Jones feeling heat going into opener
Butch Jones is feeling the heat on Rocky Top.
Heading into his fifth season as Tennessee’s coach, Jones desperately needs a breakout performance to show he’s got the Volunteers on the right track.
A loss to Georgia Tech in Monday’s prime-time opener at $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be a huge step in the wrong direction.
“It’s a great opportunity for our football team, for our football program, to go to Atlanta and play against a very, very good football team in a great environment, a great new stadium,” Jones said, trying to keep things positive.
While only the first game in a very long season, this will surely set the tone for both programs.
Georgia Tech wants to build on a strong finish to 2016 with another victory over a Southeastern Conference team. The Yellow Jackets went 3-0 a year ago against the SEC, including season-ending victories over Georgia and Kentucky.
“It’s a huge deal,” said Parker Braun, an offensive guard for the Atlantic Coast Conference school. “It’s another good opportunity to play an SEC team. We don’t get very many opportunities to do that, so when we do play a team from the SEC, it’s important to show what we can do on our side.”
Martin has career game after scary week
Kam Martin couldn’t hold back the tears at least once during a trying week. Sleep was terribly hard to come by, too.
The tailback for No. 12 Auburn had to sweat out a week where his parents and little sister were stuck in their Port Arthur, Texas home, with no power and diminishing supplies. Martin’s aunt, Sarah Henry, died because she had no way to get to her regular dialysis appointments.
“We didn’t have any food or anything,” Martin said. “No places to go get food. It was real tough, but I just told them: We’re going to get through this.
“There was nothing I could do.”
What he could do is play football, even if it doesn’t seem like much in Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath. But Martin wound up an unlikely star in the Tigers’ 41-7 victory over Georgia Southern Saturday night.
A third-teamer catapulted into a big role by Kamryn Pettway’s one-game suspension and Kerryon Johnson’s right hamstring injury, Martin delivered with 136 yards and a 36-yard touchdown run. He also had a 61-yard run.
“I knew when my moment came, I was just going to do it for my city and my family,” Martin said, sporting a Texas Tough T-shirt after the game.
USC needs to improve run defense
Western Michigan was a mystery to No. 4 Southern California, forcing coaches and players to watch three sets of film to prepare for a new head coach and offensive coordinator.
There will be no such illusions when No. 14 Stanford comes to the Coliseum on Saturday.
“I’ve been playing Stanford for going on four years now,” safety Chris Hawkins said. “I know what they are going to come do. We all know what they are going to do. They are going to run the football.”
The Trojans pulled away from the Broncos for a 49-31 victory in their season opener Saturday, but the defending MAC champions rushed for 263 yards.
“That’s as good a running game as we may face, them and Stanford in back-toback weeks, and we’ve got some things we need to clean up defensively,” said coach Clay Helton said.
Western Michigan found success by exploiting cutback lanes as outside linebackers Porter Gustin and Uchenna Nwosu, who played as defensive ends while USC used nickel personnel for nearly the entire game, crashed inside and failed to hold the edge.
USC also struggled to create penetration. When USC brought run blitzes, Western Michigan called audibles to run away from the pressure.
Similar breakdowns could be catastrophic against Stanford running back Bryce Love, who rushed for 180 yards and a touchdown in a 62-7 win over Rice in Australia. Love had six carries of at least 10 yards, including a 62-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.
Michigan defense looks familiar
That defense for 11thranked Michigan looks very familiar, even with all those first-time starters.
Yes, those Wolverines that had eight defensive players taken in the NFL draft earlier this year and also lost two other starters.
“Just playing with a chip on our shoulder,” said sophomore linebacker Devin Bush, one of seven defenders who made their first starts for Michigan in a season-opening 33-17 win over No. 17 Florida.
The Gators lost their season opener for the first time since 1989, while being held to 192 total yards, nine first downs and no offensive touchdowns Saturday. They lost three fumbles, one recovered in the end zone for a Michigan touchdown.
“Our defense was amazing,” coach Jim Harbaugh said.
“They physically took it to us, give them their due,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “They beat us every which way they could up front, and we never had an answer.”
Granted, this was a Florida team with a new starting quarterback and missing its top receiver and top rusher. They were among 10 Gators suspended for the opener.
But Florida had only 11 yards rushing on 27 attempts and gave up six sacks behind an offensive line that McElwain had called the true strength of the team after challenging them to be more aggressive, tougher and more physical.
The longest drive for the Gators was to open the game, when they went 46 yards — 34 on one pass — for a field goal that was their only offensive score. The second-longest possession was the last one after Michigan’s starters were pretty much out of the game, with passes of 28 and 20 yards before a sack that ended the game.
“This whole season, we got something to prove,” Bush said. “Young don’t mean nothing. Football is still football, regardless of who is there or not.”