Week 1 - The Aftermath
By Brian Edwards
VegasInsider.com
The main event in Week 1 was Alabama vs. Florida State in Atlanta at the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Dome. The Crimson Tide captured a 24-7 win over FSU as a 7.5-point favorite, while the 31 combined points stayed ‘under’ the 51-point total.
Nick Saban’s team got a pair of huge special-teams plays to help put the game out of reach. Jalen Hurts found Calvin Ridley on a bomb in the second quarter to put Alabama ahead to stay by a 10-7 score. FSU’s defense kept it in the game before its special teams blunders put the contest out of reach.
The loss for the Seminoles would’ve been fine for their ACC and College Football Playoff hopes. However, the loss of star sophomore QB Deondre Francois to a season-ending patella tendon injury likely dooms all intentions of making the CFP. True freshman James Blackman becomes the starting QB moving forward, and the three other scholarship QBs on the roster are also freshmen (two are redshirts, though).
Alabama also lost a pair of OLB’s to season-ending injuries. Those are Christian Miller and Terrell Lewis. The Crimson Tide is favored by 44 at home vs. Fresno State on Saturday. They are an abysmal 3-13 against the spread in their last 16 games as favorites of 35 points or more.
Tennessee played from behind most of Monday night in Atlanta against Georgia Tech, but it forced a fumble late in the fourth quarter to set up a short game-tying TD to force overtime once the Yellow Jackets missed a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. In double OT, Paul Johnson opted to go for two and the win, only to fail and drop a 42-41 heartbreaker. The Jackets took the cash as four-point underdogs, however.
Kevin Sumlin came into 2017 on the hottest seat in the nation but for nearly all of three quarters, that seat was cooling at a frenetic pace with Texas A&M leading 44-10 at UCLA. But that’s when everything went to hell. Josh Rosen turned in a from-the-heavens performance in the final stanza, including a fake-the-spike move straight out of the Dan Marino playbook on a TD pass that pulled the Bruins to within 44-38.
Rosen’s fourth TD pass of the final stanza was a 10-yard scoring strike to Jordan Lasley with 43 ticks left to lift UCLA to a 45-44 win in one of the greatest comebacks in college football history. Making matters worse for the Aggies, they lost redshirt freshman QB Nick Starkel (broken ankle) and senior DB Donovan Wilson (foot) to injuries that will keep them out for an indefinite period of time, perhaps the entire season.
Despite losing a ton of personnel, including 10 starters on defense, Michigan looked outstanding in a 33-17 win over Florida in Dallas that was probably the most misleading final score of Week 1. UF got a pair of pick-sixes in back-to-back fashion to take the lead going into halftime. But the Gators’ offense was as inept as usual, producing 11 rushing yards and 192 yards of total offense.
Although Jim McElwain has taken UF to SEC East titles in his first two years, the division is in its Dark Ages Era and UF has been destroyed by FSU, Alabama and Michigan in three of its last four games. If Florida can’t show some life offensively, McElwain will be joining Sumlin and Butch Jones on the hot seat soon.
Outside of UF & A&M's woes, it was a great week for the SEC with its 12-2 record. This space has been bullish on South Carolina for many months and Will Muschamp’s team delivered in its opener vs. N.C. State in Charlotte. The Gamecocks led for nearly the entire 60 minutes of a 35-28 win as seven-point underdogs, hooking up money-line supporters with a payout in the +240 range. Jake Bentley threw for three TDs with two of those going to Deebo Samuel, who had a sick one-handed TD grab and returned the opening kickoff for a TD.
Has Vanderbilt ever looked stronger coming out of Week 1? The Commodores had not won a season opener since James Franklin’s debut in 2011. But on Saturday night in Murfreesboro, Vandy scored TDs on its first three dives on its way to a dominant 28-6 win at Middle Tennessee. Derek Mason’s defense pitched a shutout for three quarters before Brent Stockstill connected with Richie James for a 22-yard scoring strike with 11:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. Stockstill had a 31/7 TD-INT ratio last year, but the ‘Dores limited him to 166 passing yards and intercepted him in the first quarter.
