Around the League: Week 1

We take our Monday morning trip around the league and ... oh ... oh no, Tennessee, what is you doing?

Texas A&M 41, Texas State 7

Texas A&M did what you’re supposed to do against an overmatched opponent, limiting the Bobcats to 219 yards of total offense (8 yards on the ground) and holding them out of the end zone until 36 seconds left in the game. True freshman Isaiah Spiller had a nice debut with 106 yards on 7 carries. Good Bull Hunting has more. Now, things will amp up to ten in short order with the Aggies going to Clemson on Saturday.

Kentucky 38, Toledo 24

Toledo put up a fight in this one — Kentucky outgained the Rockets by just 422-347, and the Wildcats didn’t really have the game in hand until late in the fourth quarter. Now, if you were a Kentucky fan you’d probably be encouraged by Terry Wilson having a good day throwing the ball; on the other hand, we don’t yet know exactly how good Toledo is. And we probably won’t find out how good Kentucky is until they play Florida a week from Saturday; Eastern Michigan on Saturday will be a bit of a test, but not much. A Sea of Blue has more.

Memphis 15, Ole Miss 10

This was one of those games where you looked at the halftime box score and just said “wow, Ole Miss has 42 yards of total offense... and -1 rushing yards.” Memphis under Mike Norvell hasn’t been known as a defensive stalwart, but managing just 173 yards of total offense against anyone should sound some alarm bells. That Ole Miss’s defense managed to hold Memphis to 4.4 yards per play is encouraging, but in a Woodyball-esque “at least we’ll lose by scores of like 14-7 instead of getting blown out” sort of way. Because the offense appears to be at disaster levels. Red Cup Rebellion has more. The Rebels host Arkansas to open their SEC season on Saturday night.

Mississippi State 38, Louisiana-Lafayette 28

Similar to Kentucky, this is another one of those “we don’t know if this is concerning or not” situations: UL Lafayette averaged 5.7 yards per play. That might be a warning shot about Mississippi State’s revamped defense, or it might just be a reflection on UL Lafayette. Who really knows? At least you didn’t lose this game, Mississippi State. That’s more than we can say for some people. For Whom the Cowbell Tolls has more. The Bulldogs host Southern Miss on Saturday.

Alabama 42, Duke 3

Alabama weirdly took a while to get going: there was 10:02 remaining in the second quarter before the Tide scored their first touchdown. And then the inevitable happened, and you don’t really need to know much more than the final score. Poor New Mexico State visits Alabama on Saturday. Roll Bama Roll has more.

North Carolina 24, South Carolina 20

This doesn’t sound too awful, until you remember that North Carolina went 2-10 last year and then hired 68-year-old former Vanderbilt tailback Mack Brown as its head coach. And the Gamecocks were outgained 483-270 to boot, so the final score being that close is actually something of an accomplishment. GABA has more.

Georgia State 38, Tennessee 30

Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Arkansas 20, Portland State 13

Nothing in this final score suggests to me that the Razorbacks have improved much over last year’s 2-10 record. They get Ole Miss on Saturday.

LSU 55, Georgia Southern 3

This was the one SEC team to really flex its muscles against an overmatched opponent. LSU led 42-3 at the half and Georgia Southern managed just 98 yards of total offense. Texas is up next for the Bayou Bengals. ATVS has more.

Auburn 27, Oregon 21

For about two and a half quarters, Auburn looked awful, but managed to trail just 21-6 before a late rally and a last-minute touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Seth Williams stunned the Ducks. Auburn now gets Tulane, which actually looked really good in its opener against FIU. More from College and Magnolia.

Wyoming 37, Missouri 31

I’m always skeptical when preseason analysis of a team focuses on how weak its schedule is, which is a nicer way of saying that they’re not that good but their schedule could make them appear to be. There was a lot of chatter that Missouri could be 8-0 when they go play Georgia in November; instead, they’ll be 0-1 when West Virginia comes to town on Saturday. The Tigers went up 14-0 before letting Wyoming rip off 27 points in the second quarter, and the Tigers’ late comeback effort came up short. Allowing Wyoming to rack up 297 rushing yards — on 7.1 yards per carry — is not a great look. Rock M Nation has more.