2024 College Football - Week 1 Recaps

14 glorious hours on Saturday (and 3.5 ok hours Sunday and Monday)

There were 68 college football games on Saturday and Sunday and we watched all of it. Here’s what stood out to us. (check out our Thur/Fri recaps here if you missed it)

Penn State 34, West Virginia 12

Andy: Both teams got out to a slow start, but Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions found their groove in the second quarter. There was a long lightening delay in this one, but PSU didn’t let that slow them down, as they scored on the first possession after returning from the delay.

Clemson 3, Georgia 34

Andy: Another slow start here, with a 0-6 halftime score, but the Dawgs dominated the second half, leaving no doubt about which of these teams is a true contender. There are real doubts about whether Dabo can recapture the magic in this new era without utilizing the transfer portal.

Virginia Tech 27, Vanderbilt 34

Andy: A real back and forth contest here with Vandy getting out to a 17-3 lead before VT came back in the second half to take a late lead. Vanderbilt was able to tie it up and force OT, where they eventually won. Vandy was a dog of almost 2 TDs, but transfer QB Deigo Pavia showed that they shouldn’t be counted out, at least not until they get to the SEC schedule.

Miami 41, Florida 17

Andy: Miami drove down the field for a TD on their first possession (helped by a roughing penalty) and never looked back. I’ll feel really good about my pick for UM to win the ACC if Cam Ward can keep playing like this. My biggest question from this one is why was Ward still playing in the 4th quarter? And Florida might not even be that bad. They get a break this week with Samford, but after that they have the toughest schedule in the country, so could be a long year for them.

Akron 6, Ohio State 52

Andy: Not a lot of surprise here with the final score, but it did take OSU and transfer QB Will Howard a while to get warmed up. But once all cylinders were firing, Akron just couldn’t hang. I don’t know that we learned much about Ohio State from this one, and probably won’t until they visit Oregon in October.

Eastern Michigan 28, UMass 14

Andy: I didn’t actually watch any of this one, but Danny begged the other guys not to lay points with UMass and I bet they wish they’d listened. Looks like another long season for the Minutemen.

Sam Houston State 34, Rice 14

Andy: SHSU +10 was my favorite bet of the week, and it was never in doubt. The Bearkats jumped out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

Nevada 28, Troy 26

Andy: Longtime readers might remember that Nevada was my favorite team to bet on last year, because they rarely won, but often covered. We’ve bet on them twice this year and we’re 2-0, which is great, but I actually wish they hadn’t won, as it could affect our ability to keep getting value. Great win for the Pack though. Jeff Choate has them moving in the right direction quickly, and former Colorado QB Brendan Lewis seems to have taken a big step forward. He’s already thrown more touchdowns in 2 games than he did all of last season.

Notre Dame 23, Texas A&M 13

This was a dog fight for most of the game, but someone has to win and Riley Leonard and Notre Dame outlasted his old coach, Mike Elko. I wouldn’t take too much away from this win on either side. This are still both good football teams, but not on the same level with the really elite programs like Georgia and Texas.

Fresno State 10, Michigan 30

With a new head coach and new quarterback(s?), it shouldn’t be a surprise that Michigan needed to knock some rust off. Ultimately, they did find a way to win (although not to cover). Their defense will be ok, but there are some question marks on offense, especially at the quarterback position. They’ll need to get right quick with Texas coming to the Big House

Idaho 14, Oregon 24

Oregon is another school breaking in a new quarterback, and also had to knock some rust off. They also found a way to win, but it wasn’t pretty. Their week 2 matchup will be easier than Michigan’s, but Boise State is no pushover and Ashton Jeanty is a legitimate Heisman candidate.

UCLA 16, Hawaii 13

I always try not to overreact after week 1, but this is one of the hardest spots for me to do that. I saw Hawaii struggle against Delaware State in week 0, and UCLA was lucky to come away with a win. For now, we’ll chalk it up to the trip to the island, but if they put up a few more performances like that, I’ll have to downgrade UCLA (not that they were that high to begin with, but certainly higher than Hawaii)

New Mexico 39, Arizona 61

This was a really fun, late-night chase. New Mexico once again showed some fight, keeping it within 3 points in the first half. Ultimately, the superior talent of Arizona allowed them to pull away, but New Mexico got the cover. And losing while covering is even better for us to preserve the value on the Lobos going forward.

Wyoming 7, Arizona State 48

This was significantly less fun, as Wyoming never looked to be in the same class as ASU. Again, we’re trying not to overreact, but if I had to take something away from this game, I think it would be that the Cowboys are bad, more than that the Sun Devils are good.

USC 27, LSU 20

Danny texted the group during this game saying that it was hard to watch after watching soccer. While I’m just happy that football is back, I do get his point. When you have teams using the full play clock, and then a commercial between each possession, it can get a little slow. It was less obvious on Saturday when there were other games to check-in on, but in a standalone game, it stood out. Maybe Brian Kelly’s inability to win a big first game is a karmic punishment for abusing the play clock?

BC 28, FSU 13

When your coach comes out after the game and apologizes to the fans, you know it’s bad. And while most of us were focused on how bad DJU is, he’s far from the only reason they lost this game. Norvel seems to have missed on a lot of transfers, but it’s still really early in the year. Hopefully they can coach them up and give this team an identity, or they’re in for a really long season. (Also a shame that we have to talk about how bad FSU is, because it would be much more fun to praise Thomas Castellanos)

There you have our Week 1 recap! Let us know your thoughts in the comments!