2024-08-27 06:08

The new season did start with an upset. Nice work, Georgia Tech.

Let's have a look on the results of those initial 4 games.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 0

Sat. Aug 24
#10 Florida State @ Georgia Tech
As already revealed, the Yellow Jackets did upset Florida State in Ireland in a close game, decided on a last second field goal by Georgia Tech.
But FSU did lose the game much earlier, especially by their bad d-line.
The Seminoles did come out with big balls and scored on their 1st drive a TD + a 2-pointer. Bam.
But Georgia Tech was not impressed and answered with a TD drive on their 1st drive also, but stayed with a regular PAT.
Then did the Seminoles try to answer, got stuck on 4th and 4 on the GT 33-yard-line and did not want to kick a FG and instead went for the 1st down and failed.
GT was unable to do something out of this and gave shortly the ball back to the ‘Noles, only to let them get stuck again.
This time they went for a 52-yarder and made it.
And GT? Marched over the field on the next drive and scored a TD, again, BAM! Bad goalline stand by the FSU defense.
The Seminoles tried their best before the half, but were stopped again, went for a 59 yarder and actually made that to tie the game at 14 for the half.
When I did see that score, I thought 'OK, some early problems, but now the FSU talent will slowly pull away'.
GT opened the half with a nice drive, but missed a FG-try from 51 yards and here a longer period of NOTHING did start, where none of the teams were able to gain significant yardage, until late in the 3rd quarter GT did slowly march over the field again and scored a TD with the start of the 4th quarter.
Now FSU behind did start finding an answer and they were able to find the endzone after a longer period of time to tie the game again, now at 21.
But still 6:30 left on the clock and GT used that time perfectly, marched again over the field, did not give FSU the ball again. No need to play 4th down, no big hurries needed, just stubborn play after play, until it was 4th and 5 on the FSU 26, with a last snap possible.
The 44-yarder went through the uprights with time running out and Georgia Tech did upset the ‘Noles.
On this game it was obvious, that the FSU-lines were bad, especially the d-line. If the team does not get this under control, their hope for an ACC-Championship and more will be over before November. The Yellow Jackets had on that day a terrific ground attack and made 5.3 yards per try, while FSU had only 3.2. Sure, it’s only stats, but a rookie could have seen that FSU was unable to stop the run.
GT on the other hand did look bold and ready to play. Not sure how much noise their will make this season, but that 1st game was a great stinger.
#10 Florida State 21 @ Georgia Tech 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 0-1

SMU @ Nevada
SMU did not look good in this game.
Nevada did draw 1st blood late in the 1st quarter, and at the half did the Wolf Pack lead 17-10. Not bad for an underdog.
SMU did try to get a comeback done in the 3rd quarter, but Nevada was even able to extend the lead to 24-13.
But then in the 4th quarter did Nevadas offense get stuck, and SMU got their offense going to score a TD, the defense scored a safety and the offense score a bit later another TD to take the lead.
Nevada did try to answer but failed to do so.
At the end did the favorite win, but in a not very convincing way.
SMU 29 @ Nevada 24 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 1-1

And the other interesting games are (all remaining):

Montana State @ New Mexico
Remember, the Lobos were the underdog and I had picked them.
Well, after the 1st half, this did look very promising, with New Mexico leading 24-14.
In the 3rd quarter did they extend that lead to 31-14, but that was not enough.
Montana State got the ball late in the 3rd and scored a TD out of this drive beginning of the 4th.
New Mexico did get into FG-range but missed the kick from 42 yard out (the 2nd missed FG, the 1st was a bit early from 35 yards out) and Montana State was stopped on the next drive.
With 6 minutes left to play the Lobos got the ball but failed on 3 tries and gave the ball back to the Bobcats, only to let them score on the NEXT PLAY, 93 yards. Autsch. Now the Lobos leading only 31-28.
Still 4:30 left to play they got the ball back and tried to run down the clock, what could go wrong?
Well, they were not very successful, used a timeout and got a delay of game penalty.
The result was, the Bobcats got the ball back with 2 minutes left to play and they did run over the field and scored a TD for the win with 10 second left to play.
Great win by Montana State, winning 35-31.
A miserable start into the season by New Mexico.
Jacks interesting games Score: 0-1

Delaware State @ Hawai'i
At least this went almost as expected, but granted, only 'almost'.
By accident I did see the halftime score and Hawai'i was leading 14-7 against that not-so-good-FCS-team. Looked as expected, still not very convincing, at home on season start.
And shortly after I did see the halftime score the game resumed and the score did change to a tie at 14. Hmmmm. Now that was not as expected.
But then the Rainbows get into the game or Delaware State lost their steam, whatever, Hawai'i scored again and later again and again and won at the end 35-14.
I hope they play better in the games to come.
Jacks interesting games Score: 1-1

That's it for that prolog games.
That was very disillusioning, but to be fair, opening weekend games are often clumsy and you never know, what comes afterwards.
Sometimes the teams do recover, and that loss was helpful in the meaning of, the team did realize that wins, even supposed to be easy ones, are not for granted, you have to earn the win.
Sometimes the team does not recover, and the 1st clumsy game was only a hint on a clumsy season.
The funny part is, you never know, until the season does proceed further, so it makes no sense to end already FSUs season or to see Nevada winning way more games than anticipated.

The only fact is, those wins and losses do count and whenever the final summary is done, it might hurt (in case of a loss) or it might help (in case of a win).
In case of FSU the side effects are likely the biggest of all 4 games played last weekend, since it was a conference game, and they lost a game they did for sure count in as must-win.
But the season is not lost regarding the ACC, and they even still have a clear path to the National Championship playoffs.

