Almost everything went right for Michigan in its 63-3 win over Hawaii on Saturday afternoon, meaning there was no shortage of standout performances.

Let’s hand out some game balls:

Freshman Running Back Chris Evans

Stats: Eight carries, 112 yards, two touchdowns

Evans was arguably the star of the win over Hawaii. He had an excellent debut and showed why he will be valuable to the Wolverines in the run game.

Evans was hailed as a player in camp to watch and it was good to see him back up the hype in game action. He is a gamebreaker and it will be interesting to see how Michigan incorporates him into the offense going forward.

Redshirt Junior Mike McCray

Stats: 7.5 total tackles (3.5 for loss), two sacks, forced fumble

Linebacker was one of Michigan’s question marks coming into the season, but they performed well in the first game of the year, headlined by the performance of McCray.

He has had a hard time staying on the field due to injuries, but is expected to be a big part of the defense this season. Don Brown is going to blitz, and blitz he did on Saturday. McCray was up to the challenge and played very well.

Redshirt Sophomore Jabrill Peppers

Peppers could have very easily been in the spot that McCray is with his debut at linebacker for the Wolverines, but on a day where there were hardly any fireworks on special teams, he provided them on his own on a return that ultimately did not even end up counting because of a penalty.

The Freshman 15 (Er…17)

The class of 2016 has long been touted as a group that would pay early dividends for Michigan as soon as they hit campus, and Saturday backed that up. Harbaugh played 17 true freshman against Hawaii, most in reserve roles, but that is still extremely important.

They have players like Evans and Rashan Gary, among others, who will be important pieces in year one, but they are not going to overly rely on freshmen this season. That bodes well for both now and in the future, as the reps will not only help the team this season but also help them gain experience for the seasons moving forward.

Attendance isn’t a perfect measure of fan interest, particularly for a program like Vanderbilt, which has a lot of alumni who don’t live close to Nashville and mostly have to follow the team on the teevee and the interwebs.

But it’s a pretty decent measure, so long as you know what the numbers you’re looking at mean. Vanderbilt drew 30,304 fans for its home opener against South Carolina.

To put that number in context, the 2015 home opener against Western Kentucky — a Conference USA team — drew 30,307. The 2014 home opener against Temple drew 31,731. The 2013 home opener, like Thursday’s home opener a Southeastern Conference game (against Ole Miss), drew a capacity crowd of 40,350.

And not only was the crowd the smallest for a home opener since 2011 (when a Vanderbilt team coming off a 2-10 season hosted FCS foe Elon), but compared to the Temple and Western Kentucky games of the last two years, it was considerably heavier on opposing fans. The only thing that the White-Out that Vanderbilt planned for the home opener accomplished was making the number of South Carolina fans in the stadium even more obvious.

Granted, there were other, side factors. The Tennessee Titans had a preseason game on Thursday night, and the Vols were also playing. (Not that anybody who might be interested in going to a Vanderbilt football game should even be considering staying home so they can watch the Vols on television, and as a Memphis native I’d probably make a similar argument for the Titans, but I digress.) South Carolina fans probably weren’t too excited about their own team, either, which might have depressed their crowd.

But in any case, it’s hard to argue that the smaller crowds are a good sign for the Vanderbilt football program. It seems that the fan response to the current state of the football program isn’t anger, but apathy.

On a beautiful Morgantown Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers never really felt threatened by the Missouri Tigers. Despite horrendous turnovers, a rib injury to starting QB Skyler Howard, and settling for field goals of 19 and 21 yards; Missouri was unable to find the end zone until less than 2 minutes remained and the game was out of reach.

An opening day win over an SEC opponent is always awesome, but it can be argued that WVU answered few of the major questions that nagged at the team and its fanbase throughout fall camp. Let’s take a look at some of those questions.

Will Justin Crawford live up to his billing as National JUCO player of the year?

Yup. I’d say instant fan favorite. He was explosive and versatile against what will likely prove to be one of the best defensive front sevens that WVU will face this year. Asked and answered.

How will the defense fair after replacing nine starters?

