2018-19 NCAA Football (Week 1)

I watched (some of):
Louisville 14-51 (1) Alabama
Frankly Alabama didn't even look like they were trying all that hard and they straight pummeled Louisville. The Cardinals are probably not at their best right now but Bama did not let them get much going.

Furman 7-48 (2) Clemson
Frankly I was reasonably impressed with Furman: they played hard, they did not look intimidated, they even made some plays along the way. This was probably the closest 41 point game I've ever seen. Clemson took a while to get going but the sheer depth of talent eventually won out easily.

Oregon State 31-77 (5) Ohio State
Now follow me: the Buckeyes usually start slow and without Urban Meyer I thought Oregon State had a shot at giving them a game; but instead, without Urban Meyer, the team rallied quicker...? Does that make sense? Well, anyway, the Buckeyes came out fast, got a big lead, kinda coasted after halftime. As for Oregon State, man, how do you score 4 TD's and still lose by 40 points?

(6) Washington 16-21 (9) Auburn
Good game. Both these teams were similar, game went back and forth, both played well, Auburn made the plays down the stretch. This is a good W for Auburn and not a bad L for Washington.

(14) Michigan 17-24 (12) Notre Dame
Good game. Notre Dame made the most of their chances, whereas Michigan kinda fumbled around. I like Michigan's backup QB better than the starter, wonder if that'll be a thing for them this year. Wasn't blown away by either team, thought they were both solid and very similar teams. Notre Dame was able to build a lead, Wolverines couldn't get back into the game. Good W for the Irish.

(17) West Virginia 40-14 Tennessee
I kinda expected UT to get into this game, but it didn't happen. WVU ran it up quick and held the momentum all through the 2nd half. They looked good and Tennessee did not.

(8) Miami 17-33 (25) LSU
Man, the Hurricanes never looked into the game. All last season I was skeptical of the Hurricanes and then they won games down the stretch that I thought they'd lose, so now I don't know what to think of them. But after watching LSU dominate them, I'm nowhere near any kind of Hurricans bandwagon. Not sure if LSU looked as good as Auburn (maybe) or Alabama (probably not) but they look like they're gonna be in the mix in the SEC West.



Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Georgia, (4) Wisconsin, (5) Ohio State, (7) Oklahoma
(9) Auburn, (12) Notre Dame, (13) Stanford, (15) Southern Cal, (16) TCU, (17) West Virginia, (18) Mississippi State, (20) Virginia Tech, (21) Central Florida, (22) Boise State, (24) Oregon, (25) LSU

Didn't impress but did what they needed to do
(10) Penn State (when will people learn to avoid App State on opening week?)
(11) Michigan State (hmmm...feels like Sparty should've made quicker work of this opening day opponent but Utah State's generally not bad, so perhaps this was a good test for them)

Not good
(8) Miami (could be that LSU is wildly underrated but the Hurricanes were never really in this game and that is seriously disappointing for a top 10 squad)
(19) Florida State (again, could be that Virginia Tech is underrated, but the Seminoles did not look good and that is not good for a veteran squad that has ambitions)
(23) Texas (another year, another disappointing match against Maryland)

Bad beat
(6) Washington (Auburn's good, close game, not a bad loss for the Huskies)
(14) Michigan (thought they were even with the Irish, just came up short; disappointing but not a bad loss)

(Ahhhhhhhh, nice to have college football back)