By Mario Williams
College football season is finally here, and Week 1 has passed.
With a game under all 14 of the Big Ten teams’ belts, all head coaches joined for the second teleconference of the season.
Here are a few highlights from Illinois head coach Lovie Smith, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer.
Illinois
Smith made his first appearance as head coach for the Illini in the Sept. 3 game.
The team defeated Murray State, 52-3, and will next compete against North Carolina. Smith thought that overall, the team competed well in all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams, in its season-opener. Illinois set the tone early on with many stops defensively against Murray State and held it to a mere 165 yards.
“I’m excited about getting to Week 2,” Smith said. “Exciting things happened for us in Week 1. You never really know what you have until that first game. I thought all of our guys contributed and played well. Whenever you can score that many points, you have to like some of the things you were able to do.”
It wasn’t a solid opening weekend for the Tar Heels, but starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky is an athlete the Illini are creating a game plan for.
Last season, Trubisky appeared in nine of the team’s 14 games. He completed 40-of-47 passes for 555 yards, with 6 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Last weekend against Georgia, he completed 24-of-40 passes for 156 yards and had neither a touchdown nor an interception. He was sacked once.
“There are a lot of impressive things he does,” Smith said. “With the weapons around him, I think he’s an ideal guy to lead their attack. He’s a guy we’re going to have to deal with this week.”
Michigan
The Wolverines opened up its season with a win against Hawaii, 63-3. Michigan will host Central Florida on Saturday.
Michigan recently came off of a 10-win season under Harbaugh. The Wolverines had not had as impressive of a record since going 11-2 during the 2011 season.
Harbaugh noted that he likes the direction that the program is going and where it is currently.
“I think our team has a chance to build and attack at the same time,” Harbaugh said. “Everyone should feel good about their opportunities and chances they have right now. We want to make the most out of everything.”
Ohio State
Urban Meyer and his team put up the most points in college football’s opening weekend: The Buckeyes defeated Bowling Green, 77-10.
Ohio State is young and inexperienced, but Meyer likes what he has seen thus far.
J.T. Barrett broke a school record for most touchdowns in a game, with 7, 6 passing and 1 rushing.
Ohio State will face Tulsa this weekend, and Meyer is looking for all players to perform, not just a few.
“Last week, we got some stability, and first time’s out of the way,” he said. “Now, it’s time to improve as a player.”
