Snap judgments from college football's Week 1
College football's first weekend is nearly complete, giving us the smallest of small sample sizes from which to extrapolate. So, let's do just that. Here are the four biggest overreactions to Week 1 results:
1. If Houston goes undefeated, it will play in the four-team College Football Playoff.
Well, it's way, way, way too early to know if this will be the case. No results occur in a vacuum, and the Cougars would almost definitely need help in the form of some losses for power conference champions, too, to even be considered for one of these selective spots. But Houston's impressive win against No. 3 Oklahoma certainly ignites the discussion as this is the Group of Five school that has the best shot to crash the party this year.
The problem moving forward? No other games on the remaining schedule against teams of Oklahoma's caliber, except Louisville, whom the Cougars will play in November.
2. Nick Chubb just took Leonard Fournette's spot in the Heisman race.
Remember Chubb? The bruising 5-10, 228-pound running back on everyone's Heisman lists until he sustained a season-ending knee injury last year midseason? Well, he's back. Like, really back. He carried the ball 32 times (!) for 222 yards (!) against North Carolina on Saturday, and his 55-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter all but sealed the 33-24 win.
Compare that to Fournette — and LSU — struggling mightily against Wisconsin in a loss, and, well, here's another running back to join Stanford's Christian McCaffrey and Florida State's Dalvin Cook in the Heisman conversation.
3. This is why LSU kept Les Miles around? Really?
Once again, this team is known for a passing game that ranges between entirely nonexistent to a huge disaster. The same problems that have plagued the Tigers' offense in recent years showed up again Saturday under offensive coordinator, Cam Cameron, who has been in that position since 2013.
It's getting ridiculous that this program cannot figure out how to find or even develop a good quarterback with a serviceable arm who can make smart decisions. The play that perfectly sums this up is Brandon Harris's final interception, one he threw, down two points with 57 seconds to play, directly at a Wisconsin defender. This is why LSU kept Les Miles around?
4. It's time we all agree to stop over-hyping UCLA each offseason.
Once again, the Bruins went from trendy darkhorse pick to win the Pac-12 to an early disappointment. It's hard to fully describe what the Bruins offense did (or, more accurately, didn't do) on Saturday against a solid Texas A&M defense, but we can start with the countless drops.
Even Josh Rosen, a very talented quarterback, made some questionable decisions. Though the Bruins mounted a nice fourth-quarter comeback to send this game into overtime, they didn't have enough to pull out the victory. The game, fittingly, ended on an incomplete pass.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL