The extravaganza that was Week 1 of the college football season was one of the ages.
Due to the amount of games that took place over four days, we are going to get right to it and recap what we learned after Week 1.
What Did We Learn After Week 1?
If you don't believe in Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes, we don't know what else to say. In his first game, he took down a National Championship runner-up and introduced us to two new stars in Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders in the process. The eye of the college football world is on this team, and they earned everyone's respect after what they accomplished. Prime is truly the King Midas of football.
What we thought would be the ground show with Mishigan running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards turned out to be an air show featuring quarterback J.J. McCarthy and receiver Roman Wilson. If they are going to be this well-balanced, then the Woverines could be the team to dethrone Georgia.
Don't look now, but the Pac-12 is looking like a dangerous conference. Michael Penix with Washington dropped 56 on Boise State, Bo Nix and his Oregon Ducks dropped 81 points against Portland State, and Caleb Williams with USC dropped 66 on Nevada. Between these teams, there must be a playoff contender somewhere.
Florida State is for real. What should have been a competitive affair with LSU turned into a lopsided win. Simply put, they have way too many weapons on offense, and it's not just Jordan Travis and Johnny Wilson. In this game, we found out that receiver Keon Coleman is going to be a serious problem against opposing defenders. They are a team that should be rising quickly this season.
It wasn't the fact that Clemson lost to Duke (Duke is actually a pretty good team and Riley Leonard can ball), it was the manner in which they did. To be more specific, their offense looked anemic with Cade Klubnik running the show; it kind of makes Tigers fans appreciate what they had with Dj Uiagalelei, considering he threw five touchdowns in his debut with Oregon State. One thing is certain: they are going to need more than just Will Shipley if they have any chance of competing against a team like Florida State. One has to honestly ask, Is Klubnik the right one for the QB1 role?
Alabama and Georgia won their games... let's move on.
Joe Milton III is a big, athletic quarterback who is still unpolished. If he wants to take Tennessee to the promised land, like Hendon Hooker almost did a year ago, he needs to be more consistent and efficient.
Maryland is a team not to ignore in the Big Ten. Whether they can hang with the likes of Penn State or Michigan remains to be seen. What we know is that Taulia Tagovailoa is going to be special for them this season.
The sad aspect of South Carolina's loss is that quarterback Spencer Rattler managed to outplay Drake Maye, who threw two interceptions. Yet Rattler threw zero touchdown passes, and the Gamecocks couldn't stop the Tar Heels offense on the ground. By the way, the Tar Heels defensive front is arguably the best in the nation - 9 sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
We may have been mistaken. The best ground offense in college football is not with Michigan; it's with Wisconsin. The duo of Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi combined for 298 rushing yards and four touchdowns in their win over Buffalo.
Texas won convincingly against Rice, but what was not so "convincing" was the performance of Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers. Yes, he had three TD passes, but they were filled with mistakes that need to be corrected.
Yes, Ohio State won, but that game was about their defense, which allowed only 153 yards of total offense. With this noted, Kyle Mccord needs to get better quickly if they want to be true contenders. That shouldn't be too difficult with Marvin Harrison Jr. on your team.
When Dillon Gabriel plays, the Oklahoma Sooners look like contenders in the Big 12, as they showed in their dismantling of the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Saturday.
If there is any consolation for the Florida Gators, it's that they didn't have to face Cam Rising; otherwise, the beating they took from Utah would have been much worse. From what we saw, Graham Mertz is a far cry from Anthony Richardson.
The QB duo of Jaxson Dart and Spencer Sanders absolutely ruined Mercer, combining for 468 passing yards and six touchdowns.
Wake Forest may no longer have Sam Hartman, but sophomore quarterback Mitch Griffis may make Deacs fans forget about him after his impressive performance against Elon.
Iowa with an offense is a damn good team—dare we say good enough to win the Big Ten? Hopefully, Cade McNamara continues to elevate his game.
Mario Cristobal's Miami Hurricanes looked as many expected when he arrived: fast, physical, and efficient. With the talent they have on defense, led by Kamren Kinchens, they have the potential to be a contender in the ACC Conference.
For those sleeping on Missouri this season, wake up! This team is really good. Plus, that top-ranked defense, led by the cornerback duo of Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr., is going to be hard to beat.
For a minute, it seemed as if Nebraska was going to start the season off the right way. Yet, as we have learned about this team, their biggest enemy is themselves. As boring as this game was for three quarters, the last quarter sort of made up for it as Minnesota came away with a big win.
It may have been Kent State, but UCF looks like a formidable team with quarterback John Rhys Plumlee at the helm.
For a while, it seemed that Brennan Armstrong's debut with NC State was going to be a disaster. Instead, Armstrong composed himself in the second half and helped lead his Wolfpack to a nice win over UConn.
We don't know what the future holds for both Georgia Tech and Louisville, but what we can say is that their game was one of the best you will see this season.
Week 1 Top Performers
Mr. Everything CB/WR/KR Travis Hunter - Colorado
Offense -
QB Shedeur Sanders - Colorado
QB Caleb Williams - USC
QB Michael Penix Jr. - Washington
QB Dillon Gabriel - Oklahoma
WR Keon Coleman - Florida State
QB Jordan Travis - Florida State
QB DJ Uiagalelei - Oregon State
RB Dylan Edwards - Colorado
QB Jacob Zeno - UAB
WR Xavier Legette - South Carolina
QB John Rhys Plumlee - UCF
TE Brock Bowers - Georgia
RB Chez Mellusi and Braelon Allen - Wisconsin
QB Jaxson Dart - Ole Miss
WR Tre Harris - Ole Miss
QB Mitch Griffis - Wake Forest
QB Drew Allar - Penn State
WR Roman Wilson - Michigan
RB Jalen Buckley - Western Michigan
RB Marcus Carroll - Georgia State
QB Kasim Hill - Rhode Island
Defense -
DL Laiatu Latu - UCLA
DB Tyler Nubin - Minnesota
DB Miles Scott - Illinois
LB Kaimon Rucker - North Carolina
LB Cedric Gray - North Carolina
CB Alex Afari Jr.- Kentucky
DL Owen Ostroski - Tulsa
DE Anthony Nelson Jr. - Duke
LB Trevin Wallace - Kentucky
LB Amari Gainer - North Carolina
LB Jamoi Hodge - TCU
DL James Pearce Jr. - Tennessee
DL Tyler Baron - Tennessee
DL Rene Konga - Rutgers
S Kamren Kinchens - Miami
LB DJ Lundy - Florida State
DL Kahlil Saunders - Kentucky
LB John Mccartan - Oregon State
DE Braylan Shelby - USC
DE Solomon Byrd - USC
S Donovan Kaufman - Auburn
LB Jacoby Windmon - Michigan State
LB Terrance Taylor - Toledo
LB Jackson Bratton - UAB
LB Ethan Burke - Texas
LB Cal Haladay - Michigan State
DL Joseph Zelinsky - Eastern Michigan
LB Francisco Mauigoa - Miami
DL Dezmond Tell - Louisville