Tenn/App St - I didn't see any part of the game when App St did their scoring. I turned it on right when they went up 13-3. From what I did see an what I've gathered, Tenn got bullied in the trenches. I continue to be unimpressed with Dobbs and you guess it, I'm knocking another offensive coordinator. This guy is a clown and I don't respect any product that he is engineering. It's clear he doesn't trust Dobbs and I can't say I particularly blame him considering he often has accuracy issues past 7 yards but his super conservative style cost them games last year and almost cost them the opener this year. Good news is they have a real nice DC but the OC is a butt head. Still not much impresses me with their skill guys on the perimeter but I love the Hurd/Kamara duo and they make a seemngly inept offense moderately functional. App St QB impressed me mostly with his toughness. Just really appreciated his poise and he is a good athlete - their RB, Cox, looked to me to be the best RB on the field... I said it in the pre season thread, maybe UT wins the East by default but they certainly didn't do anything to impress me or make me believe I was wrong on them being highly over valued. VT is prob a year away from beating UT but if Evans comes on quick I don't think it's that unlikely this isn't a game that goes down to the wire. I think Dobbs could be more hurt than is being let on after that Gilchrist hit and a few others so that is something I would handicap when looking at this game. VT going to move at Fuente pace now, if they are efficient that will go well, if not, they may feel some growing pains against an angry UT bunch. Foster's defense haven't particular done all that well against mobile QB in the past if memory serves me correctly so that's something to think about. I took UT +10.5 with a friend as a pre-season bet and its certainly the only side I would take in the game but I'm sorta, meh, on it. Similar to Arky/TCU, I think it's lined and totaled pretty appropriately.
Bama/USC - As a fan I was really happy. I was at Bama during the Shula days and the highlight of my gamedays were seeing a jump cut by Ken Darby and maybe beating S Miss and making a bowl. A lot has changed the past 10 years. Scoreline was obviously an aberration. 35-3 prob would have been a more appropriate scoreline and my under ticket was silly not to cash but when things went bad for USC they were catastrophic. If I'm a USC fan, I have serious concerns about all of my coaches from a gameday standpoint. Good recruiters, but game day... Les Miles says hello. I thought Hurts was really good for Bama. Between his debut, Buchele, Francois, Eason - those are going to be some fun guys to watch over the next few years. There was only one weakness for Bama on defense and that was Averett being target at nickel. Expect WKU to do more of the same. Just don't target anyone else and make sure it's a quick drop because if not it may go the other way and/or you may get your wig split. The pass rush with just the front 4 was unreal. Not too much more to add really other than I'm really happy with Bama performance, happy that Hurts will likely be the guy and unlike Kent St in two weeks, this group of 5 game could actually be entertaining. Big ask for the new WKU QB to do what they like to do against this defense. I don't envy him, good thing chicks dig scars. As far as USC goes, I'm pretty sure they never got in the red zone? 7.11 ypp to 2.70 ypp and I believe I saw some projection they are #1 and #2 in someone's opinion of talent or something like that.. Adoree' Jackson has a newfound fan in me - only guy I saw that competed the whole game and he absolutely blanked one of the nations best in Ridley. If I'm USC, no way I take a touchback the rest of the season, I have him field and return everything no matter how deep in end zone it is. I often wonder how a team's psyche is affected after the hype, prep, buildup of months all poured into one game and then to get punked like that... I will be betting against USC the next couple weeks.
Missouri/WVU - I hate watching both of these teams play. Seriously, it's the worst for me, but I endured it. I'll be brief, I don't like typing about them either. Mizzou defense I think will take step back and offense a step forward. I think they have the potential to make a 2 QB system work simply because Lock isn't good enough to have earned the full boat and Zanders has a totally different skill set and is a dynamic runner which they desparately need playmakers on offense. Bama WR transfer Chris Black was excellent and I wou;dn't be shocked to see him have another huge game against EMU. WVU was unlucky to be held to 26, they settled for 4 FG at the 15 or closer. 196 plays! I bet the over this week in the Missouri/EMU game and have a lean towards EMU as well but I don't trust them enough but I do expect them to contribute a fair bit to a total of 53.
