The Hangover, Week 1: Best & Worst From Nevada To Michigan

Week 1 of the college football season should, from henceforth, kick off at 9 ET. Despite the lopsided outcome, the Emerald Isle Classic was an excellent way to reacquaint us all with Football Saturday. That said, you most likely feel hungover on Sunday if you made it from opening kickoff in Dublin to the final snap in Tucson.

There was an awful lot to process from the opening Saturday. This is The Hangover, wherein we piece together everything that happened the last day much like everyone’s favorite Wolf Pack.

Where Does Michigan Go From Here?

Alabama authoritatively declared its place as reigning champion

Saturday night. For someone to win, someone else has to lose, and Brady Hoke played the Obi-Wan Kenobi to Nick Saban’s Darth Vader.

Any BCS championship aspirations Michigan had prior to Saturday night’s Cowboys Classic match-up with Alabama were wiped away about the time CJ Moseley intercepted Denard Robinson in the first quarter. 41-14 was a generous final score. Lord Saban really could have annihilated Michigan like the Dethstar evaporating a planet, but held off the heavy artillery in the second half.

This game reminded me of Arizona’s trek into Happy Valley in 1999. The Wildcats were coming off a surprise, 12-1 finish the season prior that culminated in a Holiday Bowl defeat of Nebraska. The Wildcats were highly ranked to start 1999, which a bumper crop of talent returning, but kicked off paired with a very angry, overall much better Penn State team. The Nittany Lions pummeled Arizona so thoroughly, it rattled the Wildcats’ collective confidence and doomed UA to a six-win finish.

Now, a devastating Week 1 loss doesn’t have to relegate a team to a disappointing finish. Oregon rallied from a multiple score loss in last year’s Cowboys Classic and won the Rose Bowl. Then again, Oregon played with eventual SEC champion LSU for a half. Michigan was overpowered from the opening whistle.

Air Force and UMass come to the Big House in the coming weeks and should allow Michigan to refocus. The eventual return of Fitzgerald Toussaint will bolster the Wolverine offense as well. But then ahead is a treacherous stretch that includes a road trip to Notre Dame, a visit to Purdue following the bye week, Michigan State and its in-state win streak two weeks later, and the Wolverines’ first visit to Nebraska.

Last night’s loss can either be a teaching tool, or the psychological landmine that dooms UM to mediocrity.

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The O was certainly missing from Oklahoma last night in the Sooners’ nightcap at UTEP. I couldn’t help but wonder if Bedlam rival Oklahoma State hadn’t somehow usurped all the Sooners’ offensive abilities a la The Monstars in Space Jam. OU went into the final quarter with just 10 points, only holding a lead because the defense looked much better under Mike Stoops — ironic given defense was his undoing at Arizona.

Landry Jones wasn’t bad, he was just…sorta there. Two touchdowns and 222 yards, but only 56 percent completions against a pass defense that ranked No. 92 in FBS last season. Jones hardly looked like the Heisman Trophy candidate he is anticipated to be, certainly not on par with Big 12 counterparts Geno Smith or Wes Lunt.

Contributing to Jones’ mediocre performance was that the OU receiving corps just didn’t look good, save Kenny Stills. Stills was fantastic and very much the No. 1 wideout he needs to be for the Sooners to compete in the Big 12, but he had little support. Should Bob Stoops expedite Jaz Reynolds’ and Trey Franks’ returns, you can understand why.

Things might not be as dire as they seem for the Sooner offense, though. The running offense was vastly improved, thanks to Damien Williams rattling off over 11 yards per carry.

Nevada Ready to Emerge from Boise State’s Shadow

Nevada took advantage of several Cal miscues and christened the renovated Memorial Stadium with a Golden Bear defeat. It was the second time in as many meetings Chris Ault’s Wolf Pack bested Jeff Tedford, the last coming Nevada’s spectacular 2010 campaign. The Pack finished a program best 12-1 that season, won the WAC championship and were ranked in the top 10. Were it not for a nail-biter loss at Hawai’i, UNR would have played in a BCS bowl.

Talking 12 wins after a team’s managed just one is wildly premature. Nevada still hosts a USF team Phil Steele projected to win the Big East next Saturday, and the Mountain West slate is challenging: Wyoming gave Texas a fight for most of three quarters in Austin, Colorado State beat its own Pac-12 foe in Colorado, San Diego State, Air Force and Fresno State are no pushovers and of course, there’s Boise State.

Boise State. Interesting parallels can be gleaned between BSU and UNR. Both played in the Big Sky Conference before leaving Div. I-AA in the 1990s to play in the now-defunct Big West. Each established successful track records in the 2000s. Boise State is certainly the more recognizable of the two though, as it should be. The Broncos have played in two BCS bowls, bested prominent foes like Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Georgia and Oregon, and routinely finish ranked in the Top 25.

