Welcome to the recap of the first full week of college football. It wasn’t exactly a wild ride of a week for some of the stronger team and yet there were plenty of fun and entertaining games littered through Monday’s action. While the top teams in the SEC fared well others in the lower regions of the league didn’t fare so well.
The Week’s Biggest Loser: Tennessee
The Vols were 26-point favorites over (previously!?) hapless Georgia State. They were playing inside the safe confines of Neyland Stadium. Second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt only defeated a pair of Power 5 opponents last year and comes out with one of 2019’s biggest stink bomb efforts in an 8-point loss in front of his home crowd. This is one of the more depressing losses in recent memory.
The Week’s Biggest Winner: Jalen Hurts
Granted, the Houston defense has been a sieve in the recent past but Hurts looked like the next in line of Oklahoma’s Heisman-worthy quarterbacks. He played practically the perfect game while finishing with 508 total yards and only 3 incompletions. If he were a Notre Dame QB that would’ve been just 5 yards off the Irish school-record, for reference.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | LAST WEEK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 1-0 | 42-3 Win vs. Duke |
| 2 | Clemson | 1-0 | 52-14 Win vs. Georgia Tech |
| 3 | Georgia | 1-0 | 30-6 Win vs. Vanderbilt |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 49-31 Win vs. Houston |
| 5 | Ohio State | 1-0 | 45-21 Win vs. FAU |
| 6 | Texas (+1) | 1-0 | 45-14 Win vs. Louisiana Tech |
| 7 | LSU (+5) | 1-0 | 55-3 Win vs. Georgia Southern |
| 8 | Notre Dame (+1) | 1-0 | 35-17 Win vs. Louisville |
| 9 | Washington (+1) | 1-0 | 47-14 Win vs. Eastern Washington |
| 10 | Auburn (NR) | 1-0 | 27-21 Win vs. Oregon |
| 11 | Michigan (-1) | 1-0 | 40-21 Win vs. Middle Tennessee |
| 12 | Florida (-6) | 1-0 | BYE |
| 13 | Virginia | 1-0 | 30-14 Win vs. Pittsburgh |
| 14 | Utah (+2) | 1-0 | 30-12 Win vs. BYU |
| 15 | Oregon (-9) | 0-1 | 27-21 Loss vs. Auburn |
| 16 | Stanford (-2) | 1-0 | 17-7 Win vs. Northwestern |
| 17 | Penn State (+1) | 1-0 | 79-7 Win vs. Idaho |
| 18 | Wisconsin (NR) | 1-0 | 49-0 Win vs. USF |
| 19 | Iowa State (-4) | 1-0 | 29-26 Win vs. Northern Iowa |
| 20 | UCF (NR) | 1-0 | 62-0 Win vs. Florida A&M |
OUT: Nebraska, Army, Virginia Tech
IN: Auburn, Wisconsin, UCF
Alabama started slowly but eventually picked the lock of a solid Duke defense finishing +308 on total yards. Clemson wasn’t fazed by a mediocre Trevor Lawrence performance as the Tigers ran for 411 yards at 8.39 per rush in an easy win over the new-look Yellow Jackets. Georgia too didn’t need much from Jake Fromm as the Dawgs rumbled for 325 rushing yards at 8.13 per carry in an easy win. As mentioned, Oklahoma looked potent as ever with their third straight quarterback transfer. Ohio State jumped out to a big lead early then throttled down for a scoreline that flatters Florida Atlantic.
At times, Oregon looked like the Pac-12 champion many believe they will become then let Auburn back into the game ultimately losing on a late Bo Nix touchdown pass. The Ducks take a tumble but are likely good enough to remain in the top 20 all season, I would imagine.
Texas, Washington, and LSU all looked dominant especially at quarterback where these teams combined for 13 touchdown passes.
Stanford slogged out an ugly win against Northwestern that featured only a combined 575 total yards. Quarterback K.J. Costello left the game right before halftime with a head injury and his replacement Davis Mills went 7 of 14 for 81 yards. I watched most of this game and regret every second.
Either USF is really bad or Wisconsin is really good because the Badgers held the Bulls to 157 total yards. Either way, Wisconsin enters our rankings and sky-rocketed up the SP+ rankings. Iowa State looked fairly pedestrian while holding off Northern Iowa in overtime. UCF obliterated Florida A&M 62-0 behind Brandon Wimbush’s 188 total yards, although the Knights played true freshman Dillon Gabriel quite a bit in a rotation with the former Notre Dame quarterback.
