We’re one week into the college football season and it has already left us baffled, amazed, stunned, and entertained. After week one, the Alabama Crimson Tide has planted their flag as the #1 team in the country. Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain may have a huge problem on his hands in regards to his offense. A couple of Texas-based head coaches made their debut with embarrassing results and one quarterback out of the Pac-12 showed why he is special. Let’s pinpoint what was observed from week one’s action in college football.
- Things got ugly for first year Texas head coach Tom Herman. It got off to a rousing start at least thanks to a 31-yard interception touchdown for Texas CB Holton Hill to put the Longhorns up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game. In the blink of an eye, the Longhorns were facing a 27-7 deficit to the Maryland Terrapins in the 2nd quarter and before you knew it, Maryland walked out of Austin, Texas with a 1-0 record while many were left giving Herman and the Longhorns a confused look. One thing is for sure, the issues from the Charlie Strong era has carried over to Herman’s tenure and just the hiring of a young, bright head coach may not be enough to completely turn a program around in year one.
- The season-ending injury to Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois is one that may alter the chances of Florida State making the College Football Playoff. Let’s keep in mind that the Seminoles are attempting to replace a 4,464-yard career rusher in Dalvin Cook and their top three receivers from last season in Travis Rudolph, Kermit Whitfield, and Bobo Wilson. Now their top passer is out of the equation. Head coach Jimbo Fisher will have to lean on a run game that has unproven backs and a true freshman at quarterback. Things just got interesting in Tallahassee.
- The Clemson Tigers kicked off their national title defense with a 56-3 rout of Kent State. That title defense falls into the hands of junior quarterback Kelly Bryant, who is a Deshaun Watson clone. Bryant passed for 236 yards, one touchdown and an interception and ran for another 77 yards and a touchdown. The competition level kicks into high gear next week as the Auburn Tigers come to town. Bryant looked really good versus Kent State but the actual test is next Saturday.
- In College Station, Texas, the seat is quite warm for head coach Kevin Sumlin. He is currently in his sixth season as head coach and is 44-22 in overall record, 3-2 in bowl games, with zero SEC Championship appearances. Now he is on the heels of a 35-point comeback by the UCLA Bruins to open up this season. Does Sumlin need an SEC title to save his job? That is tough to say. What we can say is that his margin for error is much thinner than this point last year and to open up the season in that manner, it only makes things more adverse.
- In that same game, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen put on an epic comeback that many UCLA faithful will never forget. The scoreboard read 44-10 in favor of Texas A&M during the third quarter. Yet, it was Rosen who passed for 292 yards and four touchdowns in the final period to give the Bruins a win. A lot of questions surround Rosen on that UCLA team. The skill position players may need to step up for Rosen in order for UCLA to have a successful season but at least the Bruins have a quarterback. An excellent one at that.