Considering they ranked dead last in Bill Connelly’s Def % Ret, and only conceded 11 points, it would be easy to say that they did great. Gibby’s squad held the Tigers to only a field goal for over 58 minutes. This came in spite of backup QB William Crest’s fumble in the red zone. While you can’t give the defense credit for the missed field goal, you certainly can give them credit for bowing their backs and not letting Mizzou into the end zone on such a short field.

The defense did, however, give up 462 yards to an offense that had nearly as many questions as the Mountie defense. The new secondary dropped at least three interceptions and the Tiger receivers dropped plenty of balls that they should have reeled in after they had created plenty of separation.

As potent as the Missouri defense likely is compared to most of the Big 12, their offense is perhaps even more impotent. Offenses in this league don’t tend to make that many mistakes.

The jury, in my opinion, is certainly still out on what the defense will be able to do in conference play. I’m not very sure that we will have any more clarity regarding this issue after either of the next two opponents.

Will Skyler Howard make a jump in production in his second year as starter?

Skyler Howard certainly missed some throws. He still lost throws high over the middle. He was visibly diminished in the second half after returning from what has been described as a rib cartilage injury. Despite all of this; he was 23-35 for 253 yards. That’s 66%.

He did throw an interception after the injury on a long ball intended for Jovon Durante. That ball seemed to stay in the air forever, wobbling throughout. It was not a good throw, but Durante made a poor play on the ball and was too late to make any difference on the outcome of the play.

I don’t believe that Skyler answered this question for us yesterday, but if completing two thirds of his passes turns out to be a bad day, WVU ought to at least be in a position to win most games.

Any discussion of the WVU quarterbacks in this game has to include mentioning that, in very limited action, both backups managed to turn the ball over. William Crest was strip sacked deep in Mountaineer territory, and Chris Chugunov threw a pick over the middle in his only passing attempt.

Please remember, next time you are tempted to question Howard’s place as starter, that his reserves managed to commit two turnovers on one pass attempt when he went to the sideline.

Who will prove a consistent threat in the receiving corps?

It is hard to talk about consistency after one game, but through the first half it looked like Daikiel Shorts was the only one who could get his hands on the ball. He finished with eight catches for 131 yards. There is no denying the talent and depth of this unit, but when they get their opportunities, they need to capitalize.

Ka’Raun White produced a pair of nice plays in the second half and Shelton Gibson caught the ball six of the seven times it was thrown his way (though 6.5 YPC is a far cry from the gaudy numbers he produced last season), but Jovon Durante failed to make a catch.

It was great to see Shorts making an impact and looking like a go to target for Howard, but more consistency is needed from this unit to keep drives alive and finish more consistently in the red zone.

Conclusions?

The Mountaineers beat an SEC opponent on opening day. Hell, they even covered the spread.

It was great to see the offensive line live up to its billing. They pushed around a tremendously talented Mizzou front, opened up running lanes for the backs and gave Howard time to operate. With those guys paving the way and Rushel Shell and Crawford carrying the ball, WVU will have a very stable base on which to build their season.

26 points, however, wins very few Big 12 conference games. Settling for three points from inside the five yard line is not good; doing it twice is ugly. Carelessly turning the ball over usually results in some points for the other team, and Big 12 offenses that aren’t Kansas or Iowa State score more than 11 points.

Take this good win and use it to improve and build for the remainder of the season. Whether you like it or not, Dana Holgorsen’s job depends on it.

Every Sunday, after an entire Saturday’s worth of college football, we’ll take a look around the Big Ten. As the conference as a whole fights as respectability in the non-conference, or as its power dynamics shift on a week-to-week basis in this fall, we’ll follow every team and try to piece togather the puzzle that is the 13-week-long season all the way up until Indianapolis.

Here are the top three storylines from Week 1:

1. Wisconsin pulls major upset, outmuscles No. 5 LSU

The Badgers made possibly the biggest statement of any team opening weekend by beating LSU at its own game, controlling the lines of scrimmage and playing suffocating defense. Wisconsin led 6-0 at the half and held off a third quarter surge from the Tigers to pull out the victory. This is a big-time win for Wisconsin before it faces Michigan St., Michigan, and Ohio St. in three consecutive games starting Sep. 12.

