College football is back. In full force.
Sure, there was Week 0 last weekend, but the sport really returned this weekend with Week 1.
Over the last three days — Thursday through Saturday — 83 games featuring at least one FBS program were played, with three more games to be played today and a single game slated for Monday.
And as always — when you get away from conference realignment and media rights deals — the sport did not disappoint.
There were major upsets, barnburners and no shortage of blowouts. Already some programs look like shoe-ins to contend for the national championship, while others appear to be complete and utter dumpster fires. Hot wet garbage being another apropos descriptor.
Teams from Utah — at both the FBS and FCS levels — combined to go 3-2 overall, though there are surely those in every fanbase that believe theirs is the only in-state team that should’ve won. This weekend and for the rest of time.
Welcome back college football.
Here are six takeaways from Week 1 of the 2023 season:
Another special season brewing in Salt Lake City?
Utah defeated Florida 24-11 Thursday night, a game viewed by over 3 million people — peaking at 3.8 million — per the Orlando Sentinel’s Matt Murschel.
Those numbers were made all the more impressive by the fact that much of Central Florida and other parts of the country can’t watch ESPN at all right now, given an ongoing dispute between The Walt Disney Company and the cable company Charter Spectrum.
The fans that did get to watch saw the Utes handle the Gators, all while being without eight starters, most of whom play at pretty important positions, like quarterback, defensive tackle and center.
Utah wasn’t perfect by any means. The offense, outside of the opening series, was pretty hit-and-miss, and the Utes’ rushing attack never really materialized outside of a couple QB runs by Nate Johnson.
Defensively, the Utes were stout up front — which was impressive given who was missing — really solid at linebacker and safety and in need of some improvement along the outside.
The Gators moved the ball against the Utes, but the combination of timely plays, a boisterous crowd and mental lapses induced many — many — ill-timed mistakes for Florida.
Utah was expected to contend for the Pac-12 title again this year, and potentially a spot in the College Football Playoff, and after the win over the Gators those expectations feel fair.
No, the Gators didn’t look good, and yes Utah has clear areas where it can improve. But after winning nine or more games in seven of the last eight seasons — yes we are ignoring the 2020 season — the Utes deserve the benefit of the doubt. And a convincing win over a Power Five opponent, a talented Florida team no less, only validates the high expectations.
Don’t overreact, BYU. But also let’s be realistic
Let’s start here. BYU is 1-0 to begin the season. The defense under new coordinator Jay Hill looked good, with playmakers emerging on the defensive line and in the secondary (it has been awhile since that could be said about a Cougar defense).
Also, BYU wasn’t one of the Power Five teams upset Week 1 by a perceived lesser opponent. And the Cougars held serve with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, all of whom won their first games as members of the Big 12 Conference.
But ... the Cougars were a bit of a let down Saturday night in their 14-0 win over Sam Houston State.
No one should have entered the season expecting BYU to be elite. If the Cougars achieve bowl eligibility their first year in a P5 conference that should be considered a win. And no one should have spoken ill of Sam Houston, as FCS teams have proven dangerous when making the transition to the FBS level (remember James Madison last season).
BYU will have to play better going forward, though, particularly on offense, or it will be a long season.
The offensive game plan/play calling/execution was rough, relying a great deal on quarterback Kedon Slovis, when it became readily apparent that Cougars have multiple capable running backs in LJ Martin and Aidan Robbins.
Of course, the Cougars’ offensive line struggled mightily, which made any sort of real offensive attack a no-go.
There also seemed to be somewhat of a fixation on getting the ball to tight end Isaac Rex, which is fine, he’s a good player, but also he isn’t Travis Kelce or George Kittle.
Is BYU the worst team in the Big 12? Probably not. Are the Cougars going to be a sneaky contender in the conference? Again, probably not.
There is no reason for BYU fans to freak out after Week 1, but also BYU needs to be better.
Lack of discipline has become the norm for Utah State
Utah State lost to Iowa on Saturday, 24-14. That in itself wasn’t a surprise. The Hawkeyes were a top 25 ranked team from the Big Ten, while the Aggies were picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West Conference.
And yet, the Aggies were equal to the challenge for much of the game. USU out-gained Iowa in total offense and was more dynamic defensively (i.e. tackles for loss, sacks, nearly created turnovers).
If not for a miserable first quarter, when the Aggies were clearly awed by the stage, and some unforced and ill-timed penalties, Utah State may have upset Iowa. The possibility was real.
Those ill-timed penalties are not a new thing though.
Against Iowa, Utah State had 10 penalties for 75 yards. Penalties head coach Blake Anderson bemoaned multiple times afterward. After Week 1, Utah State is ranked No. 115 in the country in fewest penalties per game and No. 116 in the country in fewest penalty yards per game.
It is one week, you say. The first week of the season. Well, yes, but also this is kind of the norm for an Anderson coached team.
