Roundtable: Which non-ranked team is better than you thought?
The opening weekend of the 2016 college football season was anticipated to be the best opening weekend in college football history and while that’s debatable, it did showcase some teams that had flown under the preseason radar.
And that’s what we’re talking about in this week’s roundtable. There were a whole heap of non-ranked teams that had impressive showings — some against ranked teams, so not — so let’s talk about which ones were the best.
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JUMPING ON THE TEXAS BANDWAGON
It has to be Texas, right?
Ever since his performance in the spring game, the hype has been building for freshman quarterback Shane Buechele. He started and was extremely impressive, but how cool was it to see a performance like that from senior Tyrone Swoopes? Charlie Strong and new coordinator Sterlin Gilbert expertly went back and forth between the passing attack with Buechele and a bruising running game with the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Swoopes, and it worked beautifully in an upset over No. 10 Notre Dame.
While Brian Kelly and Mike Sanford fumbled the use of their own quarterback duo on the other sideline, Texas’ use of Buechele and Swoopes reminded me of Urban Meyer’s use Chris Leak and Tim Tebow 10 years ago. That’s how well it worked.
This is year three for Strong and success on the recruiting trail has given his team an influx of young talent on both sides of the ball. We knew the Longhorns would improve but it took only one game to amplify the hype around this team to a whole new level. I thought it would be a competitive game, but I just didn’t see UT beating the Irish.
This may end up looking silly in a few months, but Texas played like legitimate Big 12 contenders Sunday night. (Sam Cooper)
TAKING A RIDE IN THE SWAG-COPTER
Texas is the obvious answer, but there’s another team in the Lone Star State that got a huge opening victory: Texas A&M. The Aggies blew a 15-point, fourth-quarter lead, but regrouped and beat UCLA in overtime to get a very important year for Kevin Sumlin off to a great start.
The fact that A&M could take a 15-point lead on the No. 16 Bruins impressed me. So did the Aggies’ defense, which was putrid in 2014, improved in 2015 and appears improved again after intercepting Josh Rosen three times and holding the Bruins to 31. yards per rush. Recruiting and John Chavis are having their effect on that side of the ball.
And Kevin Sumlin’s revolving door at quarterback might have found a good man to stop the spinning in Trevor Knight. The Oklahoma transfer is far from perfect as a passer — he was just 22 of 42 Saturday — but he’s a playmaker who can get things done with his arm and his legs (three total touchdowns against UCLA).
This is the third straight year Texas A&M has opened by beating a ranked opponent, and the first two triggered premature predictions of great seasons to come. Both those teams went 8-5. That may end up being the case this time around as well, but after a rocky offseason Sumlin and the Aggies got a credibility boost they badly needed. (Pat Forde)
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
This probably seems ridiculous, but my answer is Auburn despite the Tigers’ loss to Clemson on Saturday night. There’s no denying Auburn has some quarterback issues. Had Gus Malzahn stuck with Sean White all game his team might have pulled off the upset. The sooner he figures out who his quarterback is, the better.
Auburn’s defensive front was maniacal throughout the entire game and did a great job stuffing Clemson’s two-headed rushing monster. And don’t forget Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele coached at Alabama in 2013-2014 and LSU in 2015. That familiarity combined with his squad’s performance has me thinking it could mess up the SEC West. (Nick Bromberg)
ON WISCONSIN
Apparently I’m the only one who thought Wisconsin’s win against LSU was pretty darn impressive considering no one even considered Wisconsin a player in its own conference.
You can argue that LSU’s offensive decision-making stopped Leonard Fournette from rushing for 200 yards or that Brandon Harris’ poor field vision cost the Tigers on what could have been the game-winning drive, but then that would just be pessimistic. I prefer to look at the fact that Wisconsin rolled up 339 total yards against a defense that is traditionally one of the best in the SEC. New quarterback Bart Houston threw for 205 yards and running back Corey Clement, who was essentially non-existent a year ago, rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown.
And now the Badgers have games against Akron and Georgia State to work on any glaring inefficiencies before facing Michigan State where we’ll all learn whether the season opener was an aberration. (Graham Watson)
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday