College football Week 1 thread: Chasin’ That Neon Deion Rainbow

Only went long twice and one was a perfect 33 yard strike right into the bucket. Thirteen different receivers had a catch. I think they did what they wanted to, got reps in a new offense efficiently.

That won't play against tougher opposition, but Dilfer said they only went 10% into the playbook. We'll see.

I'd whole lot rather be defending a 90% completion percentage than what might have happened. That was a school completion record.

 

My favorite tweet this morning was that Napier looked like a husband lost in Bed, Bath and Beyond.

 

Didn't go long often, but this was pretty.

 

Still, figure UAB would do better with Yards After Catch against NCAT - you complete 38 passes you'd figure a couple of them would break loose for a huge gain. But agree - 38-41 on an opening game is pretty sharp regardless of the competition.

 

Armstrong looked more like the 2022 vintage than the 2021 version, though. I think the book is out there on how to defend him (take away the seams and the fly routes, either by shifting coverage or disrupting the release). He‘s going to have to adjust in a way he hasn’t shown the ability to do yet. Maybe having asshole Robert Anae calling plays instead of clueless Des Kitchings will be the difference.

 

I wore a neck roll, all of one practice. Hated it. It was uncomfortable and made it hard to move. And I also didn’t look like Jack Lambert either.

 

Always get nervous picking games the first couple of weeks. No matter how much you try to bank on the big boys until things start to come into focus a bit, it’s not easy. But I’ll take a stab at it anyway.
Games I like for Week 1 (weekend edition):

Saturday
• TCU -20.5 vs. Colorado — There’s a chance Colorado is better than people are realizing, and not a glorified FCS transfer portal all-star team. There’s a chance TCU has lost enough, has a new QB, and is rebooting. There’s a chance this somehow stays reasonably close. I’m betting that it doesn’t.

• Utah State +23.5/U43.5 at Iowa — Betting on Iowa and Iowa State is going to feel sleazy this year, but that’s besides the point. Can Iowa even score 24 points to cover this? This should be a patented 14-10 Iowa Week 1 snoozefest, right?

• Auburn O51.5 vs. UMass — UMass won its opener against New Mexico State 41-30, which tells me they have both a shitty defense that an SEC team ought to roll right through, and a decent enough offense to score a couple of touchdowns. That’s a good recipe to hit a pretty modest O/U.

• Washington State -11 at Colorado State — Pretty sure Colorado State still sucks and Washington State is acceptably competent.

• Coastal Carolina +14.5 at UCLA — Coastal has its veteran QB back and UCLA doesn’t. In Week 1, that’s usually good enough for a close game. I’m taking the points, but this might even be worth taking the money line as a juicy upset special at +425.

Sunday
• Rutgers -6.5 vs. Northwestern — Northwestern is either going to come out a house a’fire or be a dumpster fire. No in between. I’m going with the latter.

• San Jose State +16.5 vs. Oregon State — Another case of a G5 team with a decent veteran QB and a chance to prove something. San Jose State hung reasonably close to USC for three quarters before it got away from them, and I think they’ll do the same here. Just hope the +16.5 is enough to cover, unlike the +31 they had to work with last week.

• LSU -2.5 vs. Florida State — LSU won national championships in 2003 and 2007, played for one in 2011, started 9-0 in 2015, and won it all again in 2019. See a pattern here? I’m hoping it holds up, and destroying Florida State is the first step toward another national title.

And two games I want to like, but just can’t:
• Nevada +38.5 at USC — USC is pretty explosive and could easily cover this, which is why it’s a stay-away even though anything over 35 points intrigues me.

• Middle Tennessee +39 at Alabama — This is right on Alabama’s magic spread of 39. Their record against G5 teams at that number or above is spotty over the years — but it’s been improving recently. Pass.

 

Goin’ great


https://www.si.com/college/2023/09/01/ucf-football-deletes-regrettable-post-directed-at-kent-state

 

I guess a "shots fired" meme in response would also be frowned upon?

 

Listening to Georgia Tech radio broadcast. Analyst in a lifelong losing battle with the English language. Inarticulate AF. Let’s give him a mic!

 

Essentially the new rules will just shorten games by about 10 minutes.

 

Should be more worried about who’s punting.