The more things change in college football, the more they stay the same.

We saw some incredible performances by UCF, Washington State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, and Clemson. All with identities on both sides of the ball. On the flip side we saw Michigan State lose despite giving up only 216 yards of offense. Mark Dantonio doesn’t believe there is anything wrong with what he is doing. He is a man that thinks he should win any game in which he scores one touchdown. The Spartans have the best defense in the nation (Yes, I said it and mean it!) and when they lose 10-7 to a mediocre Arizona State squad at home he simply blames penalties and turnovers on his offense who I will guess earns a fifth of his attention compared to the defense. It’s been this way for 10 years and still remains mind boggling. End rant.

We learned on Friday night that Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen has so little faith in his defense that he would rather play slow on offense despite his young but extremely fast Cougars offense that was much better last season and thrived playing in shootouts. If he doesn’t adapt quickly Houston could become a bottom feeder in a ever-improving AAC.

We also learned that not only does Boston College Steve Addazio have no defense but that the hiring of offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian was a bad one. The Eagles couldn’t move the ball against Kansas often enough to get into the end zone once trailing. What’s impossible for me to believe is how BC has never developed a passing game to help out elite running back A.J. Dillon. Too easy for defenses to key in on him.

Staying in the ACC, Virginia Tech has now lost to a terrible Boston College team, were life and death against Old Dominion, and lost the first half to FCS Furman. Bud Foster is retiring at the end of the year but this seems to me much more of a voluntarily I’ll just quietly leave while head coach Justin Fuentes runs a very non-defensive friendly system. Since Frank Beemer left so too has the level of recruiting and the amount of transfers is telling.

Virginia is legit. However, Florida State has now done everything it can to aid opponents in three straight fourth quarters and are lucky to be 1-2. The Seminoles are wasting serious defensive back and running back talent and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles has somehow decided to stay away from future NFL’er Cam Akers often enough that I sometimes forget he’s on the team.

Switching over to the Big XII, you never know how a new head coach will handle a bigger job and expectations. Texas Tech’s Matt Wells was a defense-only head coach before discovering offensive coordinator and Air Raid disciple Dave Yost. Wells will be great in years coming but while he has seemed to fix TTU’s defense and its run holes compared to previous years, it’s clear he has lost the offensive identity. And while not everyone is Kingsbury or Leach, the early returns on Texas Tech is a very fast offense with no vertical passing game (6.5 ypa, 97th nationally).

Oklahoma is scary. My concern was the Sooners’ pass defense which ranked 130th last year. Even with a huge leap they’d still be average but after three games this defense looks much different. They’re still going to give up points but they aren’t giving up the big explosive plays. If they can limit those and remain elite offensively, they’re a serious playoff contender despite some inexperience on the offensive line and at quarterback in Lincoln Riley’s system.

Switching over to the MAC. A really weird head coaching hire in Scot Loeffler who then hired the worst defensive coordinator in FBS history in Brian VanGorder. Both are among the most failed coordinators in college football over the past five seasons. Bowling Green, who if anything always had an offense, was outscored 87-7 vs. Louisiana Tech and Kansas State.

Akron looks completely lost. First-year head coach Tom Arth used his third timeout on the second offensive drive of the third quarter. He was for whatever reason very concerned that they would mess up such good field position! Something tells me the Zips’ talent which is bad might not be the only thing lacking in 2019.

C-USA is all over the map per usual. Florida Atlantic came to life against a good Ball State team and scored tons of points but it’s clear that Lane Kiffin is still offensive- driven hence why the Cardinals racked up 470 yards.

SMU is superior to almost all of the AAC but Sonny Dykes has shown the ability to get off to quick starts and then falter after any kind of adversity. The Mustangs could win with an experienced defense but something tells me Dykes still wants to participate in track meets.

Florida lost quarterback Feleipe Franks to injury and immediately looked much better. That is troubling for many reasons. Head coach Dan Mullen has always been offensive minded and stayed with Franks despite a lack of clear decision making due to inexperience. While I have no questions regarding the Gators’ defense the offense Mullen runs often puts the the quarterback at risk and the offensive line is largely made up of underclassmen.

Whoever the athletics director is for the following schools, regardless of budget, really needs to be fired. New Mexico State played at Alabama and Washington State, and a home opener vs. San Diego State. Not to be outdone, Rice decided Army, Wake Forest, Texas and Baylor would be a great way to start the season. What is going on there?Why not schedule at least one cupcake? I mean Alcorn State needs practice too! It’s hard to imagine the toll that it puts on the kids’ psyche with these type of no-win situations. These could be very decent teams but we really have no way of knowing given the level of competition.

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