8 things I learned from college football's first weekend of 2021
An octuplet of facts
College Football Thoughts
Stanford named Tanner McKee as the new starting QB, which we knew was going to happen after Week 1’s performance.
There’s a lot more talent at Clemson and Georgia than there was seven years ago.
A few weeks ago, I heard the song “Fancy Like” with my girlfriend and we talked about how there aren’t many real songs anymore. Artists pepper in references to pop culture or restaurants as if they give a shit about those things, but the reality is that Drake doesn’t eat at Cheesecake Factory and Beyoncé doesn’t eat at Red Lobster. I might have mixed those up, I don’t know. But these artists don’t like the things they have in their lyrics, it’s marketing. That’s all it is. So we agreed that “Fancy Like” was no more than a catchy advertisement for Applebee’s. Well, guess what… This has been playing during every college football game:
Fordham LB Ryan Greenhagen had 31 tackles in Week 1. Not a typo. Of course, that happened during a 52-7 loss to Nebraska and was the result of terrible, terrible, not good defense by Fordham as a whole.
McNeese QB Cody Orgeron will face his dad Ed Orgeron’s LSU defense this weekend.
Presbyterian QB Ren Hefley had 10 TD passes in a single game. Head coach Kevin Kelley does not believe in punting the football and Presbyterian won the game 82-43 over St. Andrews. They also attempted an onside kick 10 times (one successful) and went for 2 on most of their scores.
Georgia DT Jordan Davis won the Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week award for consistently drawing double and triple-teams in a win over Clemson.
McKenzie Milton had an astounding 22-0 record for UCF from 2017-2018, but in the final regular season game of his junior campaign, he suffered a “traumatic” injury (his coach’s word) to his right leg that required emergency surgery to save his limb. Milton had to undergo multiple surgeries before he could even walk again, and he then an infection caused a six month delay in his recovery in 2019. It was only last summer that Milton began football activities again with UCF, and given that the team is extremely happy with current quarterback Dillon Gabriel — a Heisman candidate and potential top-15 pick — he decided to transfer to Florida State so that he would not distract from the Golden Knights’ goal to win a national championship with Gabriel. The 23-year-old Milton was not named the Seminoles starter, but did make an appearance against Notre Dame. An opportunity arose in the fourth quarter and Milton went 5-of-7 for 48 yards on a touchdown drive. There hasn’t really been any NFL hype for Milton and that may have been the case even before his devastating knee injury. Honestly, I don’t even see his knee injury as much of a deterrent to teams — reports state that he’s in great health and condition — as much as his size, level of competition, and good-but-not-exceptional stats. He may have what it takes to fight for a roster spot as a hard-working undrafted free agent. He’s proven at least that much.