Florida/Umass - Well, I got through my last recap without dogging an OC but I'm back on that train. What they heck Nussmeier?? Del Rio threw it 44 times... against UMass... in the rain... Just doesn't make sense. I havent read anything with Mac talking about what the thought was but I guess just getting him some throws under his belt? Because if you just want to put yourself in position to win a game, I don't recommend that as a good strategy when they could have just pulverized Umass on the ground. The OL didn't play well and was out of sync much like the offense as a whole. I had higher hopes for Del Rio and this offense and I won't over react but theyve gotta be better against a UK defense that just laid a total egg. Defensively, UF looked solid again but not a ton to be made from a game against Umass. If I can get 18 I'll prob take them with the Cats but I prefer to watch and learn - I do think the line is high given what we can infer about the UF offense to this point.
UW/LSU. LSU - Same ole, same ole.. Perhaps Wisconsin will exceed my extremely low expectation of them as a 7 win team this year, perhaps not. I won't ran on Cam Cameron here but it's common knowledge how big a mug he is. On a personal note, that had to be incredible for UW players and fans to get to play in that stadium and also get a win. That was cool and I won't cry over an LSU loss - esp when they looked as awful as they did offensively.
TAMU/UCLA - If Lamar Jackson played for Auburn and Josh Rosen for TAMU - their game on 9/17 would be a battle of #1 vs. #2 in the country. I'll start with this, I wasn't very impressed with Trevor Knight. I feel like just about every other drop back he was running in the wrong direction. He has an OC that will help put him into positions to be awesome and an embarrassment of skill at WR I'm just not sure he will be good enough to maximize it. That being said, he wasn't bad. I saw a lot worse QB play. I do thin the run game is vastly improved and couple that with a more Chavis-like defense we are used to, I don't know that he has to be great. On a personal note, I enjoyed seeing Josh Rosen lose. He's a tremendous talent and definitely the type of guy I would have fought in a bar in college. The DL was oustanding for the Ags. They should be and it's good to see them living up to the hype. It's a get well game for the Ags this week before the hot seat game with Malzahn. 180 plays including OT and it was still a terrible beat it went over the total. Without OT, I think the books would have cleaned up on this game as UCLA and OV seemed pretty popular.
Clemson/Auburn - Not too much to add here. Williams being back for Clemson is huge. That guy is fun to watch. Big credit to Auburn D, I had high expectations for the season but without over reacting I'm comfortable saying they could be super good. That DL is going to decimate the Arky St OL this week. Unfortunately, Auburn still doesn't have a QB. 3.64 ypp on offense isn't gonna cut it but if you can keep Clemson to 5.05, that will cut it. They look like a great under team right now unless Cam newton has a son I don't know about and enrolls at Auburn as a QB by October. I bet the Auburn/Arky St Under this week, think it should be totaled in 40's. I'm running out of steam
UNC/UGA - Another dumb game plan by UNC. You clearly could see Trubisky either wasn't ready/and or good enough to do what was asked of him against a defense with the caliber athlete and speed. How in the world do logan and hood combine for 16 carries....? UGA dominated TOP and the pressure that game plan put on Mitch was way too much. Logan is an electric athlete to pair with Hood. I need to see more of Trubisky before I infer too much but after the past two games the UNC team has played, they are right up there with the biggest bunch of goofs I've seen in terms of how ill-prepared theyve been - both in very different ways too. Chubb was incredible. Such an easy guy to root for and he delivered big time. He didnt look hesitant at all and Chaney/Smart weren't afraid to let him Derrick Henry the load with 32 carries. I thought Eason looked the part, not only in terms of play but in terms of him having the quintessential physical looks of a Georgia QB this millennia. Some of his best throws didn't show up on the stat sheet as they were several PI calls on the defense. I was impressed with both teams speed, especially with UGA defensively. I think Eason did enough to go ahead and give him the job and see what he can do for the next 3 years. Similar to Mark Richt, looks like UGA will get another really nice multi-year signal caller. UGA should smoke Nicchols state about 59-0 before heading to Mizzou. I think if nothing else, Kirby's outward passion is good for the UGA players and they responded well.
Kentucky/S Miss - Didn't see any and have read very little. Sounds like the UK defense was worse than I expected and offense better. As previosuly mentioned, will watch how they fare against UF or bet them if UF takes a bunch of money.
