Welcome to Four Down Territory, Omaha Sports Insider’s weekly college football round table. We will be joined by members of the Omaha Sports Insider staff to get their thoughts on what is going on in the world of college football. This week we are joined by Joe Quinn and Nick Handley of AM 590 ESPN Omaha and Tyler Martin of OmahaSportsInsider.com.
FIRST DOWN
Week one of the season has come and gone. After all the build, the action on the field did not disappoint. Following Sunday’s Notre Dame loss to Texas, three top-ten teams came away from week one with a loss. One game that stood out to a lot of people was Houston vs. No. 3 Oklahoma. Houston took down the Sooners 33-23 and now has a chance to run the table the rest of the season. If Houston can go undefeated this year, can the Cougars be the first “Group of Five” team to make the College Football Playoff, and will style points matter in each of their games moving forward?
JOE: I am going to say “yes,” but with an asterisk*. Houston will obviously need to run the table and look impressive in doing so, but I still think they will need some help from other conferences. The reality is an undefeated Houston team probably doesn’t beat out a one loss conference champion from the Big Ten, ACC, or SEC. You could make a more compelling case for them against one loss champs from the PAC-12 and Big 12, but overall strength of schedule will probably still favor the Power Five teams. The first order of business is to go undefeated, and hope for a little help along the way.
NICK: Yes they can be, but as we all know they will be held to a different standard when it comes to winning games. The overall strength of conferences outside the Power Five will put that much more pressure on Houston not only to win, but to win big with the exception of its Louisville matchup in late November. Houston proved they have what it takes to compete with the big boys and could definitely find themselves in the CFB Playoff picture.
TYLER: Absolutely. After watching Houston pick Oklahoma apart on Saturday, I’m on the Cougars bandwagon. Their defense is for real, and they have proven they can hang with the big boys time and time again. Houston just might be the most fun team to watch in the NCAA. However, the Cougars don’t have another big time match-up for the rest of the season. That will hurt their playoff chances, but if they can finish out undefeated, their statement against Oklahoma week one will go a long way.
SECOND DOWN
Let’s switch gears now and take a look at the Big Ten.
Coming into week one, the Big Ten West was thought to be up for grabs with Iowa holding a slight advantage over Nebraska and Wisconsin. Iowa looked impressive Saturday in a 45-21 win, though it was against MAC member Miami-Ohio. But, Wisconsin had the Big Ten’s biggest win with a 16-14 victory of the No. 5 Tigers. Overall, what stood out to you the most after week one for the Big Ten?
JOE: Probably Wisconsin’s win over LSU, although the Tigers looked pretty sad in the passing attack in the loss. The Badgers still have a brutal five game stretch in front of them once they start conference play in which they’ll be lucky to go 3-2. It was a big win for Wisconsin, but not much changed as far as the overall outlook for the year.
NICK: 12-2. That was the record for Big Ten schools highlighted by the Badgers upset over LSU. Nothing jumped out other than Wisconsin can win big games with their defense and despite losing several players to the draft; Ohio State can still move the football. Wisconsin still has the most demanding schedule in the Big Ten. Not to seem underwhelmed by the conference, but it looked pretty much how I figured in week one.
TYLER: The Wisconsin victory obviously stood out the most, because almost no one thought the Badgers could hang with LSU. The other thing that stood out to me was Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett’s monster performance against Bowling Green. Yes, it was against Bowling Green, but Barrett accounted for seven touchdowns. I don’t care who you’re playing, that is quite the box score. After replacing almost their entire team, the Buckeyes don’t seem phased at all. Watch out Big Ten.
THIRD DOWN
Let’s take a look at Nebraska.
There were a lot of takeaways during the match-up against Fresno State for the Cornhuskers. From the Sam Foltz 10-man-tribute, to only one pass attempt in the first 21 plays, there was plenty to talk about in the 43-10 victory.
Allowing the Bulldogs to block a punt, a nearly absent pass rush on Fresno State’s quarterback Chason Virgil and seven penalties on the night were just a few of the negatives. In the end, Nebraska was able to rush for 292 yards and five touchdowns despite having an inexperienced offensive line. What was your thought on the offensive game plan from offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf and do you think Nebraska will stick to the ground game going forward in 2016?
JOE: I liked what I saw from Nebraska on Saturday, but I don’t think it’ll be quite the same going forward. The Huskers were able to take advantage of the soft front seven from Fresno State, and gouge the Bulldogs on the ground – and you’re having the kind of success Nebraska did on Saturday, there’s no reason to go away from it. However, when the Huskers did go to the air, the passing game was inconsistent at best. Nebraska won’t be able to win many games going forward without a better passing attack, so look for Danny Langsdorf to open up the playbook more starting this weekend.
NICK: It was pretty vanilla and that should have been expected for the most part. The offense did have some breakdowns and miscues but targeted an opportunity to run the football against a Fresno St. team that struggled to stop it last year. The running game will be a big part of the offense but not to the tune of 80-percent of the plays. Expect the playbook to open up a bit more this weekend with more variation in the run and pass.
TYLER: Nebraska fan’s prayers were answered with the run-heavy offensive attack Saturday night. Obviously it was a little too run-heavy, but it was the first game of the season against a Fresno State team that finished 3-9 last season. Nebraska was not going to show opponents anything they didn’t have to. Here’s a hot take: Nebraska does almost the exact same thing for the next two weeks. There will be a couple more pass plays thrown in to balance out the game plan, but the Huskers will want to keep it simple against Wyoming, and will want to slow the game down against Oregon. The run game might be here to stay for awhile.
FOURTH DOWN
We were pretty spoiled in week one with all the incredible matchups to star the season. While week two isn’t quite as strong, there are still some intriguing games. North Carolina vs. Illinois, Virginia vs. Oregon and Arkansas vs. TCU are a few of the bigger matchups for Saturday. The Battle at Bristol with Tennessee and Virginia Tech will also be one to watch but don’t forget about this one: Central Florida vs. Michigan. Scott Frost will head to the Big House for his first real test as the head coach of the Knights. What matchup are you guys looking forward to this weekend?
JOE: I’ll actually go a different direction entirely – how about Penn State vs. Pitt at Heinz Field? The Nittany Lions ran about as much of a vanilla offense as a team could in their lackluster win over Kent State in week one, and should have to open things up a bit more in week two. Plus, this used to be quite the rivalry back in the day. I’m probably more looking forward to seeing what James Franklin’s re-invented offense looks like, but there’s more than just a few fans who will enjoy it for what it used to be.
NICK: Tennessee vs Virginia Tech. Could the much hyped Vols trip after barely escaping Appalachian State?
TYLER: Week two isn’t exactly filled with marquee matchups, but I’m looking forward to see how Scott Frost’s Central Florida team does against a Harbaugh coached Michigan team. This one might be a sneaky good game.
