The Big Ten conference had a really, really good opening weekend. Only three teams, Purdue, Indiana, and Rutgers, lost games, and all three of those lost to ranked teams.

Purdue lost to Louisville, 35 – 28, and the Cardinals had to come back late in order to win the game. Keep in mind the Louisville features last year's Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.

Rutgers played Washington. The Huskies are considered a potential playoff team and were ranked in the top 10 coming into the game. Washington won, 30 – 14, but Rutgers played them tough throughout the game. Considering where Rutgers was last year at this time, getting destroyed by everyone, the Scarlet Knights clearly have made strides in improvement. No doubt that offensive coordinator Jerry Kill has made a difference and is a nice addition to their staff.

Indiana lost to Ohio State, in a game that was actually a Big Ten conference game, so I'm not really sure if that counts against the Big Ten conference or for it. Indiana look very good in the first half, and the Buckeyes looked like poop. The second half was a different story as Ohio State pulled away, partially because they got their offense together and partially because the Hoosiers started making mistakes and then collapsed as they are wont to do.

With all due respect to Michigan, the biggest win of the weekend in the Big Ten conference was Maryland's win over Texas. There was so much hype coming into this season about Tom Herman being hired at Texas… I have to say that I haven't enjoyed a first-half of football as much as I enjoyed watching Texas suck while Maryland looked like a team that had its crap together. Texas failed in nearly every aspect of that game. Marilyn quarterback Tyrell Pigrome was impressive throughout most of the game. As impressive was his replacement, Kasim Hill, who took over after Pigrome was injured. Hill is a true freshman and he handled himself like a vet.

With regards to Michigan… I wasn't sure if that win was that impressive. Florida's offense looks like the same train wreck that it's been for years now. Certainly there will be talk about how great Michigan's defense is, but I'm not sold.

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I see that Nebraska media members and some Nebraska fans were upset that Bob Diaco did not do a postgame interview. I honestly don't care. Perhaps I would care if this were my full-time job, but it's not. I read Steve Sipple's column where he pointed out the Danny Langsdorf took eight minutes to talk to the media, the implication being that Diaco couldn't spare eight minutes.

It's not about eight minutes. It's about it being a distraction from what his job is, and his job is to teach his defensive scheme to his players. Every word Bob Diaco says while he is talking to the media will be scrutinized, over analyzed, and beaten to death. If that's the case, why would you want to do it? I would avoid it unless my boss specifically told me it was some I had to do as part of my job description and then I'd probably do a very poor job. I can't imagine having a really good attitude about answering questions after a loss, especially if I were an ultracompetitive human being.

Let's say the Diaco did the post game interview. His first question is obvious. "How do you explain your defense giving up 764 million yards?"

"I decided to run a plain-vanilla defense throughout the entire game. There were few adjustments, because I wanted to make sure we could run the base defense without having to worry about making a lot of big mistakes."

Or

"I said earlier that there would be growing pains in moving to the 3 – 4 defense. This game was an example of such growing pains."

Or

"I decided to run the base defense for the entire game. I didn't want to show our next opponent anything beyond that. I realize that it could cost us the game, but it didn't."

How would you take any of those answers?

It wouldn't have mattered what Bob Diaco said in a postgame interview. He would've been wrong. That's the thing about being in public. You do a poor job, people hate you. Do a great job, people love you and you can get away with anything. If Bob Diaco's defense plays much better against Oregon, no one will give a damn whether he gives a post game interview.

Requiring every college football coach to also be a very good public speaker is silly. Some people just don't have that toolset. And some people just don't care.

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Don't look now, but Oregon is the highest scoring offense in the FBS division. They scored 77 points against Southern Utah. The Ducks had 366 yards rushing and 355 yards passing. The 77 points were the most ever scored by Oregon at Autzen Stadium. Sounds impressive, right? Given our defensive performance Saturday night this should have you shaking in your boots. On closer inspection, Oregon gave up 266 yards passing and 21 points to a FCS team that finished 6 – 5 last season.

I don't know what that means either, but it's impressive debut by Willie Taggart.

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NEWS

Nebraska's Defense Will be Fine | Hail Varsity
Arkansas State ran 89 plays, yet Nebraska held a 4-minute edge in time of possession. Those 89 plays gained an average of 5.6 yards. The average FBS offense gained 5.8 yards per play in 2016. The average through the first 44 games of 2017? Also 5.8. This is the new normal.

Sneak peek: Can the Oregon Ducks continue high-flying ways against Nebraska? | OregonLive.com
Threat level (1-5 scale): 5. The Huskers displayed a balanced offensive attack behind Lee and Bryant in their opening victory, scoring on six of their first eight drives

BC's Breakdown: No, the Wolves did not destroy the whole picnic
Start with what your optimistic friends are saying: Maybe it was just a bad opening night in a new defensive scheme against some plucky Sunbelt team that is about to go and win 10 games and stress out Miami this week. Games like that happen, after all. And, parity. Right? Parity. That's a real thing. And it's not like the big Red took an 'L.'

McKewon: Mike Riley, Husker players address defensive struggles as Bob Diaco goes silent | Football | omaha.com
You waited nine months to watch Nebraska defensive coordinator Bob Diaco try to mousetrap Arkansas State’s offense — only to have the mouse skitter around for four hours with Husker

Texas A&M Board of Regents member blasts Kevin Sumlin on Facebook - Good Bull Hunting
Texas A&M Football Kevin Sumlin Hot Seat Tony Buzbee Board of Regents Fired

Josh Rosen Leads the UCLA Bruins to a Miraculous Comeback Victory Over the Texas A&M Aggies-45-44 - Bruins Nation
The tale of two halves for UCLA. The offense and defense wake-up and play almost perfect football in the second half.

Instant Reaction: UCLA makes epic comeback to beat Texas A&M 45-44 - Good Bull Hunting
That really just happened. Here’s a few questions.

Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia was so good, it overcame FedEx Field - SBNation.com
When you put an amazing CFB rivalry game into an awful NFL stadium, the "amazing CFB rivalry" part wins out.

Deondre Francois injury: FSU QB out for year with patella injury, per report - SBNation.com
He’s a huge loss for the Seminoles, obviously.

Opposing coach helped USC's blind long snapper Jake Olson play in game - SBNation.com
USC long snapper Jake Olson, who’s legally blind, got into the No. 4 Trojans’ game against Western Michigan. With the Trojans up in the fourth quarter, Olson launched a clean snap to set up an extra point. Olson was emotionally moved, and so was anyone who watched. The entire thing was awesome, all the way around.

Then There’s This

It was 98-0 with 10:00 to go.