Lizzy Talbert/ The Johnsonian
As college football celebrates its 150th season there are many questions that are yet to be answered. Will Clemson repeat as National Champions? How will Ohio State fare after the retirement of Urban Meyer? Iis this the end of the Alabama dynasty as we know it? Will this finally be the year the Pac-12 makes it back to the playoffs?
Week one of the college football season showed who was ready to compete for a national title and who was just not there yet. Every single team in the top 10 won their week one matchup, with the top five teams all pulling away from their completion.
The collision course between Alabama and Clemson seems to be right on track as Clemson was able to make quick work of Georgia Tech, winning 52–14, and Alabama was able to shake off their early quarter struggles against Duke, winning 42–3.
Fans, like Sara Dixson, think that Clemson and Alabama are both good enough to make it to the playoffs, but there may be a team that might surprise the competition.
“I think one of two teams [Clemson and Alabama] will make the national championship,” Dixson said. “Georgia is a pretty solid team with great recruits who can give Alabama and Clemson a run for their money.”
Not every team had a successful start to their season. The Purdue Boilermakers had their 31–17 lead brought to a tie in the fourth quarter, with Nevada’s placekicker, Brandon Talton nailing a 56-yard field goal, for a 34–31 Nevada win, as time expired. On Saturday, fans of the SEC saw what they thought were guaranteed wins turn into upsets. South Carolina, Ole Miss and Missouri all lost to teams they were favored to win against. But the one loss that got everyone’s attention was the game in which Tennessee lost to Georgia State, 38–30.
This is a Tennessee team that has not lost a home opener since 1982 and was looking to take a step forward under second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
The theme of the weekend of college football without a doubt was true freshman quarterbacks bringing their teams back from big deficits. Boise State’s true freshman quarterback, Hank Bacheimer, was able to bring the Broncos all the way back in Tallahassee against Florida State after trailing by 18 points to win the game 36–31. North Carolina’s freshman quarterback, Sam Howell, was able to outplay senior quarterback Jake Bentley and turn a 20–9 deficient to a 24–20 victory against the South Carolina Gamecocks. The biggest performance of them all came from Auburn quarterback Bo Nix.
In a primetime game against the highly ranked Oregon Ducks team, who many considered prime for the college football playoffs, Auburn found themselves down all night long until Nix was able to connect with Seth Williams for the game winning touchdown pass with nine seconds left to win the game 27–21. The win certainly was a loss the Ducks and the Pac-12 could not afford as that gives the conference little hope to make the playoffs now.
As college football fans packed their stadiums to root on their teams, Winthrop can only hope for a day like that to come.
“Winthrop should have a football team,” said senior Myles Smith. “It would help bring money to the school and give students something to do in their free time.”For now, Winthrop students will have to stick to watching college football on their televisions and rooting for teams outside of Winthrop.
