College Football Week 1: What Games to Watch
Thank baby Jesus. Week one of college football has arrived. Its been a long ass summer of heat and sweat and all other kinds of crazy summer stuff. But the week has finally come where college football takes off. I can not wait to wake up Saturday morning and turn my tv on to College GameDay. That right there will start the season for me. Now for those who are not that passionate of college football, just give it a damn shot. It will be harder for you because I’m assuming if you don’t watch it now then that means you don’t have any passion or tradition for the college teams that you root for. But that’s really what college football is. Let me sum it up for you. Back in high school imagine everyone going to the football games. Imagine that your entire school and town cared about the football team. Just picture one big party with all your friends before the game and after the game. Imagine that your team is the best in the country and that every week you expect a win. That is college football ladies and gents. So if you don’t have any deep roots for a certain team, I can guide you the rest of the year and you will become an Aggie. My kids aren’t even conceived yet but let me tell you this. They don’t have a choice when it comes to what college team to root for. A&M or bust baby! With all of that in mind, lets take a look at what games to watch week one of the season.
#11 Michigan VS #17 Florida 3:30pm Saturday 9/2 ABC
Oh baby this is going to be a fun game to watch. I always love to watch SEC vs BIG10 teams square off. I haven’t really decided who I’m going to root for yet. On one hand, I shoot root for the SEC team because the SEC really is the better conference and you are full of old moldy nacho cheese if you don’t think so. On the other hand I shoot root for Michigan because they use to have one QB that was decent enough to win a couple games (Tom Brady aka the freaking GOAT). In all honesty I think that Michigan gets the win here. They have the better coach and just the better program overall the past few years. Florida definitely improved last year but they haven’t figured out who their starting QB. There was a report last week that they are considering playing all 3 and to me that doesn’t sound to good. Prediction Michigan 34 Florida 17
#22 West Virginia vs #21 Virginia Tech 7:30pm Sunday 9/3 ABC
A rivalry game to start the season? I love it! This is going to be an interesting game. Both teams have some potential to make some noise in their conferences but they’ll have to take down some big guns in the conference to really impress. Looking back at last years squads, West Virginia struggled at times. They lost their bowl game to Miami and they got absolutely punished by then ranked #9 Oklahoma 56-28. Both teams will have new starters at QB so that is going to be a key area to watch. West Virginia has transfer Will Grier starting for them. You may remember him as the guy that led Florida to a 6-0 record a few years back and then got suspended for PEDs. Virginia Tech has redshirt freshman Josh Jackson starting for them, Jackson won the starting position this summer. Now when I first saw this game I thought that Virginia Tech would get the win. They almost took down the national champ in Clemson last year, losing 42-35. Now that I have had some time to think, I’m going for the team that will have the better QB play and that is going to be West Virginia. In the game of football, experience is everything and Grier has that. Prediction West Virginia 40 Virginia Tech 27
#3 Florida State VS #1 Alabama 8:00pm Saturday 9/2 ABC
This game is HUGE. College GameDay is traveling to Atlanta to start their season there. This is the highest ranked game for the opening week of college football in history. It better live up to the hype. These teams played each other a few years back in the national championship with Alabama getting the win. This is a really tough game to predict. Both teams have great coaches, defenses, and young QBs who play really well. In my eyes you really just can’t pick against Alabama. As much as I’d love to see them lose I just don’t think they will. For all we know, Nick Saban could have changed his entire offense. Now while that is unlikely, I’m sure Saban has been ready for this game since a week after they lost the national championship last year. If you really want to experience college football this week, watch this game. Prediction Alabama 27 Florida State 17
Nick’s Weekly A&M Take
Week 1 @ UCLA 7:30pm Sunday 9/3 FOX
Yeah you knew it was coming. Every week of the season, its coming. A&M is heading to UCLA to take on the Bruins week 1. A couple of things to think about. First off to the idiots that are picking UCLA to win, you guys are just flat out dumb. UCLA finished 4-8 last year. That is terrible. Not even considering the fact that they’re in the PAC12. Yes yes A&M finished 8-5 for the third year in a row but that’s in the SEC. UCLA will not win this game. Now the thing that concerns me as an A&M fan is that we don’t know who the starting QB is. Coach Sumlin had a press conference yesterday and to me it sounded like a guy who doesn’t know which QB to start. They all have their flaws but in my mind you need to start the true freshman Kellen Mond. His play fits our system and he spent last year at prep school in Florida. Other than that, A&M has two great running backs in Keith Ford and Traveyeon Williams. I don’t think the defense will take that much of a step back after losing Myles Garrett to the draft. We are deep at safety and have some experience on the d-line. Prediction A&M 38 UCLA 21
Written By: Nick Katinas (@nkatinas22)