Thursday and Friday CFB takeaways

By Owen Pannell | KZA Sports

It’s been a great couple days of football, and before we get to the rest of the weekend's games, let’s discuss our biggest takeaways from Thursday and Friday.

- USF can be a playoff team

After giving the belt to #25 Boise State yesterday, we have to discuss if USF is a playoff team. They play Florida, then Miami the next 2 weeks, and if they win just 1 of those games, I don’t see how they wouldn’t be the front runner for the group of 5 bid. Byrum Brown is absolutely electric, and their defense looked phenomenal.

- Nebraska… is confusing

There were certainly positives and negatives for the Huskers vs Cincinnati. They got the win, but even with Raiola having a pretty good game, their offense didn’t look great. I don’t see how they can be a playoff team like some people predicted, but a win is a win. They just need to get better.

- Boise State won’t win the Mountain West

After looking like hot garbage, I just don’t see how the Broncos will come out on top of the stacked Mountain West this year. They have a lot of soul searching to do.

- Oklahoma State and UCF are trash

These 2 teams will undoubtedly be the worst in the Big 12. Both looked very mid against what should be far inferior competition, and it doesn’t help that the Pokes promising QB Hauss Hejny went down with an injury.

- Duke needs to lock in

The Blue Devils were tied at halftime vs Elon. They ended up winning 45-17, but it wasn’t pretty. They have a very talented roster, I even had them in my preseason top 25, but if they don’t lock in, it could be a wasted season after giving all that money for Darian Mensah.

- Big 12 in trouble?

Not a single Big 12 team looked good yesterday. Based off that, and not an insane week 0, the Big 12 could be pretty bad this year. They are already the worst power 4 conference, but if Arizona State, Texas Tech, etc. don’t preform well, it could be a big down year for the Big 12.

- Missouri is cooked

Yeah they won by basically 60, but their offensive line looked absolutely terrible against an FCS team. Beau Pribula is the guy, especially after the Sam Horn injury, but it wouldn’t shock me if this team is worse than Oklahoma was last year.

- Ohio is a good football team

They fell just short of pulling off the upset vs Rutgers, but they proved that they are certainly MAC contenders, maybe even favorites. I wouldn’t say they are a playoff team, but led by Parker Navarro they can definitely have a great year.

- Army isn’t what they were

The Black Knights lost to FCS opponent Tarleton State last night, clearly they aren’t the playoff contender that they were last year.

- Wake Forest is terrible

Wake Forest beat Kennesaw State 10-9. That is awful. It’s going to be a rough year for the Demon Deacons, 2-3 wins I expect.

- Sawyer Robertson is good, Baylor isn’t

Robertson had a good performance, throwing for over 400 yards and 3 TDs. However Baylor just did not look good. They should have won that game vs Auburn, but they just couldn’t. Might be a disappointing year for the Bears.

- Will Auburn use their receivers?

The Tigers got the win, but it was solely because of their running game. They have one of the best receiver rooms in the country, but they barely utilized it, only throwing for 108 yards. If they want to win games this year, they need to involve their best playmakers.

- Colorado should have won

Georgia Tech had 3 turnovers in the first 8 minutes of the game, but Colorado only yielded 7 points from those. Their defense was decent, but their offense just wasn’t good enough. They have some things to figure out.

- Georgia Tech is a playoff contender

It sounds crazy because of the result of the game, but playing that bad an still finding a way to win is exactly what playoff teams do. If they can limit those mistakes, they can beat almost anybody.

- UNLV looks better

UNLV looked better vs Sam Houston, but they still need to improve. The Mountain West looks to be open with Boise State looking very poor, so it ca be the Rebels if they lock in.

You can find Owen Pannell on X here.

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