Sunday Blog is Back: Review of Saturday’s action in college football – GatorSports.com

10:04 pm | September 2, 2018 | Go to Source | Author: Pat Dooley

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The Sunday Blog returns and I know you’re happy not because it’s back, but because football is back.

1. I get that Florida wanted to play a lot of guys once it went up 38-0 at the half and I certainly get how the Gators wanted to get the feet wet of their other quarterbacks. But the second half was not a lot of fun to watch. In the first half, Florida used its up-tempo offense to run 44 plays. In the second half, the Gators only ran 22 plays. But that’s what opening games like this are for, to get everyone a chance to get out there. Here’s a statistic for you that probably won’t hold up during the season, but it’s a nice stat stuffer — Florida leads the nation in pass defense after allowing only three passing yards.
2. An under-the-radar game that eluded me Saturday night was Vanderbilt easily beating Middle Tennessee 35-7. The Commodores beat a team that was returning 16 starters and the game was expected to be close. But Derek Mason’s defense showed up, recording six sacks, getting two turnovers and shutting out the Blue Raiders after the first quarter. Vandy is a sneaky good team.
3. We said there would be a lot of overreaction after week one (and it’s still not over), so here goes:

* It’s Will Grier’s Heisman to lose. Especially when you see Bryce Love get stuffed in his opener. We all know better. It’s a long season.

* Jim Harbaugh is on the hot seat. He has lost nine of his last 18 games. That’s a shame.

* The Pac-12 is in trouble. The league needed a win by Washington. It certainly didn’t need UCLA and Chip Kelly losing at home to Cincinnati and Arizona losing to BYU. Can an entire conference be eliminated from the College Football Playoff after one week?

* Alabama is going to win another national title and Nick Saban needs to lighten up on sideline reporters.

4. Week one lacked some of the drama we hoped for with so many blow-out games. Here’s a Football Four-Pack for Saturday viewing pleasure:

* Georgia at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m., CBS: It feels like we‘ve been waiting for this one four months. The atmosphere is going to be incredible.

* Clemson at Texas A&M, 7 p.m., ESPN: OK, Aggies, let’s see if you really got tougher because you’re going up against an NFL defensive line.