Main menu

Pages

College Football Week 1 Winners, Losers and Overreactions: Georgia Remains Top Dog, Texas A&M Has a Way to Go

featured image

Week 1 of the college football season technically started a week ago, but Saturday saw the first day across the country. The regional rivalry produced some of the best results of the weekend, and the full-blown debut marked a refreshing change from a long off-season filled with off-field headlines.

Old Dominion shocked Virginia Tech 20-17 in Brent Pry debut on friday night.Then in Saturday’s matchup dubbed the biggest home game in its history, Appalachian State gave North Carolina everything it could handle fall 63-61 If the 2 point conversion fails. His 2-point conversion for UTSA also resulted in a 37-35 triple he lost in overtime and a packed house just days after Cougars coach Dana Holgosen accused the Roadrunners of sending crowd noise into the Alamodome. In front of the house he lost to No. 24 Houston.Finally, East Carolina just missed an extra point When field goal to Lose 21-20 heartbreakers No. 13 to NC.

Of course, there was also a lot of large-scale national action. No. 2 Ohio State survived No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 in the heavyweight prize fight. Florida upset No. 7 Utah 29-26 behind a late touchdown from quarterback Anthony Richardson. And third-ranked Georgia, in Atlanta he leveled his 11th-ranked Oregon 49-3.

The soaring and deadly slump of college football was on full display in the opening weekend when the nation’s nastiest regional rivalries took center stage. Another headline realignment and playoff chatter After the offseason, the first week was the perfect palate cleanser.

Here are the winners, losers, and overreactions from Week 1 of the college football season.

winner

Georgia: Rumors of Georgia’s demise seem greatly exaggerated: Despite losing an astounding 15 players in the NFL Draft, the Bulldogs didn’t miss a step to dispatch Oregon. Georgia became only the second team in college football history to score a touchdown on his seven drives, the first against an AP Top 25 team. Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV recorded his 368 passing yards, a career-high, with 15 defenders making multiple tackles. Bulldog’s war machine remains fully operational.

Arizona wide receiver Jacob Cowing Perhaps the country’s most underrated offensive player after running a moribund UTEP program for bowling eligibility last year when he tallied 1,354 receiving yards, Cowing will do the same with the Wildcats a year later. You look ready to do something. The Maricopa, Ariz., native caught his eight passes in his first game as a Wildcat, scoring his 152 yards and three touchdowns in his 38-20 victory over San Diego State. did. This was Arizona’s first win on the road since their victory against Colorado on October 5, 2019.

Florida Coach Billy Napier: There’s no better way to start your coaching tenure than with a win over a Top 10 opponent. The Gators hit all the right notes en route to an upset for No. 7 Utah thanks to quarterback Anthony Richardson’s dominating rushing performance. Suddenly Florida doesn’t look like an afterthought in his SEC East race. Circle the game against Georgia on October 29th. Napier became the first coach in Gators history to beat a ranked opponent in his first game in the program.

loser

North Carolina QB Devin Leary: Expectations were high for Leary as the Wolfpack entered the year with the highest preseason rankings since Lou Holtz headed the program in 1975. yards, achieved 6.4 yards on one pass attempt. He threw a bad interception that ECU later converted into a touchdown and he would have tied the game if he hadn’t missed the extra point. If Wolfpack is a true ACC candidate for him, Leary will need to do much better to complement his experienced defense.

Texas A&M’s line of attack: The Aggies experienced growing pains up front on the offense last season, but there was hope that they could find that groove in 2022 as part of a playoff-seeking team. However, despite beating Sam Houston 31-0, the Aggies offense logged only 3.4 yards per carry and allowed some pressure. With Appalachia State and his 16th-ranked Miami coming to town in the coming weeks, this effort must improve.

Week 1 Overreaction

Ohio’s offense has cracks. Heading into Week 1, three teams from Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio had their hopes of winning the national championship running high. The aforementioned Bulldogs put together one of the most impressive wins over ranked opponents in recent memory, with Alabama playing a perfect football game against Utah State.

And Ohio State needed some miraculous plays from quarterback CJ Stroud to create an offense against Notre Dame. The Buckeyes certainly had the toughest game of the weekend. injury It will feature wideout Jackson Smith Nigba. The Notre Dame defense dominated the game for most of the night.

Ohio State may find its way out of these struggles, especially as Jim Knowles’ defense becomes more comfortable. So far it looks like wishful thinking.

How to cook Pac-12: Last season, UCLA had a big win over LSU in the Rose Bowl. The Tigers turned out badly, but it didn’t matter. Beating LSU took the Bruins 13th in the national rankings and helped bring credibility to the Pac-12 overall.

A year later, in a Cameron Rising ill-advised interception loss to Florida, the exact opposite is about to happen. was considered a favorite from However, when it came to playoff situations, another loss to the Gators left his leading Pac-12 team eight balls behind. One win or one loss isn’t the end of a season, but the Conference of Champions has no doubt merit.

That loss, combined with the duck embarrassment in Atlanta, leaves No. 14 USC as the only intact Pac-12 playoff contender. Good luck.

The rival remains king: After an 11-year absence, there was no better place to kick off Week 1 than on the banks of the Ohio River as a backyard brawl emerged from the ashes. In every way, his 17th pit come-from-behind victory over West Virginia was the perfect tablesetter for his full college football debut in 2022.

Over 70,000 people attended the match at Acrisure Stadium. It was the largest crowd in Pittsburgh sports history. It was the largest crowd in Pittsburgh sports history. Legendary players like Pitt’s Tony Dorsett and West Virginia’s Adam “Pac-Man” Jones graced the sidelines. I ran out of beer on

Most importantly, Pitt’s MJ Devonshire snatched a bounced ball in the hands of West Virginia’s Bryce Ford Wheaton to end the game in the wackiest way possible. Returned 56 yards on pick 6The moment was exhilarating for the winner, but terrifying for the loser.

Comments