Football is finally back in all of our lives.
Doesn't that feel good, too? It seemed like it had been forever since we had a college football Saturday so it was good to finally get the 2016 season started. Now, we have the best four months of the year ahead of us.
The Big Ten had a decent showing on the opening weekend. The conference went 12-2 overall as the only teams to lose were Northwestern and Rutgers (more on that later). Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Maryland (!) and Purdue (!!) were all dominant, winning games by at least three touchdowns. Wisconsin had the most impressive win of the weekend with its 16-13 victory over fifth-ranked LSU.
There were some stellar individual performances, too, on both sides of the ball and we'll break down some of those this week's edition of Stock Up/Stock Down. We'll also discuss a few things that didn't go so well throughout the conference during the opening weekend.
Remember, this is something new that we're trying this season and we're not quite sure how it's going to play out. This is obviously an Ohio State-related website so we're going to discuss the Buckeyes most often in this piece, but performances from other teams — good and bad — will likely be found here as well.
Let's get things started by looking at some players, teams, position units on the rise after Week 1.
Stock Up
Curtis Samuel — Ohio State Running Back/Wide Receiver
Do I expect Curtis Samuel to have 261 total yards and three touchdowns every week? No, I do not. However, I'm fully buying Samuel this season as a breakout star for Ohio State.
Urban Meyer discussed often how he intended to use Samuel at both wide receiver and running back, but I was skeptical how much time he'd spend in the backfield. He spent over 20 snaps back there in the Buckeyes' opener and had a total of 22 touches. If that's the way Ohio State intends to use him this season, look out.
Malik Hooker — Ohio State Safety
I'm also ready to buy into the Malik Hooker hype after just one game. His teammates and coaches spoke at length all spring and summer about his playmaking ability and that was on full display Saturday. Hooker had a pair of interceptions — both of which were spectacular plays — and the way the Buckeyes allow him to use his ballhawking ability in the secondary will surely create more of those opportunities as the season progresses.
Michigan's Defense
"But it was only Hawai'i!" is surely what you're going to say when you read this.
Doesn't matter to me. Michigan's defense is legitimately good and should be one of, if not the best, in the Big Ten by season's end. There's NFL talent all over the field and Don Brown's new scheme makes the Wolverines much more aggressive than they were a year ago. Michigan limited the Rainbow Warriors to just three points Saturday and 232 total yards — most of which came in the second half when all of the starters were sitting on the bench. Hawai'i didn't register positive yardage until its final drive of the first half and the Wolverines did all of this playing without All-American cornerback Jourdan Lewis.
Wisconsin
I'll be honest, I thought Wisconsin had no shot to beat LSU. That's not because I was a big believer in the Tigers — how can this school continuously not have a competent offense? — but it was more of an indictment of the Badgers, who I rarely think can compete with some of the most athletic teams in the country.
Wisconsin proved me wrong, though. It surely wasn't a pretty game — a 16-14 final is so Wisconsin, isn't it? — but at the end of the day it was a win. Were people underrating the Badgers to start the season? Who knows. Their schedule is still brutal, and I'm not all of a sudden going to pick them to win the Big Ten West, but this was certainly an impressive win as Wisconsin outplayed LSU for the duration of the game.
Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
There were also some, let's call them subpar, performances around the Big Ten last weekend. Let's break down some of the players, coaches, teams trending downward after one week.
Stock Down
Chris Ash — Rutgers head coach
The Chris Ash era at Rutgers did not get off to a swimming start. The Scarlet Knights, led by the former Ohio State defensive coordinator, were blasted at Washington by the final score of 48-13.
Ash is a good coach, but I certainly expected more from both him and his team Saturday. This is obviously a difficult job, but Rutgers wasn't even competitive against a solid Washington team.
Northwestern
A Big Ten school has to lose to a MAC school every year. It's an unwritten rule. This season it was Northwestern, which fell to P.J. Fleck and Western Michigan on Saturday, 22-21.
The Wildcats won 10 games a year ago and, even though they didn't beat anybody good last season, were certainly thought of as a Big Ten West contender this year with some of the talent they brought back.
Might be same old Northwestern.
Michigan State's offense
It feels like the Spartans rarely impress in their season-opener against a middling opponent and this year was no different. Michigan State won — that's all that really matters — but it was by the score of 28-13 against Furman, an FCS school.
The Spartans had just 361 yards of offense and needed a late fourth-quarter touchdown to put the game on ice. Quarterback Tyler O'Connor had just 190 yards passing in his 2016 debut as the starter.
You'd be foolish to count out Mark Dantonio and Michigan State, but the Spartans' Week 1 performance was far from impressive. Then again, it rarely is and it's hardly shown to matter at the end of the season in recent years.
