It was an interesting weekend of college football on opening weekend. I was able to watch the Iowa-Northern Illinois game and the second half of the New Mexico-UTSA game. Both were pretty disappointing.
I went to Spectators here in Albuquerque, they play all of the Iowa football games. It was my first time there, it was a lot of fun, it was cool seeing so many Iowa fans together in Albuquerque. The outcome wasn't what we had hoped for, but I thought there were some signs of improvement for Iowa compared to last year.
The Hawkeyes found themselves down 10-0 late in the first quarter and Northern Illinois and Jordan Lynch had the ball, looking to add to the lead. Senior linebacker, Christian Kirksey, forced a fumble and rumbled in from 52 yards for Iowa's first touchdown of the season. The Hawkeyes offense started clicking in the second quarter and they took a 24-17 lead into halftime. Things were looking up, Jake Rudock had nearly 200 yards and they racked up 302 total yards.
The second half the Hawkeyes offense wasn't able to get anything going, Rudock struggled a bit and the defense just couldn't hold on. Rudock threw a costly pick with about a minute left and the Huskies capitalized with a late second field goal to seal the win 30-27.
Here's my breakdown on positions.
QB: Jake Rudock looked pretty sharp for his first game, he kind of has a weird delivery, doesn't look that smooth, but made some great passes. He hit Damond Powell on a nice toss for 49 yards, and also hit Jordan Cotton on a flea-flicker for a nice gain. It was to see some throws downfield. I was happy they took a shot on 3rd and 1 with a long throw, they didn't connect, but it was nice to see them give it a shot. Overall, I was pretty pleased with Rudock's game besides the interception at the end. He was nearly picked on similar plays throughout the game.
RB: Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock both looked pretty good and provide a decent 1-2 punch. I would have liked to see Canzeri in there a little more, he ran twice and the lanes closed pretty quickly on both runs. I think he should have got a couple more carries to see what he could do. Bullock had a huge drop late in the game that could have been a nice gain and a first down.
WR: Kevonte Martin-Manley was fantastic in the game, seemed like he was everywhere. He ended up with nine grabs. Damond Powell made a nice adjustment on an underthrown ball for a huge gain, but mis-judged a nice toss later in the game. Don Shumpert had at least one more drop that I can remember. He probably has more drops than catches in his career. I think he would have been better off in the secondary, athletic guy with good size, could have been a good safety possibly. It was good to see some of the younger guys, Riley McCarron, Jacob Hillyer, Tevaun Smith. None of them were amazing, but they each had a catch. Jordan Cotton had a nice game, too.
TE: The tight ends weren't targeted much in the game, but I did see at least four of them play. C.J. Fiedorowicz was the only one with a catch, he had yeo, one for a td.
OL: The OL looked pretty sharp in the first half, I don't remember Rudock getting hit at all until later in the game. It was scary to see Scherff go down, luckily he was back in during the next drive. I think the line did a solid job as the Hawks averaged around 5 yards per carry, which is very respectable. The pass protection looked pretty solid, but seemed to wear down later in the game. The guard play will need to step up though as the season goes on.
DL: The DL is still very young with DE Dominic Alvis being the only senior. The line didn't get much pressure on the Lynch, but they did a very nice job against the run and held Lynch in check on the ground. I was really hoping to see Carl Davis make some big plays, but he was fairly quiet all day. Also saw him limping a bit, he's a huge guy. I saw Nate Meier in there quite a bit, and Drew Ott did a nice job at DE.
LB: The LB crew I thought played very well. Kirksey and Hitchens combined for nearly 30 tackles, Hitchens seemed like he was all over the place. Morris made some nice tfl and Kirksey had a huge td that gained the Hawkeyes momentum. Saw Quinton Alston and Travis Perry in the game at times, too.
DB: The secondary has a long way to go. The two safeties, Tanner Miller and Johnny Lowdermilk weren't really too impressive. B.J. Lowery had a couple rough plays, but he appeared to be dinged up a bit. Jordan Lomax needs to improve, saw true freshmen, Desmond King in the game and he didn't do too bad from what I saw. Took me a few plays to realize who it was out there.