The skinny: The Badgers opened the season with a marquee win over an SEC power, which should vault them into the Top 25.

2. Conference blue-bloods look the part

No. 6 Ohio St. (70-10) and No. 7 Michigan (63-3) had easy days at the office, outscoring Bowling Green and Hawaii 140-13 combined. Michigan QB Wilton Speight threw an interception on his very first pass before throwing three touchdowns in his debut. Buckeye QB J.T. Barrett announced his early-season Heisman candidacy by throwing for 349 yards and accounting for seven TDs.

The skinny: Though both teams faced weak competition, Ohio St. and Michigan looked like playoff contenders in Week 1.

3. No. 17 Iowa, Nebraska win comfortably

Iowa dominated Miami (OH) 45-21, averaging 7.3 yards per carry in the contest. Lead back Akrum Wadley, who torched NU last season, rushed for 121 yards on 12 carries. Nebraska held a tribute for late punter Sam Foltz by lining up without a punter for its first punt attempt. The Cornhuskers led 14-10 just at halftime, but outscored Fresno St. 29-0 in the second half en route to a 43-10 win.

The skinny: Like last season, Iowa is big, strong and disciplined, and will be a force to be reckoned with in the conference. For Nebraska, QB Tommy Armstrong was inconsistent (5/10 passing), but the Huskers were tough in the trenches; they rushed for 294 yards and allowed just 31 yards rushing on defense.

Other Games

• In a game that had Spartan fans sweating, Michigan St. overcame FCS foe Furman 28-13. The Spartans led 21-13 with under 12 minutes to play. QB Tyler O’Connor threw three touchdowns in his first start replacing three-year starter Connor Cook, but the offense failed to dominate the way many people expected they would against an FCS defense. The skinny: Running back L.J. Scott looked good, and the Spartan defense is strong as usual. But it remains unclear whether O’Connor and the offense will move the ball well enough to knock off perennial conference favorites Ohio St. and Michigan.
• Minnesota held on to defeat Oregon St. 30-23 after losing three defensive players to targeting ejections throughout the game. Despite QB Mitch Leidner’s shaky night throwing the ball, RB Rodney Smith and Leidner combined for 201 yards and four touchdowns rushing. The Gopher defense had four sacks, though the Beavers had some success throwing the ball. The skinny: Minnesota will have to play much cleaner football to be a factor in the Big 10 West, but the defense and running game look solid.
• Despite missing three starters from suspensions, Indiana beat Florida International 34-13. But, that score line doesn’t tell the full story. The Hoosiers trailed 13-12 entering the fourth quarter before outscoring FIU 22-0 in the final period. The Indiana defense had three interceptions and allowed just 63 yards rushing. The skinny: Indiana’s offense took a while to get going against a team that went 5-7 last season, but the Hoosiers played solid defense and can score in bunches.
• Penn St. opened its 2016 campaign with a 33-13 victory over Kent St. New quarterback Trace McSorley struggled early on, but made no major mistakes in his debut. Star running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 105 yards and one score. The skinny: McSorley will have to be more efficient if the Nittany Lions want to upset some of the top teams in the conference, but Barkley and the defense looked sharp.
• Purdue is now one win away from matching last season’s win total after pummeling Eastern Kentucky 45-24. The skinny: It was an important win for Purdue head coach Darrell Hazell, but it was against Eastern Kentucky.
• Maryland defeated Howard 52-13 in a local showdown. The skinny: While the score looks nice for Terp fans, anything but a blowout win would have been a major shock.
• Illinois won 52-3 over Murray St. The skinny: Like Maryland, the scoreline came as no surprise.
• Rutgers fell 48-13 to 14 Washington. The skinny: Rutgers is rebuilding, and it showed against a tough opponent.

Carolina once again started the season out in with a loss to an SEC team with their defeat to Georgia in Atlanta. Georgia’s superstar running back, Nick Chubb, gashed the Heels for 222 yards on 32 carries to lead the Bulldogs to victory. Carolina is yet to beat an FBS team in their season opener under Coach Larry Fedora.

