Week 1 of the college football season is in the books. In all but one of the matchups between ranked teams, the chalk prevailed around the country.
In light of the new College Football Playoff, there is an added emphasis on scheduling tougher opponents in the non-conference portion of the schedule, or at least one marquee matchup before the conference season starts.
With that being said, let’s take a look at a handful of marquee matchups from across the country.
Florida State 37, Oklahoma State 31 in Arlington, Texas
Last season, one would be hard pressed to think of an award Jameis Winston didn’t win.
Beyond that, one would be hard pressed to think of a game his Florida State Seminoles didn’t win by double-digits—it only happened in the National Championship Game.
So when the top-ranked team was set to face off against a good, but not great, Oklahoma State side, people were expecting more of the same from Winston and the Seminoles. Turns out, games aren’t played on paper.
In his first collegiate game last season, Winston went 25-for-27 for 356 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Against the Cowboys, Winston looked rather human, going 25-for-40 for 370 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
Winston did add to his already extensive highlight reel with a third quarter 28-yard touchdown run to extend the Seminoles lead to 10 while displaying his immense athleticism, an aspect of his game nary seen as he’s far more comfortable in the pocket.
The real star of the show for the Seminoles was senior wide receiver Rashad Greene.
Greene led the team in receptions (76) and receiving yards (1,128) last season and wasted no time this season making a name for himself. Greene hauled in 11 passes for 203 yards and a score.
The Seminoles get the two ranked teams left on their schedule—No. 16 Clemson and No. 17 Notre Dame, ranks as of writing—both at home, with a matchup against the Florida Gators also at home, leading to plenty of people predicting another undefeated season for the Seminoles.
But if football fans are going to start forgetting about Winston’s alleged transgressions and his proclivity toward shoplifting crab legs and start thinking about the Seminoles College Football Playoff chances, he will have to play better, much better.
Georgia 45, Clemson 21
In a rare non-conference tilt played on campus, the Georgia Bulldogs ran right over the Clemson Tigers on the backs of their four-headed rushing attack.
In a time when most quarterbacks will transfer before sitting behind an entrenched starter for years, it’s always refreshing to see the trajectory of Hutson Mason’s career.
Mason sat behind Aaron Murray year after year, playing in blowouts or when Murray went down with an injury, he bided his time until Murray’s departure and finally got his chance to be the starter against Clemson.
A back-and-forth first half, capped off by a 100-yard kickoff return by Todd Gurley led to a tie score of 21 apiece at the break. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they wouldn’t score again.
Gurley would add two more rushing touchdowns in the second half, making him the first player since Maurice Jones-Drew to record three rushing touchdowns and a special teams touchdown against a ranked opponent.
The Bulldogs ended with 328 rushing yards including 198 from Gurley on only 15 carries, 70 from Nick Chubb and 33 from Sony Michel.
The fourth piece of their rushing attack, Keith Marshall, had a pretty lackluster day and could have been injured, though the Bulldogs have more than enough pieces to pick up the slack.
Texas A&M 52, South Carolina 28
From the opening notes of Darude’s “Sandstorm,” one knew there would be a crazy atmosphere at Williams-Brice Stadium. But in front of a capacity crowd of 82,847 people, it was the Texas A&M Aggies that put their foot on the gas pedal and didn’t let up en route to a 52-28 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
There were plenty of questions about the quarterback play from the Aggies in the wake of the departure of Johnny Manziel, but by the end of the first drive, Kenny Hill put all of those concerns to rest, going 4-of-5 for 49 yards on the opening drive.
By the end of the game, Hill had re-written the Texas A&M record book, going 44-for-60 for 511 passing yards and three touchdowns against no interceptions.
Hill broke Manziel’s career highs in completions, attempts and passing yards, looking extremely poised in a top-ten SEC team’s house during their season opener.
For South Carolina, they saw just how important Connor Shaw was to their program.
While Dylan Thompson ended with pretty good numbers—20-of-40 for 366 yards, four touchdowns and an interception—the team went 2-of-9 on third down and had trouble stopping anything on the defensive side of the ball.
Thoughts on the rest of the country
In a game that probably made few people’s radar, Western Kentucky manhandled Bowling Green 59-31.
Bowling Green travels to Madison later on in September and their secondary is a sieve of the tallest order, giving up a whopping 569 passing yards to senior quarterback Brandon Doughty, who needed two-and-a-half games to reach that total last season.
Last but not least, reigning FCS Champion North Dakota State throttled Iowa State in Ames 34-14.
Their basketball team made headlines in the NCAA Tournament after Saul Phillips’ Bison (pronounced with a “z” instead of an “s”) took down Oklahoma in overtime.
In football, their team is downright dominant in the FCS and has a stellar record against FBS competition to boot. The Bison have played at least one FBS opponent in each of the last nine years, compiling a record of 8-3 including winning their last five.
