What I Learned From Week 1 Of the College Football Season
With the first Saturday of college football officially in the books, it's time to dust off one of my favorite from columns from last season, my Sunday recap, which I've entitled, "20 Things I Learned From Another Saturday in College Football."
For those of you who've never read, "20 Thoughts," isn't just about who won and lost; honestly you can read that stuff anywhere. It's more, a recap of everything that ran through my mind, while I sat on the couch for 14 consecutive hours the previous Saturday. Who looked good and bad? Which announcers had the worst comments and why? Is Les Miles smarter than a fifth grader? 
Here are those 20 Thoughts on everything that happened, and if you enjoyed, be sure to come back next week for another 20 Thoughts. Also, feel free to add me on Twitter or download the AaronTorres-Sports App (for free!) for your iPhone or Android, for constant updates!
Enjoy...
1. The Most Impressive Team To Me Saturday Was...TCU: Now, I know from a strictly numbers standpoint, TCU wasn’t impressive. They were 13 point favorites, and only won by a touchdown. But it’s not that they won, or by how much, but how they did it.
Simply put, TCU wore down Oregon State with their running game. Actually, they didn’t wear them down, they overwhelmed them. Beat them down. Stepped on Oregon State’s throats and didn’t let their foot up until the final whistle blew. Seriously, think back to that game. Does one Oregon State play from the entire fourth quarter stand out? Probably not, which makes sense, since TCU won time of possession battle 39:23 to 20:37. I just wish I could’ve found the second half TOP totals, because if I had to guess, I’d say the Horned Frogs had the ball 75 percent of the time.
More importantly to me, how TCU won, is how you judge a championship team. Not what the final margin of victory is. Not how pretty you look doing it. But can you control the clock when you have to? If a team can run the ball late in games when the defense knows its coming, they can beat anyone. If they can’t, well, they're going to get tripped up somewhere along the way. It's just gonna happen.
TCU was able to do that Saturday night, and that’s why I like them to win the rest of the games on their schedule.
2. Speaking of TCU: After we saw Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and USC win ugly this weekend, there is no doubt in my mind that this is a Top 5 team. None. Zip. Zero.
What’s most impressive to me about TCU is the athletes they have. This may be a “small school,” but they’ve got guys that could play anywhere.
For my money, Jeremy Kerley is one of the 10 best receivers in college football. The guy can do it all. Run. Catch. Run after the catch. I know that his six catches last night might not have stood out to you, but they should have. Especially considering TCU basically don’t throw the ball the entire fourth quarter. Oh, and that punt return he had in the third quarter was pretty badass too.
As for everyone else, I already love Ed Wesley. He was one of the five biggest revelations of Week 1 to me. And not just because he had 17 carries for 134 yards, but that he earned every single one of those yards, on every single one of those carries. He definitely runs with an Adrian Peterson, “Why doesn’t my daddy love me,” anger to him.
Finally, there’s Andy Dalton. What can I say; the guy has got a huge set. He’s not an elite quarterback. He may never end up in the pros. But every single time that TCU needed him to make a play, he made one.
I already can’t wait to watch these guys the next time they’re on TV.
(On a side note, as I watched Gary Patterson pace the sideline in his glasses, visor and sweaty shirt sticking to his man boobs, it got me thinking: If the camera catches him really quick, I can’t decide if he looks more like a football coach, or the most successful player on the LPGA Tour. Just thinking out loud here.
3. The Most Surprisingly Impressive Team To Me This Weekend Was… Georgia: Again, not that they won, but how they did it.
When I first looked at this matchup, I saw the makings of one of those classic Georgia games where they come out flat, go into halftime with something like a 10-6 lead, and we’re all left thinking stuff like, “Are we sure Mark Richt has a pulse? Should we send the team doctor to check on him just incase?” Then they go on to an uninspired 27-9 win, and everyone feels like they wanted to see just a little more than they got.
Which is why yesterday was such a nice suprise. Instead of the uninspired stinker, you could make the case that Georgia was the best team in the SEC on Saturday. I know their 55-7 win was only against Louisiana-Lafayette (or as they apparently want to be called, just “Louisiana.” Sorry guys, but you forfeited the right for us to take you seriously when you chose the nickname “Rajin Cajuns.” You’re Louisiana-Lafayette. End of conversation.). On a day when Florida looked more wobbly than Lindsay Lohan after a few vodka tonics, Arkansas started off slow, and Auburn almost gave up 30 points to Arkansas State, Georgia looked pretty darn good by comparison.
