The Farrell Awards: Football season opens with a bang
The first big weekend of college football is in the books! Here are Mike Farrell's biggest takeaways from Week 1.
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FACT OR FICTION: Alabama is the true favorite to win it all
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SACK PARTY
How about the Georgia Bulldogs? They lived up to the defensive billing with an amazing pass rush from ends, tackles and linebackers and simply dominated the Clemson offensive line. Seven sacks of D.J. Uiagalelei, who had no chance against Dan Lanning’s aggressive defense.
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NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
The aforementioned Uiagalelei was way over his head in this matchup to Georgia as the Bulldogs won a defensive battle 10-3. He held the ball too long early, locked in on targets too often and then had no answer for the blitz as the Georgia defense got closer and closer to the line of scrimmage. A seamless transition from Trevor Lawrence isn’t happening just yet.
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AT A LOSS
I’m completely at a loss how a top-25 team in Washington can lose to an FCS team in any way, shape or form. And let’s keep in mind that Montana’s best player from last season, Samori Toure, took his talents to Nebraska. But yet Montana still beat a hapless Washington offense 13-7 for the worst loss of the weekend.
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0-1 IN THE WORST WAY
Vanderbilt got humiliated at home by East Tennessee State 23-3. Read that again. Vanderbilt, certainly not a super power but still a Power Five team, got humiliated by FCS opponent East Tennessee State. This is a team that lost last year to someone named RV Mercer yet they manhandled Clark Lea’s program from start to finish.
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WORKHORSE
Without Mo Ibrahim, Minnesota would have had zero chance against Ohio State and when he went out the game was pretty much over. He had 30 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns and is just a monster who needs feeding.
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HEISMAN HOPES DASHED
Sam Howell had one of his worst performances as a starting QB in Friday's loss at Virginia Tech - he threw three interceptions in a single game for the first time in his collegiate career, and his 53.1 completion percentage was his worst since midway through his freshman season. His offensive line did him no favors though, as he was routinely under pressure and was sacked six times on the night. While you can't win the Heisman in week one, you can certainly lose it, and Howell appears to have done just that.
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PORTAL POWER
The Michigan State Spartans were one of the most active teams in the country this offseason in the portal, bringing in more than a dozen players, and it paid off big time in their season opener at Northwestern. The biggest impact was from former Wake Forest RB Kenneth Walker III, who ran for a career high 264 yards and four touchdowns, powering the way for the offense. Former Tennessee Vol Quay Crouch looked great at LB as well, with seven tackles and a sack. Mel Tucker has his guys on the same page early in the season, which is a great sign for the Spartans.
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WARP SPEED
We knew coming into the season that true freshman TreVeyon Henderson could scoot, but he absolutely turned on the jets on his 70 yard touchdown catch which proved to be the winning score for the Buckeyes against Minnesota. Look for him to get more involved in the offense as the season progresses.
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MR. ELECTRIC
The Deuce, Deuce Vaughn, was on the loose against Stanford, with 124 yards on the ground, including a ridiculous 59 yard TD run in the second quarter. The Kansas State running back split the Cardinal defense down the middle and turned on the afterburners for one of the most electric scores of the weekend.
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BROTHERLY LOVE
In the third quarter against Temple, WR Bo Melton from Rutgers had a nice catch and run for a 40 yard touchdown to make it 33-14 Scarlet Knights. On the next drive, his brother Max picked off Temple QB Justin Lynch for a 46 yard pick-six. Nice day for the Melton family.
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DOMINATORS
The NC State Wolfpack beat South Florida 45-0, and dominated every phase of the game, nearly doubling up the total yardage of the Bulls, forcing three turnovers, and running for 293 yards on the way to a complete game from the ACC dark horse. Zonovan Knight looked especially good, averaging more than 10 yards per carry.
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VALIANT EFFORT
The Blue Devils may have fallen to Charlotte, but don't blame it on Mataeo Durant - he was unstoppable against the 49ers, with 29 carries for 255 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as another 37 yards receiving. He had two rushing TD's of more than 50 yards, and was the sole source of offense for Duke.
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OFFENSIVE OFFENSE
Wisconsin and Penn State combined for two missed field goals, a missed extra point, two red zone turnovers, and just a massive collection of ugly football. I feel bad for everyone who spent three and a half hours watching this game.
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GIVE UP FOOTBALL
After getting smacked around by Fresno State, UConn returned home against FCS Holy Cross in what should have been a relatively easy win, but was not the case, as the Crusaders won 38-28. Huskies QB Jack Zergiotis was particularly bad, throwing three picks and losing a fumble as well. UConn's defense didn't do them any favors either, giving up 226 yards on the ground. It might be time for the Huskies to drop back down to FCS at this point, because there's not much to look forward to at this point.