In 2022, Utah State was ranked No. 129 in the country in fewest penalties per game, averaging 8.5 per contest. And the Aggies were ranked No. 130 in fewest penalty yards per game, at 77 yards per game.
Even in 2021, when the Aggies had their dream season and won the MW, they ranked No. 69 (six penalties a game) and No. 75 in the country in fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards per game.
Utah State has talent. The Aggies showed that against the Hawkeyes (which as a side note is incredible given the roster attrition that occurred over the offseason). But get used to seeing a lot of penalties. And whether or not Utah State is successful this season will come down to whether the team can somewhat limit its miscues, and overcome the rest.
Colorado impressed, no doubt about that, but...
Deion Sanders’ coaching debut with Colorado was nothing short of electric, entertaining and expectation-shattering.
The Buffaloes may legitimately have two Heisman Trophy contenders on the team, with quarterback Shedeur Sanders and wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, and arguably the best receiving corps in the country.
The 45-42 win at TCU was nothing short of spectacular and you can expect to hear a lot about Colorado over the next week. And the week after if the Buffs can defeat Nebraska (Cornhuskers fan are surely hoping to end the curse of Scott Frost against Colorado, the team against which all the late game failures began).
But... we have to stop pretending that teams are better than they are. In this instance we are talking about TCU, not Colorado.
The Horned Frogs played for the national championship last year, but everyone knew they weren’t going to be close to the same team this season. Their No. 17 ranking was largely awarded out of respect for what they did in 2022, not for what the team appears to be in 2023.
TCU doesn’t reload like Georgia, Ohio State or Alabama. And TCU lost a ton on offense from last season — including their offensive coordinator — which actually make the 42 points they put up against Colorado probably more indicative of how poor Colorado’s defense is.
TCU won’t be winning the Big 12 this season. And odds are they won’t win 10 games again. Since joining the Big 12, the Horned Frogs have won 10 or more games in consecutive years just once, in 2014 and 2015.
And head coach Sonny Dikes has never won 10 or more games in consecutive seasons in his coaching career.
So yes, Colorado’s win was electrifying. But so were Wyoming’s over Texas Tech and Fresno State’s over Purdue. And TCU’s not that good.
Why do we hate Group of Five upsets of Power Five programs?
Speaking of Wyoming and Fresno State, those two MW programs were responsible for two of the more high profile upsets by Group of Five programs against Power Five programs of the weekend.
The Cowboys downed Texas Tech in double overtime, while the Bulldogs upended the Boilermakers.
Both wins were notable for the MWC specifically, especially after Boise State was obliterated by Washington and San Diego State struggled mightily with Idaho State, but that isn’t what we are talking about here.
Immediately following the losses by Texas Tech and Purdue, much of the noise/discussion wasn’t, ‘Oh look, upsets are fun,’ but rather, ‘Why on earth did Texas Tech and Purdue schedule those games in the first place?’ Particularly Texas Tech going to Laramie, Wyoming.
And the same could be said of discussions surrounding Baylor-Texas State — probably the most shocking upset of the weekend — Northern Illinois-Boston College, Illinois-Toledo (Illinois won but it was a two-point game) and Houston-UTSA (another P5 victory, just barely).
The sentiment is understandable. A loss to a G5 team can be very damaging to a contending P5 program.
But any loss is damaging to a contending P5 program. And none of the teams that were upset or nearly upset by perceived lesser opponents Week 1 are CFP contenders.
It sucks when your team is upset, or loses a game, but upsets are beloved in American sports. Except in college football for some reason. At least for a loud subset of fans.
Where were the big matchups?
Outside of major, unexpected upsets, there really is nothing more entertaining in college football than a major matchup between Top 25 opponents.
That is the reason conference realignment has pushed the sport closer to super conferences. Fans — diehards and casuals — love big time name brand matchups.
Week 1 didn’t have very many, however.
No. 5 LSU and No. 8 Florida State play Sunday night, in battle of top 10 ten teams, but that is it. That is the ranked matchup this week.
Now, many teams deserve credit for scheduling opponents who could have been ranked. Utah and Florida for instance. Tennessee and Virginia. North Carolina and South Carolina. The list could continue.
And FCS programs needs games against FBS ones. Many disagree with that idea, but not here. And upsets only happen when big schools plays less prestigious ones anyway.
But there needs to be better balance of when top tier games are played. More flexibility in scheduling. And more regulation of schedules by conferences.
That would prevent games like Georgia-UT Martin, Alabama-Middle Tennessee, USC-Nevada, Texas-Rice, Oregon-Portland State, Oklahoma-Arkansas State, Ole Miss-Mercer, Texas A&M-New Mexico, Notre Dame-Tennessee State from all being played the same weekend.
Those games — blowouts every one — had a combined margin of victory of 403 points.
Do better college football.