College Football 2015: Week One Villains

With the good comes the bad, and inevitably, there were some performances on the weekend that were less than something to write home about. Here are Week One’s villains:

Arizona: In the opening game of the season against UT-San Antonio, the Wildcat defense gave up 32 points and a whopping 525 yards of total offense. It took a superhuman performance from QB Anu Solomon (who threw four touchdowns amongst 229 yards) to ensure the Wildcats started their season with a tick in the ‘win’ column. Defense should have been much better.

Kansas: Where do you start with a program that is probably the biggest laughing stock in FBS football? For a start, they fell a long way behind FCS opponent South Dakota State in their opener on Saturday, and came all the way back to be in a position to kick a field goal that would allow them to attempt a game-tying field goal.

To stop the clock, the Jayhawks quarterback Montell Cozart, needed to spike the ball to give his field goal unit a chance to get on the field. Simple, right? Well, no, not exactly. You see, Cozart managed to drop and fumble the ball from the snap. If you want an idea of just how ridiculous this whole passage was, the video will make you shake your head in wonder.

End result: time ran out, Kansas couldn’t attempt the field goal, and South Dakota State beat their more-fancied foe 41-38. Just incredible. KU fans must be incredibly embarrassed.

Stanford: The Cardinal were supposed to be back, and were popular picks to really figure in the Pac-12 race this year. Well, not based on what we saw from them on the road in Evanston, IL where the Northwestern Wildcats recorded a memorable 16-6 win.

Coming in, Stanford were overwhelming favourites, despite being on the road, against a Northwestern squad that has been disappointing in recording two straight 5-7 seasons, but the Cardinal D couldn’t stop the Wildcats on the ground – which is a major surprise, given a stout run defense has been one of the hallmarks of Stanford football in recent memory. Not today, though. Today, they allowed RB Justin Jackson to run for 134 yards, and allowed freshman QB Clayton Thorson run for a 42-yard score, the game’s only touchdown.

Conversely, the Stanford offense never got going. Two field goals was all the could manage and QB Kevin Hogan completed 20 of 35 passes for a paltry 155 yards, and tossed just one interception. He was sacked three times, and seemed, at times, to be completely overwhelmed by a surprisingly good Wildcat defense. Coach David Shaw has some work to do this week in Palo Alto.

Jake Rudock: the knock on the Iowa transfer, who started at quarterback for Jim Harbaugh’s first game as Michigan coach, was that he turns the football over with regularity. Time working with Harbaugh hasn’t seen him change his ways. Rudock threw three interceptions, including one that was returned 55 yards the other way for a Utah defensive touchdown, in a game that saw Michigan’s recent quarterback woes continue.

Overall, Rudock went 27-43 for 279 yards, which is a decent number, when you consider he threw two touchdowns as well, but, man, the interceptions were costly. Harbaugh clearly has some issues to sort out, and it will be interesting to see whether Rudock starts next week, or whether Shane Morris, who Rudock beat out in camp, gets a shot. The three interceptions were the difference in an otherwise fairly even game.

Arizona State: Big things were expected of the Sun Devils heading into 2015, and it hasn’t started well after they went down to an unranked Texas A&M 38-17.

Rutgers: Yes, they won on Saturday afternoon 63-13 over Norfolk State, but it’s hardly the on-field performance that puts the Scarlet Knights on this list. The program is in the midst of an investigation into academic conduct that includes a spotlight being shone on embattled head coach Kyle Flood, who has been alleged to have inquired about the grades of a particular player, illegal under NCAA laws. As if that wasn’t enough, five players were arrested on Thursday dismissed by Flood, who called their actions “unacceptable.”

I’ve a feeling that things are going to get much worse in Piscataway before they get better.

Kansas Marching Band: As bad as the Jayhawks were on the field, the bizarre marching band performance of the ‘Starship Enterprise being attacked by a space monster’ looked, as social media will attest, like a Jayhawk coming together with a certain body part, to do some sort of not-safe-for-work activity. It was pretty awkward and pretty clumsy. So much so that the school apologised to anyone offended, despite sticking to their guns over what the performance was supposed to be.

Nebraska: Fun fact for the weekend, the Cornhuskers paid Brigham Young a million dollars to come into Memorial Stadium and be the first opponent in the Mike Riley Era. I guess they didn’t actually count on a good Cougars squad getting out of Lincoln with a win! Well, it happened, BYU triumphing on a last-second Hail Mary play, a deep ball thrown by backup quarterback Tanner Mangum. Mitch Matthews was the hero, snatching the ball in the end zone, for a memorable 33-28 victory that cost Nebraska in more ways than one! It was their first season-opening loss since 1985. The look on Reily’s face at the end said it all!

Penn State: lost 27-10 to Temple, giving up 27 unanswered points after leading 10-0 after one quarter. Not the start James Franklin’s squad were looking for.

Texas: The Longhorns looked pretty terrible in every facet of the game, going down 38-3 to Notre Dame in South Bend. There are issues across the board. Charlie Strong still has a lot of work to do, starting at quarterback. It’s the first time that Texas has lost a season opener since 1999. More recently, in their last three games, the Longhorns have been outscored 117-20. Ouch!

ESPN: Chris Fowler isn’t a bad play-by-play commentator, but he’s no Brent Musburger, and it really irks me that Fowler is calling the big primetime games whilst Musburger, a legend in commentary, is relegated to a lowly SEC Network game.