Kyle Shurmur picked up where he left off in November, scorching MT’s defense for 298 passing yards and three TDs without an interception. The junior signal caller completed 20-of-28 passes. Senior RB Ralph Webb, who is already the school’s all-time leading rusher, was held to 49 rushing yards on 24 attempts. But he had a rushing score and caught three passes for 104 yards and another TD. Trent Sherfield had four receptions for 68 yards, while Kalija Lipscomb had two catches for 41 yards and two TDs.
Vandy was in its first road ‘chalk’ spot of Mason’s tenure and it easily covered the number as a three-point favorite. Kentucky was also in its first road favorite role on Mark Stoops’s watch, but the Wildcats disappointed their supporters as 9.5-point favorites. Nevertheless, UK won a 24-17 decision and appears poised to take a 2-0 record into South Carolina in Week 3.
Georgia lost QB Jacob Eason to an injury vs. Appalachian State, but he will be back this season. Not this week, though, as true freshman QB Jake Fromm will get his first career start at Notre Dame. That’s never an ideal scenario, but the Houston County HS product (Warner Robbins, GA.) looked outstanding in guiding UGA to a 31-10 win over a very solid Appalachian State club. The Bulldogs covered the number as 13-point home ‘chalk.’
Fromm completed 10-of-15 throws for 143 yards and one TD without an interception, showing the poise of a veteran signal caller the entire way. Nick Chubb ran for a pair of scores and the combination of Chubb and Sony Michel produced 183 rushing yards.
The debut of Tom Herman at Texas was a colossal fail, as Maryland went into Austin and won by a 51-41 count as a 19-point road underdog. The win was costly for the Terrapins, however, as starting QB Tyrrell Pigrome was lost to a season-ending ACL tear. Pigrome had thrown two TD passes and ran for another. True freshman Kasim Hill, a four-star recruit, will get the starting nod Saturday vs. Towson.
Another disturbing debut came for Matt Rhule at Baylor, as the Bears lost 48-45 at home to FSC foe Liberty. As for UNLV, it fell victim to the biggest upset in college football history when Cam Newton’s younger brother Caylin led Howard to a 43-40 win over the Rebels as a 45-point underdog at Sam Boyd Stadium. Newton rushed 190 yards and two TDs on 21 carries and also threw for 140 yards and one TD.
Clemson’s only question mark coming into 2017 was inexperience at the QB position, but new junior starter Kelly Bryant looked sharp in a 56-3 win over Kent State as a 38-point home favorite. Bryant threw for 236 yards and one TD while also rushing for 77 yards and one score.
Ohio State trailed 14-13 at Indiana on Thursday at halftime, only to pour it on in the final 30 minutes en route to a 49-21 win as a 20.5-point road ‘chalk.’ The Hoosiers lost last year’s leading receiver Nick Westbrook to a season-ending ACL tear.
Wisconsin, the favorite to win the Big Ten West, demolished Utah State by a 59-10 count after falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter. Penn State also cruised to a 52-0 home victory over Akron, while Iowa stymied overrated Wyoming QB Josh Allen in a 24-3 home triumph. Purdue nearly pulled an upset to start the Jeff Brohm Era, but Louisville was able to get a non-covering 35-28 win in Indianapolis.
Southern California trailed for good chunks of its opener vs. Western Michigan and the game was tied midway through the fourth quarter. Sam Darnold threw two interceptions and zero TD passes, but the defense and running game tightened up late in the fourth quarter of a non-covering 49-31 win over the Broncos. The Trojans must play better in order to beat a rested Stanford squad that invades The Coliseum this weekend.
Another injury to note is Arkansas losing its best cover corner in Ryan Pulley, who sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in the Hogs' 49-7 win over FAMU.