College Football Wrapup

It was a tough opening weekend for some of the preseason favorites in college football. Thankfully, two of the most perennially overrated teams, Notre Dame and Oklahoma, were losers.  Oklahoma, preseason #3, was dominated by #15 Houston 33-23, unable to stop the Cougars offense and unable to mount a running game of their own. Notre Dame, preseason #10, lost a wild one to Texas, 50-47 in double overtime. Unfortunately, both these teams will still not be out of the national championship debate until they lose again. And if they don’t, you can expect they will creep back into the picture as the memories of opening weekend fade. Of the two, Notre Dame looks like the team with the most upside as their offense can clearly move the ball. The defensive secondary looks to be their big weakness, but coaching and scheming should be able to fix that. And this team clearly has the luck of the Irish on their side as well. Texas scored a go-ahead touchdown to go up by 2 with just over 3 minutes left in the game. Bu the extra point was blocked and returned for a two point conversion, tying the gam for the Irish. It could only happen for Notre Dame.

Another top 10 victim was preseason #5 LSU, who lost to Wisconsin 16-14. Wisconsin dominated the game, outgaining LSU by 80 yards and holding the time-of-possession advantage by 10 minutes. Florida State, preseason #4, looked to be in big trouble against #11 Mississippi, down by 22 points late in the 2nd quarter. And it certainly looked like it wasn’t going to be their night when Darwin Cook literally dropped the ball on the 5 yard line as he was strolling in, untouched, for a touchdown. The ball rolled out of bounds and the Seminoles had to settle for a field goal. But FSU quarterback Deondre Francois led the big comeback, passing for over 400 yards, in the 45-34 victory. Clemson, preseason #2, survived a hard fought battle with Auburn, 19-13, and #9 Tennessee looked less that spectacular as they escaped with an overtime win against the ever-capable Appalachian State. The Volunteers needed to recover their own fumble in the end zone to win 20-13 in overtime. Appalachian State held Tennessee to  just 127 yards rushing but were unable to capitalize with any points in the four times in the second half when they reached Tennessee territory.

Alabama, preseason #1, Ohio State, #6, Michigan, #7, and Stanford, #8, all rolled over lesser opponents.