Simon Clancy returns with his second column of the new college football season, casting his eye over the good and bad of week one’s action, as well as unearthing some more potential NFL candidates…

LEAD OFF
We’re back underway after a great opening weekend and some teams are already in mid-season form. Oklahoma and Ohio State, in particular, looked like the cream of the crop over the weekend, running up 63 and 77 points respectively.

The sourest of sour milks, however, was Tom Herman’s #23 Texas who conspired to lose to unranked Maryland – who played without a head coach due to DJ Durkin’s administrative leave – for the second year running. It was a bad week for Herman, who also admitted to attending a strip club with controversial Buckeyes assistant coach Zach Smith in 2014 and is now 11-10 in his last 21 games. Hard to see how he finishes out the season in Austin. The local press was damning in their analysis of the defeat, with a particularly cutting editorial in the Houston Chronicle that accused Herman of overwhelming arrogance. As Mack Brown sat in the ESPN studio, many Longhorn fans must have longed for the glory days of his tenure.

Elsewhere, the SEC looked as mighty as expected, going 13-1 across the weekend – Tennessee the only loser – whilst the PAC-12 looked the weakest of the Power 5 conferences and it was an inauspicious start for Chip Kelly, who started with a loss to Cincinnati. The Bruins face Oklahoma this weekend in a game that could get ugly early, especially if Kelly is forced to start the same eleven true freshmen as he was against the Bearcats.

Last week, I tipped Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence to win the Heisman in this column – and on the podcast – but did I choose the wrong young passer? Tua Tagovailoa’s performance against Louisville looked ominous for the rest of the country as he proved that Alabama have probably the best quarterback in college football to go along with the rest of that number one ranked team. Don’t be surprised to see Jalen Hurts transfer before the end of the season. He’s too good to be a back-up. One footnote to the passer conundrum in Tuscaloosa: don’t ask Nick Saban about his QBs after an astonishingly testy reply to ESPN reporter Maria Taylor’s totally justifiable question after their shellacking of the Cardinal.

THIS AND THAT
No Power 5 team should ever schedule Appalachian State – and especially not in the opening game of the season. Eleven years to the day since arguably the most shocking upset in college football history – when the Mountaineers beat Michigan in the Big House – they took #10 Penn State to OT and missed a 56-yard FG that would have won the game at the end of regulation. Wisconsin beware: they’ve scheduled Scott Satterfield’s well-coached outfit early in the 2020 season……

We said it on the podcast last week but, if Michigan and Washington played each other, they’d each find a way to lose. Jim Harbaugh and Chris Peterson simply can’t win the big game. Washington may well have seen their playoff dreams end in week one thanks in large part to Auburn’s front seven, who dominated in crunch time. More worrying for Wolverine fans was the archaic offensive attack and a dreadful outing by the offensive line……

Elsewhere, LSU dominated Miami on Sunday night in Dallas. Defensively, the Tigers looked the match of anyone, but perhaps the story of the night was the running game led by Nick Brossette. One of the most lauded recruits in Louisiana high school history, he ran for 141 touchdowns in his prep career, 23 more than anyone else has ever done. Yet his 50-yard score in the second quarter was his first for the Bayou Bengals. And he’s a senior! Meanwhile, Brossette’s backfield mate Lanard Fournette sounds like they slapped a fake moustache on brother Leonard and trotted him out to play in the hope that the Hurricanes wouldn’t notice….

Looking for NFL talent? LSU LG Garrett Brumfield had a big night against the Hurricanes. He looked special at times, against a very good Miami line……

Mike Leach is a national treasure. First of all, he debuted a stunning formation against Wyoming, with the slot receiver playing centre and pitching the ball to the up-back on consecutive plays. He later tweeted that he’d been working with a Microsoft engineer and Cougar grad on the play which he said was called ‘the Big Gulp’ after a friend of his. Then in the post-game press conference, when asked about playing at elevation – Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium is 7,215 feet above sea level – he segued into a 90-second speech on jack rabbits, forest fires and jackalopes…..

