2021-09-08 15:54

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we are into the new college football season and for some teams and coaches the heat already did get a bit hotter.

There were some upset or surprises in week 1 which might be a one-and-done-thing, or an indicator for some major misinterpretation of strength and potential.
Before I do sum up of those, I start with the games I did preview last week.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE GAMES FOR WEEK 1

Sat. Sep 4
#19 Penn State @ #12 Wisconsin
With a scoreless 1st half, the spectators were likely a bit nervous, since you expect your team to do something and in a game like this, so close and so rare on scoring, every error can cause a game changing momentum.
And Wisconsin had a field goal blocked in the 1st half and had a fumble before the Lions endzone, so they had their chances, but were unable to get it done.
In the 2nd half the Lions then did stop Wisconsin and scored a TD.
The Badgers were able to respond and even saw this time the Lions to miss a field goal shot, but to make this a bit short, over the next minutes and quarters the Badgers were not able to stop the Lions in the important moments.
Penn State did score late in the 4th and then did see the Badgers get even to the Lions 1-yard line but were able to hold off the Badgers for the tying score.
Instead an INT did seal the upset and did give Penn State a much-needed win inside the BIG 10.
For Wisconsin, that was a tough start, eventually this might become very important.
#19 Penn State 16 @ #12 Wisconsin 10 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 1-2

#1 Alabama @ #14 Miami
This went as expected.
Alabama did lead 27-3 at the half. The Miami defense was unable to stop Alabama, while the Miami offense was able to crack the Alabama defense.
It went on and Alabama did destroy Miami.
This did show that Alabama is one of the teams to beat, while Miami might have a say inside the ACC, but not really nationally.
#1 Alabama 44 @ #14 Miami 13 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 2-2

#5 Georgia @ #3 Clemson
Looked like both offenses stayed in the locker room and the defenses came to play.
When Clemson was picked and the ball was returned for a TD in the 1st half, nobody did believe that the team will lose because of that.
Nobody did believe, Clemson will never score a TD, but they did. Just a Field Goal.
This game does not mean much for both teams regarding playoffs or conference plays.
Right now, both teams are expected to be highly competitive and the final score of 10-3 does show, they are quite close.
So, if both teams will win from here on, no problem, I think both would get a playoff spot.
But if things get ugly, this will suddenly have a weight, which might pull one or both teams out of the playoffs.
Wie will have to wait.
Clemson has a lot of work to do, as Georgia, on offense.
#5 Georgia 10 @ #3 Clemson 3-> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 3-2

Other interesting games:
#23 Louisiana @ #21 Texas
Texas won by 20, 38-18, which is a good start, I guess.
Jacks interesting games Score: 4-0

#17 Indiana @ #18 Iowa
Iowa did beat Indiana heavily, 34-6. Will be interesting to see, what that means for the BIG 10.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-0

#16 LSU @ UCLA
UCLA won 38-27. Not sure that dooms already the Tigers inside the SEC, but if I would be a Tigers fan, I would be concerned. Great start for UCLA, one of the major upsets of the weekend.
Jacks interesting games Score: 5-1

Other interesting or funny scores:
UCF did beat Boise State on the smurf turf, 36-31. Great comeback for the Knights in this game.
UC Davis (FCS) won against Tulsa 19-17. Always a great win for a FCS team, if they beat a FBS team. Tulsa was favored by 22 points!
Eastern Washington (FCS) won in 2 OT against UNLV, 35-33. The Eagles are not really a pushover inside the FCS, still UNLV should have had that, even they were 2.0 points underdog, which is a shame itself for the Rebels.
Virginia Tech won against UNC, 17-10. The big chance for UNC to get into national conversation is already over.
Charlotte did win against Duke, 31-28. Duke was favored as ACC team against that CUSA team by 6.5 points.
Kansas was favored by 11.0 to win against South Dakota (FCS) and won 17-14. OK, they still won, but man, I have the feeling it will be a long season in Kansas.
Michigan State did upset Northwestern 38-21. Good thing for the BIG 10, from my point of view.
South Dakota State (FCS) won against Colorado State 42-23. CSU was favored only by 2.0 points, but now they lost by a lot and that against a team called Jackrabbits. Oh dear.
Iowa State had their hands full against Northern Iowa but won 16-10. Not the best start into the season, especially at home.
Montana (FCS) won against ranked Washington 13-7. That's quite an achievement. The Huskies were 22.5-point favorite.
Holy Cross (FCS) did beat UConn 38-28. UConn was only a 3-point favorite. That loss triggered a coaching change, described a bit deeper.
Stanford lost against Kansas State 7-24. Not a good sign for Cardinals fans.
Wyoming barely won against Montana State (FCS) 19-16. As one of the contenders for the Mountain West, this better be not the best performance of them.
Oklahoma State also had a quite narrow game against Missouri State (FCS) and won 23-16. If that's the offense they bring into the BIG12, they will lose more games than winning them.
UTSA did beat Illinois, 37-30. A bit of a shocker, likely, for Illini fans. The Illini were favored by 4.5 points. Not much, but still ...
Northern Illinois won against Georgia Tech 22-21. Quite close, still the MAC team won, and the ACC team did lose as 19-point favorite.
East Tennessee State (FCS) did beat Vanderbilt 23-3. The Commodores as SEC team were favored by 21 points. Pfffff. Great win for ETSU.
Utah State won against Washington State 26-23. Bad start for the Cougars, or good one for the Aggies?
And Tulane did almost beat Oklahoma but failed. Sooners win 40-35.
And as last one, highly ranked Notre Dame won in OT against Florida State 41-38.

