Heroes
FCS schools. Six of them beat FBS schools on Opening Weekend. Particularly impressive was Eastern Washington, who became the first school from the FCS to beat a ranked FBS team when they knocked off Oregon State in Corvallis. North Dakota State were similarly impressive beating Kansas State in Manhattan. Gusty quarterback play in both games.
Tajh Boyd and Clemson. They lived up to the hype and looked ultra-impressive against Georgia on Saturday night, winning 38-35. It was always possible that the weight of pressure would be too much, but no. Boyd accounted for all 5 Clemson scores. This team is on the up. Their last two wins have been vs. LSU and Georgia. Nothing to sneeze at there. Big season in the ACC coming up, and this was the perfect start to it.
Jameis Winston. Talk about a debut. The two-sport star from Florida State opened a can on Pitt on Monday night, going 25-27 for 356 yards and 4 TDs through the air, to go with a fifth on the ground as the 'Noles showed they figure to be stiff ACC competition for Clemson.
Baker Mayfield. The first ever true freshman walk-on signal caller to start at a season opener for a BCS school ended up scoring 5 touchdowns (four pass, one rush) as Texas Tech celebrated Kliff Kingsbury's return to Lubbock with a 41-23 win against SMU. That was enough for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honours.
Villains
Nebraska. Their defense gave up more than 600 yards to Wyoming in a 37-34 win, and it was all the offense, led by Taylor Martinez, could do to ensure that the Cornhuskers didn't suffer an embarrassing loss to start the season. Head Coach Bo Pelini is supposed to be a defensive guru, but it seems like the Huskers defense has gotten worse and worse each year that Pelini's been in charge. If they can't stop Wyoming, good luck against better Big Ten opponents.
Nicholls State. For agreeing to go Eugene, Oregon and play the Ducks. A grab for cash, plain and simple. And I don't like it. There's nothing worse than seeing a team horribly outmatched. These guys came in with no chance, were physically dominated in every way imaginable and mentally dominated, too, as Oregon rolled up more than 700 yards of offense in their 66-3 victory. I know the school needs money, but it's unfair to send out a team of young men to be subjected to such a beating.
Johnny Manziel. You'd think after the big summer that Manziel's had, he'd come into his season debut rather quietly? Wrong. Trash talking the opposition and brushing off Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin proves that he hasn't learned a single thing over summer. The guy needs an attitude adjustment quickly, or his behaviour's going to derail what shapes as being a rather promising season for the Aggies.
USC's offense. Neither of the dueling quarterbacks Cody Kessler or Max Wittek did much of anything against Hawaii on Thursday night, leaving Lane Kiffin to make the difficult decision of which of the two mediocre quarterbacks gets the start against Washington State. The Trojans won 30-13 against UH, ut it was largely thanks to a powerhouse defense performance rather than any electric offense. Even WR Marqise Lee had a quiet night.
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