Wasn’t a great start to the season for one Heisman hopeful running back: Stanford’s Bryce Love had 18 carries for 28 yards in the Cardinal’s 31-10 win over San Diego State…… Alabama may have beaten Louisville convincingly on Saturday night but Nick Saban was visibly annoyed by the play of his defense who seemed confused at times and committed way too many penalties…… Dark-horse candidate in the Big 10? Northwestern. They have the longest win streak of any Power 5 team – nine games – and, in Clayton Thorson, they have an NFL-calibre QB, albeit one coming back from an ACL tear. They play Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Notre Dame at home……

Speaking of quarterbacks, Wake Forest’s true freshman Sam Hartman went 31-51 for 378 yards in the OT victory over Tulane and looked very assured in doing so….. We mentioned UCF’s McKenzie Milton as a Heisman candidate on the podcast and he showed exactly why in the 56-17 beat down of UCONN. He’s as exciting to watch as any QB in the nation…… Kansas lost to little Nicholls State. The defeat left Jayhawks coach David Beatty with a 3-34 record in three seasons…… You want excitement? Rondale Moore of Purdue had 313 all-purpose yards against Northwestern, including a ridiculous 76-yard run that reminded me of Ohio State Ted Ginn. Moore, a true freshman joined the Boilermakers after de-committing from, you guessed it, Tom Herman’s Texas….

GAME OF THE WEEK
There are no real standout games this weekend, but perhaps the most intriguing is Clemson’s visit to College Station to take on Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M. The Aggies rolled past Northwestern State in their opener, but Dabo Swinney’s team will be a far better indicator of where Fisher’s squad is at and what sort of players he needs to recruit. Kellen Mond will need a Johnny Manziel type performance if they’re to stand much of a chance against a Tiger side who never needed to get out of second gear to ease past Furman. The biggest issue for Swinney is how much longer he can keep Trevor Lawrence under wraps. The true freshman came in against the Paladins and quickly threw three touchdowns as well as a couple of big-time NFL type throws, including an 18-yard out to Trevion Thompson that would have made Aaron Rodgers salivate. It would be tough on the excellent Kelly Bryant, but the Cartersville kid looks like Clemson’s best route to the National Championship. Gridiron Prediction: Clemson win.

BACK-UP GAME OF THE WEEK
Looking for a week two upset special? How about Arizona State over Michigan State. The Spartans limped past Utah State in their opener, whilst the Herm Edwards era got off to a very positive start thanks, in part, to a player I’ll discuss in a moment. If the Sun Devils can back that up and upset Brian Lewerke’s rhythm, and Mark Dantonio’s team turn in the same sort of flaccid performance that they did against the Aggies on Friday night, then there could be a shock.

NFL WATCH
That Arizona State player is wide receiver N’Keal Harry who, at 6’4 and 216lbs, looks like he has the chance to be the first receiver drafted next spring. He’ll need another big game.

Ed Oliver is the best player in college football and has already said he’ll be declaring after the season. He had 13 tackles in the opener, which is remarkable for an interior defensive lineman. He’s the next Aaron Donald.

Keep an eye on Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald, who makes his debut this weekend against Kansas State. Coming off a badly broken ankle and a week one suspension, he has a number of fans amongst the NFL scouting community. How he will look given those variables and Joe Moorhead’s new offense remains to be seen, but he’s more highly regarded than the last Bulldogs passer, one Dak Prescott.

Of the few bright sparks in Miami’s upset loss against LSU, DT Gerald Willis was comfortably the shiniest. At times he was dominant and, if he’s overcome some of the off-field issues that saw him kicked off the Gators and take a leave of absence from the Hurricanes to counter anger management issues, he could fly up draft boards. A clean prospect with his talent would be a top 12 pick.

HEISMAN FIVE
Understandably, there’s some manoeuvring from our first poll. Tagovailoa jumps to the top of the charts and there are new entries for QBs McKenzie Milton, Dwayne Haskins and Will Grier. Haskins, in his first start, went 22-30-313 yards and five touchdowns – the most yards and touchdowns ever by a Buckeye QB making his first start. Grier was even better, going 25-34-429 yards and five scores. Lawrence stays in the top five in essence because he will rise as the season continues and we don’t want to be accused of bandwagoning!

1. Tua Tagovailoa – Alabama (4)
2. Will Grier – West Virginia (-)
3. Dwayne Haskins – Ohio State (-)
4. Trevor Lawrence (1)
5. Jonathan Taylor – Wisconsin (2)
Wildcard: McKenzie Milton (-)
Dropping out: Bryce Love, Jake Fromm

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