{"id":3619,"date":"2018-09-05T20:31:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T01:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=3619"},"modified":"2018-09-06T09:27:30","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T14:27:30","slug":"5-big-things-week-one-college-football-bama-tough-missed-marks-and-what-was-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/5-big-things-week-one-college-football-bama-tough-missed-marks-and-what-was-that\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Big Things Week One College Football: Bama Tough, Missed Marks and What Was That"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n

The long awaited beginning of the 2018 college football season has arrived and it featured some marquee matchups over the Labor Day weekend.\u00a0 For fanbases out there,\u00a0 the joy was flowing as their teams were off to a rocking start.\u00a0 For others,\u00a0 it can seem like the season is over before it has really had an opportunity to start.\u00a0 In the first week of a season,\u00a0 my focus is usually on the fundamentals that a team brings to the table.\u00a0 So for me,\u00a0 special teams along with blocking and tackling is what catches my eye as I try to determine who will live up to the hype,\u00a0 who was all talk in the offseason and who might sneak up on people.\u00a0 Here’s a rundown of the key things I noticed in week one.<\/p>\n

Business as Usual in Tuscaloosa<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all of you waiting for the demise of Alabama football,\u00a0 sorry you’re already in the position to say,\u00a0 wait till next year.\u00a0 The Alabama team that I saw on the field to kick of the season vs. Louisville played like they lost the championship game last season.\u00a0 Alabama is back and looked as good as they have looked at any time during the last decade.\u00a0 Bama’s reign of terror will not be taking this year off.\u00a0 The Crimson Tide featured a pair of electric kick returns and a strong place kicker to go along with solid play in the trenches and the usual can’t get them to the ground running backs (where does Nick keep finding them?).<\/p>\n

What should really scare the living pigskin out of you is the added element of the passing game that was on display in Camping World Stadium.\u00a0 We all know the limitations of former Bama starting QB Jalen Hurts.\u00a0 Well those aren’t the limitations of new starter Tua Tagovailoa.\u00a0 The lefty Hawaiian born Samoan can sling it and Alabama has a trio of wideouts that can hurt you.\u00a0 Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Smith are explosive and end zone friendly.\u00a0 Louisville is no cupcake but the Crimson Tide made them look delicious nonetheless.\u00a0 The Cardinals have a future with Jawon Pass at QB and some young playmakers at the skill positions but this date with Alabama to open the season was a nightmare.<\/p>\n

#FireHarbaugh May Be a Bit Premature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Count the Wolverine faithful amongst the fanbases in disarray at the end of this first weekend of play.\u00a0 Growing quickly weary of the length of time to realize the revival,\u00a0 Michigan fans were none too pleased to watch their team get dissed by Notre Dame on Saturday night.\u00a0 Going into this game,\u00a0 I was puzzled by the expectations by the media, fans and bookies.\u00a0 Michigan went into the game as a road favorite against a Notre Dame team that was amongst the top ranked in 2017 and was returning their quarterback.<\/p>\n

It seems Brian Kelly may indeed be the guy that the Fighting Irish program needed and once again he features a solid football team.\u00a0 Of note in the contest was the way Notre Dame played up front on both sides of the ball.\u00a0 Despite losing their top two offensive linemen to the draft,\u00a0 Notre Dame did well to move the Michigan defensive front on run plays and stall them from their pressure on pass plays.\u00a0 When you can play like that upfront you are going to win a good amount of games so if you are a Notre Dame hater,\u00a0 just look away.<\/p>\n

Offensively,\u00a0 I expected a Harbaugh coached Michigan team to be more physical upfront.\u00a0 I am not sure if that’s a problem on their part or a serious plus for Notre Dame.\u00a0 What I do know is that Michigan fans need to calm down.\u00a0 This was a damn good football team that the Wolverines opened up with on the road and a quick glance of the schedule indicates that they’ll face nothing of this kind until at least a home visit from Penn St. on November 3rd.\u00a0 That’s plenty of time to smooth out the wrinkles.<\/p>\n

Rough Start for Rocky Top<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am not sure what the hopefuls in Knoxville were expecting in week one but I’m pretty sure it was a win.\u00a0 Needless to say they did not get that,\u00a0 not even close.\u00a0 Early on you could sense a little trouble for Tennessee as their offensive line could not keep a predominantly three man front for WVU out of the Volunteer backfield.\u00a0 The Vols looked a little helter skelter to begin the game which is understandable under a brand new head coach.\u00a0 What’s troubling is that after Tennessee had a chance to pull themselves together at the half,\u00a0 they came out and featured their worse quarter of play in the third.<\/p>\n

