Well, that was an interesting opening weekend of college football. A handful of upsets, a couple of blowouts, and a lot of NFL scouts reshuffling their big boards.
Georgia’s defense looked like the 85 Bears shutting down DJ Uiagalelei and the Clemson Tigers. Oregon looked very vulnerable, letting Fresno State hang in the game before relinquishing and regaining the lead in a close 31-24 win. Iowa appeared to solve Michael Penix and dominated Indiana in a 34-6 beat down. Notre Dame went down to the wire with Florida State as we all cheered for human Disney movie QB McKenzie Milton; and Alabama….. looked like Alabama.
Heisman front runners like Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell had their share of struggles, both of them having more turnovers than touchdowns. Meanwhile Desmond Ridder, Bryce Young and Bijan Robinson put Heisman voters on serious notice.
While it will be hard to top the action and marquee matchups from last week, week 2 promises to have som juice. Whether you are in for the premier battles, or following the crop of future NFL stars; you will find entertainment on Saturday.
#12 Oregon @ #3 Ohio State
12pm
Kicking off the early slate of games, Oregon will be heading into Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Both of these teams were in tightly contested football games last weekend, neither of which were expected to be very close.
Ohio State was down 14-10 at halftime thanks to a strong performance by Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim and CJ Stroud’s inability to get it going early. Even though they escaped with a 14 point win, anyone who watched the game will tell you it was much closer. They face a far harder opponent this week in the 12th ranked Ducks, a solid all around football team. If they start off slow, they could see themselves behind the 8ball struggling to get the ball back from a strong Oregon rushing attack.
Ohio State will try to stretch the field against Oregon on Saturday with their elite duo of wide receivers. Chris Olave and Garet Wilson are two of the best in the nation and will look to exploit a Ducks secondary that gave up 300 yards through the air last week. If they can get the foot all in their hands and take an early lead, it’ll make it hard for Oregon to establish the run. Doing so is taking away arguably their greatest strength.
Oregon was fighting for their lives against a very scrappy Fresno State team to open their season. After going up early, Fresno scored 17 unanswered points to take the lead in the 4th quarter. The Ducks pulled ahead in the 25th hour, but it was way closer than they would’ve liked it to be. They allowed the Bulldogs to put up 24 points and over 370 yards of offense, they might be losing sleep over what a much better Buckeyes team could do. This potential matchup nightmare is made even worse by the loss of star edge rusher and number one prospect in college football Kayvon Thibodeaux
It’s not all doom and gloom for Oregon though. They ran for over 180 yards and three touchdowns in their game against Fresno State. If the Ducks can exploit a Buckeyes defense that looked soft against the run, they could do some serious damage. Olave and Wilson can’t hurt you that bad if you keep the ball from OSU’s offense. Thibodeaux is extremely important to this defense but they have talent across the line to put ample pressure on any QB.
Keys to the game
Ohio State:
Spread it out and let it fly
Get an early lead
Get the ball out of Stroud’s hands quick
Oregon:
Get an early lead and pound the rock
Pressure CJ Stroud, force him to make quick decisions
Don’t give up the big play to Olave or Wilson
#10 Iowa @ #9 Iowa State 4:30pm
The only other top 25 matchup this week is between in state rivals. The Hawkeyes will travel two hours west to face a criminally underrated Cyclones squad in a nationally televised affair. These teams have faced off 67 times, dating all the way back to the 1800’s; and for the first time ever they’re both in the top 10 for the showdown.
This rivalry has always produced fireworks. The two teams will look to add to a rich history that includes a triple overtime thriller in 2011, a 44-41 Hawkeyes overtime win in 2017, and the Cyclones 17 point come from behind win in 2002.
Iowa is traveling to Ames after quite the showing last Saturday. They held a very good Indiana Hoosiers team to only 6 points and 230 yards. The constant pressure and bevy of weapons on that Hawkeyes defense made the sensational Michael Penix look average.
This defense as a whole is nothing short of formidable. Led by edge rusher/all around play disrupter, Zach VanValkenberg and top 10 corner Matt Hankins; they make life very hard on opposing quarterbacks. It might be hard… or just outright unpleasant to remember the year that was 2020, but Iowa only gave up 16 points per game in their pandemic shortened 8 game season.
The offense is also nothing to scoff at. Running back Tyler Goodson had some ridiculous stats last year, posting nearly 900 yards from scrimmage with 7 touchdowns in an eight game season. The Iowa offense goes as their running game goes, so they will look to get it moving early and often.
Iowa State is heading into this game in relatively uncharted waters. For the first time in recent memory they have a real shot to be one of the final four teams in the playoffs this January. They’re coming off of a 9 win season and a huge bowl win in 2020 over Oregon. The look confident and primed to challenge Oklahoma and the other traditional BIG12 powerhouses for supremacy
Quarterback Brock Purdy would probably be on an NFL roster this year if he had declared for the draft, but his decision to return to Ames could be beneficial to not only him but the Cyclones team. Runningback, Breece Hall is a touchdown machine who seems to always be heading north with the football. The pairing of these two has been a dynamic one-two punch for the Cyclones, who averaged over 30 points per game last season.
Where Iowa came out firing on all cylinders last week, the Iowa State team struggled to get things going on offense. They only put up 16 points against a Northern Iowa squad that is nothing to write home about. They face a far taller task this Saturday against a ferocious Hawkeyes defense. They will need to get up for this game and prove that they were knocking the rust off last week if they could be in for a long day.
Keys to the game
Iowa:
Jump out to a quick start
Keep turnovers to a minimum and extend drives
Take away the run and make Brock Purdy beat you
Iowa State:
Establish the run and screen game early to keep the Iowa pass rush honest
Utilize play action and misdirection
Make Spencer Petras uncomfortable in the pocket
Players to watch
Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas
Bijan Robinson showed why he was on every preseason watchlist for the Heisman and Doak Walker awards. He made the Ragin Cajun defense look like swiss cheese last week, putting up 175 total yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Longhorns should win easily against Arkansas if he performs like that again
Bryce Young, QB, Alabama
In the annual “Alabama slaughters a team” game, Bryce Young may only see one half of action. But if last week proved anything the kid is worth the price of admission. He showed poise, arm strength and athleticism against Miami. Putting a lot of questions to bed and making good on his preseason hype.
Kedon Slovis, QB, USC
Kedon Slovis looked as good as advertised last week, but he will get a true test against division rival Stanford in the late night game. He had some top 10 pick talk surrounding him coming into the year and ranked and a strong follow up performance against Stanford should help continue that trajectory. He can make every throw on the field and displays great leadership. He is looking to take advantage of a weak conference and get the Trojans back to the glory they haven’t tasted in quite a while.