College football winners and losers: Georgia, UCLA notch assertion wins; ACC has rocky 1st Week

 College football winners and losers: Georgia, UCLA notch assertion wins; ACC has rocky 1st Week 

Five video games presenting groups in the Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. A preseason College Football Playoff contender placed on the ropes via a team from the Group of Five. A matchup in prime time between two of the nice groups inside the united states of america. 

The 2021 college soccer season is already at pinnacle velocity after a Week 1 slate complete of implications for the College Football Playoff and the national championship.

For one, No. 1 Alabama's brutal rout of No. 16 Miami (Fla.) showed a group in midseason shape. But for the Hurricanes, the loss shows the gap among being in rivalry for the New Year's Six and taking the step into proper playoff rivalry.

No. 3 Oklahoma cruised into halftime in opposition to Tulane but barely hung on for a close win. In the Big Ten, a throwback sport among No. 20 Penn State and No. 15 Wisconsin wasn't settled until the final mins. 

Those video games and others lead the winners and losers from the first full Saturday of the 2021 season:

WINNERS

Georgia

The Bulldogs' defense dominated Clemson and carried Georgia to a ten-3 win with significant down-the-avenue implications for the playoff. There are questions about the fitness of the Georgia offense, particularly given quarterback JT Daniels' incapability to push the ball downfield towards the Tigers' secondary. But those struggles can be a testomony to Clemson, which has real problems up the front on offense but ought to ride this protection to another ACC title. When it involves Georgia's protection, this is a unit overloaded with elite expertise and one accurate enough to carry the Bulldogs past Alabama and to the countrywide championship. 

UCLA

Beating LSU 38-27 is the moment UCLA has been awaiting on account that Chip Kelly's return to the Pac-12. All offseason, the chatter around the Bruins turned into that this become by means of far the inner most and maximum solidly built roster of Kelly's tenure. There was nevertheless a question of what improvement that would muster — whether seven wins or a actual shot on the convention identify — and the way it might fare towards LSU. By gaining 476 yards of overall offense and conserving the Tigers to forty eight rushing yards on 25 attempts, the Bruins proved they have got turned a nook in Kelly's fourth 12 months.

Penn State

While now not a masterpiece, the sixteen-10 win in opposition to Wisconsin displays Penn State's internal optimism that remaining 12 months's four-5 finish turned into far greater the product of the pandemic than any downturn from James Franklin's application. There are nevertheless problems to cope with, starting with the health of an offense nevertheless working out the information beneath new coordinator Mike Yurcich. While quarterback Sean Clifford rallied to throw for 247 yards and a score, the Nittany Lions ran for most effective 50 yards on 1.Eight yards in line with deliver, with a huge chew of that total coming through a 34-yard advantage from going for walks again Noah Cain. Clifford did avoid turnovers, however, and that intended the distinction in a slim win. 

Texas

The Steve Sarkisian technology got off at the proper foot with a 38-18 win against No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette, the preseason favored in the Sun Belt and one of the fine groups within the Group of Five. The Longhorns got an amazing overall performance from first-year beginning quarterback Hudson Card, who finished with 224 yards and two scores. Sarkisian drew up a sport plan for strolling back Bijan Robinson, who played up to expectations with 103 yards at the ground, seventy three receiving yards and two touchdowns. Few teams had a extra astonishing win in Week 1. 

Kansas State

After a disappointing 2020 season defined by using accidents at numerous key positions, Kansas State kicked off September with an excellent 24-7 win in opposition to Stanford in Arlington, Texas. With senior quarterback Skyler Thompson back under center after lacking most of ultimate yr, the Wildcats ran for 200 yards on 6.Five yards per carry and averaged 10.Three yards per bypass try. 

Alabama

The superstars from the 2020 team are long past. Alabama nonetheless did not miss a beat. Paced by quarterback Bryce Young, who finished seventy one% of his throws for 344 yards and 4 touchdowns, the Crimson Tide whipped Miami forty four-13 to kick off the program's latest championship push. If Saturday is any indication, the Tide are prepared to make every other run at perfection. 

Louisiana-Monroe

The Warhawks lost once more, this time 45-10 to Kentucky, to extend the program's dropping streak to twelve video games. But a humorous thing came about on the way to every other defeat: ULM simply led the Wildcats 7-zero inside the first quarter. Why is that significant? Because that marked the Warhawks' first lead at any point towards any opponent on the grounds that overdue within the fourth zone of a 31-30 loss to rival Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 30, 2019. That makes new train Terry Bowden's debut a success.