Positional Grades (1-10 scale, 10 is best)

Offense: 4

Offensive Line: 2

While the coaching will certainly be a major headline to come out of this game, the offensive line played one of its worst games of the Larry Fedora era. Georgia is a strong SEC team, but the line played much better against Clemson’s All-Americans in the ACC championship just a year ago. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky barely had any time in the pocket on most of his throws throughout the game. On pass plays without play-action, the pocket collapsed on Trubisky incredibly quickly, with each of his linemen equally at fault for lapses in protection.

The Bulldogs did not send a lot of exotic blitzes at the Heels either, most cases were simply a man in red beating a guy in blue. This had serious consequences for the Heels outside of the obvious pressure it put on Trubisky. After the first few series, the Heels kept Hood or Logan in the backfield to hedge against pressure on Trubisky while the production of the tight ends in the passing game also completely disappeared, leaving only three or four options for the quarterback instead of the normal five. Because the offensive line failed to cover Trubisky adequately, the Heels were forced to change their offense substantially and it showed.

A great strength of the Heels’ offense in the past has been the success of plays where the quarterback, rather than force a throw, dumps it off to a running back who gets about five yards. Over the course of a game, those five yard chunks add up and help you both stay on schedule and sustain drives. When the offensive line plays as poorly as it did against Georgia, these opportunities disappear and the offense is much less effective.

The line also failed to consistently generate running lanes up the middle of the field for Elijah Hood and T.J. Logan. Most of the Heels’ ground game success came on runs to the outside where Hood or Logan broke tackles or ran past Georgia players in the second level. In particular, Hood is a downhill, north-south runner who does his best work in between the tackles. When the offensive line fails to generate an adequate push up front, the running backs will suffer, with Hood suffering the most.

Logan is the faster of the two backs, which is one reason why he was utilized more in this game than most observers of the Heels are used to. Logan’s style lends itself to runs off-tackle and outside of the hash marks which he was still able to do against the Bulldogs. For Hood to get back to where he was last season, he needs the line to create holes up front to let him go to work between the tackles–that will require the center and guards to pick up their level of play from how they performed in this contest. Issues with blocking for runners also appeared in the screen game, something the Heels generally abandoned as the game progressed.

From an early failed tunnel screen for Ryan Switzer to the glorious end zone screen play call that went for a UGA safety, the offensive line was unable to clear adequate space for screens to develop the way the offense requires. Screens form a big part of the up-tempo aspect of the Fedora offense by reducing the amount of time between snaps since the linemen are already farther down the field. Successful execution of screens would have also paired back the aggression of the Georgia defense and given Trubisky a bit more time to find receivers from the pocket.

And finally, the offensive line also had issues with penalties throughout the night, picking up multiple false starts as well as a hold, and an ineligible man down field penalty. No matter how much faith you have in the officials, there were far too many penalties against the offensive line to be attributed to a few bad calls. Poor discipline was a bugaboo of the early Fedora-era Carolina teams but last season was a welcome reprieve from those types of dumb mistakes. Fans can only hope that this game was an aberration, rather than return to the old normal.

Running Backs and Wide Receivers: 7

On the whole, Elijah Hood and T.J. Logan had good games. Hood recorded 72 yards on 10 carries while also being a useful receiver with six catches for 28 yards as a safety valve. There isn’t much that he can do about his workload, and he did well with the number of touches that he was given. He did make the mistake of catching a screen pass in the end zone, but that was also the play the coaches drew up for him, so I feel it’s a bit unfair to ding him for doing what he was both trained and told to do. Logan was even more impressive than Hood, returning a kickoff for a touchdown and showing dynamite speed with the rock in his hands. Both Hood and Logan picked up pass rushers quite well when they were tasked with protecting Trubisky.

The pass catchers were pretty disappointing on the whole. Mack Hollins was more of a hurt than a help in his one half of play, picking up a *questionable* offensive pass interference penalty against only one catch for six yards. Ryan Switzer was the most impressive of the group with seven catches for 52 yards. Switzer displayed good awareness of where he was in the field and was the third best player for the Heels on offense after Logan and Hood. Bug Howard was surprisingly absent, he could have done better on a first half jump-ball in the end zone against a much shorter corner on a ball that was thrown relatively well. That potential first half score would have greatly helped the the Heels as they moved into the second half and potentially changed the course of the game.

