The college football season is almost upon us! Kick back, pull up a chair and read our insights as we dive into week one of the 2015 college football season. TSS Associate Editors Bart Doan and Terry Johnson join staff writer Kevin Causey and special rotating guests in our weekly roundtable discussing all things college football.
Yesterday, we discussed the biggest storylines of week one. Today we talk about the games. Joining us is TSS writer and the man behind The Next Wave Football, Ryan Palencer….
Question: What week one game are you most looking forward to?
Ryan Palencer:
On Twitter @RyanPalencer
I’m looking forward to Arizona State at Texas A&M.
Coming off a strong campaign last season, Arizona State brings back a ton of talent and looks for even bigger things in 2015. After struggling early on last season, Texas A&M really picked it up late and looked like a dangerous team. The Aggies’ dangerous vibe continues into this season as they look to wreck opening weekend for the Sun Devils.
It was a youth movement for Texas A&M last season, but that talent comes back with experience under their belt. Kyle Allen has the look of a real team leader to follow his talent and we will see early on how important the addition of John Chavis was to the Aggie defense. That squad will be thrown to the fire early with an explosive Arizona State offense who has won 20 games over the past two seasons for Todd Graham.
Bart Doan:
On Twitter @TheCoachBart
Eternal bragging rights are on the line for Show-Me State supremacy when Missouri and Southeast Missouri State lace ’em up and … never mind.
Week One offers a decent set of games to look forward to, either because of brand name value that you don’t see often (Texas @ Notre Dame), compelling off-field story lines (Chris Petersen returns to the program he helped elevate to uncharted heights with his new team), or just straight out curiosity (Jim Harbaugh at Michigan against powerful Utah).
If you take away the “I’m looking forward to seeing my damn team play, that’s who” logic, I don’t think you can go wrong with Wisconsin and Alabama in Dallas. The game might end in 2.5 hours with all the smashing it down one anothers’ pipes both will likely plan on doing. There have been few more consistent programs over, say, the last decade or so than these two. There have been no real harrowing dry spells for either. There won’t be. This is a rare meeting of two schools with similar identities and mounds of recent success in their respective regions. And obviously, whoever wins will get the benefit of the hyperbole doubt in stupid conference tinkling match arguments.
Kevin Causey:
On Twitter @CFBZ
3:30 on CBS from the Georgia Dome….Louisville against Auburn.
Auburn looks like one of the most overrated teams in college football to start the season. Last year they struggled to an 8-5 record. This year they are suddenly a Top 10 team? Pump the brakes a bit….
The reason why Auburn is being so highly rated this year is because Will Muschamp has taken over the defense. Muschamp is a fantastic defensive coach but these things take time. Auburn also is facing an offensive mastermind in Bobby Petrino. The chess-match between Muschamp and Petrino will be one that I will be closely monitoring during the first weekend of college football (not to mention Gus Malzahn vs Todd Grantham).
Another interesting bit about this game is Louisville is flying a bit under the radar. They lost a lot of talent but they are being unnecessarily underrated a bit because they got hammered by Georgia in their bowl game. We have a overrated Auburn team against an underrated Louisville team. These teams are more evenly matched than the rankings will show.
Yet another interesting thing to watch is all of the new blood that will be playing for Louisville. Nobody loves second chances more than Bobby Petrino and he has handed them out like his life depended on it. Josh Harvey-Clemons, Devonte Fields, Shaq Wiggins. I’m sure I’m missing some but what will be intriguing is how they fit in with the Ville and how much of an impact they can have starting with game one.
Terry Johnson:
On Twitter @SectionTPJ
Yesterday, I wrote that Michigan – Utah and Texas A&M – Arizona State would produce the week 1’s biggest headlines.
Since I’ve already broken down those contests, I’ll say that Ohio State at Virginia Tech is the most intriguing game remaining on the docket.
Make no mistake about it: this epic clash will be every bit as entertaining as last year’s edition was. It pits the explosive Buckeye offense – which finished in the top 10 in scoring and total offense – against a solid Hokie defense that returns eight starters from a unit that ranked among the nation’s best in sacks, tackles for a loss, third-down conversion percentage, and red zone defense. It’ll be interesting to see what adjustments Urban Meyer makes against the Virginia Tech secondary, which limited OSU to just 9 of 29 passing last season
I don’t know how that battle is going to shake out, but it’ll be one of the more captivating matchups of the season.
Labor Day can’t get here soon enough.
