The first week of college football was full of surprises and disappointments; it’s what makes college football worth watching. College football is exciting, surprising, and unpredictable all at once. There was some very bad news for the Michigan Wolverines, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Florida State Seminoles.
First, the Wolverines managed to get beaten by Division 1-AA Appalachian State 34-32 on their home field as 110,000 fans watched at the Big House in Ann Arbor. Michigan entered the game ranked No. 5 in both preseason polls. When the poll results came out Tuesday after Saturday’s game, Michigan dropped out of the poll altogether.
It was the first time such a high-ranked team had dropped out of the poll entirely since the AP Poll was expanded to 25 teams in 1989. Since the death of the legendary Bo Schembechler, the Wolverines have gone 0-3 and given up 108 points . .
“I wouldn’t want to be at their practice field on Tuesday,” winning Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore said.
To compare the two football programs, Appalachian State’s football budget is $1.5 million, and Michigan is in the midst of a $226 million renovation of its stadium. He’d say forget the renewal and get some real players in Michigan. The upset has already been called by many sports experts and fans the biggest upset in college football history, as an AA team has never beaten an NCAA-ranked team.
Then Notre Dame took a terrific beating from Georgia Tech 33-3. The game marked the most lopsided opening loss in Notre Dame history, and the first time the Irish had failed to score a touchdown in a game opener since 1985.
Geez, where’s the offense? Charlie Weis is all about offense, but the Irish have clearly suffered from defensive weaknesses the past two seasons. I’m part Irish and a Notre Dame fanatic. I want to see Weis make it big at Notre Dame. Weis is starting his third season and this Game 1 loss doesn’t bode well for Notre Dame.
Last year, the Irish scored 31 points per game (16th best among 119 Division IA schools) and gave up 24 points per game (67th best). Defense is a problem for the offensive-minded Weis, and he will remain one until he fixes it. It almost goes without saying that offense is a big deal right now.
At the end of Saturday, the 19th-ranked state of Florida sucked up too much water from the swamp and was defeated by Clemson, 24-18. The state of Florida was conspicuously absent in the polls on Tuesday and Clemson slipped into 25th place in the AP poll.
I wasn’t surprised by Clemson’s win since they were at home and last year Clemson gave up only 16 points per game (16th best in the nation).
Here are some ranked teams that showed how to take care of business in week one:
No. 2 LSU shuts out Mississippi State 45-0.
No. 6 Florida outscored AA Western Kentucky 49-3.
No. 8 Oklahoma slapped North Texas, 79-10.
No. 10 Louisville turned poor AA Murray State into a rout, 73-10.
Ohio State’s No. 11 didn’t allow a touchdown against AA Youngstown State in a 38-6 victory.
No. 16 Rutgers beat Buffalo 38-3.
No. 17 Penn State blanks Florida International 59-0.
No. 20 Nebraska beat Nevada 52-10.
No. 22 TCU shut out Baylor 27-0.
No. 23 Hawaii defeated AA Northern Colorado 63-6 and led 49-0 after three quarters.
No. 24 Boise State defeated AA Weber State 56-7.
Other ranked teams that won but either didn’t win impressively or gave up too many points included No. 3 West Virginia, No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 14 UCLA, No. 18 Auburn, No. 21 Arkansas and No. 25 Texas A&M.
At least three unranked teams shined in their opening games: Indiana outscored AA Indiana State 55-7, Kansas defeated Central Michigan 52-7 and Cincinnati defeated AA Southeast Missouri State 59-3.
I didn’t think Cincinnati could score 59 points on anyone; last year the Bearcats averaged 21 points per game and gave up 20 points.
Three other teams did not shine as well. Big 10 Minnesota was defeated at home by Bowling Green 32-31 in overtime. Bowling Green was leading 21-0 at the half against the Golden Gophers (what a terrible nickname for Minnesota in this game).
In-state rivalries are always unpredictable and Colorado proved it again by narrowly sliding past Colorado State 31-28 at home in another overtime game. You could say this proves that both teams have some offense. I would say this shows that both teams lack defense.
In Oregon, many fans and pundits call the annual Oregon-Oregon State rivalry The Civil War. The same could be said about this year’s Michigan-Michigan State rivalry.
The results of six other games have been set aside for special attention and comment.
Two of the six teams involved in the Pac 10 that saw the No. 12 California Golden Bears defeat the No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers 45-31 (many think this is THE year at Cal Berkeley to challenge USC) , and redshirt rookie quarterback Jake Locker led the Washington Huskies to a 42-12 victory over Syracuse.
New Alabama coach Nick Saban did what he was hired to do, posting a 52-6 win over AA Western Carolina in the Crimson Tide’s home opener. The fortunes of the Alabama SEC should rise with Saban.
New Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio led the Spartans to a 55-18 win over UAB when his new offense scored touchdowns on their first six possessions — that’s impressive — as he raced to a 42-0 lead midway through the second fourth. The Big 10 fortunes of the state of Michigan should also increase with Dantonio. In a pretty dark game, Mike Price’s UTEP Miners outscored New Mexico 10-6.
I still believe that Mike Price was prepared to be kicked out of Alabama before he had a chance to coach the Tide. There are still plenty of southern boys who don’t like Yankees this far south. The second game saw Wyoming beat Virginia 23-3 in their home opener. Not many fans care about Wyoming, but I do.
I like the Cowboys because they play so hard at home no matter who’s playing against them. Wyoming takes pride in its cowboys. Invade their territory and you might get your watch wiped and your butt marked.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley