Struggles WEEK 1

College football is officially back with a new twist, whether it's the 2 minute timeout, the C2P helmet communication, conference realignment, and the 12 team playoff format. CFB is better than ever! We got to witness a great opening week with some intense matchups. Going into Saturday fans across the world were excited to see their team finally get back on the field. There was adversity for some, and great success and hope for others.

Florida State: Opening the college football season, Florida State and Georgia Tech traveled to Dublin, Ireland to play in the Aer Lingus Classic. The Seminoles had high hopes going into the season after the success they had last year. They brought in some key transfers throughout the country to bolster their roster. Lets just say nothing went right for the #10 ranked team as they fell short 24-21. The following week they were able to host Boston College, which seemed to be a bounce back game for the Seminoles. They were dominated from start to finish and ended up losing 28-13. 

Issues: Florida state lost 10 guys to the draft last year, they worked hard in the offseason to bring in transfer pieces to rebuild their team. The main piece was Oregon State QB transfer, DJ Uiagalelei. He struggled in both games, passes were off target, reads were missed and most importantly he didn't seem to have composure. Towards the end of the 3rd Quarter of the Boston College game fans started chanting “we want Brock!!”. Brock Glenn is the backup to DJ who was highly recruited out of highschool. Other than QB play the coaching staff seemed to struggle under pressure. Florida State was unable to run the ball in both games and the play calls and decisions on 4th downs were concerning. They also were rotating wide receivers all game. They went out and got lots of WR transfers and it’s becoming an issue. No one could tell who the starters were at the position and when a guy showed hope for the offense he wouldn't play for another couple drives. Mike Norvell has lots of work to do with his team and it’s not looking promising. 

Michigan: The Wolverines are coming off a National Championship, and they are looking to build on the success they had last season. Jim Harbaugh gone and many starters off to the NFL we may be seeing a new era of Michigan football. Going into Saturday fans were hoping to see the defending National Champs take care of Fresno State in a big way. That just didn’t happen as they won 30-10. Don't let the score fool you as it was a 6 point game midway into the 4th quarter.

Issues: Coming off last year many people had doubts about how they were going to perform this year. Losing all the fire power and having your head coach leave for the NFL doesn’t exactly boost the program. On Saturday the Wolverines came out strong and intercepted a pass on the second play of the game. I think everyone was surprised when former walk on Davis Warren came out on the field as the presummable starting QB. Most people and analysts believed Alex Orji would be the guy as he played in some games for them last season. Michigan’s offense looked sloppy, the offensive line, the QB play, and the overall game planning. Warren struggled getting the ball to his receivers all night (except for Colston Loveland), he ended up passing for 118 yards, 1TD, and 1 INT. That highly touted offensive line from last year is gone to the NFL and on Saturday it showed. They looked inexperienced and struggled with Fresno State's pass rush. The run game struggled to get going all night and one of the Doak Walker candidates, Donovan Edwards couldn’t ever seem to bust loose. Sherrone Moore has to have his team ready as #4 Texas comes to town next week. 

Oregon: The highly thought of Ducks got their season started at home against Idaho. This new era for Oregon football has just started as they moved conferences and are playing in the B1G 10. The Ducks have been predicted to be one of the top teams in the country, and have one of the best rosters. That did not show up for them on Saturday when they escaped Idaho 24-14.

Issues: I wouldn't say Oregon struggled as much as you would think based off of the score. The main issue on Saturday was the amount of penalty killing drives they had. The new offense with Dillon Gabriel seemed to be working just fine as he threw for 380 yards, but they just couldn't seem to get the run game going. If you ask Dan Lanning, he probably doesn't want Gabriel throwing 49 passes a game. With Oregon now being in a new conference they need to show they can play close tough games. The B1G 10 has always been about running the football and getting dirty in the trenches and nothing from that game showed fans they are capable of that. 

Overreaction? 

Many teams struggled this week, these three teams I mentioned could very well turn it around as week 1 is usually sloppy. I hope these teams can have a great week 2 as college football is better when these teams are competing for a championship. 

BIG GAME Prediction: 

Michigan loses this week against Texas, a close game at half (due to the Wolverines defense) but the Longhorns run away with it late. If I were to bet I have Michigan using Alex Orji this weekend in a big way. The Wolverines need him to have a great week of practice.

Final score: 35-10