ICYMI: Underdogs and “Sissy Blue” Shirts

Week one of college football was just as crazy as advertised. Seven top-25 teams opened their seasons with a loss, Alabama may as well already be crowned national champions, oh and how could I forget that Georgia’s defense held Clemson to THREE points.

Amidst all the chaos, Horned Frog fans got to enjoy a relaxing 45-3 win against Duquesne under the lights of Amon G. Carter stadium. In case you were out tailgating or doing whatever you might do to prepare for a TCU football game and missed some of the action around the country, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.

For this “In Case You Missed It” series I’ll be highlighting some of the most interesting plays, facts, quotes, or even memes from the prior weekend of College football that you may not have seen. Without further adieu:

Great day to be an underdog

For the first time ever, three 19+ point underdogs won on the same Saturday. Georgia Tech fell to Northern Illinois 22-21, Washington lost to Montana (of all teams) 13-7, and Vanderbilt was embarrassed by FCS opponent East Tennessee State 23-3.

Not an ideal start for any of the power five programs involved, especially considering all three teams lost in their own stadium. I don’t even know where to begin with this.

Northern Illinois went 0-6 last year, and there really isn’t a valid excuse from the Yellow Jackets as to why they didn’t win that game. Tech QB Jeff Sims had some hype built around him in the preseason but suffered an arm injury that removed him from the game while the Yellow Jackets were down 14-0.

Backup QB Jordan Yates led Georgia Tech to three unanswered touchdowns before Rocky Lombardi completed a touchdown and 2-pt conversion with 38 seconds remaining to seal the deal. Side note - Rocky Lombardi is a hall of fame worthy name for a QB.

As surprising as the NIU upset was, the most unexpected of the three would be Washington vs Montana. The Grizzlies became the first FCS program to beat a top-25 FBS team in the last five years (NDSU beat Iowa 23-21 in 2016) with a win over No. 20 Washington.

Down 13-3 with less than a minute remaining, the Huskies had a chance for a game-winning touchdown. Snapping from the Montana 43-yard-line, Washington QB Dylan Morris threw an interception with 31 seconds on the clock to end their comeback hopes.

Last and certainly least, Vandy pulled a classic Vandy move and lost by 20-points to an FCS opponent at home. The Commodores are now just the sixth SEC school to ever lose to an FCS program, and they did so despite being over 20-point favorites.

UCLA’s “Sissy Blue” Shirt

Coach Orgeron is a meme machine. Prior to LSU’s matchup against UCLA, Coach O was entering the stadium when he handled a UCLA heckler by telling him to “bring your a** on in your sissy blue shirt.” Classic Coach O.

I understand Coach O wanting to sound confident in his squad, but their 38-27 loss to the Bruins says otherwise. The funniest part wasn’t the ironic loss after an overly confident pregame statement, it was UCLA’s post-game social media reaction.

Immediately after the game, UCLA seized a marketing opportunity of a lifetime and took to social media to troll the Tigers and Coach O in particular for his “sissy blue” comment.

I love it.

Clemson fails to score a touchdown

For the first time in the Dabo Swinney era, Clemson failed to score a touchdown in a game. Georgia’s defense had A LOT of hype built around it coming into the season, and boy did they live up to it.

The Dawgs held Heisman hopeful quarterback DJ Uiagalelei to 19/37 passing, 178 yards, 0 TDs and one interception. All around it was an abysmal offensive outing for the Tigers in front of a home crowd in Death Valley.

Georgia’s offense didn’t do much better, in fact the only touchdown of the game was a 74-yard pick six by the Dawg’s Christopher Smith.

College football analysts around the country spoke very highly of the Georgia defense prior to kickoff, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted a 10-3 snooze fest for a top-5 matchup.

Brian Kelly wants to execute his team

After a close 41-38 win at Florida State, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly had an unfiltered postgame interview where he stated “maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight.”

Eventually Kelly tried to justify his comments by saying he was referencing an old quote from Jim McKay.

“It’s an old John McKay quote,” said Kelly in his postgame presser. “I was kidding. It was tongue in cheek. It wasn’t funny?”

Well, Jim, the majority of the college football world thinks this was hilarious, but I’m sure your locker room doesn’t appreciate being put on blast on primetime TV.