9/8/26

Normally this will be out earlier, but I wanted all the games to finish. First and foremost, how good is it to have college football back? I had the quadbox going on the 65” TV, another game on the 45”, and the laptop going for another game. Absolute best way to do it. For those reasons I prefer to watch college at home instead of the bars. Give me my setup, a case of beers, tin of zyns, and I am set for the day. 

Week 1 has been outstanding, of course it feels better because it was the first full weekend of it, but we finally get to see the teams we have been reading about all off-season. As I said previously, one quarter of a game tells you more about a team than any preview magazine ever will, and boy did we see it in some games here. I am going to cover my biggest winners, losers, those who need to be sent to the shadow realm, and how I fared on my bets this week. 

If there are any other topics you would like me to cover, or sections to add for next week, let me know!

Winners

Lane Kiffin

What a start for the biggest villain (or formerly biggest villain, will speak on that later) in the sport. After choosing not to roster returning players from the NFL, he comes out and gift-wraps the biggest loss in the Dabo Sweeney era to Clemson. LSU dominated this game for the entire game. They checked every single box of question marks and excelled. When you have that many incoming transfer players there is always the worry of continuity within the group, but they showed they already played well together, and will contend in the SEC. Very positive start to the Kiffin era in Baton Rouge, and he reminded Holly Rowe at the end of the first half that he did not even need NFL players to do it. 

Sam Leavitt

I saw a tweet this morning that said Sam Leavitt looked like a squirrel on adderall. And I believe that encapsulates what he was perfectly. Through the air he was okay, nothing spectacular. 16/28 for 230 and 1 TD and 1 pick, but he ran for 113 yards and 2 TD’s, and they took him out near the end of the third. Beyond his stats, he returned to his 2024 self, someone who could just win games. He was all over the field making plays. Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler gave some good insight into his family background, he is the only player in his family that played on the offensive side of the ball, everyone else including his brothers and dad were defense. He plays with the physical mentality of just domination. He is a QB that looks like he can win you games by any means. Outstanding first game for him at LSU

Darien Mensah

Man oh man, what a beautiful time it is to be holding onto a Darien Mensah Heisman ticket at +1200 odds. The week I got back in Illinois where I could legally sports bet, I placed a bet for him to win the Heisman. I loved the system he was going into with the weapons he was gaining, and what a dream debut he had. 27/30, 401 passing yards, and 5 TD’s. I do not think you could do better than that, and he did not even play the 4th quarter. He currently sits as the Heisman favorite at +550. 

Malachi Toney

Objectively Toney had the best game of anyone all weekend. 12 receptions for 234 yards and 3 TD’s. The single game receiving record for yards now belongs to him. He was targeted 13 times and caught 12. No one could stop him. After being the best freshman WR last season he comes out and does this. 230 YPG is not sustainable, but they have a weaker schedule and I would be shocked if he was not a Biletnikoff Award Finalist. 

Jeramiah Smith

The guy considered to be the best player in the sport had a dream day. 151 yards and 3 TD’s…in the first half. I do not need to say much here. He looked great, and I am excited to see him play against what could be the toughest game they will play all year against Texas next week. 

Amare Thomas

Thomas looked great for Houston in their first game, Conner Weigman has found his stride at Houston that he did not have at Texas A&M, and he fed the ball to Thomas 8 times for 133 yards and a TD. Houston mainly won their game through their rushing attack, but Thomas played a key part in the game, and he will need to keep on that track to advance Houston in their Big 12 title effort.

The FCS

Shout out to the FCS this weekend, in all of 2025 there were 4 teams that beat FBS schools, in Week 1 of the 2026 season, the FCS saw 3 wins. Tartleton State beat Bowling Green 20-13, Idaho State beat Utah State 29-17, and The Citadel beat Charlotte 42-41. I am curious to see if this trend will continue as Group of 6 rosters continue to get cleaned by Power 4 programs, will we start to see a trend of more FCS upsets in future years?

Losers

Bryce Underwood

If Michigan wanted to improve this season, they needed to get better QB production out of Underwood. I have been saying that all offseason, and through their first game, they did not get better QB production. Kyle Whittingham came out Monday and said that his job is not entirely secure, if they do not think they are getting the best out of their QB room, they will replace them which is crazy to think because you did give him $15MM to come to play there. He went 12/22 with 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 pick, and 1 fumble. He just looked plain lost. And he has no easy test coming up with Oklahoma coming into town in Week 2. 

