It feels so good to have college football back in our lives. This new weekly feature will offer an updated poll, the bad teams from last weekend, and a preview of week two. Let’s get to the good stuff.
Top 11
1 Alabama (+1, 1-0, 24-7 W vs. FSU)
Offense didn’t look great against a nationally elite FSU defense. Still suffocated a would-be playoff contender.
2 Ohio State (-1, 1-0, 49-21 W at Indiana)
A bit of a trap game for an opener, slow start, but looked like they should’ve in the 2nd half.
3 Michigan (NR, 1-0, 33-17 W vs. Florida)
Severely out-gained Florida, held them under 200 total yards with no offensive touchdowns.
4 LSU (+4, 1-0, 27-0 W vs. BYU)
BYU was held to 97 total yards. Ninety-seven.
5 Oklahoma State (-1, 1-0, 59-24 W vs. Tulsa)
Made 59 points look like child’s play against a pretty decent Tulsa squad.
6 Oklahoma (Even, 1-0, 56-7 W vs. UTEP)
Baker Mayfield was 19 of 20 and the Sooners out-gained the Miners by 509 yards.
7 Auburn (+3, 1-0, 41-7 W vs. Southern Georgia)
A few turnovers but out-gained their opponent by 457 yards, holding the Eagles to 78 yards.
8 Penn State (+3, 1-0, 52-0 W vs. Akron)
Running back Saquon Barkley had 226 yards on just 17 total touches.
9 Stanford (+3, 1-0, 62-7 W vs. Rice)
Roasted the Owls in Australia back in Week 0 and took a bye week.
10 Washington (-7, 1-0, 30-14 W at Rutgers)
Looked pretty average for a long time before putting away a pesky(?) Rutgers team.
11 Clemson (NR, 1-0, 56-3 W vs. Akron)
Kelly Bryant (313 total yards) led a dangerous-looking offense, Kent State held to 1 passing yard.
Next 2
Florida State (-5, 0-1, 24-7 L vs. Alabama)
Held their own for a long time, season-ending injury to Deondre Francois drops them out of the Top 11.
Georgia (E, 1-0, 31-10 vs. Appalachian State)
The Dawgs hold steady following a score that flatters them a bit more than reality, decently outplayed the ‘Neers.
Dropped out: USC, Wisconsin
This may be an overreaction for USC Â falling out of my top 5 but they were very mediocre against a MAC team. Wisconsin might not make it back into the rankings without several teams losing in the next couple weeks.
G5 Top 3
South Florida (E, 2-0, 31-17 W vs. Stony Brook)
The Bulls have gotten off to some terrible starts but corrected course for easy wins so far.
Boise State (NR, 1-0, 24-13 W vs. Troy)
Somewhat impressive win over a program that won 10 games last year.
Navy (NR, 1-0, 42-19 W at FAU)
The G5 teams are not easy to pick from, the Middies looked pretty strong over the weekend.
Dropped out: Houston, Appalachian State
Houston’s game was postponed due to Hurricane Harvey and App State couldn’t handle Georgia’s defense.
You Were Bad
Texas A&M
Blew a 44-10 lead from the 4:08 mark of the 3rd quarter, allowed 35 straight points to UCLA.
Georgia State
Shawn Elliott came over from South Carolina and began his career with a loss to FCS Tennessee State.
UConn
Needed a 20-0 second half run to sneak past Holy Cross.
Florida
Offensively just a complete mess–Zaire got some playing time and it was ugly.
Texas
Tom Herman debuts with a stink bomb performance giving up 51 points to Maryland in a loss.
Illinois
Scored a late touchdown to take the lead, witnessed a missed field goal that secured a win versus Ball State.
Pittsburgh
They were taken to overtime by Youngstown State, although the Panthers did prevail.
East Carolina
Firing Ruffin McNeill was a bad idea, they’ve lost 10 out of their last 14 including by 20 to FCS James Madison.
Baylor
The Matt Rhule era gets off to a rocky start with a 3-point loss to FCS Liberty, yikes.
UNLV
The Rebels take the crown away from USC as the biggest spread upset in history–losing to Howard favored as 45-point favorite.
Week 2 Preview
Remember, we’re using AP rankings down here prior to the CFP rankings.
