Week 1 in Review

Its Wednesday, meaning its time for Week 1 in Review.  There were a lot of cupcakes and not much content this past weekend so we will get right down to it.

• There were two fairly surprising upsets this weekend.  Ole Miss and Kansas became victims of the schools they paid to show up and take a beating.  Neither upset is as interesting as the Appalachian State-Michigan contest in 2007 (Michigan is a much more storied program and had high expectations going into that season), but both games have to be devastating to their fan bases.  As already documented in the A$$ Whooping of the Week, its hard to imagine the Turner Gill era starting off worse.  For Ole Miss, the first post McCluster/Snead season of the Coach Nutt ear was supposed to be anchored by a strong front 7 on defense.  Almost 50 points against Jacksonville State later, its hard to imagines anything but a bottom of the SEC caliber season.
• Boise State practically penciled itself into the BCS Championship game on Monday night.  Jock Talk will collectively be feverishly rooting for the Rogers bros. and Oregon State on Sep. 25th because its hard to see the Broncos losing a conference match up.  The late comeback also solidified Kellen Moore's Heisman campaign. Although neither Crum nor Kok picked Virginia Tech to come out of the ACC, its hard to argue against the win.  In an unrelated note, Jock Talk is curious how a "neutral" site can be over 2000 miles farther away from one school than the other.  2000 miles.
• LSU and Les Miles' continually worthless clock management were able to escape with a win against Kok's preseason ACC Champ, UNC.  Butch Davis' squad was down 7 defensive starters, the top receiver, and the top 2 running backs.  Assuming the suspensions are limited and the Tar Heels are full strength when conference games begin, UNC will be a force to be reckoned with.  Suspensions are pending.
• Both Florida and OU struggled on offense in their home openers.  Florida Guard turned Center Mike Pouncey had trouble adjusting to the shotgun snap and UF finished with 8 fumbles.  The Gators and Urban Meyer won't fare well post-Tebow if that trend continues.  Despite a terrific game by DeMarco Murray, the Sooners barely escaped past Utah State at home.  Quarterback Landry completed just 47% of his passes, tossed 2 picks, and the Sooners managed to convert just 5 of 17 3rd downs.  Stoops needed to call Murray's number 35 times to escape with the victory.  In College Football, its hard to see a team needing to ride DeMarco Murray 30+ times a game being successful
• Two Heisman hopefuls saw there teams seasons open to a rough start in week 1.  Pitt and Dion Lewis fell at Utah and Jake Locker couldn't lead UW past BYU.  Playing on the road could have been an influencing factor in each performance.  Both players started the season with conference championship and player of the year awards in sight.  Both are obviously still attainable, but Jock Talk thinks Noel Devine and Andrew Luck look pretty good right now.
• Duel threat QBs had a great showing in week 1.  Denard Robinson (186 in the air, 197 on the ground, 2 Touchdowns for UM), former UF backup Cameron Newton (186 and 171 and 5 TD for Auburn) and Taylor Martinez (136 and 127 and 3 TD for Nebraska) all emerged as surprise duel threats in their teams openers.  Robinson's game actually came against a competent UConn team, but all 3 should cause D-Coordinators to lose sleep as the season progresses.
• Jock Talk's final reflection from Week 1: cupcakes make for boring football, but teams in the major conferences will have plenty of time to show their meddle throughout the season.  Props to Boise for scheduling a road neutral game against a top 10 team, but teams in the SEC and Big 12 just don't need to schedule competitive non-conference foes to prove their teams ability.  Number 1 ranked Alabama opened against San Jose State this weekend.  'Bama still has Penn State, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, LSU, and Georgia left on its schedule.  Still remaining on Boise State's schedule?  The very same San Jose State.  At what point do coaches and writers conclude if a 2 loss SEC of Big 12 team should be ranked higher than an undefeated Boise State?

Next week:  Less cupcakes, more suspensions, and perhaps some meaningful games