College Football 2015: Week One Heroes

College football is back – and back in a big way! The first week of the 2015 season provided some spectacular headlines. Here are the week’s heroes:

Tanner Mangum: the back-up quarterback for Brigham Young, on in the fourth quarter in relief of the injured Taysom Hill, tossed a last-second Hail Mary that was caught in the end zone by Mitch Matthews to give the Cougars a memorable 33-28 victory in Lincoln. Not easy coming in late, and trying to bring a team back from a deficit on the road. With news through that Hill is done for the season (and, therefore, his career) Mangum is going to be The Guy going forward in Provo.

Braxton Miller: once quarterback at Ohio State, Miller now looks like it’s biggest receiving threat. His debut at wide-out in the Buckeyes’ 42-24 win over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg came after realising that he was unlikely to reclaim his starting quarterback position after challenges from J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones, was one of epic proportions.

A fifty-three yard run, a fifty-four yard reception and run, in which he tight-roped down the sideline, a diving twenty four yard grab to open his account as a wide receiver, and Miller announced himself like few others have on their debut game in recent memory. It might prove to be a masterstroke at the next level, too. I mean, Miller never really looked like an NFL-ready quarterback, but he’s certainly playing like a pro wide receiver. His further growth through the season will definitely be worth keeping an eye on.

Malik Zaire: Now we all know why Everett Golson saw the writing on the wall and transferred from Notre Dame to Florida State. It’s because Malik Zaire is a gun player, and he’s leading an Irish squad that has depth and experience everywhere. Zaire torched Texas in South Bend, leading a 38-3 rout. He was responsible for 329 total yards and three touchdowns. In response, Texas could manage a team total of just 163 yards. Zaire out-gained the entire Longhorn team by 166 yards. His completion percentage of 86.4% is the second-highest single-game percentage in Notre Dame history, trailing only Steve Beuerlein’s 90.9% way back in 1984. Incredible!

Texas A&M: I won’t get too carried away by the Aggies in terms of the bigger picture – remember, they beat South Carolina convincingly to open their 2014 account and did little winning after that – but their 38-17 victory over a favoured Arizona State squad was impressive. The key for Kevin Sumlin’s squad is season-long consistency.

Brandon Allen: the senior quarterback at Arkansas had a career day as the Razorbacks triumphed 48-13 over UTEP. Allen threw four touchdowns and completed 14-18 passes for 308 yards. If this is what the Hogs have to look forward to under new offensive coordinator Dan Enos, then things are looking bright in Fayetteville.

Northwestern: coming off back-to-back 5-7 seasons, the Wildcats made quite a statement beating Stanford 16-6 in Evanston, thanks to a run game that gashed the normally-stout Stanford rush defense, and mistake-free football from freshman quarterback Clayton Thorson, who also ran 42 yards for the game’s only touchdown. Perhaps the biggest story, however, was their defense. It was brilliant. As good a win as Pat Fitzgerald’s squad has manufactured in some time.

Josh Rosen: the freshman quarterback for UCLA admitted to nerves coming out of the Rose Bowl tunnel for the first time, but played the game more like a polished veteran than a first-time starter, throwing for 351 yards and three touchdowns as the Bruins rolled ominously to a 35-16 victory over Virginia.

Royce Freeman: The Oregon running back had a giant night, overshadowing transfer QB Vernon Adams against his old team, Eastern Washington. Freeman, sure to be in Heisman contention with too many more games like this one, rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.

Skai Moore: the South Carolina linebacker intercepted North Carolina QB Marqise Williams not once but twice in the end zone on Thursday night, the last one coming late in the fourth quarter, with the game still up for grabs. He also made ten tackles, good for best on the Gamecock squad. Decent start to the season!

Tre Madden: the USC tailback, playing his first game in more than a year, had a sparkling return to the Coliseum on Saturday night, notching 106 yards and a touchdown on just twelve carries, at better than nine yards per touch. He also caught two balls for fifteen yards. It’s been a long road back to where Madden is now, and his performance out of the USC backfield was one of the success stories of the Trojan’s 55-6 victory.

Alabama: Nick Saban’s squad looked very good against Wisconsin, running through, around and over the Badgers, for a commanding 35-17 win that will doubtless set off some alarm bells around the country. RB Derrick Henry led the way with 147 yards and three touchdowns, whilst QB Jake Coker was awarded the start, and was solid, throwing for just more than 200 yards. With a corps of running backs like the Tide have this year, Coker isn’t going to need to be too much more than solid.

Portland State: the FCS squad beat Washington State from the Pac-12, continuing a recent trend of second-division schools recording surprise victories over FBS squads early on in the season.

Temple: the Owls scored twenty-seven unanswered points after trailing 10-0 in the first quarter to record their first victory over Penn State in seventy four long years.

Seth Russell: No Bryce Petty, no worries for Baylor, who went about things in their usual manner, rolling up 723 total yards of offense in a 56-21 victory over SMU, in which Russell threw five touchdowns and ran for a sixth. The Art Briles system is alive and well, and there’s no reason to think that Russell won’t produce eye-popping numbers in Waco this year.