Welcome! This is a new weekly article where I’ll break down some interesting results from each conference and break down what it means, without attempting to make any crazy “hot takes” (we’ll see how that goes.)
I opened this year differently, most of the time I watch from home to begin the season or if it happens to work out I’ll catch a game nearby or go to a Colorado Buffaloes game to visit a friend of mine, but I took a different approach to this season. I decided to attend the season opener for the Montana Grizzlies, for no reason other than I thought it would be a cool environment to watch a game and it worked out great with the vacation my wife and I wanted to go on. It was the best decision I could have made. There’s nothing like a live College Football game and I learned Washington-Grizzly stadium is a special place, it only seats 26k but this stadium was louder than some P4 and NFL stadiums I’ve been to. Griz fans are an extremely passionate bunch, FCS football is their main sport in this area and it is cool to see. I could go on further but the main takeaway is check out any College Football game you have the opportunity to, every environment has their own unique elements to offer whether it’s in FBS or FCS, you’ll be glad you made the decision to go to the game. Actual football takeaways from this game will follow in the FCS section of this article.
American Conference:
North Texas opened the season with an impressive 52-38 win over South Alabama. The Mean Green had a spectacular offense last season but teams raided it via the portal, that didn’t slow them down at all. The Mean Green were great through the air, Chandler Morris who came in from TCU had one of his most efficient career games in the victory, and Damon Ward Jr was an unstoppable target for him. The defense is still a work in progress they gave up nearly 600 yards and didn’t force any turnovers but did a solid job on 3rd downs, the special teams also deserves a shout-out for a blocked punt they returned for a TD.
Rice on the other hand is noted for a different reason, I expected the Owls to be a strong team this year with how much production they returned but they were handled pretty easily by Sam Houston. EJ Warner might need some more time to settle in, he threw an early pick 6 that turned the heat on the Owls very quickly.
ACC:
It’s week 1 so it’s too early to hit the panic button, but this wasn’t an encouraging open to the season for the ACC at all. Could some new blood emerge at the top?
It’s very possible because Clemson and Florida State are a combined 0-3 to start the season suffering defeats that didn’t inspire confidence. Clemson’s offense once again struggled, Florida State was commanded in the trenches by Georgia Tech and Boston College. The team many thought could crash their party at the top was Virginia Tech but the shine has come off the Hokies after their loss to Vanderbilt.
I was very excited about Georgia Tech, I expected them to be really strong in the trenches, but now what does it mean that Boston College did the same exact thing to the Noles?
Is Miami FL finally ready to cash in on the hype? It’s been covered a lot elsewhere but it’s hard to not be impressed with what the Canes did to Florida.
A few other shout outs. North Carolina was dragged into a Big Ten West rock fight with Minnesota, lost QB Max Johnson to injury and still came out on top. The new Pitt Air-raid offense looks like it will be a lot of fun to watch and Syracuse might be…good?
Big Ten:
Maybe there’s hope for Penn State after all? On the surface the Nittany Lions win over West Virginia isn’t much different than last year’s but diving deeper Andy Kotelnicki clearly had more creativity in the playcalls and they did a better job getting West Virginia’s defense in bad positions and most importantly Drew Allar looked much more confident as a passer. Combine that with Ohio State being sluggish early, Michigan struggling for 3 quarters with Fresno State, Oregon struggling in the trenches against Idaho, and you’ve got a pretty good setup for Penn State this year, but it’s early…
Before the season I said to watch for USC’s offense to maintain a better rhythm under Miller Moss and now there’s proof to that after the Trojans major win over LSU. Last season it felt like they tried to force big plays by always trying to go down field, this year they’re finding big plays by scheming them up.
Big 12:
The most surprising result might be Arizona State running Wyoming off the field. The Sun Devils straight up owned them in every phase of the game, they maintained a lot of balance on offense and absolutely humiliated Wyoming’s defense. One game at a time but this is a result the Sun Devils can feel good about, and Vegas has already taken notice with them now being favored against Mississippi State next week.
The other side of Big 12 After Dark was Arizona’s wild 61-39 win over New Mexico. What more can be said about Tetairoa McMillan? New Mexico couldn’t stop him not matter what they did, but perhaps even more encouraging for the Wildcats was their performance on the ground. The defense? That might need some work.
