College football opening weekend recap
By Logan Carter// Staff Writer
The start of the 2016 college football season lived up to prior hype of being the “best opening weekend ever.” Seven of the top 25 ranked teams lost their opening games, setting the all-time record for most ranked teams losing in week one of college football. Oklahoma (3), LSU (6), Notre Dame (9), Ole Miss (12), USC (17), North Carolina (20), and UCLA (24) were all teams within the top 25 that lost their opening games.
The first week of college football portrayed a September version of March Madness, where you could bounce from one nail-biting game to another to watch an amazing upset.
The first devastating loss of the day came from the Big 12 at noon, where the No. 3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners fell to No. 16 ranked Houston Cougars. After allowing Houston quarterback Greg War Jr. light up the defense with 321 yards, Oklahoma will need to restructure the defense in order to regain their dominance in the rankings again.
The next two ranked teams both lost in close battles over the same period of time, LSU and UCLA. Wisconsin was able to prevail over LSU in the last minutes, 16-14, after intercepting LSU quarterback Brandon Harris on their last drive for the win. UCLA marched their way back from a 15 point deficit in the last four minutes against Texas A&M, only to lose in overtime 31-24.
The loss of Oklahoma to Houston (33-23) and LSU to Wisconsin in a crazy finish (16-14) marks only the second time that two top five ranked teams have lost to their opponents in week one. The last time this record occurred was in 1972 when the Nebraska Cornhuskers (1) lost to an unranked UCLA (20-17), as well as Arkansas (4) losing to USC (8) in a huge amount, 31-10.
The biggest game of the weekend appeared on Sunday night football, where the Notre Dame Irish faced their rival the Texas Longhorns. The entire nation stayed awake to watch the two teams battle it out in double overtime, only to see the Longhorns take down the Irish for the first time since 1983 after a six yard touchdown run by Texas senior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes.
The first weekend of the 2016 college football season will be remembered by fans everywhere, in both positive and negative ways. Many fans were supplied with a sense of hope due to their under dog team defeating a top ranked team. While many fans were stricken with fear after watching their college football dynasty team crumble. The college football season will continue to present unbelievable games every weekend, all the way until the college football playoff and championship games.