Week 1 Impressions
Week one in College Football is (almost) in the books. I watched parts of a number of games this weekend, and have some general impressions about those and other results.
Georgia State looks absolutely awful. This is very disappointing, as I would like to see them do well. What was especially disappointing was losing to an FCS program while christening their new stadium.
Indiana looked ready to challenge Ohio State, but couldn't finish the deal. They looked very impressive throughout the first half, but looked completely lost in the second half. Maybe they can make some noise in the Big Ten this year.
There was some terrible officiating in the Colorado St-Colorado game. Several penalty calls were unwarranted, and the officiating crew looked like they were just guessing much of the time. Three offensive pass interference calls on the same team? Taking away 2 touchdowns? Game could have been much different...
After watching much of this game, I'm not sure if Maryland is that improved or Texas is that bad. Time will tell, but I bet it's a little of both.
Missouri- what an offense! Over 800 total yards! Missouri- what a horrible defense! Gives up over 500 total yards and 43 points to a bad FCS program. Their game with Florida should be interesting...
Speaking of Florida, their offense is truly horrendous, but their defense seems to be as good as always. The problem may be that the defense gets worn down over the season, and thus starts to falter late. When their offense faces Missouri, it will be the resistible force meeting the movable object...
Either North Carolina is worse than everyone thought, or Cal is better. This is not unusual this early in the season, as we start to find out which teams are contenders and which are pretenders. This game will not decide success or failure for either team, but it does begin to flesh out impressions of where each is headed.
Oregon State was flat out lucky to get by Portland St, a pretty decent FCS team. Would have been a pretty devastating loss for the Beavers.
South Carolina was not expected to beat almost everyone's dark horse candidate in the ACC, but that is exactly what they did. I, for one, have not bought into the NC State "hype". I'm rarely trendy, anyway.
Congratulations to UAB for their first win since restarting their program! And congrats to Coastal Carolina for their first win as an FBS program over UMass!
South Florida looks like an enigma. Everyone expects them to do well (maybe undefeated), but they have struggled the first 2 games against lesser competition. Maybe they will get it turned around, but I'll be surprised if they don't lose 2-3 games.
USC struggled mightily against Western Michigan, but then blew them out in the fourth quarter. Once again, depth wins...
East Carolina...Oh My! Baylor...Oh My! UNLV...Oh My! Is there any hope for any of these teams? All three lost to FCS teams, ECU by 20 (20!) to an outstanding James Madison, Baylor to Liberty, who is transitioning to FBS, and UNLV to a Howard team that was 2-9 a year ago and was a 43.5 point underdog.
After a slow start, Georgia looked impressive versus Appalachian State. I am concerned about Jacob Eason's injury. While Jake Fromm looked good, I'm not convinced, like some Georgia fans, that he's better than Eason. What concerns me most is Brice Ramsey. He was totally ineffective late in the game, throwing interceptions on both of his pass attempts. If Eason is out for several games, and Fromm gets hurt, we're left with Ramsey. QB depth is a problem. I was very impressed with the Offensive Line's pass blocking, as all three QBs seemed to have plenty of time to throw, but the run blocking was a little slow out of the blocks. Maybe that will improve, though I bet Notre Dame has a better defense.
Purdue looks a LOT better than expected. I wouldn't be surprised if they qualified for a bowl this year.
Alabama keeps on keeping on. Very disappointed to hear of the injury to FSU QB Francois. They had a chance to have a very special year, but that could be gone. Perhaps they still will have that special year, but the odds are greatly diminished. If his backup was better, he would have started against Bama. (The same goes for Fromm; if the coaches thought he gave them a better chance to win than Eason, he would have started.)
West Virginia vs. Va Tech was a fantastic game! Good play on both sides. Both look to be forces to be reckoned with.
What a complete collapse by Texas A&M! How do you lose when you are up 44-10 late in the 3rd quarter? This was a worse collapse than in last February's Super Bowl. There were at least 2-3 times when A&M players let interceptions slip through their hands, any of which could have ended the game. But the real question is, why wasn't the last TD reviewed? The NCAA needs to adopt the NFL policy of quickly reviewing every TD.
