Week 1 Recap

The opening weekend of the 2016-17 college football season was one for the ages. Seven ranked teams lost (three were to unranked opponents). Two top five teams lost and Texas and Notre Dame played an amazing game. What a great way to kick off the season!

How I Fared: (3-5 this week, 3-5 overall)

Conference Overviews
SEC:
The SEC seemed to struggle in week one of the season. Six SEC teams lost to out of conference opponents, and two came very close to losing. The top-ranked Tide rolled USC 52-6 after being motivated by a dirty stomp on the part of a USC player. Arkansas was able to be just good enough to beat Louisiana Tech 21-20. South Carolina used a 55-yard FG by Elliott Fry to comeback and beat Vanderbilt 13-10. 9th-ranked Tennessee needed OT to beat Appalachian State 20-13. Auburn was surprisingly competitive against 2Clemson, but lost 13-19. I just have a quick question for Cam: why do you dress like that? Wear a normal hat. Actually, I don’t care. You do you, Cam. LSU once again couldn’t find any offense but Leonard Fournette, and lost to Wisconsin 14-16. Then an o-lineman decided to make one of the dirtiest tackles I’ve ever seen but was only suspended one game by LSU and Les Miles called it an accident. I find that extremely hard to believe. Georgia and Nick Chubb (32 carries, 222 rush yards, 2TDs) got a big win 33-24 over North Carolina. Texas A&M picked off phenom Josh Rosen 3 times in their 31-24 OT win over UCLA. Florida didn’t look good in their 24-7 win over UMass. Mississippi State missed a 28-yard FG and ended up losing to South Alabama 21-20 (karma for the Arkansas game last season). Missouri still hasn’t found an offense and lost 11-26 to West Virginia. Kentucky led 35-17 going into halftime against Southern Miss and still lost 35-44. Ole Miss came out strong in the first half against Florida State on Monday but the ‘Noles scored 32 in the second half, handing Ole Miss a 34-45 loss. Chad Kelly threw 4TDs and 3INTs in this game. It was a great week for the SEC haters, aka everyone not in the SEC.

Big 10:
Only two Big 10 teams lost this week: Rutgers lost 13-48 to 14Washington, giving up a kick return and a punt return for TDs, and Northwestern lost 21-22 to Western Michigan. Northwestern fumbled into the endzone and it was recovered for a touchback late in the game. Indiana scored 22 point in the 4th quarter to beat Florida International. Three Minnesota defenders were ejected for targeting in their win over Oregon State. Michigan State scored a TD in each quarter to beat Furman 28-13. Wisconsin upset 5th-ranked LSU in Lambeau by holding Leonard Fournette in check and by picking off LSU in the waning seconds of the game. Although JT Barrett started off with a pick 6, he ended up being responsible for 7 Ohio State TDs in the Buckeye’s 77-10 win over Bowling Green. Michigan pummeled poor Hawaii 63-3. Iowa didn’t have much of a problem with Miami(OH), beating them 45-21. Purdue was able to handle FCS Eastern Kentucky 45-24. Maryland made easy work of Howard, winning 52-13. Penn State beat Kent State 33-13 and the PSU kicker made an amazing tackle. Illinois won big, beating Murray State 52-3. Nebraska beat Fresno State 43-10, but the most important play of the game was when the Huskers lined up with just 10 men in punt formation to honor the late punter, Sam Foltz.