Behind Will Grier’s brilliance,\u00a0 the Mountaineers outscored Tennessee 20-7 after the intermission and turned this matchup into a laugher.\u00a0 Some have been up in the air about Grier’s Heisman worthiness.\u00a0 I don’t know if he has the strength to hold that heavy trophy but he is a legitimate quarterback with a chance to put up some eye popping numbers.\u00a0 He kicked off the Heisman campaign with 429 yards and 5 touchdowns against zero INTs.\u00a0 While Grier deserves credit for his nifty quarterback play,\u00a0 more praise should be heaped upon West Virginia’s offensive line which kept the Moutaineer backfield from leaking oil and gave the Heisman candidate plenty of time to apply the scalpel to the Tennessee pass defense.\u00a0 WVU will make some noise in the Big 12.<\/p>\n

Canes Miss the Mark in Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a firm believer in disappointment has it’s roots in expectations.\u00a0 For years Miami fans have been declaring the Canes to be back and after last year’s double digit win campaign,\u00a0 it seemed the feeling of old may finally come around.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 the close out of the 2017 campaign was not something that should have been ignored.\u00a0 A closer look at the 2017 ledger reveals that there were few real tests until Notre Dame came to town in mid November.\u00a0 Getting that Fighting Irish game at home was everything as the Miami crowd had all the feeling of 2001.\u00a0 Unfortunately,\u00a0 the ND win was the peak of 2017 and the close out revealed that the rebuild was still going to take time.<\/p>\n

LSU reopened the wounds that still had scabs from the tail end of the 2017 season.\u00a0 Inconsistency and inaccuracy plagued Canes QB Malik Rosier in the final three games of last season and it was upon him like calamine lotion in the opener vs. LSU.\u00a0 Miami has a bevy of talented WRs who can do damage with the ball in their hands but Rosier had trouble hitting them.\u00a0 While some wanted to pour some blame on the Miami offensive line,\u00a0 I did not see that.\u00a0 I thought the offensive line played a solid game especially when it came to pass blocking.\u00a0 Rosier had time to throw and I was very impressed with the blitz pick up most of the time.<\/p>\n

The biggest shock for me was the interior of Miami’s defense.\u00a0 Right down the middle was an issue for the Canes and if not fixed quickly,\u00a0 it will result in some wins turned into losses in 2018.\u00a0 To mask some of those troubles,\u00a0 Miami got a little too blitz happy and did so off of the edges where they weren’t having the problem.\u00a0 I thought LSU showed significant trouble blocking Miami’s ends but when the Canes lightened up the middle with pressure off the edges,\u00a0 big plays sprung up like the 50 yard run by Nick Brossette in the first half that set the course of the game.\u00a0 While LSU fans were elated at having a QB that appeared to be somewhat of a competent passer,\u00a0 I will reserve my kudos until Joe Burrow can actually complete 50% of his passes and throw for more that 140 yards.<\/p>\n

Blow the Whistle in Tally<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ll raise my hand if I’m in a room where the question is asked “who was was not impressed with Florida St.’s offseason activities”.\u00a0 To voice those concerns out loud would lead to the charge of being a hater and that carries a lifetime social sentence these days.\u00a0 It was what we thought it was and it got pulled up on the hook on Labor Day Night.\u00a0 Of all the teams that took it on the chin unexpectedly this weekend,\u00a0 Florida St. seems to be the team on the shakiest legs.\u00a0 Remember how I told you that I focus on the fundamentals in week one?\u00a0 Well they were missing for the men in black on Monday Night.\u00a0 From special teams to blocking to tackling,\u00a0 the performance by FSU was a nose holding affair.\u00a0 The first series looked like a Saturday morning walk through for Virginia Tech as they marched down the field like the Nazis through Paris.<\/p>\n

The pre-kickoff hype was as elevated as it has ever been which indicates that the Seminole hopeful were 100% behind the approach of new coach Willie Taggert.\u00a0 By halftime,\u00a0 the fanbase acted like someone who purchased a VCR on a street corner only to find neatly packed bricks when they opened the box.\u00a0 Mostly everything was a struggle for the Seminoles.\u00a0 Taggert’s simple offensive approach may have been suitable against the AAC opponents of the World but its the equivalent of an 80 mph fastball in these big leagues and V-Tech was all about bat flips in this game.<\/p>\n

What was positive for FSU is the return of Deondre Francois.\u00a0 I felt he was a bright spot despite the crumbling of what was around him.\u00a0 Schematically, he will be at a disadvantage in most of the big games the Seminoles play this season but Francois’ talent may bail them out of a few showdowns. I also liked the way Keith Gavin showed up early and throughout even when Florida St. was not looking their best.\u00a0 Virginia Tech may have been a bit underrated coming in.\u00a0 They did bringt a ton of energy to this contest but I will have to see some more to get a proper read.\u00a0 Florida St. is forced to run it up on Samford this weekend to partially remove the stain this performance put on their 2018 t-shirt.<\/p>\n

Other quick observations<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all love James Franklin at Penn St. but he almost put himself on the front page with a near huge upset loss to Appalachain St.\u00a0 Fortunately,\u00a0 coach has enough good will in the bank to absorb this withdrawal but folks are already wondering just how much Saquon Barkley was responsible for the 2017 Nittany Lion success.<\/p>\n