The 1st coach did also step down, which is after week 1 a quite fast development. After the loss against Fresno State in week 0 and against Holy Cross (FCS) in week 1 did UConns Randy Edsall announce he will retire after the season.
A day later it was announced that in a mutual decision he did step down immediately and Lou Spanos takes over as interims coach.
Good luck to him. UConn will need it.

Not much to say on the changes inside the national discussion.
Biggest change in the AP Polls was of cause Clemsons drop of a few spots (-3), Iowas and Penn States rise of a few spots (8 spots each), the new teams in the TOP 25 with UCLA at #16, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech and Auburn and of cause the drop out of the TOP 25 by LSU, Indiana, Washington and Louisiana.
But as always, a drop, regardless the amount of spots, is usually not as significant, if done at the start and only after a few gamedays the TOP 25 will be more stable.
Also, that eventually 1 loss will look different after a few games, if the opponent looks more like a strong team, or weak team.

Overall, this week 1 gameday had some great games for the start, which is unfortune will not continue for the upcoming weekend.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE GAMES FOR WEEK 2

Sat. Sep 11
#12 Oregon @ #3 Ohio State
OSU is favored by 14.5 points and that's because it's in the horseshoe and Oregon had a rough start with a just 7-points win again against Fresno State, where they were favored by 19.0 points, while OSU won their opener against Minnesota by 14 points, which is equal the betting line.
Oregon will need a much better offense and an even better defense.
I don't expect them to actually win this, but I hope the Ducks can make this an interesting game.
In total I doubt they will have a chance to stop the Buckeyes often enough to win this.
Buckeyes win.

#10 Iowa @ #9 Iowa State
The battle for the Cy-Hawk-Trophy is on again and the Hawkeyes have won the last 5 games.
Funny side fact, last time was 2 years ago, last season was canceled because of corona, and it is again played in Ames, like 2 seasons ago. So now switching, which is a bit logic, since the schedules are usually made long time in the future and except some emergencies a switch would mean that the remaining ration of home and away games would be off.
Iowa leads the series 45-22 since the start.
Interesting is, Iowa State is favored by -4.5 points.
Why is that interesting?
Because Iowa did win against preseason-ranked Indiana big time, but ISU did barely win against FCS Northern Iowa. So, it's a bit of a surprise to see them in the favorite role.
But as it seems, the small win did not affect their ranking a lot, so the 'people' still believe the Cyclones can win.
I personally think they need more than this game to get on track, but we will see.
I trust the Hawkeyes more in this one.
Hawkeyes win.

#21 Utah @ BYU
Another rivalry here, the so called 'Holy War' with Utah playing BYU the 101st time.
Last season no match, same as with Cy-Hawk-Trophy, it's again in the city of the last meeting, Provo.
The last 9! Meetings were won by the Utes, which is from my point of view more result by poor BYU play, than by over the top Utah play.
Granted, Utah has some really great seasons in the past few years, but BYU had mixed results.
And also granted, some games were close between both programs. Still ... Utah won.
My guess was BYU would be a 10.0-point underdog, but it's only 7.0 points.
Utah had only a cupcake game against a FCS team, so nothing to show for, while BYU did PAC 12 team Arizona by a score. Not much also, still something.
I doubt that BYU will keep the Utes in check for the whole game and I doubt they will be able to score enough to overcome the points Utah will bring on.
Hence, I think Utah will enhance the streak to 10.
Utes win.

Other interesting games:
Washington @ Michigan
This game might not be that interesting, but it beats out other candidates, at least in my book.
Michigan is only favored by 7.0 points, which is, as home team winning their 1st game big time against a cupcake and facing an opponent who LOST against such a cupcake, a quite heavy insult from my point of view.
So, Vegas thinks Washington can get back to their old strength and Michigan will suck a bit as always the past few seasons, but my guts says Michigan will beat the spread and will win big time, again.
Wolverines win.

Stanford @ #14 USC
This could be a massacre. USC will play, for sure.
Nobody knows what Stanford will do.
They lost against supposed to be mid-level Kansas State, while USC beat the reigning Mountain West champ by 3+ scores.
Might be not that impressive, also, still it was enough to get a line of -17.0 points.
I doubt a quick rebound by Stanford, so USC all the way.
Trojans win.

Pittsburgh @ Tennessee
And this is almost a placeholder.
The interesting part is, that Pitt is never shy of playing tough teams and challenge them.
Tennessee is far from actually having a big say inside the SEC East, but it is a SEC team and is ... the 3.5 points underdog.
I'm torn between hope and believe here.
I hope Pitt can beat them, but I believe the home game will fuel the Vols to a close win.
Volunteers win

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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