Pac 12:
The Pac-12 went 6-5 this weekend (7-5 if you count the Cal Hawaii game). Utah shut out Southern Utah 24-0 in their opener. Despite Minnesota having 3 players ejected for targeting, Oregon State lost 23-30. 8th-ranked Stanford was challenged by Kansas State on Friday, but Christian McCaffrey rushed for 2TDs and had a return called back because of a penalty. The Cardinal won 26-13. Colorado hammered instate rival Colorado State 44-7. USC was trounced by Alabama 6-52. USC was holding their own early and were playing well on defense, but once they gave Bama some motivation with an ill-advised stomp, the Tide never turned back. Washington returned a kickoff and a punt for TDs in their 48-13 rout of Rutgers. Josh Rosen, or as I will now refer to him, the Rosen One (I saw that somewhere and I’m stealing it, deal with it), threw 3INTs against Texas A&M. The Bruins scored 2TDs in the final 5 minutes but it wasn’t enough. They came up short, 24-31, in OT. Oregon’s defensive struggles seem to still exist, but their offense came through in their 53-28 win over UC Davis. Washington State lost to FCS Eastern Washington 42-45. This makes me very sad because I met Luke Falk and he’s really nice. But, come on Wazzu, you have to beat the FCS teams. Arizona scored 13 points in the 4th quarter against BYU, but the Cougars hit a FG with 4 seconds left to seal the 16-18 loss for Arizona. Arizona State scored 24 points in the final 15 minutes to beat Northern Arizona 44-13. Lastly, I would like to apologize to my cousin, Dylan, for picking UCLA to beat A&M because I think every time I pick them they lose. So, I’m sorry.
P.S. HOLY WAR NEXT WEEK! BYU vs Utah! It should be one of the 5 good games next week.

Big 12:
That famous Big 12 offense was on display this weekend, but it actually started out with a great defensive effort by Kansas State against Stanford, but it still wasn’t enough. The Wildcats lost 13-26. Baylor had no issues with FCS Northwestern State, beating them 55-7. 3rd-ranked Oklahoma didn’t look great in their 23-33 loss to 15Houston. The Sooners gave up a 100-yard kick 6. Baker Mayfield put up some good numbers but it was not enough to overcome the Cougars. TCU beat South Dakota State 59-41 is a shootout no one saw coming. Personally, I wanted them to have an easy win so they wouldn’t need to work too hard to prepare for Arkansas. Oklahoma State blew out Southeastern Louisiana 61-7. West Virginia held Missouri to just 11 points while they scored 26. I think that had more to do with Missouri’s lack of offense though. Kansas beat Rhode Island 55-6. Then they “rushed” the field. Seriously. To be fair, they didn’t win a game last season. Iowa State got beat by FCS Northern Iowa 25-20. Just Iowa State doing Iowa State things. Texas Tech throttled Stephen F. Austin 69-17. Does this mean that TTU has a defense this year? Tune in next week to find out when they play Arizona State! Texas somehow beat 10th-ranked Notre Dame 50-47 in 2OT. It was an amazing game and if you didn’t watch it I’m sorry but too much happened for me to tell you about it. I mean, Notre Dame returned a blocked PAT for a 2pt conversion to tie the game! Has that even happened before? I still hate both teams very much.

ACC:
The ACC had a great week. Louisville QB Lamar Jackson accounted for 8TDs in the first half of the Cardinals’ 70-14 rout of Charlotte. That guy who coaches that team knows how to run an offense much better than he knows how to run a motorcycle. (Props to Brent for making a similar joke this weekend, I loved it.) Wake Forest beat Tulane in the most ACC way possible: by winning 7-3. NC State pounded William & Mary 48-14. Though tied after the first quarter, Syracuse ended up beating Colgate 33-7. Clemson beat Auburn 19-13. This is surprising because Clemson has DeShaun Watson and Auburn has not been known for their defense. The Clemson defense was able to keep Auburn from converting in the redzone multiple times. North Carolina seemed to be in a close game with Georgia, but Nick Chubb decided it was his game. The Tar Heels lost 24-33. Georgia Tech and Boston College played a great game in Dublin, Ireland. The Yellow Jackets came out on top 17-14 after scoring the final 10 points, including the go-ahead TD with 35 seconds left. Virginia Tech beat liberty 36-13 behind 4TD passes from QB Jerod Evans. Pitt beat Villanova 28-7. But the awesome part was RB James Connor rushing for a TD and catching one in his return after beating cancer. That’s awesome. Virginia lost to FCS Richmond 20-37. Poor Virginia. Duke smacked North Carolina Central 49-6. Miami completely routed Florida A&M 70-3. Florida State overcame an early deficit against Ole Miss to win 45-34 on Labor Day. And thanks to Jameis, I am going to start calling FSU the puppies. I don’t even care that they played like “some dawgs”.

