B/R's College Football Weekly Awards: Week 0
The offseason is but a memory. Week 0, that blessed Saturday, rang in the return of college football in 2023.
Sure, a seven-game schedule didn't lead to a wide range of tension. Notre Dame and USC were the only ranked teams on the field, and the next-biggest game—short of your own fandom, perhaps—included either Ohio and San Diego State or Vanderbilt and Hawaii.
But it was real, actual football for an entire day.
Here at Weekly Awards, we celebrate it all. We mention the usual suspects like Sam Hartman and Caleb Williams, but there's room to praise UMass and Jacksonville State while looking at strange box scores.
That's all ahead in our Week 0 rundown.
Team of the Week: Massachusetts Minutemen
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One simple interaction on Saturday night captures this topic well. While I mentioned Week 0's results to a friend, his face turned quizzical and asked, "Wait, UMass seriously won?"
Sure did.
During the last three full seasons, the program has trudged to a single victory with 11 losses. Throw in the winless four-game stretch in 2020, and it has quite possibly been the nation's worst program since 2019.
Worse yet, the Minutemen have occupied the basement of college football for more than a decade. In the last 11 seasons combined, they have totaled 21 wins—an average just below two per year—with four of those victories coming against lower-division competition.
But the team is officially 1-0 in 2023.
Taisun Phommachanh, a former quarterback of Clemson and Georgia Tech, threw for 192 yards and rushed for 96 yards in his UMass debut. Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams scampered for 79 yards and two scores, and the Minutemen took down New Mexico State 41-30.
Story of the Week: The Big-Name QBs
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Obviously, right?
No matter what happened on Saturday, it was a safe assumption that Sam Hartman and Caleb Williams would be the main topics.
Hartman, a transfer from Wake Forest, made his Notre Dame debut against Navy in Ireland. During a straightforward 42-3 rout, he connected on 19-of-23 passes for 251 yards and four scores. He oversaw six touchdown drives on his seven possessions.
Williams followed suit, throwing for 278 yards and four touchdowns while guiding USC to a 56-28 win over San Jose State. (Still a bit concerned about that defense, USC, but that's a story for another day.)
No awards are handed out after beating Navy and SJSU, but Hartman and Williams backed up their billings in Week 0.
Best Introduction: JSU's Opening Win
3 of 5This season, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston are beginning their transition from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of Conference USA.
And at least one is starting with a victory.
Behind a superb rushing performance—210 yards at 5.0 per carry—and a defense that snagged three takeaways, Jacksonville State pulled off a 17-14 triumph over league foe UTEP.
Seventh-year safety Jeremiah Harris provided the key moment, undercutting a route on 4th-and-1 for the game-sealing interception.
Jacksonville State, which is led by former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, has a tremendous opportunity to build its FBS profile if the team can manage a few conference wins.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Strangest Stat Line: FIU's Passing Game
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Do you have a friend who watches a game and occasionally exclaims "Even I could do better than that!"
Well, that actually could have happened. (Maybe.)
In a 22-17 loss at Louisiana Tech—which is a nonsensical margin, given this conversation—Florida International finished with four passing yards. Grayson James ended 5-of-14 with his completions tallying four, two, zero, zero and minus-two yards.
Four yards. Four!
Somehow, FIU held a lead basically until the final minute of the fourth quarter. Louisiana Tech survived because freshman back Jacob Fields scampered 30 yards for a touchdown with 1:01 to play.
Second-year coach Mike MacIntyre and offensive coordinator David Yost have some serious issues to address.
Best of the Rest
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The Other Winners: San Diego State and Vanderbilt
No worries, folks, we're hat-tipping all the victors. San Diego State leaned on its defense in a 20-13 triumph over Ohio—feel better soon, Kurtis Rourke—and Vanderbilt won a weather-delayed 35-28 game against Hawaii. Quick shoutout to Vandy's Jayden McGowan, who scored on a 97-yard kickoff return and caught six passes for 72 yards.
Best of What's Next: Week 1
I hope you enjoyed Saturday's slate, which is always a nice way to ease into the season. but the nationwide chaos returns Thursday night with Florida's trip to Utah. Overall, Week 1 has plenty of interesting games and features a Sunday showdown between Top 10 teams LSU and Florida State. Buckle up, my friends, because college football is about to get wild.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
