Played In/Played Out: Texas A&M has something to build on
Paste BN Sports is keeping careful tabs on how each week's wins and losses impact the eventual makeup of the College Football Playoff. If the season ended today, here are teams moving into the championship picture and teams moving out. Though we've only seen one week of games, some teams' opening games will serve as résumé boosters, while others will be the opposite.
Teams that played their way in:
Texas A&M. No team looked better against a more high-quality opponent than A&M, which showed off a newfound defensive ferocity in a 38-17 win against projected Pac-12 Conference frontrunner Arizona State. At its most basic level, the game's biggest takeaway was the Aggies' combination of defensive growth and offensive explosiveness. The only cause for pessimism comes from a feeling of déjà vu: A&M was the story of the first weekend of last season after destroying South Carolina, but last year's team quickly proved itself to be a pretender. History shouldn't repeat itself if this A&M defense is more than a one-week wonder.
Temple. Before Saturday, the U.S. was about two months shy of entering World War II the last time Temple topped Penn State. After shoving past the Nittany Lions with some ease — scoring 27 unanswered points after falling into a slight hole — the Owls moved into the select club of Group of Five teams in the access-bowl mix. Unlike Boise State, however, which struggled with Washington on its home field, Temple looked a hair shy of dominant in topping its longstanding bully.
Notre Dame. Texas might be terrible — or probably is terrible, though we won't know for sure until October. But Notre Dame's 38-3 win against the Longhorns nevertheless validated the Fighting Irish's place in the College Football Playoff conversation. It's obvious that Notre Dame is far more athletic as a whole than any previous team in Brian Kelly's tenure with the program. It seems as if Malik Zaire is an upgrade over Everett Golson, as some suggested. It also appears as if the offense has the skill players needed to stretch the field. They'll need to repeat Saturday's performance a few more times to be truly considered among the best teams in the country, but the Irish are off to a great start.
Teams that played their way out:
Arizona State. The Sun Devils will spend the rest of this season keeping one eye on Texas A&M, crossing their fingers that the Aggies don't finish the season at or near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference West Division. There's always a chance — and a pretty good chance, by the way — that ASU's slipup makes a stronger statement about A&M and the benefit of home-field advantage than of the Sun Devils' own postseason hopes; the game was played in Houston, in the Aggies' backyard. Yet ASU clearly has ground to make up before December.
Stanford. While Arizona State should bounce back, another would-be Pac-12 contender looks nothing like a Playoff contender. Stanford found great success on offense during the final stages of last season with a blend of an up-tempo style with its power packages. Despite that fact, the Cardinal went with a very vanilla and traditional attack against a Northwestern team poised to battle for the top spot in the Big Ten Conference West Division. This was another head-scratching loss for David Shaw and Stanford.
Wisconsin. Pitting a straightforward offense against a defense and defensive staff that loves nothing more than playing against straightforward offenses was always a poor recipe for success. The issue isn't losing to Alabama, which was expected; the issue for Wisconsin is a clear lack of noteworthy games the rest of the way, which will hurt the Badgers' chances of getting the national respect they'll need to overcome the 35-17 defeat. Wisconsin doesn't draw Michigan State or Ohio State out of the East Division, so the team's best shots at marquee wins come against Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern and Minnesota. Those teams don't move the needle.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S WEEK 1 HIGHLIGHTS