Week 1 Recap

9. Tennessee 20  Appalachian State 13 OT

Tennessee survived their opening week game against a tough App State squad.  The defense played well, giving up under 300 yards.  However, the offense did not play well, and their weakness in the passing game showed.  Only time will tell if this game was close due to Tennessee being overrated, or App State being a quality team.

8. Stanford 26  Kansas State 13

Stanford had a good week one win against Kansas State.  Christian McCaffrey played well again gaining over 120 yards rushing and 40 yards receiving.  Even with the win, Stanford needs to find a way to get production from someone else, as their next leading rusher had 1 yard, they had only 127 yards passing that went to someone other than McCaffrey. 

1. Alabama 52  20. USC 6

Alabama had a great start to the season as they blew out USC.  It was USC’s 3^rd worst loss in school history.  Alabama’s defense was able to hold USC to less than 200 yards, and they had big plays both running and throwing the ball.  Alabama looked far and away the best team in the country.

2. Clemson 19  Auburn 13

Clemson and Deshaun Watson snuck out away with an opening victory.  Watson had a decent day against a very tough Auburn defense.  On the other side of the ball Auburn could not figure what to do at the quarterback.  They switched quarterbacks an average of every 4 plays, and could not get into a rhythm.

15. Houston 33  3. Oklahoma 23

Greg Ward Jr. once again showed how good he is, as he finished with 321 yards with 2 TDs and no INT.  Baker Mayfield did his part for Oklahoma, but it was not enough.  However, Oklahoma was unable to run the ball against Houston’s front seven, which looked very good.  The game swung on a 109 yards missed field goal, but Houston looked like the better team.  This Houston team is knocking on the door of the playoff.

Wisconsin 16 4. LSU 14

The biggest upset of the weekend happened in the game at Lambeau Field.  Wisconsin upset a very talented LSU squad.  Looking pass the lost, this is a very bad sign for LSU as their old weaknesses showed up again.  Pretty much since Jamarcus Russell played for LSU, they have struggled to develop a QB and it cost them again on Saturday.

Texas A&M 31  16. UCLA 24 OT

A&M pulled off the overtime win for the upset on this one.  A&M looked like the better team for most of the game.  However, UCLA had a great comeback in the fourth quarter.  The difference in this game was A&M’s defensive lline getting pressure and sacking Josh Rosen.  With that line, A&M will be able to play against anyone in the country.

18. Georgia 33  22. North Carolina 24

Georgia picked up a big win in Atlanta to start the season. UGA was led by Nick Chubb who ran for 222 yards.  They were unable to settle their QB position, but it did not matter.  The big question of the game was for the UNC offensive coaches.  They only gave star runningback Elijah Hood 10 carries. 

Texas 50  10. Notre Dame 47 2OT

Texas beat Notre Dame in a double overtime thriller on Sunday Night.  It looks like Texas has finally figured out their offensive woes from the past few years, and implemented a 2 QB system that actually worked.  For Notre Dame, while the pregame talk was on their QB play, it ended up being their young defense that should have gave them worries.  Only time will tell if the defense will struggle all year, or if they just run up against a good Texas offense.

3. Florida State 45  11. Ole Miss 34

Florida State roared back from 22 down in the first half, and pulled off a 30-0 run in the middle of the game.  Deondre Francois put on a show in the second half, and looked like the real deal.  While Dalvin Cook was mostly bottled up in the running game, the were able to find other ways to get him the ball.  On the Ole Miss side, they came out gunning in the first half, and were up 28-6 with a minute to go in the 2^nd quarter.  However, they completely abandoned the run all game, which allowed Florida State to play 4 defensive ends on the dline.  While Chad Kelly has a good game, he made too many mistakes and FSU took advantage of turnovers to flip the game on its head.