There was no escape for Chip Kelly in Los Angeles.\u00a0 Disaster struck when Kelly lost what was perceived to be a winnable game at home against Cincinnati.\u00a0 Bruin fans not known to panic or even care at times (did you see the stadium?) should not start now.\u00a0 Kelly is in rebuild mode and is not working with his typical style quarterback in Michigan transfer Wilton Spreight.\u00a0 In fact,\u00a0 Dorian Thompson-Robinson looked more the part off the bench in relief of Spreight.\u00a0 With Oklahoma, Fresno St., Colorado and Washington up next,\u00a0 I would order up some tall lattes if I was a Bruin fan and get to sipping.\u00a0 It could be a while before we see Chip’s first win in powder blue.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Oklahoma,\u00a0 they weren’t about to play games with Lane Kiffin and FAU.\u00a0 The point spread was generous in favor of Oklahoma leading up to this contest but given how FAU performed in 2017 and Kiffin’s social media profile,\u00a0 some thought the Owls could open up some big eyes vs. the Sooners.\u00a0 Black eyes were more like it.\u00a0 By the end of the first quarter,\u00a0 Oklahoma put the dog in the truck and plucked the Owls 28-0 enroute to a 63-14 woodshedder.<\/p>\n

I mentioned Fresno St. as a problem for UCLA in a couple of weeks.\u00a0 Before you say I’ve been at grandpa’s liquor cabinet,\u00a0 did you see them open that can on Idaho? The Bulldogs scored the most points of anyone on Saturday in their 79-13 win over the Vandalized.\u00a0 While Idaho are no World beaters,\u00a0 there’s something to be said for that kind of output.\u00a0 Fresno may be a team to watch but I’m not sure.<\/p>\n

What an opening week for Florida Gator fans. For starters the Dan Mullen era kicked off with a greeting of expectations as Florida went out and handled Charleston Southern 53-6 in the Swamp.\u00a0 Before anyone takes a piss on this accomplishment,\u00a0 lets not forget the offensive struggles that Florida has experienced over the last several years.\u00a0 During the Jim McElwain era,\u00a0 Florida had games of 36-7 vs. UAB, 32-0 vs. North Texas, 24-7 vs. UMass, 20-14 vs. FAU and 31-24 vs. East Carolina.\u00a0 That’s five what would be considered inferior opponents in which the Gators could not score 40 points or more.\u00a0 There’s just something about scoring half a hundred.\u00a0 It wasn’t just the points scored either,\u00a0 it was just the way that it happened.\u00a0 Florida scored early and often.\u00a0 Embattled quarterback Felipe Franks tossed five touchdown passes in the first half and was a spectator in the 2nd half.\u00a0 The weekend of joy was capped for Gator fans when Miami, FSU and Tennessee all lost their openers,\u00a0 something that has not happened in over 30+ years.<\/p>\n

I continue to be disgusted with the helmet to helmet ejection rule in college football.\u00a0 I was in attendance Saturday Night when Charleston Southern linebacker Edward King was ejected from their game vs. Florida for a tackle on quarterback Felipe Franks on the second play from scrimmage.\u00a0 Franks was attempting to slide and King went low to make the tackle and his helmet collided with Franks’ resulting in the ejection. Could this have been avoided?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Should King have been kicked out? No.\u00a0 You are amped up to begin a football game and against a mighty opponent like Florida,\u00a0 you want to make plays.\u00a0 It was a mistake on King’s part during the course of playing a game.\u00a0 It was not malicious.\u00a0 Add to this the fact that King is a Florida native from Hollywood.\u00a0 I am certain that his family made the trip up from South Florida to get this rare chance to see him not only play against a marquee opponent but do so in his home state.\u00a0 Three plays into the game and it’s over.\u00a0 A similar ejection happened to Miami cornerback Trajan Bandy in a nationally televised prime time game in AT&T stadium vs. LSU.\u00a0 This rule is a tragedy to college football.\u00a0 It must be amended now!<\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0 while Zach Smith may be looking to sue Brett McMurphy,\u00a0 Oregon St. may want to put in a claim as well.\u00a0 The Buckeyes looked like a team that had their cereal proliferated with urine when they took to the field Saturday.\u00a0 That was not some directional school they hung double 7’s up on.\u00a0 \u00a0That opponent was a competitor in the Pacific-12 conference.\u00a0 \u00a0It was an auspicious start for the Beavers’ Jonathan Smith but I can’t help but feel that if McMurphy had not opened his fat mouth,\u00a0 this game would’ve just been 63-31 instead.\u00a0 As I suspected,\u00a0 Ohio St. will be a heavily motivated team this season to go along with heavily talented.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog Twitter: @GridironStuds The long awaited beginning of the 2018 college football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}