week one.
4) It's all about perception. How come when Penn State and Wisconsin are scoreless at halftime and combine for 26 points in a game where the winning team had 42 yards of offense and one first down after halftime we call it boring and when Clemson and Georgia combine for 13 points we call it great defense?
5) Ohio State has the easiest path to the College Football Playoff of anyone in the country. The Buckeyes were pushed for a while on Thursday night at Minnesota, but had six touchdowns that covered a combined 328 yards and won 45-31. They welcome Oregon to the Horseshoe next weekend, which looked like a titanic battle early in the season. The Ducks struggled to beat Fresno State by a touchdown and lost all-American defender Kayvon Thibodeaux to an ankle injury. He wore a boot and street clothes in the second half. With him, I don't know if they have much of a chance next weekend. Without him, I'm pretty sure they don't. The Buckeyes toughest games after that are Penn State and Michigan State in Columbus and their annual thumping of Michigan, this time in Ann Arbor.
6) The Big 12 possibilities for the playoff both struggled mightily yesterday. Oklahoma did a nice thing by painting Tulane's logo on the field and then almost did a nicer thing by blowing a big second half lead before surviving the Green Wave 40-35. Iowa State did what Iowa State always does in the opening week of the season and struggled to beat Northern Iowa 16-10. Neither is exactly eliminated from consideration, but neither inspired a lot of confidence. The biggest problem is they will probably play each other twice. If they split those games, it's entirely possible they end up knocking each other out of the playoff pictures.
7) How soon do we start taking UCLA very seriously? Beating up on hapless Hawaii was fine, but the Bruins beat LSU 38-27 in a game that didn't really seem that close. Now, I think the Tigers were a little overrated, but that's still UCLA's biggest win in a long, long time. Chip Kelly is in year four and he looks like he might have a pretty good team. UCLA has four ranked teams left on the schedule, but I don't know if Oregon, Arizona State, Washington and USC are actually any good or not.
8) Your darkhorse team to watch for now is the Iowa Hawkeyes. They're very steady under Kirk Ferentz. They're almost always solid and every six years or so they're a top 10 team (8th in 2004, 7th in 2009, 9th in 2015...2021?) Iowa was up 14-0 on Indiana in less than three minutes and intercepted Michael Penix three times. If they can win in Ames next week, they get Penn State at home and Wisconsin on the road and seem like the most likely opponent for Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
9) Best team performance of the week: Rutgers beat up on Temple 61-14 in a game in which the quarterback didn't throw for 150 yards and no player rushed for 60. The Scarlet Knights had five scoring drives of less than 30 yards and got a pick six.
Honorable mention: Iowa, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Georgia
Best individual performance of the week: Michigan State running back Kenneth Evans III carried the ball 23 times for 264 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-21 thumping of Northwestern that got Mel Tucker's second season in East Lansing off to a noteworthy start.
10) Five games I'll be watching besides Mizzou/Kentucky next week:
Oregon at Ohio State, 11 am, FOX
Iowa at Iowa State, 3:30 pm, ABC
Texas at Arkansas, 6 pm, ESPN
Washington at Michigan, 7 pm, ABC
Utah at BYU, 915 pm, ESPN
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