DJ Lagway

After an underwhelming season last year, the former 5 star went to the school that he was a childhood fan of in Baylor to reset under a new coach and scheme. Some thought it would be different, and that we would see a more relaxed QB with better decision making, and be less turnover prone, but we did not. He ended with 2 turnovers and a 50% completion percentage. This was his shot to prove that he was a different QB now, and he is still as volatile as ever. He did not look good at all. Decision making was still very questionable, and I am curious to see how his season turns out. 

Oklahoma State

I did not expect to be putting this here this week. Oklahoma State fired their longtime coach Mike Gundy after 20 years after he lost to Tulsa last year. They took in Chad Morris from North Texas to replace him. Guess what he did in his first game, lost to Tulsa. Oklahoma State had 4 turnovers in the game and when you are dead even in terms of passing and rushing yards, you cannot give up the ball 4 times and expect to win. Oklahoma State has now lost 21 straight games against FBS opponents which is the longest streak in the country. 

Ole Miss Secondary

Ole Miss won the game, but their secondary was the biggest weakness I saw. In the first half the Ole Miss defense was fine, they only gave up 6 points. But in the second half, they gave up 32, which included two passing TD’s one of which was 54 yards, and the other which was 62 yards. They also scored both of those over the top. It was not a Louisville WR catching a ball, making a man miss or getting some good blocks, they just straight up got beat. First half Lincoln Kienholz was 7/14 with 46 yards, second half he was 11/15 for 261 and 2 TD’s. If you want to close out games, you cannot be giving up those types of plays, nor allowing that QB play. They will need to improve before LSU comes to town. 

Mike Norvell

In the last 30 years in the FBS or NFL, SMU is the only team to win after they had a -3 turnover margin, twice as many penalties as their opponent, fewer rushing yards than their opponent, lower time of possession than their opponent, and more missed field goals than their opponent. That is complete managerial mismanagement. It does not matter what your team does on the field, if you lose that game, it is on the head coach. Florida State had every opportunity to win that game, and they did not. Mike Norvell’s hot seat continues to get hotter. 

Shadow Realm

The Refs in the Western Michigan/Michigan Game

This is one of the blatant robberies I have seen on a football field, actually no, not just a football field. One of the most blatant robberies I have seen in general occur. First off, I want to send my condolences to close friend of the program Max Beffel. But you cannot seriously tell me there was 1 second left on that clock. If roles were reversed, I guarantee you this would not have happened. You have Big 10 refs officiating a game for a Big 10 team, and I am sure they were giving the benefit of the doubt to Michigan giving them one last shot. Other officials have come out and said they have never heard of a separate clock, and that their ruling was incorrect. I am heart broken for the Western Michigan fanbase and players. If I was the Michigan Governor I would send in the national guard to make this right. In no world should they have put 1 second back on, and those replay refs should never be allowed to ref a football game again. Western Michigan should be 1-0. Plain and simple. 

Clemson Defense

LSU had the most first downs in their football history, and they have been playing since 1902. Clemson suffered the biggest point loss since Dabo became the head coach. They gave up 644 total yards. LSU scored on 7/10 drives they had, and 6/10 were TD’s and their average drive was 72 yards so it is not like they were getting the ball at midfield every time. Clemson could not stop LSU if they made the line of scrimmage the Great Wall of China. I could keep throwing stats at you all day on how bad they were, but I am sure you understand it now. Clemson needs some serious help on the defensive side of the ball. 

Jayden Onuonga

He missed a field goal that would have made NDSU cover, that is it. 

My Betting Recap

This week I went 13-14-2, and that brings my season total to 14-20-2. Had some tough misses, and some games I was dead wrong on. Week 1 is tough because it is the first time you get to see most of these teams play, you rely on the roster talent, and preseason conversation. Going into Week 2, there will be some troubles to overcome as well. For example, does Michigan rise to the level of their opponent in Oklahoma? Or are they going to get throttled and play the same against how they did against Western Michigan? Ohio State and Texas both looked very strong against a much lower talent level, how do they play against a significantly better team? 

Thursday and Friday I went 9-4-1 and I finished Sat-Mon 4-10-1, only when I publicized my picks did I do bad, maybe I need to stop that, who knows. 

Next Week

A few big games I am looking forward to next week! I will be boots on the ground in South Bend, IN to watch Rice play Notre Dame. It will be my first time in South Bend and I am very excited to get on campus and see the Cathedral of College Football.