Analyzing the win over FAU and other college football observations
Five observations about Florida’s 66-21 season opening win over Florida Atlantic:
1. Jadan Baugh is a legitimate Heisman candidate: Ahmad Hardy hasn’t played a game. Keiwan Lacy was hurt against Louisville and is running behind an O-line that doesn’t look nearly as good as the one Ole Miss put on the field last year. Those two are on everybody’s Heisman list but are they as good as JB who had 14 carries for 160 yards and three TDs against FAU?
2. The O-line is much improved and better than we thought: The only issues Saturday were a couple of high snaps by Harrison Moore, who otherwise had an outstanding game at center. There was only one false start, not a single holding call and the one sack allowed could have been avoided. Moore and guards Knjeah Harris and TJ Shanahan are formidable in the middle. Bryce Lovett is solid at LT. Right tackle wasn’t bad, but seems the weak link at the moment.
3. Buster Faulkner will be a short timer in Gainesville: He has head coach written all over him. The Gators scored on 10 of their 11 possessions against Florida Atlantic. The Gators didn’t punt one time and the only drive that ended without a score came when a receiver deflected the ball into the hands of an FAU defensive back. Faulkner’s offense is balanced, explosive and unpredictable. What a concept after the previous four years.
4. Tackling must improve: Can’t wait for Jon Sumrall to give a number for missed tackles. A conservative over/under number is 20. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out if it’s closer to 30. If the Gators can’t tackle better they’ll have o win shootout games.
5. Pass defense will go only as far as the pass rush will take it: The pass rush wasn’t effective but that’s more on the Florida Atlantic scheme than anything else. The Owls run a hurry-up offense that is mostly dink and dunk so the pass rush is neutralized. Once in SEC play the Gators will see a lot more of a vertical passing game which will require a strong pass rush to make the pass defense effective.
ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC
No. 13 Alabama (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Redshirt freshman QB Keelon Russell threw for 256 yards and ran for 86 yards and a touchdown to lead the Crimson Tide past East Carolina, 48-10. ECU was held to two rushing yards on 22 carries by the Alabama defense. Saturday: at Kentucky (1-0, 0-0 SEC)
Arkansas (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Ryan Silverfield got a 31-14 win over North Alabama in his Arkansas debut. The Arkansas defense, led by former Florida defensive coordinator Ron Roberts, held North Alabama to 153 total yards, just 40 on the ground. Saturday: at No. 21 Utah (1-0)
Auburn (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Auburn got a 17-16 win over Baylor in the head coaching debut of Alex Golesh despite quarterback Byrum Brown throwing three interceptions and the offensive line allowing five sacks. Saturday: Southern Miss (1-0)
No. 3 Georgia (1-0, 0-0 SEC): In beating D1AA Tennessee State 63-3, Georgia’s defense gave up only 109 total yards and 10 first downs. Offensively, the Bulldogs racked up 660 yards with Gunner Stockton completing 15-16 passes for 202 yards and three TDs. Fifteen different Bulldogs caught a pass. Saturday: Western Kentucky (0-1)
Kentucky (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Rookie head coach Will Stein got a 45-13 win over Youngstown State in his Kentucky debut. Notre Dame transfer QB Kenny Minchey threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns. Saturday: No. 13 Alabama (1-0, 0-0 SEC)
No. 11 LSU (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Quarterback Sam Leavitt and running back Dilin Jones both ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns as LSU handed Dabo Swinney the worst defeat of his coaching career, 51-10. LSU threw for 309 yards and ran for 335 while holding Clemson to 145 yards. Saturday: Louisiana Tech (1-0)
Mississippi State (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Led by sophomore QB Kamario Taylor, the Bulldogs put up an astounding 762 yards in their 62-13 win over Louisiana-Monroe. Taylor threw for 354 yards and four TDs while running for 59 and another TD. The Bulldogs had 33 plays of 10 or more yards. Saturday: at Minnesota (1-0)
No. 25 Missouri (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons completed 17-19 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns leading Mizzou past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 54-14. Mizzou outgained the visiting Lions, 562-198. Friday: at Kansas (1-0)
No. 10 Oklahoma (1-0, 0-0 SEC): The Sooners warmed up for Saturday’s visit to Michigan with a 51-0 win over UTEP. John Mateer threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns. Saturday: at No. 16 Michigan (1-0)
No. 9 Ole Miss (1-0): Ole Miss got a win over Louisville on the final play of the game when Lucas Carneiro nailed a 48-yard field goal as time ran out. Ole Miss endured a sloppy first half in which Trinidad Chambliss threw a pick and fumbled, but the Rebels scored 31 in the second half for a 41-38 win. Keiwan Lacy was injured and unable to play in the fourth quarter, which is a concern with LSU and Florida looming after cupcake Charlotte. Chambliss threw for 336 yards and three TDs, plus ran for 60 yards and another TD. The Ole Miss defense was quite shaky. Saturday: Charlotte (0-1)
South Carolina (1-0, 0-0 SEC): New offensive coordinator Kendal Briles had a nice debut as the Gamecocks racked up 645 yards in a 57-0 skunking of Kent State. QB LaNorris Sellers completed 19-23 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns. The Gamecock defense got a shutout while holding Kent State to 179 yards and 10 first downs. Saturday: Towson (0-2)
