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It is finally here. Week one of college football has come and gone and it is time to evaluate and analyze the results.
We here at Land-Grant Holy Land thought it would be interesting to take a look at which games and subsequent results that will have the biggest impact on the Buckeyes moving forward.
For obvious reasons, this list will not include Ohio State’s game. We know how their results will affect them.
Georgia 10, Clemson 3
The marquee game of the opening weekend of college football ended up being the snooze fest of the week. Neither Georgia or Clemson’s offense ever found their groove and the only touchdown of the game ended up being a pick-six by Georgia’s Christopher Smith off Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei.
The most important aspect of this game is the rankings. As long as Georgia stays undefeated through Halloween, it is almost a guarantee that the College Football Playoff Committee will put them ahead of the Buckeyes when the first set of rankings comes out Nov. 2.
It likely will not matter in the grand scheme of things since Georgia will have to see Alabama at some point — and Alabama looks very good — but in the case that Georgia were to run the tables and only lose one game to the Crimson Tide, it could make for an interesting conversation.
Iowa 34, Indiana 6
This one is tough for me. It is hard to tell if the takeaway from this game is that Iowa can be really good this year, or if Indiana is severely overrated. Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is coming off of a serious injury and star receive Ty Fryfogle seemed to be fighting some soreness all game as well, but 34-6 is no joke. And the game was never close.
Obviously, Ohio State knows how good Iowa can be when they are rolling, but they will not see Iowa this season unless they make the Big Ten Championship Game, which I assume that they are now the favorite to do. Ohio State will see Indiana on Oct. 23, and depending on how the Hoosiers recover from this one, they may be playing a different type of Indiana team than they originally thought.
Oregon 31, Fresno State 24
This game is on this list for the sole purpose that the Bulldogs were really close to making this week’s game between the Buckeyes and Ducks a little less dramatic. Fresno State was able to make the Ducks extremely uncomfortable and almost gave Oregon a 0-1 start.
It was not too difficult to see that Fresno State is a solid football team, and Oregon could have been looking ahead to the Buckeyes. Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener was able to toss the ball around for 300 yards and, with the way that C.J. Stroud played in the second half of the Minnesota game and with presumably better weather conditions, the Buckeye QB could be in line for a huge game if Oregon doesn’t figure out their passing defense.
Plus, star defensive lineman Kayvon Thibodeaux is day-to-day with an ankle sprain heading into the showdown.
Penn State 16, Wisconsin 10
This one is interesting because, as I mentioned above, the dynamics of the Big Ten West shifted in Week 1. Iowa destroyed Indiana and Wisconsin dropped their opener against Penn State; a game I personally thought they would win with ease.
This matters for Ohio State for obvious reasons; if Ohio State can get through their schedule and participate in the Big Ten Championship, Wisconsin seemed to be the overwhelming favorite to meet them in Indianapolis. Now, with this early result, the west seems to be a lot more open than anticipated.
Michigan State 38, Northwestern 21
This one stood out to me for two reasons: The first is that I predicted Michigan State to be very much down this season and they came out and made a statement to the conference in their first game.
And Northwestern looked like the defensive losses may have made a larger impact than first anticipated. They will need their younger guys to step up to recover from this loss.
Alabama 44, Miami 13
I know. I know. Alabama is good. But after this result, I think Alabama is really good. After the first week, it is safe to say that Alabama has certainly become the team to beat... if they weren’t already. Bryce Young is ready to roll.
UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
This game is on this list for the same reason that the Oregon game is, just with a different result. Tulsa struggled more than almost any other team in the country on Saturday and lost their season opener to FCS opponent UC Davis.
This does not affect Ohio State much but it will hurt their strength of schedule as Tulsa was projected to have a pretty solid year. Now, who knows?
Western Michigan - Michigan
Ha. Just kidding. This game taught us nothing.