Independents:
Army got a big 28-13 win over Temple behind 329 yards of rushing. Massachusetts was hanging on against Florida until the 4th quarter. In the end, UMass ended up losing 7-24 after giving up 14 in the 4th quarter. BYU eked out a 18-16 win against Arizona. A FG with 4 seconds left lifted the Cougars and put an end to Arizona’s rally. Notre Dame lost to Texas 47-50 in 2OT and it was an amazing game: lots of QBs and scores and excitement. DeShone Kizer threw 5TDs and rushed for another one. That’s a lot.

American:
Of course, the biggest story in the AAC was Houston beating Oklahoma 33-23. The difference in this game was a 100-yard kick 6 by Brandon Wilson and kicker Ty Cummings 4FGs. This was a huge win for the Cougars and for the AAC. Tulane struck first against Wake Forest, but lost 3-7. Cincinnati was down 0-7 to UT-Martin after the first quarter, but scored the rest of the points to win 28-7. UConn needed a FG with 11 second left to beat Maine 24-21. Temple allowed 329 rush yards to Army in their 13-28 loss. Navy thumped Fordham 52-16 even though they had to bring in a QB from the stands. Yep. You read that right. QB Tago Smith went down in the first half, and the Midshipmen needed a little more depth so they brought down Malcolm Perry at halftime. East Carolina had no trouble with Western Carolina, beating them 52-7. South Florida reminded us all of Oregon/Baylor/Michigan State basketball in their neon green uniforms while they beat Towson 56-20. But, fun fact, they were Under Armor unis. Tulsa beat San Jose State 45-10 behind D’Angelo Brewer’s 164 rush yards and 3TDs. SMU went on the road to North Texas and won 34-21. 75% of Courtland Sutton’s receptions were for TDs. UCF finally ended their losing streak in beating SC Upstate 38-0. Unfortunately, this means no more free beer from that one bar. Memphis scored 22 in the first quarter against Southeast Missouri State and ended the game winning 35-17.
Passing thought about the American conference: Why isn’t South Alabama in this conference? I mean, USA, American Athletic? It just works.

Mountain West:
UNLV beat Jackson State 63-13. Sadly that means my hopes are way too high for them as they get ready to face UCLA next. Oh well. Utah State trounced Weber State 45-6 behind Devante Mays 208 rush yards and 3TDs. New Mexico used a big 2nd quarter to beat South Dakota 48-21. Colorado State got pummeled by Colorado 7-44. Poor Rams. Nevada needed overtime to beat Cal Poly 30-27. That’s kind of embarrassing. That other team from Nevada beat their FCS opponent by 50. And the Fremont Cannon is still red. Just in case you were wondering. Poor Hawaii lost 3-63 to Michigan. Have those guys even had a chance to go to class yet? Boise State went on the road to ULL and smacked the Ragin’ Cajuns in a 45-10 win. Air Force beat Abilene Christian 37-21 behind 21 2nd quarter points. San Jose State got thumped 10-45 by Tulsa. Fresno State was kind of in the game against Nebraska before the Huskers scored 22 in the 4th quarter to seal a 10-43 loss. San Diego State blanked New Hampshire 31-0, but Donnel Pumphrey was held under 100 yards rushing on his 21 carries. Somehow Wyoming beat Northern Illinois 40-34 in triple OT. So that’s pretty awesome for Wyoming. Yay, Mountain West!