LOSERS

Clemson

The precise information: Clemson might not face a group of Georgia's quality once more throughout the ordinary season. The terrible news: To win the countrywide identify, Clemson's going to have to beat a team as appropriate or higher than Georgia in January. Does that appear feasible primarily based on what we noticed Saturday night? Not if the offensive line doesn't improve. But there's lots of time till the postseason and sufficient of a song record from Dabo Swinney and his body of workers to count on noticeable improvement across ACC play. What the loss does, however, is remove the Tigers' room for errors in terms of completing inside the pinnacle four.  

The ACC

Clemson turned into the final piece of an awful Week 1 for the ACC. Let's quick recount: Clemson lost to Georgia. Miami misplaced huge to Alabama. Georgia Tech was disillusioned by way of MAC additionally-ran Northern Illinois. On Friday, North Carolina turned into disillusioned by means of Virginia Tech. In all, the pinnacle three groups inside the ACC and the league's high-quality playoff hopes — Clemson, Miami and UNC — are already holding a loss after one week. That's not properly.

Vanderbilt

Welcome lower back to Vanderbilt, first-year educate Clark Lea. A fullback for the Commodores in the early 2000s, Lea's return to Nashville became an utter dud: Vanderbilt misplaced 23-3 to East Tennessee State, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision. At least there can be different possibilities for Lea to get a win in his debut year, such as subsequent week's ride to Colorado State and a date with Connecticut in early October. But it is secure to say the Commodores can be tremendous underdogs in SEC action. 

Washington

The No. 21 Huskies misplaced 13-7 to Montana, turning into the primary ranked team to lose to a FCS opponent seeing that 2016. That quite an awful lot sums up their night time.

Wisconsin

The overlooked possibilities against PSU will force the Badgers to play from in the back of within the race for the West department. Not that the loss is deadly by any method: Wisconsin has lots of possibilities to rally returned into Big Ten and playoff contention with destiny video games in opposition to Notre Dame, Michigan and Iowa. Whether this team could make a run hinges on quarterback Graham Mertz and the going for walks game. For one, there's a huge hole among the hype surrounding Mertz and the fact of his overall performance; he tossed two choices on Saturday, giving him seven towards four touchdowns in his past seven starts.

Oklahoma

Too close. Way too close. The No. 3 Sooners sneaked beyond Tulane 40-35 and raised a few eyebrows along the way, especially given the preseason expectancies for the OU defense. On the opposite facet of the ball, early Heisman Trophy favourite Spencer Rattler threw for 309 yards however two interceptions, at the same time as the Sooners only averaged 3.Three yards in keeping with deliver. Up 37-14 at halftime, OU delivered 0 energy out of the locker room and barely survived — Tulane even had the ball with a hazard to win earlier than turning it over on downs with simply over a minute remaining.  

What does this mean for OU? In the long term, no one will recall this narrow win come November and December, whilst the playoff selection committee is going thru the process of selecting the country's quality 4 groups. But in phrases of a takeaway, the lesson for OU is to preserve its foot on the fuel.

Miami (Fla.)

There is not any embarrassment in dropping to Alabama. There's no longer even any actual embarrassment in being blown out by means of the Crimson Tide; it occurs to greater teams than now not. But given the Hurricanes' increase in 2020 under instruct Manny Diaz and the team's vicinity a few of the pinnacle 3 groups in the ACC, to be picked clean by the Crimson Tide is a painful reminder of the way a ways Miami is eliminated from being a real contender for the national championship. That's not embarrassing, however it's miles a sobering truth for the Hurricanes.

Indiana

Last year's Cinderella story in the Big Ten, No. 17 Indiana's 34-6 loss to No. 18 Iowa splashes a bucket of bloodless water at the Hoosiers' hopes of putting any other scare into Ohio State within the Big Ten East. The win says some thing approximately Iowa, too — that the Hawkeyes, winners of six in a row to cease closing year, are a valid contender for the New Year's Six. But the Hoosiers committed 3 turnovers, received just 233 yards and had been outplayed by using a huge margin by a fellow Big Ten group in the Top 25.

Connecticut

The Huskies are an clean pick out for the worst group in the FBS after dropping to Holy Cross 38-28 to fall to 0-2 on the young season. As in the forty five-0 loss to Fresno State to get things began, UConn's offense was abysmal: 262 total yards, 2.3 yards per bring and 4 turnovers. With the loss, educate Randy Edsall falls to 6-34 in his 2nd tenure with the program.