Thoughts on College Football's Week 3 and NFL Week 2

1. Best of the Week

Best Game: Seahawks at Lions

Petition to make this game a permanent fixture on the NFL schedule. Geno Smith moved the ball well against a Detroit defense that looked great last week in Kansas City, but the Lions also showed they can play in multiple types of games, a must if they make the playoffs. This game was truly a great back and forth, a joy to watch and a reason we love the NFL.

Best Player: Micah Parson (FREAK) - Cowboys

I don't know what position to list him as but he is a freak. He also is the most valuable non-QB in football. He made the Jets' lives a collective hell. He started out with that beautiful stunt inside to sack Zach Wilson and he finished the game off with another sack on a failed screen play. Yes, he plays on the edge a lot, but Dan Quinn gets creative in finding ways to let him eat. Keep an eye on him when you watch all those prime time Cowboys games this year.

Best Uniform: Boston College 

For the Man in the Red Bandanna. #ForWelles pic.twitter.com/MwX9eUtbGr

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 15, 2023

Always have to highlight the Red Bandana game, this is one of my favorite traditions in college football and the uniforms are beautiful. 10/10, will be sure to recommend betting the Eagles next year when they play in them.

2. Don't Sleep on "Boring" College Football Slates

This weekend looked like the downer weekend before conference play really gets rolling. But then Boston College showed up against Florida State in the Red Bandana Game, South Carolina played Georgia close, Alabama sputtered out of the gate, Florida had the Swamp rocking, and we had a classic in Boulder. Yes, college football has the have's and have not's, but when you have a bunch of 18-24 year old's on the field anything can happen. So when we have another "bad" slate this year, just know we should still lock in.

3. Teams Find the Weak Link

No, I'm not talking just about the Mike McDaniel's clip where he told all of Sofi to run the same play five straight times, although that was amazing. Teams increasingly have the audacity to attack a weak link over and over. As I was in Michigan Stadium Saturday night I watched Bowling Green keep trying to isolate Michigan's "weak" corner and just ran go routes. Last year, teams did the same thing against Michigan. Alabama loves running the same play over and over to demoralize their opponent. Is this the influence of Madden players just calling four verticals? Is this analytics saying to just hunt for this matchup? Everyone loves all the wizardry of flood concepts but I feel like teams, at all levels of football, are increasingly just saying they will go at the same matchup they like and will live with the results.

4. Big Personnel is a Weapon

When you hear someone say "21 personnel" that means that there are two running backs (twenty) and one tight end (one) on the field. This used to be the most common personnel grouping in football, but increasingly it became "11 personnel" as the game has become more pass heavy and we saw defenses respond with smaller linebackers who can run in coverage. Well, now we see offenses going supersized. Teams are rolling out 21, 22, 13, and other large personnel groups that make the defense sub in bigger players because of the run threat. But those running backs, fullbacks, and tight ends are so versatile now that the offense can throw all over the field still. This started with the Patriots doing 22 personnel in the Super Bowl to beat the Rams a few years ago, the Chiefs did it last year with a lot of 13 personnel, and now we see it all over football. College teams are going empty backfield with two tight ends so they can have max protection and space. The Chiefs seemingly always have Noah Gray and Travis Kelce on the field together. Kyle Juszczyk splits out wide for the 49ers as a fullback. We talked last week about how hybrid defenders are not quite working, but they need to figure it out against the big offenses all around football.

5. Play of the Week

Washington's offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has a cult following after guiding the Huskies to the leading passing attack in the country last year. He has an ability to set teams up for call and often gives quarterback Michael Penix Jr. wide open throws to complete. It's a ton of fun to watch. Here is a beautiful wheel route in the end zone (yes another one) because it shows how he gets a ton of wide open options for Penix to choose from.

• Washington has an outside receiver (dot 1) and a slot receiver (dot 2) on the short side of the field. They have two man defenders (dots 5 and 6) head up on them.
• Washington also has a running back (dot 3) on the short side. This is normal, a lot of teams like running towards the wide side of the field. They also have a tight end (dot 4) off the line of scrimmage, looking like he will have a cutback block on a zone run. MSU's safety (dot 7) is interested in the backfield, showing the respect for the run game.

• The outside receiver (dot 1) gets an inside release, heading to set a pick on the inside defensive back (dot 6) while bringing his defender (dot 5) with him. The slot receiver (dot 2) is releasing to the wheel, and the slot corner sees this, but not the incoming pick.
• The safety (dot 7) is coming downhill as he sees the mesh point with the running back (dot 3) and the tight end coming across (dot 4).

• The tight end (dot 1) runs a flat route, which most quarterbacks would throw, and the safety (dot 2) is already coming downhill and sees it, so he thinks he has a beat on the situation. That is a mistake, but shows why Washington establishes the run even with all the receiving talent and a future NFL quarterback at the healm.
• The outside receiver takes his man and causes a collision with the slot corner. This allows the slot receiver (dot 3) a free route to the endzone.

Easy six points, the route is fully on. Poetry in motion.

Let me know what you think about breaking up the blog into two chunks! Looking forward to making more picks, hopefully I bounce back.