Week 1 Recap

by Harris Oates

Who Impressed?

True Freshmen – Sam Howell led the Tar Heels to two huge 90+ yard 4th quarter drives to beat their SEC rival South Carolina in his first game ever. Auburn’s Bo Nix struggled early, but kept his composure to lead a huge second half comeback. Even when he struggled, you could clearly see his true potential. Penn State RB Devyn Ford took his first six career carries for 107 yards and a TD. Boise State QB Hank Bachmeier posted 400+ yards to beat Florida State. A&M RB Isaiah Spiller ran for 107 yards while averaging 15+ a carry.

Jacob Eason – the transfer from UGA struggled to lock down the starting spot, but connected all day against Eastern Washington. He showed great improvement since his time at UGA, and is legitimately battling to be a first round selection in 2020. 

Kylin Hill – get this kid the rock. Last year, in games with double digit carries, Hill average 148 yards. The problem? He was on given double digit carries in 3 games. He is the best running back you’ve never heard of. Saturday Mississippi State fed Hill and he took his 27 carries for 197 yards and a TD. Look for this kid to put up HUGE numbers this year. 

Who Didn’t

Justin Herbert – Herbert struggled late against the pressure from Auburn. His receivers were depleted and he’s yet to gain his number one target Juwan Johnson (who was a last minute scratch). The physical talent is clearly there, but he made a few questionable decisions and opted for many “safe passes” late, when his team should’ve been stretching the field. 

Jake Bentley – On any given week Bentley can either look like a talented SEC veteran or a kid who should be playing Division 3 (unfortunately not much in between). He’s had talented weapons all around him, but has had a lot of trouble with any sort of consistency. After three horrible, late game turnovers his draft stock took a huge hit. He’s a guy who I’ve pegged as having NFL potential, but after that performance I don’t think he’ll have a chance of being drafted unless he proves that this game was a fluke. With talks that Bentley is out for a considerable amount of time things are not looking good for him.

Bottom Half of SEC – Tennessee. Missouri. Arkansas. Ole Miss. South Carolina. Is the transfer portal evening out the rest of the country or is the SEC just too top heavy? 

Still Not Sold On

Tua Tagovailoa – He’s good. He can sling the rock in Alabama’s systematic offense. He can hit 5 Star receivers on the comeback routes. I’m still not sold on his NFL ability. Yeah…McShay is already crowning him with a Gold Jacket…but why do we trust a guy whose only football experience is as the equipment manager at a FCS school? Tua is great in that system, but scared me with some of his decisions early against Duke. As of now I’d say third rounder with the ceiling of a first and the floor of staying another year.

Mario Cristobal – Oregon has so much talent up front. A QB who can be great. A linebacker who can go R1. He just blows big games! Oregon is far too talented to lose the Pac 12, and if they don’t at least come close I think it’s time to hit the panic button. I was especially appalled by the costly two timeout scenario that resulted in Cristobal inability to understand the NCAA rule book. Inexcusable for a head coach. 

Feliepe Franks – another disappointing quarterback outing, but maybe week 0 came too quick for Franks. I’ll give him benefit of the doubt, but I don’t think he deserves to be considered a realistic NFL draft pick just yet. 

Heisman Race 

Travis Etienne (12 carries, 205 rushing yards, 3 TDs)

A dominant 200+ 3TD outing against an ACC opponent proves why he is the next Ezekiel Elliott. Hopefully he does not hit the RB wall…

Jonathan Taylor (16 carries, 135 rushing yards, 2 TDs, 2 Rec. 48 yards, 2 TDs.)

Taylor went off on the ground and in the air. He has a lot of professional potential, but teams are highly aware and discouraged about his college workload. 

Jalen Hurts (20/23, 332 yards, 6 TDs, 176 yards rushing)

Hurts was unstoppable against Houston and seems to have greatly improved with his passing accuracy. Oklahoma is a team that could do serious damage and Lincoln’s offense is very kind to Heisman candidates. 

Bryce Perkins (20/34, 181 yards, 2 TDs, 44 yards rushing)

Perkins is my dark horse. He has the potential to lead UVA to the ACC title game after he had a solid outing against Pittsburgh. His statistics weren’t Heisman caliber in week 1, but he’ll get hot.

Justin Fields (18/25, 234 yards, 5 TDs, 61 yards rushing)

QB1 went off by setting records for a Buckeye debut. There is always room for a OSU player in the Heisman race. 

Joe Burrow (23/27 278 yards 5 TDs)

Burrow had a near perfect game, although it was against Georgia Southern. LSU will give him the platform and if he continues to put up games like this, he’ll be in the running.