Nebraska drops out of the rankings following a worrisome 276 total yards in a closer win than the scoreline suggests against South Alabama. Army is also out after their own poor 284 total yards in a close win over Rice. Virginia Tech straight up lost to Boston College which makes it defeats in 6 out of the Hokies’ last 8 games. Remember all that Justin Fuente love?
Week 2 Games to Watch
Cincinnati (+16) at Ohio State – If you think the Ryan Day era at Ohio State is going to eventually run ashore this is an interesting game early in his career that could send a bunch of warning signals. Is it too much to predict an outright upset? Probably, but Cincinnati is right up there as one of the best G5 programs in the country and this should be pretty close throughout. Buckeyes 34-19.
Army (+22.5) at Michigan – The whole country will be cheering for this upset. Prior to week 1 it seemed semi-plausible or even completely plausible then Army looked pretty pedestrian against Rice. So much so that the Black Knights are 90th in the current SP+ rankings, 76 spots below Michigan. Sadly, Don Brown’s defense should eat well this weekend and Michigan’s offense (which looked pedestrian for large stretches in week one too) should do enough for a cover. Wolverines 37-13.
Texas A&M (+17.5) at Clemson – This line seems crazy for a game that was Clemson’s toughest last year in which they didn’t have to play their third string quarterback. It’s dropped a couple points since opening and then an A&M player went and guaranteed victory. Elko is going to feel the wrath of Lawrence & Co. Tigers 42-20.
LSU (-6.5) at Texas – I am not comfortable at all with LSU being the road favorites and the line has been moving more in favor of the Tigers, too. I feel strongly that this will be a program win for Tom Herman and a loss for LSU that really makes things in the SEC West a lot less interesting as Alabama’s schedule gets ever weaker. Longhorns 23-21.
Stanford (+1) at USC – Stanford quarterback K.J. Costello is questionable after suffering a head injury in the opener which means this one could get ugly with USC quarterback JT Daniels done for the season already. One of these programs seems eminently more comfortable grinding things out without quality quarterback play, doing the little things, and playing tough defense. The other, not so much. Cardinal 16-13.
It would be a real shame to see that Stanford-USC game end up like 9-6 with 300 yards of total offense. Real shame.
I think Stanford’s LT is out this game too. And it seems a bit weird USC’s #2 QB is only a 3* true freshman. I know he beat some older guys for the job but that is a head scratcher. It should make for a Big-10-esque type of boring game. Is it wrong that I think it better for ND that USC should win?
If they lose this one their season might really go off the rails early, they have a really tough schedule early still playing Utah and Washington prior to seeing us. Could be about 2-3 going to South Bend, possibly to receive a death blow to their season and coaching staff? Feels inevitable, but in the fun way!
Based on the schedule, I don’t think we’re making the playoffs with 1 loss this year, and I don’t think we’re missing with an undefeated season (unless things get crazy around the country). So I’m not too worried about SOS.
That being said, I hope Stanford does pull off the win, so that Wimbush gets a chance to beat up a top 25 P5 school next week. That would be fun.
“I watched most of this game and regret every second.”
I laughed.
I had exactly the same reaction as Eric to that game, and shared your laugh at reading it as well.
I love these summation columns Eric. Good stuff.
Off topic, but I rewatched the second half of the Louisville game and, much to my surprise, realized that the entire team did much better than my immediate live action response. Book, the Oline, the receivers and the whole defense looked just fine in that half.
Still worried about no breakaway RBs, No true WR showing yet, and want to see us attempt and complete some true deep passes.
Bad first week for prospective future Nd coaches Jeff brohm, Matt Campbell, and much further down the list PJ fleck.
On a side note i am selling all auburn stock to anyone willing to buy it. Bo nix sucked, and they were completely underwhelming all game. Best case is 8-4 and that feels ambitious. I’m feeling Tulane this week
Some of these betting lines are really interesting. I don’t ever bet, but if I did I would absolutely take A&M getting 17.5, that seems insane, and SP+ predicts it to be around 12.5.
Though, SP+ also says LSU is a 2 TD favorite over Texas (which may be why the line has been moving that way) which I agree seems too much – but that’s not one I’m confident enough that I would bet either way.
Last one that I think is interesting is Wash at Cal. Wash is at -13.5, but even that seems like not even close to giving enough points for Cal, who was tied in the 3rd quarter against UC Davis last week. I easily take UW.