College football recap, Week 1: Boise State and TCU are still pretenders

story by Gary Brown, president of College Sports Matchups (CSM is a content partner with The City Wire)
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IF Jacksonville State was to run the table during their 2010 football campaign they would deserve a shot to play in the BCS national title game. Can you hear the advocates for TCU and Boise State football starting to scream “NO WAY” only to stop before finishing the statement?

Why not? The argument presented by supporters of these teams from the WAC and Mountain West is how they deserve a shot at the big prize because they show up and win against opposition from the larger conferences. That is what Jacksonville State just did by beating Ole Miss in overtime.

We know, we know. The Gamecocks play at a level below the Broncos and Horned Frogs. If you compare the schedules of these two second tier BCS busters though you would also have to conclude they are playing at a lower level than teams from the SEC, Big 12 and other power conferences.

Now that Boise State has escaped Virginia Tech only Oregon State remains as a game the Broncos might even lose. Utah is the most viable challenge remaining for TCU. How would either of these teams fare if they were going to face a lineup of say, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma over a five week stretch. Think they would remain unscathed? What if their final four games were LSU, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia? Do you really believe these two pretenders could muster the energy to go 4-0 during a stretch like that?

We face a reality of these two being undefeated on the final day of the season this year. If they were to be paired up for the national title it would be a joke and the BCS would be a dismal failure.

Until the balance of their conferences step up and play football at a competitive level they just are not on par with teams carrying one or even two losses from the power conferences.

Other opening weekend observations:

• Replacing legends can be difficult
In replacing Tim Tebow Florida’s Brantley struggled at times and only had 113 yards passing against Miami. We are not talking about the Gator’s sunshine state neighbor, but the one from Ohio. He did toss two touchdowns and had one dropped.

Meanwhile Garrett Gilbert was not called on to really do much for Texas in replacing Colt McCoy. He delivered a workmanlike 14 completions on 23 passes with no touchdowns. His 172 yards showed a steady hand, but he did not show the flair of a game breaker.

At Oklahoma Landry Jones threw two touchdown passes, but also threw the same number of interceptions. His completion percentage was only 47.2% as he completed 17 of his 36 tosses. Given the experience he gained after Sam Bradford went down his opening weekend was the most disappointing.

The combined numbers for the three quarterbacks: 48 completions on 84 attempts with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Expect all three to perform better as the season moves on.

• Alabama and Ohio State both looked strong
Playing without Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram the Tide still managed to rack up 591 yards of offense in their 48-3 win over San Jose State. Greg McElroy only threw two incompletions which matched the number of touchdown passes he tossed. Trent Richardson found the end zone twice, but Alabama was led in rushing by Eddie Lacey who tallied 111 yards on the ground.

In Columbus, the Buckeyes trampled Marshall 45-7. Terrelle Pryor continued to deliver on the promise he brought to Ohio State by passing for 247 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Brandon Saine also tacked on two touchdowns and rushed for 103 yards on just nine carries.

• Teams with happy fans
Michigan’s fans love the win over UConn and the renovated Big House.

The Jacksonville State nation, well, county(Calhoun County, Alabama).

Florida State devotees loved the start of the Jimbo Fisher era.

Oregon scored 75 points on New Mexico and put a goose egg on the other side of the scoreboard. How could you not like that?

Notre Dame was able to get a win in the opener against Purdue. It felt pretty good.

• Teams with unhappy fans
Some Florida fans thought the offense would actually be better without Tim Tebow. It might be in time, but not yet.

Do you think there was much to smile about in the Grove at Ole Miss after the game? But hey, Masoli is eligible!

Does it feel like UCLA will just not ever quite get there with Rick Neuheisel at the helm? Do you think Bruins fans are starting to think this way?

UConn really thought the Michigan game was going to give them a strong start to the season. Not.

Lost in the Ole Miss news was the game Kansas lost in Turner Gill’s debut. North Dakota took home a 6-3 victory. Who had that outcome in the office pool?

North Carolina fans have gone from BCS bowl dreams to thinking about the start of basketball in just three weeks.

Until next week …