As for the guys on the team, here are my assessments: Aaron Murray was more composed at quarterback than I expected. Caleb King ran like a guy that isn’t ready to give up the starting running back spot. And the defense flew all over the field, something you could never, ever say when Willie Martinez was coaching them last year (unless, of course, they were flying to the wrong spots, and missing tackles). And of course they did all this without Washaun Ealey or A.J. Green.
I didn’t think this before, but I do now: Georgia just might be the best team in the SEC East. We’ll find out when they play South Carolina this weekend.
4. The Most Disappointing Team To Me Saturday Was...UConn: Actually, this should read, "The Biggest Disappointment of Saturday, Was Me." Let me explain.
You see, I'm a UConn guy, went to the school, and have watched this program go from a hatchling, slowly opening its eyes in the morning sun, to the disappointment you saw yesterday. I even used to occassionally play poker with Dan Orlovsky, now of the Houston Texans. But I'll save that story for another day.
Anyway, since the days that I was on campus, the one thing that UConn never has never had an answer for was a scrambling quarterback. Not once. I even remember sitting in the bleachers at Rentschler Field in 2004, watching West Virginia's Rasheed Marshall run through the UConn defense like a hot knife through butter, and my buddy John saying, "It looks like someone's controlling him with a joystick."
Which is why it bugs me that I picked UConn to win Saturday's game. I should have known better. And I did know better as soon as I saw Denard Robinson take the ball on the opening drive, and run through the Huskies defense like Marshall did half a decade ago. Right then, five minutes into the game I knew UConn wasn't winning. As much as things change with this program, they stay the same.
As for the rest of the season, I truthfully still think UConn will win the Big East, if only because the rest of the conference was awful this weekend (I even half-joked with my buddy that the best Big East team over the weekend was Villanova... and they're a I-AA school...and they still lost!).
Yesterday was just a bad matchup for the Huskies. But I'm still pissed at myself for realizing that after one series, instead of before the game.
5. Staying With UConn, Can We Stop Calling Randy Edsall the "Most Underrated Coach In College Football?": Because he's not. At all.
You know what he is? A guy that's great when nobody expects anything from his team. But the second that there are actual expectations, he tightens up, and gets the same look on his face that Rex Ryan does, whenever someone asks him about his diet on Hard Knocks. And Edsall's team plays the same way.
That exact scenario has played out time and time again over the last 10 years. It happened every time UConn played West Virginia during the Rich Rodriguez era (quite honestly, at this point Rich Rod should just move into Edsall's house and start banging his wife. The guy owns Edsall that bad). It happened last year when the Huskies shocked Notre Dame in South Bend, then came back the following weekend and almost lost a lousy South Florida team, in the snow, two months before they fired their coach (Seriously, how the hell do you need a last second field goal to beat a team from South Florida when it's snowing out? How? Those guys wanted no part of that game! Half of them had never even seen snow before!). And it happened again Saturday.
Here's the thing that pisses me off the most about Michigan loss: Let's look at this realistically. You're UConn. You're on the road. Michigan's got a record crowd that's ready to explode the first time something good happens. So logically, wouldn't the smart move be to run the ball and try to take wind out of their sails? Especially when you're a power running team to begin with?
If Edsall's such an underrated coach, explain to me why UConn came out and threw a screen pass on the first play of the game? Are you kidding me! Isn't that playing into Michigan's strength?! Especially, since the Wolverines just switched to a 3-3-5 defense that emphasized speed over size, and is built to take away guys making plays in space? I'm not as smart as Edsall, but I know the first rule of coaching is this: The way to neutralize speed on defense is by running right at it. And when running right at people is already the strength of your team... Don't go away from that!!!
Regardless, this is going to sound callous, but I'm serious when I say it. Edsall has flirted with other jobs and other schools for the past two off-seasons, but you know what? I hope he leaves next year. Seriously. I never see this team getting beyond the "good with the ability to pull off an upset," threshold that he has them at right now. If he wants to walk, I'll be the first one to help him pack his bags.
6. I'd Be Remiss If I Didn't Mention LSU-UNC: Wow. What a game! Even my buddy Ryan McNeil - who cares as much about college football as I do about the Tawainese Pro Ping Pong Tour- was e-mailed to tell me how exciting it was. If every Saturday night is half as good as that one, we're in for one hell of a season.
As for the game, first off, you've got to feel terrible for everyone at UNC, but T.J. Yates in particular. This is a guy whose gotten more criticism than BP during the oil spill, and had to fight off Bryn Renner all fall camp. Yet there he was Saturday night, leading two fourth quarter touchdown drives, and was within a few yards of pulling off another, and the upset in the process.
