Can Case Keenum keep the Coogs in contention like he did in 2009?

The first weekend of college football was filled with the usual: Errors. Mental mistakes. Blown assignments. Thrilling catches. Upsets. D1AA wins over BCS teams. It seems to happen every year—and the first week of the 2011 season had all of those and then some.

Who "won", who "lost" and who do we not know a whole heck of a lot about? Good questions all. So, let's recap and look forward to the rest of the season.

I've already put up my initial game day thoughts on the early games and the afternoon games, but each week, I'll write up my weekly wrap-up on the weekend that was.

Winners

1. QB Case Keenum, Houston—After an ACL tear in what was supposed to be his senior year in 2010, the Cougar signal caller was granted a sixth year of eligibility and made the most of that final year in a 38-34 win over UCLA. He threw for 310 yards and a couple of touchdowns in a win that eradicated the demons of last year's trip to the Rose Bowl. He was as accurate as ever, completing 75% of his passes and had even more zip on his short to intermediate throws than I can remember. The Cougars will now be favored in every game the rest of the year and nothing could be finer for Keenum than to end his career with 12 or 13 wins, in addition to being the nation's all-time leading passer.
2. QB Kellen Moore, Boise State and the Boise State coaching staff—I couldn't separate the two of them, so I put both here. When you hear Boise State is taking on a BCS opponent, in particular one from the SEC, there is a certain portion of the population that thinks "no way" could Boise ever handle the week in and week out grind in the SEC. After seeing Boise State manhandle and dominate one of the two favorites to win the SEC East, I think we all know the answer to that question. The Broncos were coached better, executed better, were more athletic and wanted it more. They embarrassed the Georgia Bulldogs pure and simple and the win was more than just a singular win for the Broncos. Moore was brilliant. He completed 28 of his 34 throws and made every throw possible. His patience reading defenses and letting things develop the way it's supposed to is uncanny. He might be a "soft tossing lefty", but there are plenty of coaches that would love to have that guy on their side right now.
3. USF—Beating Notre Dame in the opener is one thing. Taking ten hours or so to do it, quite another. The Bulls forced Notre Dame into mistakes all day long – missed assignments, dropped passes, interceptions, fumbles, you name it, Notre Dame did it. But, USF could easily have been intimidated by the ND mystique and wasn't. And, the weather delays? You couldn't help but think...nah, I'm not going there.
4. USC WR Robert Woods—Seventeen catches for 177 yards against Minnesota...and he's just scratching the surface.
5. LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu —Seven tackles, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and touchdown on said recovery for starters. He was all over the place and made even more plays than that other guy who wore number seven last season.
6. Michigan LB Brandon Herron—He had two defensive touchdowns, almost outscoring the Michigan offense by himself. No other Michigan player in the history of that program had ever done such a thing. But, it was also a sign that Michigan's defense under Greg Mattison is on its way. Regardless of the two defensive scores and the plays made by that defense, it still has some work to do, but progress is noticeable for sure.

Losers

1. Mark Richt and Georgia's football program—South Carolina is up next, but it doesn't matter in some sense who might be on the schedule because this team is unorganized, dispassionate and is a shell of what it was back earlier in this decade. I was shocked to see Boise State just dominate the game. More importantly, there wasn't anything Boise State did this year that it hadn't done in past years. Each touchdown pass was a result of Georgia's linebackers and secondary breaking down in responsibility and getting taken by an experienced senior leader in Kellen Moore. It's hard to say that Georgia isn't well coached, but on Saturday night it certainly looked like it wasn't coached well at all. Nothing about this program tells me it's going in the right direction. Nothing.
2. Oregon in opening games and bowl games—Maybe it's the caliber of team Oregon has faced or maybe it's because teams had weeks to prepare for the Ducks high speed attack. Or, maybe it was a combination of both. Regardless, since the 2009 opener against Boise State, the Ducks have lost to BSU, Ohio State, Auburn and LSU and done little offensively in those games. Virtually nothing. Speedy and physical front sevens or front sixes have stymied Oregon's fast paced attack. As such, this is a major concern and it's going to get to a point where the Ducks will have a stigma of being the college version of the 1990s Houston Oilers – great in the regular season but can never win a championship. They'll look pretty but pretty doesn't win you a damn thing.
3. SMU QB Kyle Padron—The third year QB threw two early interceptions for June Jones' offense and then got pulled in favor of senior J.J McDermott. Padron wasn't great last year, having his up and down moments, to say the least, but he was the reason a lot of experts gave the Mustangs a snow ball's chance in Wisconsin of happening. It didn't and now he's got to fight like heck to save his job.
4. Oregon CB/KR Cliff Harris—Not to say that he wouldn't have fumbled too, but seeing Kenjon Barner's foibles on punt returns, you couldn't help but imagine what would've happened if Harris hadn't been driving 118 mph or collecting parking tickets like a memorabilia dealer. We said that was going to be a problem and it was. Damn near single-handedly killed the Ducks.

