Week One College Football Recap

What did we learn this weekend?

#1. Not every story has a happy ending. OU QB Sam Bradford turned down over $40 million to come back to Oklahoma for his senior season. He hoped to lead the Sooners to a National Title. His dreams went up in smoke Saturday on the 2nd to last play of the 1st half as Bradford was sacked and sprained the AC joint in his throwing shoulder. The Sooners went into halftime up 10-7, but could not move the football in the 2nd half and wound up on the wrong end of a 14-13 decision to BYU. The Sooners can win some games without Bradford, but certainly not Texas or Oklahoma State.

#2. The Big 10 is as bad as ever. Ohio State damn near lost to Navy at the Horseshoe and appears to have little team speed on either side of the ball. The Buckeyes are in for a beating versus USC on Saturday. Iowa was two block field goal attempts from losing to Northern Iowa. Illinois continued to get out coached in the Ron Zook era with a bad loss to Missouri.

#3 Florida's road the SEC title game looks like a piece of cake. Georgia appears one dimensional offensively, while LSU's defense was as bad as last year against Washington. If week one is any indication, an Alabama/Florida rematch is a distinct possibility.

#4. Robert Griffin should help keep Art Briles on the map long enough for him to move on to a bigger program. Wake Forest may not be an ACC contender, but it was still a huge win for Baylor who needs to sweep the remainder of their out of conference schedule (UConn, Kent State, Northwestern State) to have realistic bowl aspirations. Briles play call of a "double-pass" was the decisive play in a 24-21 victory.

#5. Kevin Sumlin has exceeded my expectations in short order at UH. Beating Northwestern State 55-7 is no big deal. The obvious increase in talent level is where he is really earning his money. UH played no fewer than 7 freshmen in featured roles Saturday including three stars in the making (Charles Sims at RB, AJ Dugat at WR, Zeke Riser at DE). UH is a big underdog next week @Oklahoma State but should be able to keep it respectable again. (UH lost 56-37 last year in Stillwater.)

This Week's Big Games

USC @ Ohio State

Notre Dame @ Michigan

UH @ Oklahoma State

Clemson @ Georgia Tech (Thursday)