Of course UNC only got that last chance because of an LSU fumble with under two minutes to go. So why did they fumble the ball you ask? Because for some reason, the Tigers decided to run a toss play out of the pistol formation, that's why. On the "Dumb, fourth quarter coaching chart," that play ranks right behind kicking a field goal down four points, as time expires.
This is random, but you know the old saying, "There are lies, there are damn lies and there are statistics?" Well I've got a new one for you. How's this sound: There is coaching, there is bad coaching and there is Les Miles." I like the ring to that.
7. One Final Thought From This Game: I'm just really glad that America got to see what kind of football player Patrick Petersen is. I've been on the guy since he nearly stole a win against Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year, and I even mentioned him in my 50 Reasons To Be Excited About College Football piece.
Last week I did a preview podcast with Michael Felder of InTheBleachers.net, where Michael said he thought Petersen was the best pure football player in the country. After last night, it's hard to disagree.
8. Staying In The SEC, Did You See Florida?: Good God they were bad.
Now look, I understand that they were breaking in a lot of new starters. And that one game doesn't define a season. And that a win is a win, no matter how ugly it is.
At the same time though, if I were a Florida fan I'd be worried. Mainly because, this offensive line was supposed to be the strength of this team, except, umm, they were worse than anyone yesterday.
It was bad. Miami- yes the same Miami team, that won one game last year- made big fourth down stops. They plugged holes on the run. And don't get me started on all the botched snaps. A quarterback and center should never have chemistry that bad. Well unless one stole the others girlfriend the night before kickoff or something.
Still, I think this all points to a bigger problem. I thought Kirk Herbstreit brought up a good point during the LSU-UNC broadcast, when he said that he believed this offense had never recovered from the loss of Dan Mullen two seasons ago. I'll take it one step further, because I don't think they've recovered since Percy Harvin left for the NFL at the same time.
I brought this up last year, and Florida fans didn't want to hear it, but it's true.
Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey can run all day, but only when they get the ball in space. Neither can make a catch, break one arm tackle and turn a three yard gain into a 60 yard touchdown like Harvin could. That's why last year's whole offense was centered on setting up third and short situations, so that Tim Tebow could bust through for first downs. With Tebow in Denver, what the hell are they going to do this year?
Obviously this is still a good team. They're not going 3-9 any time soon. But after watching them yesterday, I don't think they're the SEC East favorites either.
9. The Team That I Feel Most Sorry For After Saturday Is Cincinnati: Because they're not the same without Brian Kelly. They're just not. Yes they might be able to sneak eight wins, and stay in the Big East championship race. But the days of them going 11-1 or 12-0 and dominating the conference are done.
Watching them last night, this is the best analogy I can come up with: You know how when some girls break up with a long-term boyfriend, they just don't know what to do with themselves? They lie around in their sweats all day, their hair is messy and they always seem to have mascara running down their face? Take Sammi on the Jersey Shore for example. Ronnie put her in a perpetual funk. She may look the same as last season. She may sound the same. But she's just not the same person as she was last year. Anyone who watches Jersey Shore knows that.
That's like Cincinnati right now. Zach Collaros is still there. So is Armon Binns. And Isiah Pead. They look the same. Their uniform is no different. But they're just not the same players. Their body language isn't the same. Their swagger isn't there. They're just...different.
And unforunately, I don't see that changing at all any time soon.
10. Speaking of Brian Kelly, I Have Only One Thought On His Debut At Notre Dame: I was really impressed with the mental toughness that his team played with down the stretch. Which we all know is kind of a big deal, since in those last few years of the Charlie Weis era, "Notre Dame and mental toughness," went together about as well as my stomach and Mexican food. Which as anyone who knows me can attest, isn't good.
Sure the offense wasn't particularly crisp at Notre Dame Saturday. And the defense needs some work. But they made plays down the stretch when they had to. Which for Notre Dame is most definitely a sign of progress.
11. Ok, One More Thought On Notre Dame: The most underrated thing of that win is this: First off, Armando Allen looks like a totally different running back from last year. I don't know if he bought Devin Hester's shiftiness off Craigslist, or started using Jose Canseco's off-season workout regimen. I'm not sure. But he isn't the same Armando Allen. In a good way.
At the same time, you know why Allen looked so good? Because Michael Floyd- a potential All-American receiver- was upfield throwing vicious blocks. The guy may have been limited in the passing game, but nobody was more important in this win as Floyd was.
And for those of you who don't know much about new coach Brian Kelly, that's him in a nutshell. He doesn't care who you are, or what you may have done in the past. To play for him, you're giving up your personal stats, for the good of the team. Or you're not playing at all.