But Nevada is making strides to emerge from the long, bright blue shadow the Broncos cast. Yesterday’s win was the program’s first at a BCS conference opponent’s home. The Pack also demonstrated a high-powered offense, while BSU struggled with the myriad changes on that side of the ball in a season opening loss. Ault has coached Nevada to seven straight postseasons, and the question this year isn’t so much if the Pack reaches No. 8, but rather its destination.

Numbers-obsessed analysts will cringe reading the following, but there’s just a special intangible to this Nevada team that piques my interest. Should the Pack knock off USF next week — and the Bulls are making the single longest continental trek any program will in 2012 — Ault’s team might start garnering the same recognition elsewhere.

March of the Youngstown State Penguins

Missouri Valley Football Conference representative Youngstown State marched into BCS territory against Pitt and dominated, spoiling Paul Chryst’s debut as Panther head coach. Not since Gotham City has a city seen such mayhem caused by a Penguin.

Burgess Meredith shows his approval for Youngstown State’s 31-17 win. Phil Steele’s choice to win the MVFC scored on the Panthers in every quarter, including 10 in the final stanza to slam the door. YSU’s performance bodes well for the Penguins’ pursuit of an FCS national championship, but leaves Pitt with a mountain of questions. Running back Ray Graham returned from injury and rushed for better five yards per carry, and quarterback Tino Sunseri was decently effective at 19-30, eight yards a completion and no interceptions. Chryst’s influence was evident there, and yet…the Panthers were stuck in the same rut as last season when Todd Graham’s promise of High Octane Football resulted was more 4-cylinder Geo Metro.

Game Balls

Dennis Franchione & Larry Coker

Two well-tenured head coaches who took detours to rejoin to the FBS both won their returns. Larry Coker was hired to launch UT-San Antonio’s football program, which grew with dizzying speed. Just two seasons ago, the Roadrunners were hosting open scrimmages in lieu of games, and last season UTSA played only a modified FCS schedule.

It’s astounding the Roadrunners are already in the FBS, and perhaps more astounding that they begin 1-0. Now, UTSA’s win came over South Alabama. Joey Jones’ Jaguars are transitional Sun Belt members that only launched in 2009, so UTSA was on somewhat equal footing in its 33-31 road victory. That wasn’t the case for fellow FBS newcomer Texas State.

Texas State didn’t just crash Tony Levine’s welcome party as Houston head coach. The Bobcats tracked mud on the carpets, shoved cake in the Cougars’ faces, drank all the beer, and left without so much as a thank you. Dennis Franchione’s offense put up 27 of its 30 points in the first half and held UH at bay for the duration of the second. Quarterback Shaun Rutherford completed 75 percent of his pass attempts, and running back Marcus Curry went wild for over nine yards per carry and two touchdowns.

Wes Lunt, Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy tabbed the true freshman Rochester, Ill. recruit Wes Lunt Oklahoma State’s 2012 very early in the offseason process. His dedication paid off, because Lunt was close to flawless in an 84-0 romp over Savannah State. Granted, it was Savannah State: the Tigers are typically languished in the cellar of the MEAC. But most quarterbacks struggle to go 11-11 against tackling dummies.

Marqise Lee, USC

The Heisman hype machine for Trojan quarterback Matt Barkley is in overdrive, but wide receiver Marqise Lee has to garner some of that all-too-early chatter. He went 75 yards on USC’s very first place to score, and finished the evening with 197 yards. Lee supplanted Robert Woods as the focal point of the receiving corps last season, but the two will feed off each other all season.

Duke Johnson, Miami

Miami exacted revenge for last season’s finale loss to Boston College, overcoming an early 14-0 deficit to topple the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, 41-32. Duke Johnson had just seven carries, but two went for touchdowns and altogether he accumulated 135 yards rushing. That’s more than 19 yards per carry. Suddenly, the loss of Lamar Miller to the NFL doesn’t seem so insurmountable for Al Golden’s Hurricanes.

Duke

Speaking of Dukes in the ACC, the Blue Devils bucked a usual trend for them and won their season opener. Last year, Duke fell to FCS foe Richmond in Week 1, but this season took care of business against Sun Belt favorite FIU. The Golden Panthers flourished on defense last season, but Duke made mince meat of FIU on that side of the ball with 46 points — 30 of which came in the second quarter.

Sean Renfree looked outstanding, connecting on 21 of 30 pass attempts for 290 yards. He’s the key to the Blue Devil offense as expected, but could get some unexpected support from the rushing game. Josh Snead and Juwan Thompson were both effective enough to adequately complement the aerial attack. There’s a long way to go, but that’s a huge first step in the direction of a bowl game.