Rumors of the SEC’s demise were apparently greatly exaggerated. After what could only be described as a subpar showing in the 2014 bowl season, many wondered if other Power 5 conferences had caught up and possibly even surpassed the SEC. Fast-forward to the first weekend of 2015, and the SEC seems to be as strong as ever. SEC teams rang up a 4-0 mark in inter-conference matchups, including two of the three wins this weekend over ranked opponents. Perhaps the best of these wins was the 38-17 victory Texas A&M posted over formerly 15th-ranked Arizona State, a team many experts tabbed as the best team in the Pac-12 South. If the conference was down at the end of the year, it didn’t stay down for long.
Two amazing streaks were broken on this opening weekend. Nebraska lost their first season opener in 30 years on a last-second Hail Mary, 33-28 to BYU. The Cornhuskers hadn’t lost an opener since dropping a 17-13 game to Florida State in 1985. The streak was the longest in the country; with their 61-13 win over New Mexico State, Florida now holds the longest streak at 26 straight season openers won. Also, Temple broke streaks of 74 years and 39 games without a win against Penn State by beating the Nittany Lions, 27-10. The Owls, who had managed only a single tie during that drought, scored the final 27 points of the game and registered ten sacks.
Past pool players know I love finding interesting statistical nuggets in the games, and this weekend provided some fun ones, particularly regarding interceptions in the state of West Virginia. Karl Joseph from West Virginia had three interceptions in their opener. While that in and of itself is impressive, consider that the Mountaineers’ opponent was Georgia Southern, a team that historically runs the triple-option. The Eagles only attempted 13 passes on the night – and Joseph intercepted three of them; West Virginia won 44-0. Meanwhile, Tiquan Lang of Marshall (located in Huntingdon, West Virginia) intercepted two passes of his own against Purdue – and returned both for touchdowns, in a 41-31 win. The first pick-six was on Purdue’s first play from scrimmage; the second happened with 1:20 left in the game. It was the first time in Marshall football history that a player had two interception returns for touchdowns in the same game.
In small-school news, break up the Big Sky! The FCS conference scored not just one, but two wins over FBS opponents. Portland State pulled off a big upset over Washington State, 24-17. It was the first win ever for the Vikings against a Pac-12 team in 15 tries. Portland State even picked up a $525,000 guarantee check as part of the deal! Meanwhile, North Dakota took a 24-13 win over Wyoming, their first win in 8 games against an FBS team.
For those of you who might have checked the scores and wondered, “What about the LSU-McNeese State game?”, we have contacted the Pooltracker administrators and asked what might be done; specifically, we’ve requested that each player be credited with the point amount they placed on the game, regardless of who they chose to win (none of you actually picked McNeese State, did you?). We are currently waiting on their reply, so we won’t announce weekly winners until that matter is cleared up.
And with that, we’re off and running! The first game this weekend is a rivalry game between Utah and Utah State, “The Battle of the Brothers”. The 112th playing of the game will be on Friday, September 11 @ 9 ET, so be sure to get your picks in by then!