And that's why I've said all along that I think this school will win a lot of games with him as the head coach.
12. The Tweet Of The Day: Goes to me (naturally) when I described watching new Purdue quarterback Robert Marve this way: "Watching Robert Marve play quarterback is a lot like having sex with a regular girlfriend. Not great. Not terrible. About what you'd expect."
Come on, that's funny! So funny, that you should be following me on Twitter. You can do so by clicking here.
13. Quickly Going Back To Thursday: Is it too late for me to take back my "USC is a Top 10 team," proclomation? Please, can I have a mulligan?
Just kidding. Well sort of.
Personally, I think this team will be fine long term. But in the short term... Man the defense needs some work. Missed assignments, blown tackles, dumb penalties. Whatever they could do wrong, this defense basically did.
Lucikly if you're a USC fan, I don't think there's much to worry about. First off, you've got Monte Kiffin in charge of that defense. If there's one guy in college football that you want taking over a thin defense that is going to have rely on smarts as much as skills, it's him.
Second, as Bob Davie kept mentioning in the broadcast, they were playing Hawaii. The Warriors run a gimmicky offense. They've got intimidating fans that do intimidating dances. It's just a weird place to play a football game. Guaranteed, they don't see an Samoan warriors in face paint when they go to Pullman to play Washington State in a few weeks.
Finally, I trust Lane Kiffin. Remember, this guy lost to UCLA in Week 2 last year, then a month later his team was kicking the crap out of Georgia and South Carolina. He can coach, and I trust him to turn things around.
At the same time though, think he might overturn his "no tackling in practice," rule?
14. One Quick Thought On South Carolina: I'm still not buying them. Just yet.
Buuuuuut (And there's always a but, isn't there?) at the same time, Marcus Lattimore gives them a totally different dimension that they didn't have last year. He 
hits the hole hard, gets yards after contact. He's the exact guy that this team needed.
I'll reserve judgement on the Gamecocks until next weekend. But if South Carolina does win, Lattimore will play a prominent role. I can promise you that.
15. Onto The Announcing: Because honestly, it wasn't that bad. What a disappointment!
One thing I did notice during the Florida-Miami game was this: Chris Spielman sounds exactly, 147 percent like ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth. They're vocal identical twins. I don't know if they had the same second grade language arts teacher or what, but I'm convinced you could replace one with the other, and as long as you couldn't see their faces, you woldn't notice a difference.
16. Speaking Of Announcing: As I sat there watching the Memphis-Mississippi State game on ESPNU, I couldn't help but hear the color analyst, and notice that I knew his voice from somewhere. I just couldn't...quite...put my finger on it. Until I realized, "Wait a second, that's Herm Edwards!!" All of a sudden I was happier than JaMarcus Russell opening his medicine cabinet.
In all seriousness, can we please, please just have Herm Edwards broadcasting every game humanly possible? Monday night's, Tuesday night's, Saturday's. College. NFL. CFL. Whatever! I can't get enough of Herm!
You know what my favorite part about Herm's schtick is? He can't go two sentences without using the word, "football." It's freakin' hysterical.
For example, guys don't take the field. They take the "football field." They're not part of a team. "They're part of a football team." I know this sounds stupid, but I can't describe how funny it is. Just look out for it next time you see or hear Herm on TV. You won't be disappointed.
17. One More Note On Herm: Well, fine, if you're going to twist my arm!
I've got to say, that of all the announcing crews this weekend, Herm and whoever his partner was, had the worst chemistry by far. I'm pretty sure they have met 10 minutes before yesterday's game. They were constantly interrupting each other. There were long, awkward pauses. Honestly, it was like listening, to one, bad, three hour blind date.
You know, if on that blind date someone was using the word, "football," every other word.
18. My Favorite Commercial Of The Weekend Was Where Mack Brown and Nick Saban Play Genga: As Banja would say, "That's gold Jerry! Gold!"
Honestly, I can't decide where I've seen worse acting. In that commercial, or from Sasha Grey in this season of Entourage.
19. My One Thought On The Ole Miss Loss Is The Following: I'm lucky enough to be going to my first ever SEC football game on Septembe 18. Ole Miss-Vanderbilt. I've been looking forward to it for weeks.
But after yesterday's loss, I have no idea what to expect. Will everyone have given up on the season? Will they want Houston Nutt fired? The loss definitely put a new twist on the trip.
20. Finally, If You Thought This Week Was Exciting: Well daggummit, look at the slate for next Saturday!!
Georgia-South Carolina. Florida State-Oklahoma. Penn State-Alabama. Ohio State-Miami.
And I'll be back to do this all again next Sunday morning!
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