Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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RANK & FILE A LISTING OF SPORTS TIDBITS

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WEEK 1 COLLEGE FOOTBALL RECAP

The biggest winner in Clemson, S.C., might have been the Clemson band, which trolled Ohio State with a brutal halftime march that spelled out “31-0,”the final score of the Tigers’ meeting with the Buckeyes in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. Nice one, Tiger Band. But about the football: Clemson kicked off its title defense with a 56-3 destructio­n of overmatche­d Kent State, a win highlighte­d by the sort of quarterbac­k play Dabo Swinney and his staff might have found familiar. It’s only Kent State. Still, the play of Kelly Bryant has to delight Swinney and co-offensive coordinato­rs Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott. Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 1 of college football: WINNERS Iowa: The Hawkeyes are the Hawkeyes again. You know? Iowa at its best takes a seat on the opponent’s chest and just hangs around, eventually smothering an offense and defense with its physical style. Take Wyoming and its star quarterbac­k, Josh Allen, who completed just 23 of 40 attempts for 174 yards with two intercepti­ons in the Hawkeyes’ 24-3 win. Iowa is Iowa again. California: Hopes weren’t high heading into Justin Wilcox’s first season, but a 35-30 win at North Carolina might say a lot about the Tar Heels, but it marked an outstandin­g and unexpected debut for the new Cal staff. Brian Kelly: For one week, at least, you won’t find Kelly’s name on those ubiquitous hot-seat lists. Though Temple has taken a step back, Notre Dame should feel huge confidence following its 49-16 win. Michigan. Michigan should get credit for taking care of business against the woeful Gators, who couldn’t manage anything against the Wolverines’ ferocious defense. UAB: In its first game back after a two-year absence, UAB went out rolled past Alabama A&M, 38-7. Nice going, Blazers. Big Ten: The conference went 7-0 in the afternoon games and entered the evening at 8-1 overall this week in non-conference games, with the lone loss coming from Rutgers against Washington. In the night games, Nebraska survived against defending Sun Belt champ Arkansas State, and Purdue put a real scare into Louisville. LOSERS Texas: The idea that Texas would hit the ground running under Tom Herman was never rooted in reality. It’s still disappoint­ing to see the Longhorns wilt against Maryland, which scored more points against Todd Orlando’s defense, 51, than the combined total from its final four Big Ten games in 2016. Oregon State: The Beavers were a trendy bowl pick coming out of a crowded Pac-12 North Division. Not this year. One week after getting bombed by Colorado State — which then managed only a field goal in a loss to rival Colorado — Oregon State barely managed to sneak past Portland State, 35-32, thanks to a late touchdown pass. No one doubts Gary Andersen’s coaching acumen, but the Beavers need to improve, and fast. South Florida: After stumbling in the early going during last weekend’s win at San Jose State, No. 21 USF could only manage a 31-17 win that belies its sloppy play against Stony Brook of the Football Championsh­ip Subdivisio­n. Florida’s offense: In a word: pathetic. Florida has no quarterbac­k, no offensive line, no idea how to move the football and no real hope of finding out how to do any of the above at any point in the near future. UNLV: The Rebels are a lower-rung Mountain West team, but they lost to Howard ... even though they were favored by 45 points! Cheers to the Bison, which pulled off the biggest upset in history, according to the point spread.

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