Special Teams: Mike Meyer is a great kicker, didn't miss at all, he's been very consistent. Punter, Connor Kornbrath, didn't look very good. Had a terrible shank in the first half. The coverage teams looked pretty good, saw Cotton and Gavin Smith make some nice tackles on punt coverage and true freshmen, Jonathan Parker downed a punt pinning the Huskies deep in their onw territory. Cotton didn't seem to accelerate on his kick returns and didn't do anything flashy. KMM looked pretty good as the PR.
Overall, I think the Hawkeyes could be a decent team this year and could bounce back and make a bowl game. It's going to be tough, but I think they can do it. And Iowa State lost to Northern Iowa, so that made life a little easier after Iowa's loss.
I was driving home and drove by University Stadium here in Albuquerque right at halftime of the New Mexico-UTSA game. Lobos were up 13-7 and I noticed a lot of people leaving. It's disappointing to not see the support for the football team, I think Bob Davie is a great coach and is going to turn New Mexico around. I watched the second half on tv and their offense looked awful. QB Cole Gautsche has a long way to go in the passing game, he did have a sharp td pass to Marquis Bundy though. He also ran for 118 yards, but RB Kasey Carrier struggled, only picking up 54 yards on 20 carries. I thought the OL would be a strong point for UNM, but they struggled. The defense looked pretty good throughout the game, but still have a lot of work. It's hard to say where the Lobos will end up in the conference.
I didn't get to watch any games really besides those two, but saw a lot of highlights. I was 6-4 on my predictions, I did miss the Iowa-N. Ill game and UNM-UTSA. I also thought Georgia would knock off Clemson, what a great game.
Here's my new top 25 after the first week of games.
1-Alabama
2-Ohio State
3-Clemson
4-Oregon
5-South Carolina
6-Texas A&M
7-Stanford
8-Florida State
9-Florida
10-LSU
11-Michigan
12-Oklahoma
13-Georgia
14-Louisville
15-Notre Dame
16-Texas
17-Northwestern
18-Oklahoma State
19-UCLA
20-Wisconsin
21-USC
22-Nebraska
23-Washington
24-Fresno State
25-Northern Illinois
Surprise teams of the week
Louisville: I wasn't sure why many people had them in the top 10, but they dominated a pretty good Ohio team. Teddy Bridgewater will be a legit Heisman candidate.
Oklahoma State: They did a great job dominating Mississippi State. They could make a nice run this year with their schedule.
Nebraska: They almost lost to Wyoming, (I wish they had, I really don't like them) but they held on to win by three. I predicted them to win the Legends division, but they'll need to step up or they might end up third.
Washington: I predicted them to beat Boise, but not that bad. They destroyed the Broncos! Look out Pac-12, Washington could be the real deal.
San Diego State: They made me look stupid, I had them winning 10 games this year, but they ended up getting smacked around by Eastern Illinois. I love Rocky Long, hope they can bounce back.
Top games of this week
Not a lot of big marquee matchups, but there are some good games.
Florida State at Pittsburgh: Florida State should be a solid team this year and will compete with Clemson for the division title. Pittsburg is the new guy in town in the ACC and could be decent. Florida State 31 Pittsburgh 21
Florida at Miami: I think this will be a great game, Miami is looking pretty good, possibly a top 25 team. Florida has a lot of talent, too. I think Miami will just fall short. Florida 24 Miami 21
Oregon at Virginia: Virginia knocked off BYU, which was surprising to me, and Oregon was Oregon. Oregon 45 Virginia 14
South Carolina at Georgia: Both teams looked good week one, but Clowney is going to have to step up this week. Aaron Murray didn't throw any td's in a close loss to Clemson. Georgia needs a win to avoid going 0-2 and I think they will. Georgia 27 S. Carolina 17
Notre Dame at Michigan: This should be a good one! Both teams were sharp in their tune up games heading into this week. Gotta go with Michigan with the homefield advantage. Michigan 31 Notre Dame 28
San Jose State at Stanford: I really like San Jose State and I think they could hit double digit wins, but this game will be too tough. Stanford 34 San Jose State 17
Not a big game, but Missouri State at Iowa: I think Iowa will roll and we'll get to see a backup QB finally get a snap. Iowa 45 Missouri State 10
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