Week 1 Thoughts

College football was back and in full swing this past weekend. We learned a lot about many teams and conferences throughout the nation. Here are some of my thoughts upon digesting the past week.

• What an incredible game last night between UCLA and Tennessee. This game really got me for the first time in the weekend remember how spectacular college football is. UCLA's QB Craft was absolutely terrible in the first half, but after Norm Chow tightened some screws and Rick Neuheisel spoke with Craft at halftime he was able to turn the game around. Craft turned an awful night into a legendary performance to finish the game. UCLA's defense looked great. Their schemes and pressure on Crompton seemed to rattle the offense for the Vols. It looks like Slick Rick is going to be making a splash sooner rather than later this season in the NCAA.
• Along with the UCLA victory, there's another defeat to the SEC's Vols by the PAC 10 in season openers.
  
• Alabama had the most impressive game of the weekend when they pummeled Clemson in Atlanta. The potent rushing attack of the Clemson Tigers gained 0 yards on the ground on Nick Saban's Tide squad. It seems that season 2 may be the breakout season for Saban at Alabama. On the same note, this was a very disappointing game for Tommy Bowden and Clemson. This may be a sign of the competitive differences between the SEC and the ACC or it could simply be 2 programs heading in different directions.
• While the SEC got it's signature win on Saturday night at the hands of Alabama, the conference as a whole had a few stains on the resume. Mississippi State lost to Louisiana Tech over the weekend as well as Tennessee losing to underdog UCLA. However the most surprising final came from Fayetteville where Arkansas barely held off Western Illinois 28-24.
  
• The Pac Ten however put up the best showing of the weekend. USC put on their annual out of conference early in the season rout by crushing Virginia in Charlottesville. Arizona leads the nation in offense and defense after beating Idaho 70-0. UCLA had an impressive win yesterday over Tennessee, and Cal was able to hold off a strong Michigan State team on Saturday. Both those games made the PAC 10 the dominant conference, at least for the first week.
• Oregon State had a very upsetting loss to Stanford on Thursday. Not only did they out gain the Cardinal 490-301, but they fumbled the ball into the endzone at the end of the game for a touchback to seal the loss. Oregon State will be a good team this year despite the loss.
• Stanford however showed that they may be a bowl bound team this season. This weekend's game in the desert against Arizona State will tell a lot about both those programs.
• Utah deserves more credit for their victory over Michigan than they're getting. It's true Michigan looked really bad, but Utah looked impressive. Anytime you can knock off Michigan in the Big House, it's something to hang your hat on. Michigan is going to have many bumps in the road this season until they can find their quarterback.
• The biggest upset of the weekend happened in Mike Sherman's debut for Texas A&M as Arkansas State knocked off the Aggies in College Station. Sherman should get plenty of feedback from the Aggie faithful about his teams performance last week.
  
• Never buy into hype surrounding Pittsburgh as long as Dave Wannstedt is the head coach.
• Maryland could be pretty bad this year after almost losing it's opener at home against a Joe Flaccoless Deleware squad.
• Steve Kragthorpe may not last the rest of the season at Louisville if his team puts up performances like they did against Kentucky on Sunday.
• Lastly this could be an impressive season for Mid Majors. Fresno State, Utah, and BYU all look like they will put up fantastic seasons. This past weekend mid majors posted nice victories when: Fresno State beat Rutgers, Arkansas State beat Texas A&M, La Tech beat Mississippi State, Utah beat Michigan, East Carolina beat Virginia Tech, and Bowling Green beat Pittsburgh