College football is officially back! Which as you know means we have upsets, heartbreak, field storming and coaches coaching from a bed. This is the week that was, week one!

Knocking off the P5

Georgia State over Tennessee: This is undoubtedly the biggest upset of the weekend and maybe of the entire season. The Panthers entered this game as a 25 point underdog and for good reason, they went just 2-10 a year ago with a 1-9 record in Sun Belt play. But head coach Shawn Elliot believed in his team. As mentioned his Gatorade covered post game interview “We pushed ‘em around, we outplayed the Tennessee Volunteers today.” You’re right coach, the Panthers capitalized on some mistakes but their offensive line pushed a vaunted SEC defense around when they had to. Georgia State wins in Knoxville 38-30.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Memphis over Ole Miss: The hate between the fan bases is real as only 50 miles separate these two schools. This one was certainly not an upset with Tigers being a close favorite according to Vegas and having beat the Rebels the last time they played a few years ago. But any time an American Athletic Conference school can topple the SEC it’s a good look. A lower scoring match up than most thought but had plenty of big plays to keep it interesting. Mike Norvell’s team takes last year’s momentum into 2019 and comes away with a victory over its rival 15-10.

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Boise State over Florida State: The Broncos were down 31-13 and looked almost out of it. Then the offense under true freshman quarterback Hank Bachmier began to click and do whatever they wanted to the Noles defense. They ran the ball down their throat and Bachmier passed for over 400 yards. The Boise defense that was reeling in the first half dug it’s heels in and pitched a second half shutout. The Broncos go into Tallahassee and come away with a big win, 36-31.

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Wyoming over Missouri: I have to say this right off the top.... what in the world happened here? No disrespect to Craig Bohl’s Cowboys but Missouri was one of the “it” teams this year on everybody’s radar. They had Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant at quarterback and a defense with returning production. Wyoming threw for only 99 yards but were able to move the ball at will on the ground. Wyoming pulls of a major upset and it wasn’t as close as the score indicates, 37-31. Fans rightfully stormed the field after.

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Cincinnati over UCLA: Last year the Bearcats went out to the Rose bowl and shocked the college football world. Running back Michael Warren II had his breakout game and certain members of the media called it a fluke. Certainly Chip Kelly would have his team ready to enact revenge this season, right? It didn’t play out that way, the Bearcats start of this season the same way they did last year and that’s with a win over UCLA, 24-14. Luke Fickell is on the verge of building some special in Ohio.

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Nevada over Purdue: In what was a bizarre back and forth game, the Mountain West notched yet another win against the power five. This time it was against everybody’s offseason golden boy Jeff Brohm and his Purdue Boilermakers. Both offenses went at it and the wolf pack would seal the deal with a kick as time expired, 34-31. Pretty cool day to kick a game winner and be rewarded with a scholarship. Jay Norvell has finally flipped his program.

Hawaii over Arizona: I would be remiss to not include some week zero craziness. The Warriors picked up a win against Arizona in a game that if you lived on the east coast you may have missed. Defense was nowhere to be found and while Arizona’s Khalil Tate tried to pull off a heroic last second effort it wouldn’t be enough. The fighting Rolovich’s get the win, 45-38. Cedric Byrd would’ve been THE week zero top dog.

Top Dogs

Justin McMillan- Tulane, QB: The Green wave picked up a big win on Thursday night against FIU and it was in large part due to McMillan. He had 199 yards passing and two touchdowns. He also made plays with his feet that kept drives alive. Honorable mention to Tulane’s defense which bottles up the Panthers offense all night.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Taylor- Memphis, RB: The Tigers may not have lit up the scoreboard against Ole Miss but Taylor certainly lit up the stat line. He had 128 yards and a touchdown.

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Mason Fine- North Texas, QB: The opponent may have been Abilene Christian but Mason Fine was in rare form yet again. He had 383 yards and FOUR touchdowns.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Jaylond Adams- Southern Miss, WR: Adams had himself a day in the special teams department against Alcorn State. He had an 89 yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a also scored on an 80 yard punt return in the fourth quarter. The Eagles look to have themselves a dynamic playmaker.

Dan Ellington- Georgia State, QB: The stat sheet isn’t great with just 139 yards passing and two touchdowns but Ellington seemed to make plays whenever his team needed it and that included the nail in the coffin rushing touchdown to pull off the upset over Tennessee.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Johnson- ULM, RB: As ULM looks to turn the corner to becoming a bowl team it may be easier if they keep getting days like this out of their running back. Johnson rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns in the Warhawks win over Grambling.

Top games

SMU at Arkansas State: A game that had a lot of emotion in it. Arkansas State being without their head coach Blake Anderson (understandably so) and year two at SMU under Sonny Dykes this one looked to be one of the most interesting games of the weekend. It surely didn’t disappoint as new SMU quarterback Shane Buchele lead his team to a close victory on the road over the Red Wolves. The two offenses went back and forth but it was the Mustangs that came out on top, 37-30.

Rice at Army: Do you like defensive slug fests? Well I have a game for you my friend! Rice and Army duked it out on Friday night to a 14-7 final score and it was 7-7 late into the fourth quarter. The Army offense played keep away as it is fond of doing but what I took away from this game is Mike Bloomgren has Rice looking competent and heading in the right direction using the Stanford model he knows all too well. I was entrained from start to finish.

Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

Eastern Michigan @ Coastal Carolina: A match up of team that plays on grey turf against a team that plays on teal turf. You didn’t misread that either. Mike Glass III returns after a pretty good season with Eagles last year to lead his team to a close victory on the road against the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina had the lead in the first half but the Eagles came marching back to get the 30-23 victory.

In the dog house

Western Kentucky: I know we’re in year one and game one of the Tyson Helton era at Western Kentucky but it got off to a rocky start. A complete rebuild may be in order but losing to Central Arkansas is not the way to build the faith of your fan base. He has a long way to go.

FIU’s defense: What happened here? What ended up a strength towards the end of last season got off on the wrong foot to start this one. The Panthers defense let Tulane do whatever they wanted all night and gave up 42 on top of that. Butch Davis has it work cut out for him.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Phillip Montgomery: This one seems obligatory at this point but it needs to be here anyways. Even though the Golden Hurricane opened up on the road against a ranked Michigan state, you would expect this far into the Montgomery’s tenure they would be more competitive but it never looked that way. Hopefully Tulsa can show and prove once it begins it’s conference slate.

Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Tweets of the week

The entire college football world engaged in schadenfreude at the expense of the Volunteers.

It’s true, it’s very true.

I mean Houston didn’t do itself any favors on Sunday night....

Final thoughts

I was wrong: About a lot of things but mostly about Shawn Elliott at Georgia State and Tulane switching offenses. Shawn Elliott has proved me and a bunch of other idiots wrong already this season. Even if it’s only one game his well thought of recruiting classes are finally starting to pay off. A win over any SEC school is one way to silence fools like myself. Willie Fritz went away from triple option that got him as far as he had. It seemed like a bad move in my eyes but again I was wrong. The Green Wave offense looks as explosive as ever and with a defense to back them up it looks like we may have yet another threat in the AAC.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Mountain West will challenge the AAC as the top Group of Five conference: I know it’s early and the Mountain West was the American before the American reigned supreme but it’s starting to look like the tide could be shifting the other way. A few wins over some power five opponents should have the fans of teams inside the conference feeling pretty good. The “P6” may be a trademark of the American but the Mountain West is coming for the crown.

BONUS: A mascot got a 15 yard penalty, you’re welcome.

BONUS BONUS: Hugh Freeze coached in a hospital bed inside a press box. This sport is weird.