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WHY CELEBRATE?
Down 27-0 to reigning national champions Alabama, the U thought they had forced and recovered a fumble, and brought out the turnover chain. After the call was overturned, Kamren Kinchens sheepishly had to take off the chain and return to the field.
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OVERRATED?
This could be many teams but I was especially disappointed in the loss by Indiana at Iowa. In what was supposed to be a close game, Iowa destroyed the Hoosiers 34-6 at home in a game that included two pick sixes off of Indiana QB Michael Penix. Tom Allen’s team was supposed to be the biggest threat to Ohio State in the Big Ten East but they looked horrible.
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OVERRATED PART TWO?
OK, I couldn’t resist. I expected North Carolina to have a tough test at Virginia Tech but I didn’t see the offense struggling this badly. For a team that needs to outscore talented teams as their defense matures, this was an awful offensive performance especially by the offensive line.
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DEPTH CHART MADNESS
How good is Ohio State? Good enough to be so deep at wide receiver that Jameson Williams transferred to Alabama. Williams won a starting role with the Tide and had four catches for 126 yards and a 94-yard touchdown catch.
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GOTTA WEAR SHADES
This will be reserved for freshmen for the most part and is about the future being bright, but I have to talk about Boston College tight end Trae Barry who transferred in after an All American career at FCS Jacksonville State. He had only one catch in a rout of Colgate but it was a 51 yard touchdown cart which ended in an athletic hurdle. Barry is 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds and replaces Hunter Long in an offense that utilizes the tight end. He’s going to be trouble this season and an NFL standout.
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DIAMOND DEBUT
This could go to a number of quarterbacks under scrutiny this season including Hudson Card at Texas, CJ Stroud at Ohio State and others but no one was more impressive than Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. He completed 27 of 38 passes for 344 yards and four scores and looked like a senior with his comfort level in the offense.
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BAMA-LIKE
Bryce Young and Co. picked up right where Mac Jones left off, looking simply dominant against a completely outmatched Miami team. Young set the record for yards and touchdowns for a Crimson Tide QB in their debut start, and it once again looks like Alabama will be the team to beat this season.
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DOMINANT DEFENSE
The Iowa Hawkeyes didn’t do anything special offensively in their 34-6 victory over Indiana, but then again, they didn’t really need to. Hawkeyes cornerback Riley Moss had not one but two pick-sixes, and he alone outscored the Hoosiers. Michael Penix Jr. did not look fully healthy coming back from his knee injury, so Indiana may not be quite the team that we had envisioned as mentioned above.
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THE SIEVE AWARD
The defense is supposed to continually be improving in Oklahoma right? Not so far as the Sooners defense looked horrible in a 40-35 win over Tulane and gave up nearly 400 yards while making freshman quarterback Michael Pratt look like Tom Brady. This defensive performance was awful.
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ROAD WARRIORS
How about Penn State? After an 0-5 start last season they righted the ship and came into this season with some confidence. But an opener on the road against Wisconsin? That’s a task. But James Franklin and company were up to the challenge and came away with a huge 16-10 win to start the Big Ten season.
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NOT THE NEXT ONE
I thought Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz was the best passing quarterback for the Badgers since Russell Wilson. He’s not. At least based on the opener against Penn State where he was horrendously indecisive and made some horrible mistakes down the stretch to secure a home loss.
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CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK
This UCLA offense looks like what we got used to during Chip Kelly’s tenure at Oregon - multiple backs with excellent vision, a dual threat quarterback who isn't afraid to let it rip, and a sneaky physical offensive line. 450 total yards later against an LSU team that undoubtedly has talent is nothing to sneeze at. Watch out, because UCLA could be back at the top of the Pac-12 sooner than most people thought.
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STAT STUFFER
Will Levis, the Penn State transfer, came in with a bang in his first start for Kentucky, throwing for 367 yards and four touchdowns in a very impressive debut. He had instant chemistry with fellow transfer Wan'Dale Robinson, connecting with the former Nebraska Cornhusker for two scores, and routinely ripping off big plays.
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REAL HEISMAN HYPE
If there's ever going to be a Group of Five Heisman winner, Desmond Ridder is the guy who could do it, and he put his best foot forward in week one when other favorites took a couple steps back. He completed 80 percent of his passes, had 326 total yards and five touchdowns, and had a near perfect game behind center for a Bearcats team that rolled Miami (Ohio).
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RB1
Bijan Robinson was the focal point of a strong Longhorn attack, amassing 176 total yards and two touchdowns. Playing the Najee Harris role in Steve Sarkisian's offense, Robinson looked like an even better version of the player we saw come on strong in the second half of last season.