Welcome back everyone! I hope it was a great holiday weekend for all. I almost wish the weekend wouldn’t end, especially with the amazing games we witnessed with college football’s opening week. If you missed it, I feel sorry because this certainly lived up to the billing of the best opening weekend ever (you know aside from the Alabama game…which I totally misjudged). There was even a shocking deal in the NFL to add to all of the craziness, but more on that later.

Chaos in the top-25 reigned supreme as a record seven ranked teams lost on the season’s opening weekend. Of those seven, three were being considered serious contenders for the national title. Oklahoma’s title hopes ran into a buzzsaw as they lost to Houston in the Cougars backyard (but allegedly was a “neutral” site game). This only goes to show that you can never hop on the Sooners annual hype train, as it always goes off the rails and never reaches its destination. Houston put foot to behind, making its own statement to the college football world. The Cougars have a long road to go not being in a Power Five conference, but this is a potentially great win to have on the resume.

Speaking of statements, how about Texas on Sunday night? Notre Dame-Texas set the bar for “Game of the Year” pretty high with their double-overtime thriller. The Longhorns ran the ball at will against the Irish defense in crunch time and proved to be the difference maker Sunday night. Texas coach Charlie Strong can fan the flames of the proverbial hot seat for now, but that is a monumental win for his team as he continues to rebuild that Longhorn program (another win against Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game might even remove him from the hot seat).

The Irish have only themselves to blame for that loss. Brian Kelly may regret his decision to play both of his quarterbacks during the game, as DeShone Kizer was clearly the man for the job. If Kizer had been in the entire time, that may have been a completely different game. Also the defense might want to run some extra tackling drills in practice until further notice. The game-winning play for Texas should have been stopped three yards in the backfield, among other miscues by the Irish defense.

The other top-10 team to go down last weekend was the LSU Tigers, who have a familiar problem; poor play at the quarterback position. For a team as talented as the Tigers, you would think it would have a quarterback that could at least manage the game. You can’t deny the effort of Wisconsin in that game (chalk that up as another missed call for me from last week’s viewer guide). Also, you’ve probably seen the video of the ending of this game, but LSU certainly should be embarrassed by the cheap shot thrown by Josh Boutte. It was a classless end to a tightly contested game.

LSU can at least thank Ole Miss for taking some of the heat off them. The Rebels absolutely crumbled last night against Florida State. Talk about the tale of two halves, it looked like the teams switched uniforms at halftime. Ole Miss was in total control of that game in the first half, moving the ball at will against the Seminoles. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher must have given one hell of a halftime speech because his team came out looking like a totally different team in the second half. The defense forced four turnovers led by defensive end DeMarcus Walker, who finished the game with 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Walker and the ‘Noles defense sparked the comeback which included a star-making debut for redshirt-freshman quarterback Deondre Francois. Francois finished the game with 419 yards passing and added another 59 yards on the ground.

Ole Miss and LSU highlighted a rough weekend for the vaunted SEC, which saw seven teams take a loss last weekend. But hey, at least it has Alabama to lead the pack.

On to the big news from the NFL this past weekend, which saw Sam Bradford traded from Philadelphia to Minnesota. The Eagles made out like bandits in this deal by getting a 2017 first round pick and a conditional fourth rounder in 2018 (which can become as high as a second rounder if the Vikings make a deep playoff run). Desperation for the Vikings gave Philadelphia quite a bit of leverage here, and Eagles GM Howie Roseman capitalized. It marks the beginning of the Carson Wentz era in Philadelphia, and a potentially season-saving move for the Vikings.

Before I wrap things up I want to send my congratulations to Green Bay quarterback Joe Callahan for making the 53-man roster. Callahan was one of the top performers from the preseason and certainly earned his place on that team. I want to wish him the best of luck as he begins what is hopefully a long career in the league, he deserves it. Everyone at home is rooting for you Joe.

 

Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon for part five of my NFL preview later today as I look at the AFC North. It’s going to be a busy week with the NFL season starting on Thursday. As always, follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.