2024 College Football Opening Weekend Highlights & Picks

SportsGrid

Watch 2024 College Football Opening Weekend Highlights & Picks - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00All year on Fridays, we have had the college football update from our man Rich Sermonell.

00:09So of course, on the first big week in a college football, we got to get rich in a mix.

00:14Let's go.

00:15Hey, Mike, great to have college football back and to take a look back briefly at week

00:20zero.

00:21My big takeaway, Florida State, Georgia Tech down in Dublin, not the same Florida State

00:27team as 2023.

00:29That's obvious, but the biggest takeaway is what it means to the ACC.

00:33This conference, which we thought would have parity now is wide open.

00:38So if you're Miami, if you're NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, heck, Georgia Tech at this

00:44point, you're looking at this conference and saying, we've got a legitimate shot to not

00:49only win a title, but also get to the college football playoff.

00:53Remember this year, we moved to 12 teams, top four conference winners, automatic bid,

00:58automatic buy.

01:00So a lot of these schools that haven't tasted championship in the ACC now have a shot as

01:06Florida State looks to regroup.

01:08Now I'm going to move ahead to top storylines week one in college football.

01:14It's an odd slate of games, Mike.

01:15We have a lot of FBS, FCS games that we'll see a lot of blowouts, but mixed in that Flotsam

01:21and Jetsam are some really good games.

01:24Storyline number one, let's go to Gainesville, Miami versus Florida in-state rivals.

01:30This for me is all about the coaching matchup, Mario Cristobal, Billy Napier.

01:35These are two guys who begin their third season on the job firmly on the hot seat.

01:41The fallout for the losing coach in this game is going to be epic.

01:46You've got a shot for the winner to now say, Hey, we might have a shot to be the toast

01:51of the town in the Sunshine State, especially after Florida State's loss.

01:55Huge game Saturday afternoon for these two schools.

01:58Now, storyline number two, I love the quarterback matchup down at Kyle Field between Notre

02:05Dame and Texas A&M.

02:07ND gets to watch its debut of Riley Leonard.

02:10Texas A&M has Connor Wegman, who I think has a shot to really soar up draft boards next

02:16April.

02:17Both of these guys finished last season on the injured reserve, injuries.

02:22So we don't know what to expect from these guys.

02:25They're facing two terrific defenses.

02:27That scene at Kyle Field is going to be electric.

02:30And finally, storyline number three, Sunday night, primetime, USC, LSU, Allegiant, Las

02:38Vegas, going to be a great game.

02:41I want to see if this USC defense really has turned a corner, 34 points per game allowed

02:47last year.

02:48All of the talk in the offseason is about this unit being more physical.

02:53They did a great job of bringing DeAnton Lynn, the defensive coordinator, over from UCLA.

02:59But now it's time to prove it against Garrett Nussmeier, Kyron Lacy, the breakout wide receiver.

03:06If USC is going to compete in the Big Ten, they have got to be better defensively.

Category

Transcript

Recommended