Week 0 in Review

Written By Tucker Harlin

By Tucker Harlin

Week 0 of the college football season has come and gone, but unlike many past Week 0s, it was a pretty exciting week of college football.

Sure, it didn’t feature many powerhouses that saw rival fans tuning in to hate watch.

But three of the four games finished as one scorers, and every underdog covered the spread by at least 10 points.

Let’s take a look back at the celebration of college football’s return.

#10 FLORIDA STATE 21 GEORGIA TECH 24- Ireland

There was no question this was going to be the best game going into the weekend, and it lived up to the hype.

The Seminoles came out swinging on the opening drive as the run game was too much for the Yellowjackets.

Lawrance Toafili’s 28-yard rush touchdown and the swinging gate two-point conversion made for an emphatic start for Florida State.

The problem for Florida State was it kept surrendering drives like that to the Georgia Tech offense.

The combination of physical runs quarterback Haynes King and running back Jamal Haynes and strong willed offensive line play was too strong for the Seminoles defense.

With on and off rain, success in the run game was going to be vital, and it was an area the Yellowjackets took full advantage of.

Seminoles quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was missing targets in important situations down the stretch, similar to another quarterback of a similar physique in the SEC last season.

However, Uiagelelei did throw a pair of 20-yard fourth down completions late in the game to set up a rush touchdown that tied the game on FSU’s final possession.

More power running by the Yellowjackets set up Aidan Birr’s game winning field goal, and they earned their first Top 10 win since they took down the Noles in 2015.

Florida State’s loss had many checking their swings on the #10 rank to start the year.

Georgia Tech is a respectable football team, but Florida State is very obviously in a rebuilding year after having lost a ton from the 2023 ACC champion team.

MONTANA STATE 35 NEW MEXICO 31

We knew we were looking at an FCS over FBS upset before the weekend, but Montana State’s path to victory was not a smooth one.

The Bobcats found themselves in a 17-point hole going into the fourth quarter. 14 of New Mexico’s 31 came on scoop and scores from its defensive backs.

Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott capped a 10 play scoring drive by balancing his way down the sideline for a 15-yard score to cut the lead to 10.

A few possessions later, the Lobos pinned the Bobcats at their 7 with a terrific punt.

Running back Adam Jones (not to be confused with Pacman) didn’t need good field position as he outran the Lobos defense for a 93-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to a field goal.

The Lobos had to punt again, pinning the Bobcats at their 11.

It took a little more than one play this time, but the Bobcats were able to score again as running back Scottre Humphrey cut left and scored from four yards out with just 10 seconds left to play.

SMU 29 NEVADA 24

Probably the wackiest contest of the weekend.

SMU’s first game as an ACC school saw it living dangerously in Reno.

The Mustangs forced a three and out on the first possession of the game, but quarterback Preston Stone threw a pick two plays into their first possession.

SMU had to punt a couple of possessions later, but a troublesome snap had the Mustangs trying to recover to keep the Wolf Pack out of the end zone.

After surrendering a touchdown, SMU responded accordingly, opening the second quarter with a one-yard rush touchdown from running back LJ Johnson.

The two traded field goals, but it was Nevada who went to half ahead with a 17-10 lead.

The Mustangs made another field goal to start the second half, but the Wolf Pack scored another touchdown on the next possession.

Nevada carried that 24-13 lead into the fourth quarter, but it wouldn’t score the rest of the night.

Five minutes into the final quarter, the Mustangs traversed 98 yards in a little over two minutes.

Running back Brashard Smith burst up the middle for a four-yard touchdown. Johnson scored the two-point conversion to make it a field goal deficit once more.

Shades of Nevada’s loss at Notre Dame in 2016 appeared when kick returner Ashton Hayes signaled a fair catch and bobbled it into the field, recovering at his own 1.

SMU nose guard Anthony Booker blew up a second down run play for a safety.

The teams exchanged punts, and the Mustangs got the ball back with 3:31 to go.

Stone relied heavily on tight end R.J. Maryland on the game winning drive.

The two connected for 20 yards on the opening play to take the ball up to the SMU 37. Stone found Maryland for 13 yards to get out of a jam on third down. And finally, Stone saw Maryland streaking down the sideline and hit him for the 34-yard go ahead touchdown.

The definition of a win’s a win for SMU in Week 0.

DELAWARE STATE 14 HAWAII 35

If you stayed up and found this one on a streaming service, good for you.

Despite it being a three score win for Hawaii, it didn’t pull away from Delaware State until much later in the game.

The Rainbow Warriors scored on a pass touchdown on their second possession of the game and a punt return touchdown in the closing seconds of the opening quarter.

The Hornets scored on both their closing drive in the first half and opening drive in the second half to tie the game at 14.

Hawaii scored a touchdown on the next possession and twice more in the second half. Two of the touchdowns were rushes from quarterback Brayden Schager.

While it was by far the worst game in the opening weekend, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Vegas suggested it would be. The line was -39.5 in favor of the Rainbow Warriors ahead of kickoff.

Tucker Harlin
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