No. 20 Tennessee (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Freshman QB Faizon Brandon had a spectacular first game with 13-17 passing for 226 yards and three touchdowns to go with two rushing TDs and 68 yards. Mike Matthews caught four passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Saturday: at Georgia Tech
No. 5 Texas (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Arch Manning threw for 305 yards and four touchdowns in the Longhorns 59-7 win over Texas State. Wide receivers Ryan Wingo (7-121, 1 TD) and Cam Coleman (3-70, 2 TDs) had big days and Will Muschamp’s defense forced three turnovers. Next Saturday: No. 1 Ohio State (1-0)
No. 8 Texas A&M (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Mike Elko’s defense was the story of the Aggies 50-0 win over Missouri State. The Aggies gave up 67 total yards and just four first downs while forcing three turnovers. The A&M offense threw for 269 yards and ran for 236. Saturday: Arizona State (1-0)
Vanderbilt (1-0, 0-0 SEC): The Vandy defense had five sacks while allowing Austin Peay 178 yards. Quarterback Blaze Berlowitz completed 11-16 passes for 149 yards in his first collegiate start. Saturday: Delaware (1-0)
LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE
Since becoming a full-fledged member of Division I in 2022, winning and scoring lots of points have become a trademark for James Madison. Curt Cignetti (2022-23) and Bob Chesney (2024-25) led the Dukes to 40 wins in 51 games, averaging 35.3 points per game while never averaging less than 407 yards. That was then. This is now and now means hello Billy Napier and welcome to the slow lane.
Picking up where he left off at Florida, Napier’s first game at James Madison saw the Dukes put 20 points on the board while gaining all of 291 yards. Yes, James Madison won the game, beating Liberty, 20-13, but by all accounts it was boring football, kind of what Florida fans got used to from 2022-25.
A year ago, the Gators averaged 341.6 yards and 21.6 points per game as Napier called his own plays. Saturday night with Buster Faulkner calling the plays for new Florida coach Jon Sumrall, the Gators had 38 points and 321 yards at the half.
LAGWAY IS STILL LAGWAY
Trailing Auburn, 17-16, after a 5-yard DJ Lagway touchdown pass with nine seconds remaining in the game, Baylor coach Dave Aranda elected to try to win the game outright rather than kick an extra point that would have most likely forced overtime. That put the game in the hands of former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. On the two-point try, Lagway threw behind tight end Max Klopfenstein, who made the catch but was stopped inches from the goal line. Had Lagway either led Klopfenstein or waited a split second for Klopfenstein to take one more step, it would have been two points and a Baylor win.
That Baylor scored only 16 points has a lot to do with Lagway. He completed 27 of his 54 passes for 333 yards (6.2 per pass attempt), and two touchdowns, but he fumbled to kill a potential scoring drive on Baylor’s first possession, then threw an interception on the second possession, killing another promising drive. Throughout the game there was no shortage of open receivers but Lagway missed as many as he completed.
He still throws off his back foot which is why his midrange throws tend to sail on him. He still ignores open receivers on underneath routes while trying to force the ball into coverage farther down the field. He still can’t read a defense spelled cat if you spot him the C and the A.
In other words, the rejuvenated DJ Lagway that we’ve been hearing about for months is still the same DJ Lagway who threw 28 touchdown passes and 23 interceptions during his two-year stint at Florida.
HORRIBLE CALL IN ANN ARBOR
I’ll make this simple. The Big Ten should be embarrassed that its replay officials added an extra second on the clock that allowed Michigan a Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat Western Michigan 13-12 Saturday night. Even more embarrassing is the Big Ten’s statement defending the call. On what should have been the last play of the game, the ball was still in the air when the clock flatlined at zero. The replay crew ignored the visual evidence, concocted an excuse and gave Michigan one more second which turned into the game-winning play.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS: Miami (1-0) had a statement win over Stanford on the road Friday night, clocking the Cardinal 45-6 behind five touchdown passes from Darian Mensah, who threw for 401 yards in his debut with The U. Sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney caught 12 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. The only difficult game remaining on the Miami schedule is a November 7 visit to Notre Dame.
Buzzards will be circling the football complex at Wisconsin after the Badgers were whomped 41-13 by Notre Dame at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Luke Fickell needs at least eight wins to save his job. Notre Dame (1-0) only has two difficult games remaining on the schedule – at BYU October 17 and Miami in South Bend November 7.
Josh Hoover, formerly of TCU, was 13-16 for 231 yards and four TDs in his Indiana debut. Indiana has now won 17 consecutive games, top streak in the country.
Florida State hosts SMU tonight in what is a must win game for Mike Norvell. With road games at Alabama, Louisville and Miami still on the schedule, Norvell can’t afford any losses, much less one at home. SMU is favored by three but probably will win by at least two touchdowns.
Dabo Swinney was a big winner when he had great assistant coaches. Since losing Tony Elliot, Brent Venables and Jeff Scott all to head coaching jobs elsewhere Clemson has been trending downward, largely because Dabo hasn’t chosen quality assistants. He will leave Clemson on his own terms but a lot of Tiger fans hope he decides it’s time to move on soon.
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