First Impressions - Mariota v Winston

Perfect debut for Mariota

You work all of your college career for a day on the NFL turf. You are entrusted by a franchise who select you above 200 of the rest of your collective peers to be the face of the franchise, the salvation from obscurity.  And it ends in either victory or defeat, one way or another there will be a winner.  That is the beauty of American sport - the decisiveness and finality of it.  No draw, no sharing of the points. There will be a winner by sudden death, shootout or overtime.  You win no matter what.

You work your way through college for a day in the sun. A day to remember. 

For the top 2 selections in the NFL draft, you could not have had two more contrasting days for Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.  The only time they played each other in college was in last year's National Championship when Mariota's Oregon Ducks beat Winston's Florida State Seminoles 59-20. It was Winston's only college loss in 27 starts.  Now Mariota has handed him his only NFL loss, as he and the Tennessee Titans were victorious 42-14 on the road in Tampa Bay.

Mariota hit a 52 yard touchdown in his first series to Kendall Wright, this would be his first of four Touchdowns on his NFL debut.  

Have the Titans found their man?

Mariota looked composed and assured in the pocket, meaning he got good OL protection and Ken Whisenhunt played to his strengths of playing a quick tempo with packages similar to his days in Oregon and allowing him a quick release at the line of scrimmage, to those in the slot. This allowed receivers like Wright (who had 101 yards off of just four receptions) to gain yards after the catch running through that gap between linebackers and safeties when spaced out. Mariota only had to throw 16 times, this is good management of his expectations, do not force him to throw the ball too much and mistakes may not happen.

Unanswered questions remain about him once he feels pressure and is pushed outside of the pocket, and barring in mind next week they are away to the  Cleveland Browns he should be able to maintain the momentum against the sorry Browns team who lost 31-10 on the road to the New York Jets.

Baptism of fire for Winston

     

As for Famous Jameis, he might not be famous for much longer, but that would be cruel after only one game.  His first pass in the NFL was returned for a pick 6 by the Titans' Cody Sensabaugh for 26 yards, the sort of moment that means all the momentum is with Tennessee and made it almost impossible for the Bucs to wrestle it back as the Titans built up a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and eventually won by 42-14.  

Jameis famously won a lot of games in his second year at Florida State from positions of adversity and deficit but the first pass is all on him as he misread his receiver's route and the cornerback Sensabaugh came in underneath to make a good play. As for the second interception by Deiontrez Mount, again Winston is at fault for a shallow pass that did not get over the linebacker.

Are the Bucs all at sea?

To be realistic, Winston could only do so much as the Tampa defence allowed Mariota to look good on his debut leaving Winston with too much to do as they played catch up.

There is hope for Tampa Bay and Winston as they travel to New Orleans this week and while both teams are transforming, the Saints little signs of a defensive improvement in their loss on the road to the Arizona Cardinals, their secondary got blitzed by Carson Palmer for 3 touchdowns and 307 yards in the air.  Jameis has probably better recievers in Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, so there is hope as they face a division rival albeit on the road; and in Austin Sefarin-Jenkins much like many QBs he has found a nice reliable target to aim for, the tight end finished with 2 touchdowns for 110 yards off of five receptions.

On first impressions, you see Mariota as a calm presence at the line, in control of his emotions making good decisions in the pocket emphasized by his TD pass to Delanie Walker between three Bucs defenders.  Winston meanwhile seemed a bit riled by the occasion, not overawed but his decision making was poor on occasion and he showed a lack of movement to get out of the pocket initially which led to him not being able to show his athleticism he is renowned for.

This is not saying it was a mistake to draft Winston first over Mariota, that would be too knee-jerk after one game or after one quarter as many on social media did on Sunday; the jury is still out. 

