The only thing worse than getting beat in college football is paying someone else for the privilege of doing it. Eight 1-A teams found this out the hard way, including Oregon State, which in losing 49-46 to Eastern Washington became only the third team ever to lose a game to a 1-AA opponent while ranked (2007 – Michigan to Appalachian State; 2010 – Virginia Tech to James Madison). The price tag for those losses? A cool $2.4 million. Oregon State paid Eastern Washington $450,000 for their time.
A fun thing about one week’s worth of games is that the statistics are completely wacky. Three examples:
- In Arkansas State’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (a 62-11 win), the Red Wolves racked up 509 rushing yards, and gave up 12. As a result, they find themselves 1st in the country in rushing offense, and 2nd – by a yard – in rushing defense.
- Passing efficiency is calculated by this formula: [ { (8.4 * yards) + (330 * touchdowns) – (200 * interceptions) + (100 * completions) } / attempts ]. According to that fairly convoluted equation, Alabama’s pass efficiency defense rating is 30.6. You could double that number, and it would still be the best rating in the country.
- Jameis Winston had perhaps the best game a first-time starter has ever had passing: 25-for-27 for 356 yards and four touchdowns. His backup even went two for two. Yet, Florida State is only 3rd in the country in passing efficiency, behind Louisville and Georgia Tech (yep, triple-option running Georgia Tech).
If you stayed up somewhat late on Saturday, you may have seen a game out in Seattle that surely surprised a few people who only saw the final box score. Washington christened their reopening of their completely updated Husky Stadium with a 38-6 whipping of Boise State. The Broncos had only lost eight games in Chris Petersen’s time coaching leading up to this game. None of them were by more than 14 points. They hadn’t lost a game by more than four points since 2007. It’s strange to think that in the last year of the BCS, the team that has been considered an annual “BCS Buster” candidate already has lost their chance to do so.
Congratulations to JagRag for taking the week one title! JagRag won the crown in a tie-breaker win over Mark1; both finished with 242 points. AUBrian and BritanniaTex are tied for third with 241 points.
Finally, a couple of programming notes. First, it wasn’t mentioned before, but this season’s champion will again be determined by a “drop two weeks” format. So if you have an off-week, or even miss one entirely, you’re not out of the game! I’ll start giving overall standings in this email after week 3. The first games this week start on Saturday, September 7 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!