Now the real 1st gameday is coming and as you may know, the 1st week gamedays are usually dominated by non-conference games and those include many cupcake-game, often between an FBS team against an FCS team.
It feels like this season we have in week 1 ALOT of those games, but maybe I have to check against the stats a bit later. Fact is that this season we will have a record of 121 games with FCS teams involved and many are on day 1.

Still, I found some games worth looking at between FBS teams, some even with playoff spot relevance.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 1

Sat. Aug 31
#14 Clemson @ #1 Georgia
Likely the TOP game this weekend, featuring 2 teams hoping for a playoff spot and a conference championship.
Clemson had to take a step back last season and is now aiming to regain the hold on the ACC. I had them in may preview for the ACC as 2nd team behind FSU, because of their schedule mainly. That includes this tough matchup here against Georgia. The Bulldogs are for sure the favorite for the National Championship and the SEC, so playing them in week 1 in Athens is a tough game for the Tigers. If you remember that Clemson did win the National Title twice in season 2016 and 2018, both against Alabama, and lost in the title game also twice, against Alabama and LSU, and all those games were quite close or sometime Clemson did dominate and sometimes LSU did, it is interesting to see, that in this upcoming game the betting line is Georgia -13.5!
That is not close and that means for me, this ACC team is not put on the same level of strength as that SEC team (which is likely ok) and what message it sends for the fans.
Now this game can go any way, for sure, but the outcome will define the season.
If Georgia wins in a landslide, the ACC will have a hard time to send in more teams to the playoffs than the ACC-Champion. If it is a close game, not much changes, but Clemson could have a chance (if it stay near perfect and would not win the ACC) to get also in. If Clemson wins, all predictions are a bit off, and all have to rethink or wait for a Clemson stumble (if that happens) or how Georgia plays over the remaining season.
At the end the committee will look at this game and compare the results of each team and the winner will get a small bonus or a big bonus on this game and the loser will get the opposite.
I personally think, Clemson is a good team and will likely play for the ACC Championship, but will lose here against a team, which aims higher.
Bulldogs win.

#7 Notre Dame @ #20 Texas A&M
Man, this is tough, right from the start.
On paper it is clear, Notre Dame with a proven staff, a mature roster, likely good, if not very good visits a team under a new coach with a roster makeover and new coordinators. The only problem is, the new HC had a start, with a not-so-good-football team on his last job, of 9-4 and he has now all the tools and talent of a SEC team against an Indy team, which did prove to be not TOP material in the past few seasons and which does play ACC teams most of the times.
What is Vegas saying?
Ouch, it says Texas A&M is favored by 3.0 points.
The community sees the Irish ahead and I'm leaning towards that opinion, because such a makeover of the Aggies is tough and rough and even I see the Irish not in the league as Georgia or Ohio State, I also don't see that for A&M.
Last season did Notre Dame take on Ohio State and lost by 3, which was a fair. They later did stumble over 2 other teams, but my point is, that is not a team to take lightly and A&M has many things to work out under the new coach. I don't believe this is all finished on 1st gameday, so I think Notre Dame will win, likely in a close game.
Fighting Irish win.

Sun. Sep 1
#23 USC @ #13 LSU
And another interesting matchup.
Starting with USC, they need to prove that the move to the BIG10 and that hire of the HC a few seasons ago did pay off. I did not have them as big contender inside the conference, but this is USC and they have a lot of talent. The HC can make this click and might surprise us all.
On the other hand, we have LSU, which does act much better under their HC than I had anticipated. Are they contender inside the SEC? I don't think so, because they have to reload a bit. Still also here is valid, LSUs talents are plenty and the team might just be as good as last year.
LSU is favored at home by 4.5 points, which is not much and shows a bit the uncertainties in this match.
Both teams are not considered to be elite inside their conferences, but how they will perform is open. Both MIGHT become contenders fast and the game result here might bring them into consideration.
Played in so called Death Valley, USC will face a very hostile crowd on this 1st gameday, and I believe that the home team will win.
Tigers win.

And some other interesting games:

Fri. Aug 30
North Carolina @ Minnesota
This looks like a maeh-vs-maeh-game, 2 teams with mid-level-or-a-bit-better-ambitions inside their conferences face off in a meaningless game, wahoo.
But it means something for the conferences and for the teams regarding bowl eligibility and both teams MIGHT need a win here to get so such a bowl.
UNC needs to find that new QB and make the units click.
Minnesota has their QB, but it's a FCS transfer, new to the system and maybe surprised by the level of playing.
Played in Minnesota will be a factor and the betting favorite went from last week Minnesota by 2.5 to now UNC by 2.0.
I have mixed feelings on this game, but in doubts I pick the home team.
Golden Gophers win.

Sat. Aug 31
#8 Penn State @ West Virginia
I make this quick here.
Penn State is favored by 9.0 points.
They are very likely the better team, playing on the road.
The major asset West Virginia brings in is, a good offense and that will play against a likely good defense.
So, I think, the OTHER units will play a major role and here I trust Penn State a bit more than West Virginia, which defense was not good last season. A close game, likely, but ....
Nittany Lions win.

#19 Miami @ Florida
And right on day 1 we have the 1st game of the Florida Cup, which is a 3-team Cup between Miami, Florida and FSU. Last time did Florida win the Cup (2019). On top are the individual games of course rivalry games and here the winner of Miami vs Florida takes home the Seminole War Canoe Trophy. Miami leads the series by 2 wins and Florida won the last matchup in 2019.
This season all indicators do aim towards the Hurricanes, since Florida has major issues to solve, eventually a HC on a hot seat and Miami did gaining steam upwards overall.
Played at Gainesville, Miami is only favored by 3.0 points, regardless the Gator issues.
The community sees the Gators in lead, I personally am in doubt here. The Gators at home are a force, but on gameday 1 with all the issues and Miami often regarded as valued too low this season ...
Hurricanes win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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