The best, worst and what we learned from the first week of college football season
College football's opening weekend has come and gone. With no NFL games on the docket, college football games were spread across the long Labor Day weekend from Thursday through Monday ― and it was glorious.
There were a few spicy matchups, but there were also some duds.
So, what were the lessons learned from Week 1? Columnist Berry Tramel and Jenni Carlson discuss.
Berry: My biggest takeaway is that the Southeastern Conference is better than ever. Georgia's dominance ― beating Oregon 49-3 made me wonder if every other team in America would lay downs it swords. Florida's potential revival ― the Gators seem to live in dysfunction, but the Billy Napier Era began with a rousing upset of Utah. Arkansas' solidarity ― the Razorbacks beat Cincinnati in one of the best games of Saturday, meaning Sam Pittman's rebuilding continues quite well. And I haven't even mentioned Alabama yet.
Jenni: One of the few knocks on the SEC in recent years has been how top heavy it's been. Alabama and Georgia have been great, but the likes of Tennessee and Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M fell off. And while that Florida win was legit and that Arkansas win was nice, I'm not ready to say the depth of the SEC is as good as it could be. Just don't know that we can put a bunch of stock in Tennessee routing Ball State or Texas A&M beating Sam Houston. (Maybe this is just me crying out for Power Five programs to schedule better nonconference games.)
More:How a Bedlam bet turned an OU football fan's yard into an Oklahoma State field
Berry: That's what you get in Week 1 of college football. Some good games, not nearly enough. You take what you can get. And here's something else we got. Great games in the Big Ten. The Big Ten has staged three conference games already, and two were down-to-the-wire and the other was Northwestern's upset of Nebraska. Indiana rallied to beat Illinois and Penn State rallied to win at Purdue. Now, chances are Ohio State and Michigan will play darn few close games. But if the rest of the league is like the early returns, the Big Ten will be entertaining this season.
Jenni: The Big 12 had only one game that was entertaining ― West Virginia snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against Pitt ― but I still liked what I saw out of the league's teams. The other nine teams had commanding victories. All were by at least two touchdowns, and seven of the nine were by 30 points or more. Yes, that's what teams should do against inferior opponents, which all nine were, but it doesn't always happen that way. Big 12 teams (yes, Kansas included) put their foot on teams' throats and didn't let up.
Berry: Very little about the Big 12 was relevant. West Virginia was about it. For a league that managed to salvage something, go to the Pac-12. Utah and Oregon losing like they did ― excruciatingly close for the Utes, excruciatingly not close for the Ducks ― put a damper on the league. But here came also-rans Oregon State and Arizona to save the day. The Beavers dominated Boise State and the Wildcats dominated San Diego State. Two traditionally strong mid-majors that, interestingly, have been mentioned as potential expansion candidates for the Pac-12.
Jenni: Count me out of any the-Pac-12-did-something-good talk. But you know what I liked most? The grand finishes. Florida State giving up a late lead to LSU, then blocking the game-tying extra point with no time on the clock to win. Pitt winning with a pick-six in the last three minutes. Old Dominion (Old Dominion!) scoring the game-winning touchdown with 33 seconds left to beat Virginia Tech (Virginia Tech!). Nonconference games like that are what college football need more of. That's a lesson it should have learned long ago.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: College football: SEC dominance, Big Ten competitiveness caught eyes
