The first week is in the books! Okay, there were games last week, but I was not updating the rankings after Week 0. Some people complained about the Thursday night Penn State game (some old school fans act like it is such an insult having Penn State play on a Thursday), but I loved it. That game and the Backyard Brawl (not a Pitt fan, but it was fun having both games around the same time). Personally, I want games every night of the week. Minus Sunday and Monday. Those can be for the NFL. I want more Tuesday/Wednesday games.
Not much changes in the first few weeks. Some teams may move up or down (fortunately there are some big games in the first weeks, so that helps shake things up), but for the most part the rankings do not move much. Anyways, the rankings will read like this: School (record)–previous rank–week result–my comments.
- Alabama (1-0)–#1–W 55-0 Utah State–As per usual, the Crimson Tide are dominant.
- Georgia (1-0)–#2–W 49-3 #10 Oregon–Destroyed a top ten team, the defense has not lost a stride it seems.
- Ohio State (1-0)–#4–W 21-10 #4 Notre Dame–The Buckeyes offense was not at it’s peak against a very good Notre Dame defense, but the defense looked fantastic.
- Michigan (1-0)–#5–W 51-7 Colorado State–Michigan picks up where they left off last year.
- Texas A&M (1-0)–#6–W 31-0 Sam Houston State
- Clemson (1-0)–#8–W 41-10 Georgia Tech–Started off slow against the Yellow Jackets, but turned it on in the second half. The defense looks incredible, but I still have doubts about Uiagalelei. He just looks so uncomfortable in the pocket (happy feet). But maybe that GT defense was solid, time will tell.
- USC (1-0)–#9–W 66-14 Rice
- Notre Dame (0-1)–#4–L 21-10 #3 Ohio State–The defense is good, but the offense looks mediocre.
- Baylor (1-0)–#11–W 69-10 Albany
- Oklahoma (1-0)–#12–W 45-12–UTEP
- Michigan State (1-0)–#13–W 34-13 Western Michigan
- Oklahoma State (1-0)–#16–W 58-44 Central Michigan–The Cowboys had a huge lead, but definitely left off during the 4th quarter (not sure how far down the depth chart the defense went to keep guys healthy and give others a chance to play).
- Pitt (1-0)–#17–W 38-31 WVU–Like last year, I am higher on the Panthers than other people. Going up against their arch rival in a prime time game and coming away with a big win? I do not care how bad West Virginia is this year, that is always a tough task, and Pitt passed the test.
- Tennessee (1-0)–#21–W 59-10 Ball State–I jumped them up fairly high because watching some of the game, they look legit in my opinion.
- Wake Forest (1-0)–#18–W 44-10 VMI
- Wisconsin (1-0)–#19–W 38-0 Illinois State
- Arkansas (1-0)–#24–W 31-24 #14 Cincinnati
- Utah (0-1)–#7–L 29-26 Florida
- NC State (1-0)–#15–W 21-20 East Carolina–NC State should have lost this game, East Carolina missed a makeable field goal at the end of the game.
- Penn State (1-0)–#20–W 35-31 Purdue–I do not know how I feel about the Nittany Lions right now. I still think they are a good team, but I can easily see them losing games they should win. Seems like it could be another frustrating year.
- Kentucky (1-0)–#22–W 37-13 Miami OH
- Miami (1-0)–#23–W 70-13 Bethune-Cookman
- Oregon (0-1)–#10–L 49-3 #2 Georgia–I would not normally drop a team for losing to a top tier team so much, but this is a trend with Oregon. I think they look good on paper, but just cannot seem to hang with other top ten teams.
- BYU (1-0)–#25–W 50-21 South Florida
- Florida (1-0)–NR–W 29-26 #7 Utah–I would rank the Gators higher, but I will need to a little bit more. A big win against Utah gets them into the rankings. A win this against Kentucky would help move them to the top fifteen.
Honorable Mention
Cincinnati (0-1)–They need to rebound with a bunch of big wins.
Ole Miss (1-0)–W 28-10 Troy
Texas (1-0)–W 52-10 ULM
Coastal Carolina (1-0)–W 38-28 Army–Coastal Carolina had a big fourth quarter to overcome Army. Grayson McCall is back and threw three touchdowns.
Florida State (2-0)–W 24-23 LSU–A crazy game! Is FSU back? I am not ready to say that yet since they did make some horrible mistakes that almost cost them the game.
Watch List
South Carolina (1-0)–W 35-14 Georgia State
UNC (2-0)–W 63-61 Appalachian State–Defense optional in that game.
Mizzou (1-0)–W 52-24
Houston (1-0)–W 37-35 OT UTSA
James Madison (1-0)–W 44-7 Middle Tennessee–JMU won their first FBS game! Also, it may be a good idea to keep an eye on Todd Centeio. The JMU QB threw six touchdowns. He threw for 287 yards and ran for 110. Not saying a Heisman candidate or anything like that, but I like watching how a grad transfer does (he was at Colorado State and Temple).
The game everyone will be talking about this week is #1 Alabama at Texas. People would love to see the Longhorns upset ‘Bama, but I think we end up with a 48-13 win for the Crimson Tide. Other games to pay attention to: #14 Tennessee at #13 Pitt, as well as #9 Baylor heading to #24 BYU. Finally, I want to see #5 Texas A&M and Appalachian State. I think the Aggies win easily, but App State could give them a tough game, they seem to rise to the occasion.