One Liners

1. UCLA might have the tallest receiving corps in the nation, damn near every pass catcher is 6'4" or taller.
2. For those people wondering whether Texas A&M is for real, just flip on the SMU film and you'll know.
3. Give credit to the Ohio State Buckeyes for staying strong and handling its business on the field in the midst of the most disruptive situation possible.
4. I have to admit: Seeing a coach get his two star backs in the game at once... Kudos to you Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman. Well done getting Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael in the game at same time. (And it paid off with a Michael TD early in the game.)
5. If I hear Mark May say, "SEC conference," I'm going to break something. Just think about it.
6. Virginia Tech RB David Wilson looked like a puppy that had been held back from a treat for two full years and was unleashed on Saturday—can't wait to see what he does in a full year as a starter.
7. Gene Chizik's deal with the devil may be up very soon if his defense continues to play the way it did against Utah State.
8. Many are smitten by Wisconsin's Wilson-Ball-White trio, but this team will get beat if it's defense doesn't do a better job stopping the run. It really misses JJ Watt.
9. Refreshing in some sense to see Penn State go retro with its unis in comparison to the atrocities that Georgia rolled out on Saturday night. This Nike combat uniform stuff is for the birds. If the lights had gone out at Jerry World, Oregon would've glowed in the dark.
10. Hey, anyone see Texas beat Rice? I wish I could have and I live in Texas.
11. If Missouri's stud DE Jacquies Smith is out, Missouri's defense is on its way to being shredded in the Big 12 with all of the great arms in that league.
12. That all being said, what conference has the best foursome at quarterback?
    a. Big Ten – Taylor Martinez, Denard Robinson, Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson
    b. Big 12 – Ryan Tannehill, Landry Jones, Robert Griffin and Brandon Weeden
    c. Pac 12 – Brock Osweiler, Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley and Nick Foles (Jordan Wynn as a replacement of one of those perhaps?)
    Just food for thought.
13. Utah State... It's a moral victory, but it'll sting for a while. It was that close. One onside kick. Just recover one—that's it and it's the biggest win in that program's history. Guess what the Aggies will be working on every single day for the rest of the season in practice??

Players that caught my eye over the weekend

1. Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson—magnificent against UNLV
2. Boise State DE Shea McClellin—seemed to be living in the Georgia backfield
3. Baylor WR Kendall Wright—has ability to get open anywhere on the field
4. Ohio State TE Jake Stoneburner—little slower than some of the TE/WR hybrids seen in college football, but this guy is a throwback for certain.
5. Texas A&M WR Ryan Swope—has always had my eye, but he was brilliant again against SMU
6. USF DE Ryne Giddens—has some pass rush skills and will be a stud in due time
7. UCLA TE Joseph Fauria—caught everything in sight even in a loss
8. Mississippi State RB Vick Ballard—LOVE this guy
9. Mississippi State T Addison Lawrence—will transition to guard at next level, but he's a run blocking beast
10. Alabama LB Dont'a Hightower—looks healthy, no bulky brace, look out SEC
11. Houston CB D.J Hayden—makes the defense look credible, much needed secondary impact
12. BYU OLB Jordan Pendleton and Kyle Van Noy—very active and playmakers from that position. Van Noy made play of the day with sack, forced fumble, recovery and touchdown to beat Ole Miss
13. Texas A&M S Steven Campbell—all over the yard, did have a couple of missed assignments, but he's a special talent

Looking ahead

1. Notre Dame v. Michigan—First night game in Ann Arbor. ND has to get its offensive act together and Michigan's defense has to take another step.
2. South Carolina v. Georgia—UGA in a must win situation, but just isn't that good. (Either that, or Boise State is a national championship contender... or both.)
3. Mississippi State v. Auburn —MSU is for real, but the real question is whether the Utah State Aggies woke up Auburn or exposed the Tigers for being a flawed unit without Cam and Nick? We'll find out very soon.
4. Alabama v. Penn State—Low scoring, hard hitting and totally boring, unless Joe Pa and Nick Saban fight at halftime. As I said, low scoring, hard hitting and totally boring.
5. BYU v. Texas—Second straight road game for the Cougars may be a bit much, but this BYU team is very good, better than Texas fans want to believe.
6. Utah v. USC—Utes virgin foray into Pac-12 conference play and it'll be a doozy in the Coliseum.
7. Missouri v. Arizona State (FRIDAY NIGHT)—Great intersectional battle in Tempe with two teams that have a chance to surprise this year. Missouri isn't healthy and that could be the ultimate key in this one.