College Football Look Ahead to Week 1

College football is underway and week 1 gets into full force this week beginning on Thursday night.

It's been 9 months of momentum in the college football world.  Player movement via transfer portal, superpowers making moves to other conferences and coaches making their own big time moves.  Here are some of the highlights for week one.  The entire week one schedule is here.  

It’s the first “Backyard Brawl” in over a decade, so it’s only fitting that these familiar foes likely will have some very familiar QBs going head-to-head.  Former USC QB Kedon Slovis has been named the starter at Pitt, and former USC and Georgia QB JT Daniels is likely to get the nod for the Mountaineers. Both competed for the starting role at USC in 2019.

Saturday night brings us just the 7trh meeting all time between a pair of midwest icons in Notre and Ohio State.  The Irish won the first two meetings in 1935 and 1936 however Notre Dame has not beaten the Buckeyes since!  This marks only the 3rd time the 2 schools have met with both being ranked in the top-5 of the AP Poll.

Dan Lanning knew what he was getting into when he took his first head-coaching position.  Forget about the long term for a week. He awaits a stiff challenge in his first game that he knows as well as anyone.  It’s Georgia, whose defense he built into a juggernaut that helped secure the Dawgs’ first national title since 1980.  No doubt, Lanning’s UGA “D” left its mark in Athens

At No. 7, Utah enjoys its highest preseason ranking in program history.  It visits Gainesville to take on Florida, who kicks off the Billy Napier era.  Napier heads to the SEC after leading Louisiana to new heights.  Only Alabama and Ohio State posted better win percentages over the last 3 seasons than Napier’s Ragin’ Cajuns.

Florida State has not finished above .500 since 2017 when it went 7-6. It hasn’t made an appearance in the AP poll sine 2018 when it topped out at Number 19.  Since 2019. 73 FBS schools have played at least 1 game while ranked.  FSU is not one of them.

With head coach Mike Norvell firmly on the hot seat in Tallahassee, now would be a good time for a winning season.   Under new coach Brian Kelly, LSU returns to the Caesars Superdome for the 1st time since Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and company whipped Clemson in the 2020 CFP National Championship Game

Dabo Swinney lost both of his coordinators but returns QB DJ Uiagalelei, who endured a tough sophomore campaign in Death Valley.  Swinney’s offensive coordinator Tony Elliott moved to Virginia to take over the Cavaliers’ program.  And longtime defensive coordinator Brent Venables assumed his first head-coaching position at Oklahoma.

Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins is in the hot seat after going 6-16 in league games the last 2 seasons.

Those are your college football week 1 highlights!  Enjoy the games kids.  My my first "Real Top 25 CFB Rankings" for 2022 will come out next Tuesday morning!!

The college football season kicked off on Saturday with Week zero.  Here are all my favorite winners and losers from College Football Week Zero!

Nebraska.  It is just unbelievable.  While a lot has changed in college football, things stayed the same for Nebraska. In Ireland, Nebraska lost their 7th straight game in a 31-28 defeat to Northwestern. The 7th straight loss is tied for the 2nd-longest losing streak in program history, trailing only a 10-game losing streak from 2017 to 2018.

All 7 losses have been by single-digits, the Cornhuskers are the first major college team in the AP Poll Era, which
goes back to 1936, to lose 7 straight by single-digits.

Since coming back to Lincoln in 2018, Scott Frost’s Nebraska team is 5-21 in one-score games (games decided by 8 points or less). That’s the worst such record in the FBS in that span.

The game turned after Nebraska attempted an onside kick with 9:09 left in the 3rd quarter, right after it held an 11-
point lead. From that point, Northwestern outscored Nebraska 14-0.  Coach Scott Frost, you are going to have to change your last name from Frost to Hot because you are officially on the "hot seat" to get fired.

Florida State snapped a 5-game losing streak in season-openers and had three 100-yard rushers for the first time in
school history in a 47-7 win over Duquesne

North Carolina was able to handle an interesting game,  Florida A&M was down to 25 players due to eligibility issues. On what was Mack Brown’s 71st birthday, the Tar Heels won 56-24 behind Drake Maye’s 5 pass TDs in his first
career start. Those 5 passing scores are the most by a UNC player in their first start.

Illinois had no problem with Wyoming, winning 38-6 thanks to 151 rushing yards from RB Chase Brown. Illinois
is now 11-1 in season-openers since 2011.

For those of you who were down some coin after Nebraska's loss, the "Bail Out" game hits!  Those of you who stayed up to watch Hawaii host Vanderbilt(-9) weren't disappointed.  It took a half, but eventually Vanderbilt dominated on way to a 63-10 victory.

63 points and over 600 yards of offense was one of Vanderbilt's best outings in school history.  Here are some other nuggets from that game on Saturday.

63-10 victory marked their largest win in a non-conference road game since 1941 vs Louisville (68-0)

63 points is their most points vs an FBS opponent since Nov. 11, 1948 vs Marshall (won 56-0)

Vanderbilt had their most points in any game since 1969 vs Davidson (won 63-8)

The 63 points also tied for 5th most points in any game in school history

Finished with 601 total yards – their most in any game since Nov. 26, 2016 vs (17) Tennessee (608 yards)

More on these games and lots more on Shemon and Sheppard later today.