College Football Week 3 review

Thanks to the wonders of scheduling, we had the marquee match-up of the season in just the third week of the season.  The walking hyperbole or is it hype machine, Johnny Manziel, whose performance on the road at Alabama helped him win the Heisman Trophy this year welcomed the National Champions to College Station, Texas; as the #6 Texas A&M Aggies hosted #1 Alabama on Saturday.

The game that was hyped to the hilt for once did not disappoint as the Crimson Tide remained unbeaten winning 49-42 on the road to stay the No.1 team in the country.  Yet the Aggies still put up a lot of questions of this weaker Bama defence, as wide receiver Mike Evans had 7 catches for 279 yards and 1 touchdown.

The questions of the defence come down to the giving up of 628 total yards (464 passing yards by Manziel), and yet they won by a touchdown owing to A&M having one more turnover.  AJ McCarron marshalled the offence 20-29, 334 yards and 4 TDs with TJ Yeldon having 149 yards off of 25 carries.  Yeldon has filled the hole left by Eddie Lacy. Yet it is the winning mentality of the Crimson Tide who retained enough players from the Championship side to retain a cohesiveness, whilst the offensive line improved allowing McCarron time to throw; the defence needs to step up in later contests down the stretch - Zach Mettenberger must be licking his lips at the prospect of facing this team.

The SEC is fast becoming the highest scoring conference helped by teams like the Aggies; the Tide and LSU Tigers so often renowned for being professional and getting the job done, are now scoring 40 plus points regularly and this is good for the product of College Football.

One reason for the high scoring must be a reaction to the Oregon Ducks and the Chip Kelly offense; the Ducks continued their march with a 59-14 home victory over the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers led by Marcus Mariota throwing for a career-high 456 yards and four touchdowns.  Amazingly, the Volunteers scored on their first possession, but where you worried?  Mariota is my favourite for the Heisman Trophy, if they remain undefeated then the sheer volume of points and dynamic ability will seal it for him.

The Big 10's big noise are the Ohio State Buckeyes who went undefeated last year but were ineligible for bowl selection.  Eligibility is available this year and they intend to make it count with so many players returning. On Saturday, they travelled to California and won 52-34 with fifth year quarterback Kenny Guiton getting his first start and leading them to victory with 21-32, 276 yards and 4 TDs.  In comparison to Braxton Miller who gives you options on the run, Guiton is a better pocket passer and gives time for receivers to get separation and hits his targets.

Florida State Seminoles decimated the Nevada Wolf Pack 62-7 at home, redshirt freshman Jameis Winston went 15-18 for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The Seminoles along with the Louisville Cardinals (who won 27-13 at Kentucky) are attempting to make the ACC get noticed and the play of Winston and Cardinals' Teddy Bridgewater, who is projected as the top quarterback in the upcoming draft, are turning heads.

Another QB who could be drafted high will be UCLA's Brett Hundley who led his Bruins to a supreme road victory at the #23 Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Hundley led his team from an 18 point deficit to win comfortably 41-21 thanks to a 28 point third quarter.  Hundley went 16-24, 294 yards for 2 TDs with help from RB Jordan James who had 105 yards off 22 carries, Hundley had 61 yards off 16 carries.  Hundley's leadership is vital to the Bruins going forward and they need to keep winning for the eventual meeting with the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12.

And poor old Texas Longhorns, lost for a second consecutive week, to go 1-2 for the first time since Mack Brown's debut season.  They lost 44-23 at home to Ole Miss Rebels (who next play Alabama in two weeks time) thanks to Jeff Scott 164 yards off 19 carries who ran at will against the struggling Longhorns, who have a problem but seem to have no idea of stopping it.

What to watch in Week 4:
Tajh Boyd and #3 Clemson return to national stage on Thursday night at North Carolina State; On Saturday, upset alert as Purdue (who nearly beat Notre Dame) travel to #24 Wisconsin; Alabama are at home to Colorado State (snooze); #23 Arizona State at #5 Stanford should be a great match-up and close contest and Auburn travel to #8 LSU for a typical SEC slugfest.

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