The past weekend of football took the wrappings off a lot of teams and exposed them in ways that were both good and bad. Here are the three teams that were the best in week one.
Georgia Bulldogs
The Bulldogs were so impressive not necessarily in a 60-minute sense. Georgia was mostly outplayed by Clemson the first half on Saturday. However, at halftime, the Bulldogs adjusted and barely allowed any yards or first downs to the Tigers in the second half. Clemson got only 36 yards and one first down in a little more than a quarter in the second half. Georgia’s defense generated consistent pressure on Clemson’s two rotating quarterbacks. Georgia also swallowed up the Tigers’ running game and brought the whole Clemson offense to a complete halt. Georgia then rammed the ball into Clemson’s defensive line and wore down the Tigers’ front seven. Todd Gurley was outstanding at running back. He is one of the frontrunners in the Heisman Trophy race. Gurley kept getting big chunks of yards whenever he got the ball, and as a result, Georgia pulled away from a team that won the Orange Bowl last season. This was a really good team win for the Bulldogs.
Texas A&M Aggies
In another story of an SEC team that played its best in the first week of the season, the Texas A&M Aggies were actually better than Georgia from start to finish. Texas A&M passed for over 500 yards against South Carolina’s defense, which was not able to stop the Aggies’ up-tempo offense. People will say that South Carolina’s defense wasn’t very good, and it wasn’t, but A&M played a large role in making the Gamecocks look really bad. Kenny Hill replaced Johnny Manziel as the Aggies’ quarterback and never missed a beat. He was right on top of Thursday’s game from the very beginning. He made all the right throws and all the right decisions with the ball. He received great pass protection and was able to find receivers in open space after they gained separation from South Carolina’s defensive backs. Everything about Texas A&M’s offense clicked, and the Aggies scored 52 points, not more, because they slowed down in the fourth quarter and took things easy on South Carolina, deciding to run out the clock more than anything else.
USC Trojans
The other really great performance of the week was from the USC Trojans, who breezed past Fresno State, a team that won the Mountain West Conference championship last season. Fresno State lost some key starters, but this is still a team that had accomplished much just a year ago. USC was starting its season under a new coaching staff and faced the possibility of a difficult transition under Steve Sarkisian. All those worries melted away, though, as USC collected over 700 yards of total offense, with quarterback Cody Kessler throwing for 394 yards. USC couldn’t have done things better than it did, and as a result, the Trojans have to be feeling pretty good about themselves after week one, especially since rival UCLA struggled a lot in a close win over Virginia, a team that is not as good as Fresno State.