Oklahoma State and Colorado both showed up on massive FCS over FBS upset alerts for good reason. They were taking on the best FCS has to offer and both came out victorious. Oklahoma State had so many random losses last year that it had to feel good for them to be so business like in dispatching their challenging opening foe. Colorado was challenged a little further, North Dakota State challenged their defense to communicate and took advantage of the new pieces on multiple communications. The Buffs aren’t a finished product in the trenches on either side but it was improved from last season.
TCU won at Stanford on Friday but it was an incredibly sloppy performance, the Frogs couldn’t get out of their way most of the game but they came out of it 1-0. They look like they could be a really solid team if they clean up the penalties and turnovers. Finally, Texas Tech…what happened?? The Red Raiders defense was nowhere to be found until the final play in a surprise overtime battle with Abilene Christian. They still won and have a lot of the season in front of them but that wasn’t an encouraging start for the Red Raiders.
Conference USA:
This is another situation where I don’t want to overreact but this league came into this season with only a few opportunities to change it’s perception and week 1 didn’t go well unfortunately.
It all started on Thursday night when Jacksonville State was surprisingly boatraced by Coastal Carolina. The Gamecocks were favored but lost 55-27. It was surprising to see Zion Turner not involved and the offense wasn’t efficient with Logan Smothers or Tyler Huff running it.
Western Kentucky was always facing a tough challenge opening with Alabama but 63-0?? Ouch. New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech and Mid Tenn State all won but in too close for comfort games against FCS foes.
It wasn’t all bad though, Sam Houston was extremely impressive in dispatching Rice, the Bearkats looked the part of a team that could contend for the conference. Kennesaw State’s first game as a FBS team was expected to be a rough one, but don’t tell the Owls that, they hung in tough with UTSA before the Roadrunners closed it out with a late TD.
MAC:
Generally this was a pretty solid week for the MAC, everyone who played FCS foes took care of business, but it was so painfully close to being a great one.
It started on Friday with Western Michigan. The Broncos forced a turnover and took a 14-13 lead in the 4th quarter. The defense stepped up and forced a Badgers 3 and out immediately after, all momentum was on the Broncos side, but they muffed the punt, the Basters recovered and they weren’t able to get the momentum back.
Miami was the other team with an opportunity, the RedHawks are a team that’s perfectly comfortable getting in a rock fight but they just couldn’t ever sustain any offensive momentum in a 13-6 loss.
Mountain West:
If there’s a conference that might shake out differently than expected this might be the one. There’s been a lot of unexpected results already and there’s more to come.
How about Nevada? The Wolfpack were miserable the last 2 seasons, surely Jeff Choate couldn’t fix this in one offseason, right? Maybe he can. The Wolfpack had SMU on the ropes in one of the biggest week 0 surprises, but they did one better in showing that it wasn’t a fluke. Nevada fell behind 14-0 against Troy before outscoring the defending Sun Belt champs 28-3 in the middle stages of the game to win it. The expectations for Nevada’s 2024 season has changed rapidly, this is a team that can reach a bowl.
New Mexico and Hawaii also have 2 games under their belt and each with different conclusions. New Mexico is up against a tough schedule but if they showed anything it’s that they’re going to be a lot of fun to watch. Devon Dampier is going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. For Hawaii, where’s the excitement of the run and shoot? The Bows offense hasn’t been as expected so far, the pass game hasn’t clicked and they haven’t been able to run the ball. Despite this, they were so close to a massive home win on CBS in primetime against UCLA.
UNLV made a massive opening statement. The Rebels took the road as underdogs against Houston and absolutely dominated 27-7. The Go-go offense was solid but I came away most impressed with their defense they dominated.
Does Boise State have concerns on defense? They mostly dominated the first half to roll out to a 28-9 lead but in the last moments of the first half into the 2nd half the Broncos defense gave up 36 points. They need to sort that out to not waste what looks like a tremendous offense with Ashton Jeanty eating and the offensive line doing a great job opening up lanes for him.
Fresno State is the quiet contender for the conference. They threatened Michigan in the 4th quarter before things ultimately fell apart. It was an encouraging performance from their defense as that side of the ball was their downfall last year, the offense struggled but won’t face a loaded defense like that again this year.
Pac-12/2/Independents
Washington State and Oregon State took care of business in their openers against Big Sky foes, both games weren’t quite as routine as the programs would prefer but it’s a solid start. Washington State/Portland State in particular ended with a wild 70-30 score, the Cougs defense could be a concern.
