Week 1 Postcap

Overall, it was an interesting weekend in college football. No earth-shattering surprises to speak of in the results, though I suppose that Mississippi and Navy fans would disagree with me on that one. However, it was a week of some eventfulness in certain areas. However, like any first weekend, the lessons to be learned are sometimes more subtle than one might realize.

Boise State 33 - Virginia Tech 30

I expected Boise State to win, but I did not expect them to so thoroughly dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Everything starts up front and Boise State pretty much had their way with the line of scrimmage. It's rather strange how novel fundamentally sound football seems. But that is exactly what Boise State used, and it came as a complete surprise to Virginia Tech, who has not seen that sort of thing since they got beaten senseless by Alabama in their first game of the season last year.

Not that Virginia Tech didn't also work very hard to ensure that Boise State won... it was pretty clear Virginia Tech was going to screw the pooch on the opening kickoff—when you catch a kickoff 5 yards deep in the end zone, going backwards, then hesitate, and your teammate tells you to kneel on it, then you take it out anyway, you are forcing it. You can't force it in football against a good team. Once you try to force something to happen, you make mistakes. Once you start making mistakes because you're forcing it, everyone else does the same thing to try to make up for your mistakes. Soon everyone is out of position, which is exactly how to ensure that you do nothing right. Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor couldn't panic fast enough in the pocket (whether he was getting presssure or not), the Virginia Tech defense was leaving receivers wide open over the middle, their tackling was an embarassment, they commonly ignored their blocking assignments altogether, and they frequently rushed only three defensive linemen on passing downs... but somehow got better pressure with three defensive linemen than they did with four. If Virginia Tech can still win the ACC this year, the ACC is actually worse than even my worst estimations.

However, at the end of the day, Boise State was the far-superior team over the course of four quarters. No matter what some might say, this is a team that can hang with anybody. I think they can be pencilled into the BCS National Title game at present, because this was the last important game on their schedule. Unless you count Oregon State. Which brings me to...

TCU 30 - Oregon State 21

I thought Oregon State would at least put up a fight against the Horned Frogs, but this game was not in doubt to anyone who was watching. The Beavers were also getting demolished up front by a fundamentally sound football team who pretty much did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Even when Oregon State was coming back, you could tell they were barely scraping by. TCU stopped themselves more than Oregon State ever stopped them; Oregon State was nowhere near as talented as TCU on either side of the ball. I was not that impressed with TCU's offense against Boise State, but it appears that I was mistaken in some of my impressions. It seems that TCU was not so much offensively incapable as they were confounded by the strength of Boise State.

And with that said, after the first week of action, I would not be surprised to see the winner of the TCU-Utah game playing Boise State for the national title. Boise State is much better than every other team they play, and TCU and Utah only have each other in the way. Only Alabama (or another, unlikely SEC team) would stay ahead of either team if they end up undefeated, as nobody wants to see Ohio State back in the title game (Ohio State fans excepted). With Alabama's losses on defense, they may yet drop a game they shouldn't somewhere along the line. USC isn't eligible. The Big XII is generating no national excitement aside from a vague interest in how things will go in their last season of present organization. Success in the Big East or ACC is actually considered a detriment right now. It's a clear path for Boise State and the Mountain West teams right now. And there is a general question as to how these BCS-busters would do on the largest stage. They may get a chance to find out against each other.

Utah 27 - Pittsburgh 24

Color me corrected, I thought Pitt would pull it out late. However, things did not quite fall together that way. The third member of the non-AQ triumvirate pulled out their game to put themselves into position for the national title race. Things are falling together for a great deal of interest in the second tier this year.

USC 49 - Hawaii 36

The points scored on Hawaii are unsurprising. The points given up by the USC defense are a cause for Trojan concern. It was a rough start for a team with a new coaching staff, but one that is hard to interpret at this point. We will need to keep an eye on USC.

Florida 34 - Miami (OH) 12

So let me get this straight, you have an offense that runs entirely out of the shotgun formation and your center cannot properly perform a shotgun snap with any consistency or regularity? You know, of all the problems I had expected for Florida this year, getting the *$@&ing ball to the quarterback in the first place was not among them; that is supposed to be the easiest part of the entire play. This is a serious, serious problem that is so far beyond terrible for the Gators that I can't even find words for it. If the center can't properly snap the ball against Miami of Ohio, what is he going to do when he is getting popped in the mouth by defensive tackles from Alabama and Georgia?

Notre Dame 23 - Purdue 12

I was flipping between this game and the Michigan game, so I didn't get to watch as much of it as I would have liked. However, I was largely impressed with Notre Dame in their first outing of the season. However, it is so early in the season—and Purdue was so bad last season—that it is utterly impossible to take anything away from the game. Oh, and Robert Marve is a moron... you're still losing on the road and you do a somersault in the end zone to set the opposing team up with the chance for a great kickoff return? Great way to give your team a chance to win late. Anybody who does something that stupid clearly has an awful lot of stupid in his system... it won't be the last stupid thing he does.

Michigan 30 - Connecticut 10

I am not yet sure what to make of Michigan from this one. As much as Michigan won this game, Connecticut did just as much to lose it. However, Denard Robinson has stepped up his game big time. His throws were crisp and on target, and he looked much more aggressive running the ball than he did last year. The Michigan offensive line was moving the line of scrimmage three yards downfield every time they ran the ball, giving Robinson that much more room to see the field and maneuver. They definitely found the quarterback who can run this offense. However, he and his running backs are a bit on the small side, so the question is how well they handle the grind of the season. But that was still a very impressive performance against a good team, so things may be starting to come together now that Rich Rodriguez has the right people in the right places doing the right things.

Jacksonville St. 49 - Ole Miss 48

I was a little suprised by this, but really not that much. Ole Miss is an afterthought in the SEC West, and it's not like they were a preseason top 10 team—like Michigan was when they dropped the shocker to Appalachain State. Ole Miss is picked by many to finish last in the SEC West, so it's not as though they are really that vital. The loss is embarrassing, but the wound is no deeper than team and conference pride.

Kansas State 31 - UCLA 22

I said that UCLA had better be better than Kansas State right now. That's not good.

Oklahoma 31 - Utah State 24

I don't know what happened here, but Oklahoma started fading late. They may have taken their foot off the gas and put in the second team, but that's not the way you want to go into a big game against Florida State. Besides which, 31 points isn't all that much against a team that Oklahoma should be expected to demolish. I'm guessing their offensive line woes probably aren't solved yet.

BYU 23 - Washington 17

I didn't get the chance to watch the game, but this definitely puts a dent in the ol' Locker-for-Heisman campaign. But it seems that BYU may still be a threat to the Utah and TCU teams that have surpassed them in the national consciousness. Maybe.

Fresno State 28 - Cincinnati 14

Looks like the transition for Cincinnati will be a little rougher than anticipated. After their first 14 points, they looked terrible. But if it makes Bearcats fans feel any better, nobody else in the Big East looked that great this weekend either.

LSU 30 - North Carolina 24

I was switching between this game and the Oregon State-TCU game, and I eventually settled on the other game, as Oregon State was at least keeping it close on the scoreboard, if not on the field. So I was more than a bit surprised when I saw that UNC was only down by 6 after I gave them up for dead at 20 below. I turned that game back on and saw the Tarheels turn the ball over. Turned back to OSU-TCU and then I saw that UNC got the ball again. Turned back and saw the final drive, right up until their tight end couldn't catch two passes in the end zone from the 6. A valiant fight by North Carolina, but I get the feeling LSU was giving them plenty of help. Overall, I wasn't that impressed by either team on the day. But it was a first game, so what can you expect?