That's all for today! Until next time, may your day and your loved ones be blessed!
Georgia State looks absolutely awful. This is very disappointing, as I would like to see them do well. What was especially disappointing was losing to an FCS program while christening their new stadium.
Indiana looked ready to challenge Ohio State, but couldn't finish the deal. They looked very impressive throughout the first half, but looked completely lost in the second half. Maybe they can make some noise in the Big Ten this year.
There was some terrible officiating in the Colorado St-Colorado game. Several penalty calls were unwarranted, and the officiating crew looked like they were just guessing much of the time. Three offensive pass interference calls on the same team? Taking away 2 touchdowns? Game could have been much different...
After watching much of this game, I'm not sure if Maryland is that improved or Texas is that bad. Time will tell, but I bet it's a little of both.
Missouri- what an offense! Over 800 total yards! Missouri- what a horrible defense! Gives up over 500 total yards and 43 points to a bad FCS program. Their game with Florida should be interesting...
Speaking of Florida, their offense is truly horrendous, but their defense seems to be as good as always. The problem may be that the defense gets worn down over the season, and thus starts to falter late. When their offense faces Missouri, it will be the resistible force meeting the movable object...
Either North Carolina is worse than everyone thought, or Cal is better. This is not unusual this early in the season, as we start to find out which teams are contenders and which are pretenders. This game will not decide success or failure for either team, but it does begin to flesh out impressions of where each is headed.
Oregon State was flat out lucky to get by Portland St, a pretty decent FCS team. Would have been a pretty devastating loss for the Beavers.
South Carolina was not expected to beat almost everyone's dark horse candidate in the ACC, but that is exactly what they did. I, for one, have not bought into the NC State "hype". I'm rarely trendy, anyway.
Congratulations to UAB for their first win since restarting their program! And congrats to Coastal Carolina for their first win as an FBS program over UMass!
South Florida looks like an enigma. Everyone expects them to do well (maybe undefeated), but they have struggled the first 2 games against lesser competition. Maybe they will get it turned around, but I'll be surprised if they don't lose 2-3 games.
USC struggled mightily against Western Michigan, but then blew them out in the fourth quarter. Once again, depth wins...
East Carolina...Oh My! Baylor...Oh My! UNLV...Oh My! Is there any hope for any of these teams? All three lost to FCS teams, ECU by 20 (20!) to an outstanding James Madison, Baylor to Liberty, who is transitioning to FBS, and UNLV to a Howard team that was 2-9 a year ago and was a 43.5 point underdog.
After a slow start, Georgia looked impressive versus Appalachian State. I am concerned about Jacob Eason's injury. While Jake Fromm looked good, I'm not convinced, like some Georgia fans, that he's better than Eason. What concerns me most is Brice Ramsey. He was totally ineffective late in the game, throwing interceptions on both of his pass attempts. If Eason is out for several games, and Fromm gets hurt, we're left with Ramsey. QB depth is a problem. I was very impressed with the Offensive Line's pass blocking, as all three QBs seemed to have plenty of time to throw, but the run blocking was a little slow out of the blocks. Maybe that will improve, though I bet Notre Dame has a better defense.
Purdue looks a LOT better than expected. I wouldn't be surprised if they qualified for a bowl this year.
Alabama keeps on keeping on. Very disappointed to hear of the injury to FSU QB Francois. They had a chance to have a very special year, but that could be gone. Perhaps they still will have that special year, but the odds are greatly diminished. If his backup was better, he would have started against Bama. (The same goes for Fromm; if the coaches thought he gave them a better chance to win than Eason, he would have started.)
West Virginia vs. Va Tech was a fantastic game! Good play on both sides. Both look to be forces to be reckoned with.
What a complete collapse by Texas A&M! How do you lose when you are up 44-10 late in the 3rd quarter? This was a worse collapse than in last February's Super Bowl. There were at least 2-3 times when A&M players let interceptions slip through their hands, any of which could have ended the game. But the real question is, why wasn't the last TD reviewed? The NCAA needs to adopt the NFL policy of quickly reviewing every TD.
That's all for today! Until next time, may your day and your loved ones be blessed!
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