
We are going to rank the top three to five biggest things from college football weekend every Sunday or Monday. This time, it’s on a Tuesday. Unlike others, I wanted to wait until all of the games played out and see where it stands after week 1. There will be plenty of overreactions. Nothing is decided yet minus the fact, Alabama is once again the best team in the nation, and it’s going to take a heroic effort to beat them yet again this season.
1. Year of the Freshman Quarterback?
In three games we saw true freshman take center stage with Georgia’s Jacob Eason, Texas’s Shane Buechele, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts and Florida State’s redshirt freshman Deondre Francios. All four quarterbacks won their games against Power 5 teams. And all four quarterbacks looked absolutely awesome doing it. It’s tough to rank which one looked the best, but all four fan bases are going to freak out with how good they could be for the next three to four years. It’s amazing to see how well they all handled the pressure of their first college football game, and it adds a layer of excitement for the season.
2. Les Miles returns to the hot seat
Poor Les Miles, he’s going to be on the hot seat all season long unless he beats Alabama and finds himself in the playoff by season’s end. This loss reminded me a bit of what happened to Ohio State when Virginia Tech cleared their clock at home. Buckeyes figured it out and started to dominate teams. The only problem for Miles is Cam Cameron dragging him down like the buddy you get too drunk with and your girlfriend gives you a side eye when you’re out together. They need an offensive revival in the worst kind of way. It’s the same LSU team we have seen for the last 10 years and maybe the boosters were right in November.
3. Houston proved it’s not a one-year fluke
I didn’t think much of Houston’s chances against Oklahoma. The hype train was too damn high. We’ve seen all before with teams. They win the summer with headlines and love from the media yet it ends up going to shit when the team loses Week 1. Houston did the opposite of that with a dominating performance of Oklahoma. Cougars prove they belong with the Power 5 teams, and they have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. This isn’t Boise State either. Broncos would beat a couple Power 5 teams, but they were never to the level of what Houston has done in their last two games against Florida State and Oklahoma. Greg Ward Jr. is a Heisman candidate, Ed Oliver is a hell of a defensive lineman and future top-five pick plus talent all over the field. Houston will continue to be a darling, and they’re not afraid of the target on their back.
4. Texas returns to glory… For one night
Notre Dame-Texas was the best game of the weekend. The game had everything you want in a college football game. Texas returned to prominance for the first time in quite awhile. Charlie Strong finally shook some of the haters off. They are running a Baylor-style offense with a Florida style way to do their quarterbacks. Buechele is their Chris Leak and Tyrone Swoopes is their Tim Tebow. That’s a scary combination. Sure, their defense gave up a lot of points, but Malik Jefferson is a future top-five pick with a ton of talent around them. Horns will figure out how to play defense, and even if they do not, the Big 12 isn’t known for playing much of it. Their schedule isn’t that intimidating minus the back-to-back games versus the Oklahoma schools. Horns could do some work this season.
5. SEC went 7-7 this week
One of the worst weeks in SEC history as they suffered seven losses to begin a season. People claim ‘SEC bias’ exists with the national media. I think much of that is predicated on Alabama’s success. The Tide are so damn good that the rest of the SEC gets lumped in with them. The bad thing about this weekend for the SEC is there were so many bad losses… Mississippi State to South Alabama, Kentucky’s brutal second half versus Southern Mississippi, Ole Miss collapsing against Florida State and Auburn/LSU running high school offenses. It’s not good. Alabama might waltz to the playoff without a real challenge. What a same.
Fan of the week
Honestly love this dude because he clearly, at this exact instant, would strangle a stranger for a Marlboro pic.twitter.com/EvUVsqRVCV
— SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) September 6, 2016
There were so many great fans this weekend, but I’m going with the Florida State fan. There were so many great tweets from the confused fans plus I hope people continue to make him a thing.
Play of the week
Houston’s kick six. I still don’t why Sooners decided to kick that one. Cougars were more than ready for it. I have a feeling we will see this more all season.