One performance among the wideouts stuck out however, and that was Austin Proehl. Proehl dropped what was Trubisky’s best deep ball of the game when he had a step on his man in the the first half. It’s another case of a dynamite play the Heels left on the field. If Proehl picks up big yardage or even scores there, then the complexion of the ball game changes entirely. This would not only be seen on the scoreboard but it would also have forced the Georgia safeties to honor the deep ball more and open up throws in the middle of the field for intermediate gains–enabling the Tar Heels to step up the pace with a series of first downs.

Quarterback: 3

A large portion of Carolina supporters thought that this team could lose Marquise Williams and actually improve on offense. Such was the faith in red-shirt junior Mitch Trubisky, who, in his debut as the undisputed starter, largely disappointed. He missed every deep ball he threw and did not always make the best decisions with the football. Notably, he failed to see Ryan Switzer break past double coverage on a go route out of the slot for what could have been a huge play for Carolina. The speed of the Georgia front seven noticeably bothered Trubisky, who struggled to move through his progressions with so much pressure in his face.

Trubisky has wheels but stayed largely behind the line of scrimmage throughout the game, and it has to be said that this may be a significant adjustment for Carolina after years of Williams’ willingness to run with the football. When Trubisky did throw the ball he showed off plus arm strength, but also exhibited severe control issues on throws more than 20 yards down the field. Not only did he miss multiple deep throws, he also risked several interceptions with poor positioning of the football–skying some throws and missing the mark on others. These could be first game jitters combined with facing an exceptionally quick defense, the likes of which he has never seen before. But some of these issues could be structural, if his accuracy does not improve on intermediate and deep throws, then there could be a severe ceiling on the Heels’ performance this season.

Defense: 5

Defensive Line: 5

The defensive line was on the field for 38:05 of total game time. That’s too much for a group that still does not have ideal depth. With that taken into account, the defensive line really played quite well. The line was able to get significant pressure in the pass rush and, although they allowed a lot of yards on the ground (289 to be exact), UGA was more successful running outside the tackles rather than up the middle. Nazair Jones remains the standout member of that unit for Carolina with seven tackles and a half sack in the game. This game was certainly an improvement over the performance of the unit in the final games of last season. The defensive line was able to hold its ground against the Georgia offensive line on most plays rather than being blown off the line of scrimmage by a few yards as they frequently were against Clemson and Baylor.

Linebackers: 4

The linebackers were the weakest part of the defense’s performance. Linebackers were beat in coverage against wide receivers and off the edge by running backs. The defensive line did a relatively good job of occupying blockers but the linebackers failed to consistently hit their gap assignments and plug up holes in the running back. When the Georgia running backs ran sweeps or bounced it outside the linebackers had real issues with lateral movement to prevent large gains. On sweeps, the linebackers failed to get around the edge and shed blocks, forcing the secondary to have to make extra plays.

A larger issue for the linebackers was that they failed to keep contain on runs where the Georgia runners bounced outside when their intended running lane was full. There were several plays where the defense did its job for the initial Georgia play call, but then runners had freedom to just run around the over-committed linebackers to pick up easy yards. When the linebackers did execute their positioning well, they had tackling problems. The struggles tackling showed that the linebackers were green and inexperienced in this contest as they failed to wrap-up when tackling and often were not set when the Bulldogs snapped the ball.

Defensive Backs: 6

The defensive backs played relatively well on the whole. Patrice Rene got a rather rude welcome to the college game with a pair of pass interference penalties, but Des Lawrence and M.J. Stewart played at their normal high level to lead the unit. Stewart forced the game’s one turnover and Lawrence had a sack. But for most of the night, the corners did not have much to do. Georgia refrained from picking on Stewart and Lawrence, preferring to brutalize linebackers and safeties. While this was how Georgia picked up yardage on multiple occasions, the strength of the Heels’ top two corners allowed the Heels to move more men into the box to slow down the Georgia running attack.

