One of the things about Week Zero is that pretty much every game is noteworthy, so let’s just whip through them quick here.
Actually, apologies to UTEP, San José State, and Indiana State. Those weren’t all that noteworthy.
Illinois/Nebraska
Illinois has a path to 6-0, something that would require winning at Virginia and Purdue while beating Maryland at home. Even if we assume they lose to Penn State, Minnesota, and Iowa on the road and to Wisconsin and Northwestern in Champaign, they have seven winnable games, and it’s not impossible for them to steal a win elsewhere. 3-9’s still a possibility, but so is 8-5.
Nebraska, meanwhile…I’d be worried about that Buffalo game in two weeks, and it’s just hard to see a world where Scott Frost is still the coach next season, or a world in which this team even plays in a bowl game. It’s just one week, so maybe they’ll straighten it out, but what a terrible display. On the bright side, I guess they moved the ball fairly well at times? But the slop doesn’t seem to be an anomaly at this point.
UCLA
The Bruins did something we kind of thought they might do, which is obliterate Hawaii. They’re three and a half point underdogs at home against LSU, and as we wrote on Friday, if they win that one they could be a team of consequence in the Pac-12, and therefore nationally (though they’re massively unlikely to be a playoff contender of any sort themselves). More importantly, there’s still some reason to hope the Chip Kelly thing might work out.
Fresno State
It was UConn, but shutouts are good, and the West division in the Mountain West is fairly open.
North Carolina Central/Alcorn State
Well done by the MEAC and SWAC and these schools for setting this game up, well done by ESPN for recognizing it as a fun game to put under the spotlight, and well done by NCCU for the performance they put up, especially on special teams there in the fourth quarter. With NC A&T out of the MEAC, NCCU’s the conference favorite, and with Alcorn State right in the thick of the projected SWAC race, this could end up being rematched in the Celebration Bowl.
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Not a lot to say about UAB/Jacksonville State, but I’d imagine we’ll be back on Thursday, hopefully with some numbers regarding the College Football Playoff.