Enemy Watch
#17 Louisville (-9.5) at North Carolina
Wake Forest (+1) at Boston College
#16 Miami (-14.5) at Arkansas State [cancelled due to Hurricane Irma]
Tulane (+13.5) at Navy
Villanova (OFF) at Temple
Austin Peay (OFF) at Miami [OH]
Western Michigan (+7.5) at Michigan State
Marshall (+24.5) at NC State
#14 Stanford (+6.5) at #6 USC
An 0-2 start by the Tar Heels would be interesting, we’ve got them in a scant 4 weeks time. If you had less than one game for Brandon Harris to get benched, please collect your money. Reason no. 1 why Lamar Jackson is unlikely to repeat as the Heisman winner? He had 485 total yards and it barely registered.
Personally, I don’t like Boston College favored against anyone in the Power 5 conferences.
Does that Navy line feel at least 10 points too low? Too much option-on-option violence perhaps?
Our premiere matchup takes place at 8:30 ET on Fox as Stanford travels south to the Coliseum. Last year this was the death rattle game for quarterback Max Browne and the last game Sam Darnold didn’t see the majority of snaps. Following last week’s lackluster performance does a loss here essentially kill Darnold’s Heisman campaign?
Too Close for Comfort
Hawaii (+23.5) at UCLA
Classic let down game for the Bruins after last week’s miraculous comeback versus Texas A&M. We’re also not sure UCLA can stop anyone with a quarterback who has a pulse.
Upset Pick of the Week
South Carolina (+2.5) at Missouri
I checked this line a few times and kept being surprised that Missouri, who allowed 35 first half points to Missouri State last week, as favored over a South Carolina team coming off a nice win over NC State. Maybe Vegas has fallen in love with Tiger QB Drew Locke (521 yards, 7 TD) since the weekend?
National Spotlight
Pitt (+21) at #4 Penn State
TCU (-3.5) at Arkansas
Nebraska (+13.5) at Oregon
#13 Auburn (+5.5) at #3 Clemson
#5 Oklahoma (+7.5) at #2 Ohio State
Boise State (+10.5) at #20 Washington State
Houston (-1.5) at Arizona
Pitt is sure to play the disrespect card hard this week as 3 touchdowns dogs to a team they beat last year. If only because it’s a rivalry game maybe stay away from Penn State here.
This weekend seems like a good point for Oregon to regain their mojo with a big out of conference win. Bob Diaco is going to have his hands full.
The early returns from Clemson last week are that they may not be taking much of a step back. That will get tested enormously with Auburn visiting this weekend, 7:00 ET on ESPN. The Stidham vs. Bryant quarterback matchup could give us a pair of national breakout players.
The game of the weekend of course occurs in Columbus where the Sooners look to avenge their loss to the Buckeyes from last year. Boy, that feels like a long time ago. Can Lincoln Riley put a legendary pelt on his wall defeating Urban Meyer on the road in his second game as head coach? If Oklahoma wins is there any way Baker Mayfield doesn’t win the Heisman?
You were bad. Love it.
As an Illinois student, I do have to pick a nit. The attempted game-tying field goal was blocked, not missed. That said, Illinois is bad and they should feel bad.
Guess who didn’t watch Illinois football.
This guy. I was too busy enjoying the ND game 🙂
(I watched the “highlights” of the Illini game)
It’s a good thing we weren’t scheduled to play Miami this week. I’m sure the game would not have been canceled.
It’s gonna be freakin’ sweet when Sparty loses to the Broncos this weekend.
I saw something on Twitter about Sparty’s record as a double-digit favorite over the last few years – they’re 1-11 against the spread and 4-8 straight up. I know they’re a couple of points away from that status this week, but… They were effective but sloppy (four fumbles, three lost) against Bowling Green. And Western Michigan traveled to LA where they were down one score with four minutes to go.
If Sparty goes -2 on the turnover battle again, I don’t think they’ll pull this one out. Western Michigan is much better offensively than Bowling Green and will be more able to make them pay for those mistakes.
Honestly I would put UCLA in the “You Were Bad” section too. They were only saved by arguably the worst clock and quarterback management in the history of college football. They gave up 380+ rushing yards! To one of the most Air-Raid-y coaches in the country! IN THE FIRST HALF!
Had the second half of that game gone the same way, UCLA might’ve been driving Mora to LAX just to fire him on the tarmac.