What a letdown for UConn and UMass it felt like both programs might find their way to some success this year but their openers were not encouraging. UConn had the unenviable task of facing September Maryland which ended in a blowout loss, meanwhile UMass couldn’t get their offense out of neutral against Eastern Michigan at home. It felt like that game was critical if the Minutemen wanted to make a run at a bowl.
SEC:
What can be talked about here that isn’t elsewhere? That’s right Vanderbilt! How about the Commodores? With an offense completely revamped thanks to basically importing last year’s New Mexico State offense they clearly had a different look to them. Diego Pavia was once again as advertised and was instrumental in leading them to an incredible opening win. Vanderbilt didn’t get a favorable SEC schedule but if you squint there’s maybe a window for them to make a bowl.
South Carolina had a very concerning opener. I felt that they needed to be on alert because if the good version of Old Dominion showed up the Gamecocks would see a very tough test…that isn’t what happened. The Old Dominion that showed up was the version that has frequent 3 and outs, along with several mistakes. Despite this, South Carolina barely survived, winning by 4.
Sun Belt:
Coastal Carolina was extremely impressive in their 55-27 dismantling of Jacksonville State. Don’t look now but the Chanticleers are definitely going to be a factor in the conference title race yet again. Watch out for JMU as well, they picked up right where they left off in a dominant win over Charlotte.
What’s going on with the West division?? Troy and South Alabama had disappointing openers losing to Nevada and North Texas. Arkansas State was extremely fortunate to survive Central Arkansas at the last moment. Texas State only beat Lamar by 7? The biggest positive may have been the fact that UL-Monroe dispatched a tough Jackson State squad rather easily. There’s a chance the East might be significantly tougher than the West this season.
FCS:
Montana got a tougher than expected test against Missouri State. It was a bit of a sloppy opener for the Griz, they made some mistakes including a muffed punt and left the window open for Missouri State to stay in the game. The Griz originally started RS-Freshman Keali’i Ah Yat and he was electric as a runner but the offense didn’t have a great rhythm, it flowed a little better in the 2nd half when Logan Fife took over. Missouri State is prepping for FBS, and it’s clear they have some athletes already, particularly at the receiver position, they made contested catches all night. Their QB Jacob Clark is a gamer, he stood in the pocket and took multiple hits but still got it to his receivers for a lot of the game, the Griz pass rush eventually got to him more in the 2nd half. The Bears are a work in progress in the trenches.
The UAC appears to have some feisty teams. Central Arkansas entered the season as one of the odds on favorites, I had them flagged as a potential threat to Arkansas State and they sure lived up to it, Central Arkansas was very unfortunate to not come up with th win there. The more surprising result was Abilene Christian taking Texas Tech to overtime in a 52-51 shootout, the Wildcats were picked 6th in the preseason conference poll but it’s clear that Maverick McIvor (one of my favorite names ever) has gotten this offense going. Finally, West Georgia in their first game as a FCS member took down Samford.
I can’t overstate how impressive it was that Idaho was able to roll into Eugene and give the Ducks a tough test into the 4th quarter. Last season Oregon destroyed everyone in their path that wasn’t Washington, but the Vandals defense kept the pressure on Dillon Gabriel and didn’t let Oregon get the ground game going. This Vandals defense is going to be a problem.
The Citadel made a comeback to beat Charleston Southern in the Lowcountry Boil Bowl. It was a massive win for the Bulldogs who went winless last season. Massive win for first year head coach Maurice Drayton.
Mentioning teams breaking long losing streaks, how about Delaware State? The Hornets were competitive with Hawaii and followed it up by taking down Sacred Heart on the road. Delaware State had gone nearly a year without a win and hadn’t beaten another FCS foe since November, 2022. This was such a huge win and maybe more could be on the way.
Rhode Island picked up a big win over Holy Cross. Holy Cross did lose their coach this offseason but they are still expected to be one of the better teams in the Patriot League. Rhode Island finished last season strong and this win shows that momentum will continue.
I’m absolutely floored that we had zero FCS over FBS upsets in week 1, normally there’s at least one that will happen. Even more bizarre is that it felt like more FCS schools pushed FBS teams than usual, there were a lot of tight games but the coin just didn’t flip the right way for many FCS teams. Credit the FBS coaches, they respected these FCS teams as a tough challenge irregardless of division and had their teams prepared.
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