From true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen putting on a show in UCLA’s Week 1 win over Virginia to BYU’s incredible Hail Mary touchdown to steal a win at Nebraska there was certainly no shortage of high points in Week 1 of the college football season.
However, there were also some crushing disappointments across the nation including three notable standout upsets. Here is a look at the three teams that really disappointed in Week 1 of the 2015 college football season.
Stanford Stumbles
Expectations were reasonably high for a Cardinal team entering the season. Many people felt they had the potential to make some noise in the Pac-12 this season if a few things went their way…but that vision took a major hit in Week 1 with their disappointing 16-6 loss at Northwestern. Stanford wasn’t really beaten up through the air as Wildcats’ quarterback Clayton Thorson was just 12-of-25 for 105 yards and no touchdowns.
The bigger concern had to be the way they were hit hard on the ground with so many big gains down the middle of the field. The Wildcats finished the day with 225 rushing yards.
[related_post_one]
Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan delivered another underwhelming performance –including a late interception that sealed the game. One of the things that had to break right for Stanford this season was that Hogan had to be more consistent. He had just 115 yards passing in Week 1, averaging 4.4 yards per pass. The lack of progress made by the offense under head coach David Shaw should be a concern.
The Cardinal entered this season as a team that some experts predicted would be a darkhorse contender in the Pac-12 this season but now they are in a very tough position only two weeks away from back-to-back trips to USC and Oregon State. It might be too early to write them off just yet but they will have a really hard time making a case for the BCS this season.
Cornhuskers Lose Riley’s Debut
The other side of the coin in BYU’s incredible last-second win is Nebraska’s devastation as the Cornhuskers lost a season opener for the first time since 1985. That ended the nation’s longest season-opening win streak at 29 in a row. The stunning finish spoiled Mike Riley’s head coaching debut at Nebraska and sent an entire fan base reeling. The Cornhuskers called timeout before the last play of the game but still couldn’t get their defense to do the job.
It was a bad week for the Big Ten in general with the Huskers, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Wisconsin Badgers and Penn State Nittany Lions all losing but the way Nebraska’s loss actually unfolded had to make it the most disappointing of that group – especially after scoring 14-unanswered points in the third quarter to take the lead in the first place.
Jayhawks Special Teams Crumbles
The consensus heading into this season was that the Jayhawks were in for a long rebuilding process in the Big 12 but there was a chance the uphill climb ahead of them was actually underestimated. That’s because they suffered a devastating loss to an FCS opponent in South Dakota State.
What’s interesting is that South Dakota State was actually favored in the game but it was still a huge loss for the Jayhawks program – especially the manner in which it happened. Kansas somehow found itself in a 31-7 hole and after a substantial comeback to actually give them a chance they wound up losing the game on a fumbled snap-spike that was almost too brutal to be real.
https://vine.co/v/eTEv1IK2Jih
The Jayhawks are still paying buyout money to the man that put them in this position in former head coach Charlie Weis and that adds even more insult to their current situation. Kansas is in for a long rebuild and based on what we saw in Week 1 things could get a lot worse before they get better.