MAC:
It’s time for some hashtag MACtion. Central Michigan made easy work of Presbyterian, winning 49-3. Eastern Michigan beat MVSU 61-14 and I’m still mad their mascot is not an Emu. COME ON! The EMU Emus? Why wouldn’t you take that opportunity? Ball State got a 31-21 road win at Georgia State. Buffalo got beat by FCS Albany 16-22. Surprisingly, Toledo put a 31-10 hurtin’ on Arkansas State. If you are keeping score at home, that’s a lot more points than Arkansas lost to the Rockets by. It’s the little victories over a team that we will never play that really count. Bowling Green looked like they might make my weekend when they picked off JT Barrett for a pick six early, but they ended up losing 10-77 to Ohio State. Miami(OH) didn’t have too much of a chance going to Iowa, but they made a respectable showing in their 21-45 loss. Western Michigan pulled the upset by beating Northwestern 22-21 on the road. Row the boat, Broncos (I think that’s what they say?). Kent State was close with Penn State at halftime, but were shut out the rest of the game in their 13-33 loss. Ohio lost to Texas State 54-56 in 3OT. Ohio were unable to convert their 2pt conversion in the 3rd OT. Akron scored 21 in the fourth quarter and nearly doubled up VMI 47-24. Northern Illinois came up short in 3OT against Wyoming. The Huskies ended up losing 34-40. Drew Hare threw for 329 yards and 3TDs along with rushing for a score but it wasn’t enough. Yay, #MACtion!

C-USA:
Poor Charlotte got routed by Louisville 14-70. Florida International allowed 22 4th quarter points to Indiana in their 13-34 loss. Despite tripping and falling over each other while running onto the field, Western Kentucky beat conference foe Rice 46-14. I guess it’s a lot better to trip before the game rather than during it. It was fun to watch the replay. Louisiana Tech nearly upset Arkansas and it was extremely stressful and I hope their QB is ok because Deatrich hit him so hard. Also, thanks to the kicker for hitting the upright. We owe you one. The Bulldogs lost 20-21. Florida Atlantic was able to hold on to beat Southern Illinois 38-30. Jason Driskel goes here and had a good game. I’m just glad Jeff isn’t at LATech anymore. Middle Tennessee blanked Alabama A&M 55-0 and Brent Stockstill threw 5TDs in the first half. North Texas dropped their home opener 21-34 to SMU. UTSA beat Alabama State 26-13 without scoring a PAT. Two were missed and only one of two 2pt attempts were converted. Southern Miss decided to hustle Kentucky by trailing 17-35 at halftime. The Golden Eagles held UK scoreless in the second half and won 44-35. Yay, Southern Miss! UTEP beat New Mexico State 38-22. Old Dominion didn’t have too much trouble with Hampton, winning 54-21 behind David Washington’s 4TD passes.

Sun Belt:
Sun Belt, Fun Belt! App State nearly took down 9th ranked Tennessee but came up just short, losing 13-20 in OT. They played a great game. Tennessee didn’t play like the 9th ranked team, that’s for sure. Idaho survived Montana State 20-17 despite not scoring a point in the second half. Georgia State lost their home opener 21-31 to Ball State. Arkansas State got trounced by Toledo 10-31. And here is another chance to bring up that 21 is more points than 4. So there. Louisiana Lafayette really didn’t have much of a chance against Boise State even though they were at home. ULL lost 10-45. South Alabama beat Mississippi State thanks to a missed 28-yard FG with 6 seconds left. It hurts, doesn’t it. Texas State used a nifty play in the 3rd OT to take the lead against Ohio. Texas State won 56-54 after Ohio was unable to convert the 2pt conversion. Georgia Southern blanked Savannah State 54-0. Troy trounced Austin Peay 57-17. ULM secured a comfortable 38-21 win over Southern. New Mexico State fell 22-38 to UTEP.

Top 25
1Alabama 52 20USC 6
2Clemson 19 Auburn 13
15Houston 33 3Oklahoma 23
4Florida State 45 11Ole Miss 34
Wisconsin 16 5LSU 14
6Ohio State 77 Bowling Green 10
7Michigan 63 Hawaii 3
8Stanford 26 Kansas State 13
9Tennessee 20 Appalachian State 13 OT
Texas 50 10Notre Dame 47 2OT
12Michigan State 28 Furman 13
13TCU 59 South Dakota State 41
14Washington 48 Rutgers 13
Texas A&M 31 16UCLA 24 OT
17Iowa 45 Miami(OH) 21
18Georgia 33 22North Carolina 24
19Louisville 70 Charlotte 14
21Oklahoma State 61 Southeastern Louisiana 7
23Baylor 55 Northwestern State 7
24Oregon 53 UC Davis 28
25Florida 24 Massachusetts 7

Stats and Scores from ESPN.com