The week ahead
ECJ Top 10 CFB
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Texas AM
- Oklahoma
- Cincinnati
- Notre Dame
- Penn State
- Texas
- UCLA
Cougar recap
Arizona is just not as far away from being a competitive program as people think. Jedd Fisch is a fascinating Pac-12 character and seems like a decent head coach. The Cougar secondary got a lot of hype from Kalani Sitake in the off season and in week one did not live up to that billing.
Partly because of a scary injury to corner Keenan Ellis, who is now thankfully up and walking. The Cougars will need to get much better defensively if they hope to stay in a game with a Utah offense that looks more explosive than it has in past years this week.
Jaren Hall looked fine in game one. A slow start, but as the game went on he looked more and more comfortable in the system. Hall’s legs are a special weapon, the challenge will be balancing keeping an injury prone QB in Hall healthy while also using his explosive running abilities to add a dimension to the offense.
Ute recap
The Utes had a great win over Weber State, but that’s Weber State. Kyle Whittingham said the club had a “Laundry list” of things they needed to fix. Specifically dropped passes as the Utes dropped two touchdowns on Thursday night.
Charlie Brewer looks comfortable at QB. There have been some over reactions to his performance though. We cannot call this player the best QB the Utes have seen since Brian Johnson after just one performance. Here is what Brewer does well though, he throws with touch (something that just can’t be taught), has great accuracy, moves well in the pocket, and has a solid grasp of the offense.
BYU will be a good test for Utah to determine what kind of team they are. If they can win handily they should view themselves as a contender to win the Pac-12 after the conference looked thoroughly underwhelming in week one.
The Ute defense will need to be it’s strong suit and with the way Devin Lloyd played in week one there should be no question that again this Utah defense will be a strength.
Aggie recap
Still unclear who the QB will be. Logan Bonner played in crunch time. This loss says a lot about head coach Blake Anderson, to go to a p5 school in your first game as head coach on the road is a tremendous tone setter.
The Aggies have a trap game ahead though. FCS teams are playing well right now and North Dakota is a great FCS program. If Utah State wants to continue the momentum they must secure a victory against North Dakota in Logan this weekend.
NFL Primetime and extra point pickem
Dallas at Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay -7. The loss of Zack Martin really sways this game, the Cowboys already enter the season with a thin O line, expect Tampa Bay to hound Dak Prescott all day. The Cowboys need to start by trying to establish a run game to protect Prescott early. Meanwhile, Tampa walks into the season as the best team in the NFL.
The Bucs are ahead of the pack. Expect fire works from Tom Brady and this Tampa offense this week.
Bears at Los Angeles: Bears +7.5. I expect the Rams to win this game but it will remain close by the second half I would hope we see Justin Fields in at QB for Chicago. On the other side of this matchup the Rams have the MVP front runner in Matthew Stafford. The Rams are my Super Bowl pick right now.
That said things might start slow and Stafford, who didn’t play in pre season, gets command of the offense. Also, this will be the first time we see fans in the new So-Fi Stadium, that should be pretty exciting.
Ravens at Raiders: Raiders +4.5. September is always a good month for the Raiders. Jon Gruden’s teams almost always start hot. Expect this game to be very close, a lot will depend on the health of Raven’s weapons Marquise Brown and rookie wide out Rashod Bateman.
The Ravens scare me, I have no idea what to expect from them this year, it is put up or shut up time for Lamar Jackson.
Extra point
Broncos at Giants: Broncos -3. I am almost surely going to be let down, but I don’t care I am ready to be hurt again. The Broncos have the best defense in the NFL, end of story. Depth at every major level and stars at every level.
Rookie Patrick Surtain is going to ball and ball early for Denver. The return of Von Miller will spell disaster for a Giants OL that is well, a disaster.
The Broncos will also return Courtland Sutton making this the best Broncos receiving core, with Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, since the Peyton Manning era. Not to mention a loaded back field between Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams, a rookie who showed tremendous speed and body balance in the pre season.
A great defense, an offensive skill core that can only be defined as explosive, a coach on the hot seat, a need to have the first winning season in four years and then of course the QB, Teddy Bridgewater. What could possibly go wrong?
I certainly won’t spend this fall cursing out my TV and tweeting expletives about the Broncos on Twitter, that certainly won’t happen.
The player to watch going into the week
For the NFL: Patrick Mahomes, can the greatest QB of this generation get even better? To that extent, the same question applies to Tom Brady. Both are fascinating signal callers to track in week one.
College: Ohio State wide out Chris Olave, looked awesome in week one against Minnesota how much better can he look against a great Oregon secondary.