Special Teams: 9

T.J. Logan returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Nick Weiler was perfect with his kicks and new Aussie punter Tom Sheldon played well in his American football debut. The coverage when the Heels were kicking to Georgia was good, Weiler booted all of his kicks for touchbacks and Sheldon handled the safety punt well.

Coaching: 2

The Heels’ third quarter implosion was aided by a meltdown from the head coach himself. Coach Fedora compounded bad field position from a penalty on the offensive line with an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing with officials. This led to the safety and the complete shift the in game’s momentum. In fact, after Fedora’s penalty, the Heels would not score again, while Georgia scored 12 straight points to take the lead and ice the game. The coaching staff’s play calling choices were further confusing in this game.

The most glaring example of this was the fact that the coaches called a screen pass within their own end zone which created a ready-made safety for Georgia. The Heels ran the ball with great effectiveness, averaging 8.4 yards per carry; however, they only gave running backs the ball 16 times despite leading for a sizable portion of the second half. The Heels also continued to throw downfield but only targeted Hollins, the nominal deep threat, once down the field. On defense the play calling was much better–they called an excellent mix of blitzes to be sure–but there were still a few head-scratching decisions with the secondary.

Rene picked up his two penalties on one drive on exceptionally similar plays. He was playing one-on-one man coverage on deep go routes each time. But the coaches did not give him any safety help over the top. This was his first game as a true freshman playing against a team with quality talents at receiver, after the first penalty he should have had safety help. On Jacob Eason’s 51-yard pass play, the Heels had an outside linebacker in the slot up against one of Georgia’s most explosive players, once again, the Heels failed to give a weak link in coverage enough safety help as he was late getting over to that side of the field.

Avoiding penalties is another critical part of coaching that the Heels seem to have regressed on. Not only did the coaching staff get an unsportsmanlike conduct, but the Heels totaled 13 penalties for 101 yards. That is a sharp regression from last season and something the coaches should be able to put a stop to with dedicated work on the practice field. Last season the Heels did an excellent job of cutting down on penalties compared to previous years but this game seemed to be a regression.

The coaches have put in a much better performance in the past and have gotten the team to rebound from poor starts before–last season is an excellent example. But this season seems to already require a substantial amount of work on that front. Rather than building on the successes of last year, the Heels are still winless in season openers against FBS teams under Larry Fedora, and this team seems to have gotten worse than the one that ended the year with a loss against Baylor. The coaching staff proved last year that they have what it takes to right the ship after a disappointing first game, we’ll see if they can repeat the feat this season.

Miami got a solid addition to the 2019 recruiting class on Thursday night when Miami (FL) Southridge 4-star LB Diamante Howard committed to the Hurricanes.

While he’s still an underclassman, Howard is a top tier prospect. He’s 6’2” 178lbs, with room to add weight to his frame. And, he’s only just beginning his sophomore year of high school, so additional physical development is to be expected.

Make no mistake about it, Howard is a serious player, and Miami did a great job of getting him in this class early. Howard has ties to the University of Miami: he’s a cousin of the late Sean Taylor.

Howard selected Miami over 6 other offers, but fully expect him to be a 30+ offer kid by the time his National Signing Day rolls around. Howard is a top 50 player in his class by all accounts, ranking as high as the #2 OLB and #7 overall prospect in Florida for his class by 247sports.

Howard joins 4-star CB Akeem Dent and currently unranked LB Jesiah Pierre as commits in the 2019 recruiting class. You can see Howard’s HUDL Highlights below.

The South Carolina Gamecocks will be without four of their players tonight at Vanderbilt.

Toure Boyd, Alan Knott, Christian Pellage, and Abu Lamin have been suspended for a “violation of team rules”. Boyd, Knott, and Pellage are suspended for just tonight, while Lamin will sit for the first three games – tonight, Mississippi State, and ECU.

Since the news came out just before kickoff, it’s not known what the nature of the rules violation was. We’ll have to wait and see during Will Muschamp’s postgame press conference what the precise reason is. Knott is the most notable; he was set to be in the offensive line rotation despite suffering a hand injury that would equal him giving up the starting role to Cory Helms.

GABA will keep an eye on this story as it develops, and we’ll pass along the latest news from Nashville throughout and after the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.