With the first week of college football officially in the books, we felt it was necessary to review some things we learned about the football landscape moving towards week two.
Iowa & South Dakota win the nomination for ugliest game of the year
I know we're just a week in, but it'll be awfully hard to beat this one.
The Hawkeye offense mustered up just 3 points in their 7-3 win against South Dakota on opening day. Now to be fair, the Jackrabbits are a formidable FCS opponent, usually at the top of the polls every year.
However both teams combined for 286 yards of offense and 21 punts on the day. Not to mention it was two safeties by the the Iowa defense that secured the win in Iowa City.
Arkansas notches big win over Cincinnati
Both the Bearcats and the Razorbacks were needing to use this game a stepping stone for their 2022 campaign. Arkansas managed to make just enough plays to secure the 31-24 win in Fayetteville on Saturday.
The Hogs came into the game ranked 19th and are wedged in the middle of a highly-contested SEC West Division. So every win matters.
The loss also marked the first ever season-opening loss for Luke Fickell, who's in his sixth-year as head coach.
Everyone got their money's worth at the Appy State-North Carolina game
The fourth quarter alone was worth the ticket price as the Mountaineers scored 40-points in the final frame to rally from behind in the upset attempt. But the final drive is what folks will talk about the rest of the year.
Trailing 63-55 with :28 remaining in the game. Appy State would drive 48 yards in two plays and score with :09 in the ballgame. They had to go for the two-point conversion to tie the game, but quarterback Chase Brice was stopped shy of the goal line.
These are the games we live for as college football fans.
UCLA's crowd on Saturday was embarrassingly bad
27,143 fans showed up for the home opener for the UCLA Bruins as they hosted the Bowling Green Falcons. An all-time program low in terms of ticket sales.
Now to be fair, the temperature was 103 at kickoff and the fall semester for UCLA doesn't begin until September 19. So we can give them a break on that.
But in terms of being a potential member of the Big 10, these are things that look awful on TV broadcasts. So maybe these conference realignments need examined further.
Florida State spoils Brian Kelly's debut, could implosion be imminent?
The Seminoles blocked an extra point with no time on the clock to escape New Orleans with a thrilling win over LSU 24-23.
Things were beginning to appear that Kelly's Bengal Tigers would pull off some late game heroics as they drove 99-yards to score and pull to within one of Florida State, only to have them dashed when Seminole defensive back Shyheim Brown blocked the kick that would've sent the game into overtime.
In recent years, Kelly teams that have suffered losses in key big games, have had trouble regrouping to finish out the season.
For instance, in 2014, a last second loss to Florida State cause the Irish to finish the season 1-4. In 2016, Kelly's Irish lost in double overtime to Texas and set off a chain of events that left the Irish 4-8 at the end of the season. And most recently 2020, Kelly's Irish team lost to the Clemson Tigers in the ACC title game and then proceeded to get blasted in their playoff game against Alabama.
Fall out from Notre Dame-Ohio State:
Notre Dame suffered a lot of losses from last year's team and isn't a No. 5 team, at least not at this point in the season. The defense looked very good but spent too much time on the field and wore down.
The O-Line is young and will get better, but the Irish need more speed at WR and the quarterback job may need to be scrutinized. Freshman Steve Angeli should get more of a look.
Ohio State's defense played well, but this wasn't a great test because offense is the Irish sore spot right now. Conversely, the offense didn't look as potent until late but attribute that to the Notre Dame defense.
The rest of the schedule won't present any defense as good as ND and that includes Michigan.
The Buckeyes should cruise the rest of the season, win the Big Ten championship and sharpen its claws as it awaits the CFP.
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