College Football: Jalen Hurts leads top performers of Week 1

The opening week in the 2019 college football season gave us a number of standout performances. Here are the top performers from this past week.

As if the sport itself did not keep individuals on the edge of their seat with its reemergence, we were not disappointed once again. The first weekend in the 2019 college football season unraveled a number of compelling finishes and alluring storylines.

A true freshman quarterback created a legendary moment in a neutral site game against the Oregon Ducks. Another true freshman quarterback went on the road and defeated the Florida State Seminoles.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, the Volunteers suffered another setback on their road back to respectability. A new era began in Columbus and got off to a rousing start, while a familiar face to the Tar Heels fan base kicked off his return to the program with a comeback victory. Let’s highlight the top performers from this past week in college football.

LSU QB Joe Burrow

For quite some time, the LSU program has been looking for stability at the most important position on a football team. With senior quarterback Joe Burrow in place, the offense is in solid hands.

Burrow completed 85% of his passes (23-of-27) for 278 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in the 55-3 blowout of Georgia Southern in Week 1. The Tigers broke out a new spread scheme that had the smell of a new car for the home crowd in Tiger Stadium. A scheme that is a significant change from the pro-style, run-oriented blueprint that LSU has run for quite some time.

Burrow appeared to be very comfortable as he connected with nine different pass catchers against the overmatched Georgia Southern Eagles. All five of Burrow’s touchdown passes came in the first half and by the third quarter, Burrow was done for the night and enjoying a stellar outing as the Tigers now look towards a top-10 showdown against the Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas.

Clemson RB Travis Etienne

Some call him easily the best running back in the ACC. Others feel he is quite possibly the best running back in all of college football. Either way, Clemson running back Travis Etienne is a known playmaker and started off his 2019 season in impressive fashion.

Etienne only received 12 carries for the entire game during Thursday night’s season opener against Georgia Tech but that was all he needed to total 205 rushing yards and three touchdowns for Clemson’s 52-14 shellacking of their conference foe.

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The Tigers enter the season as defending national champions as most of you know. Etienne himself enters the season as the key cog to the Tigers running game and this particular outing was the second time Etienne eclipsed 200 rushing yards. It was also Etienne’s fourth game of totaling three rushing touchdowns as he begins his third season in the orange and white.

Boise State QB Hank Bachmeier

Picture this. A true freshman quarterback making his first career start on the road in one of the more respected environments in all of college football. In a contest that was supposed to be a neutral site game only to be changed to a true road game mere days before due to impending weather conditions on the horizon.

Well, for one Hank Bachmeier, it was a circumstance that was manageable. With the poise and resiliency showed by Bachmeier and his Boise State teammates, the Broncos erased a 31-13 second-quarter deficit to the Florida State Seminoles to ultimately prevail, 36-31. A game played in Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium after the game was originally moved from Jacksonville because of Hurricane Dorian.

On most stages, a true freshman quarterback will likely waver but the toughness by Bachmeier remained on display as he passed for 407 yards and a key touchdown in the third quarter to narrow the then-Florida State lead to just six points.

Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts

All eyes were on the transfer quarterback as he began his new chapter in Norman, Oklahoma. From the first snap of the Oklahoma offense, Hurts was obviously the best player on the field as the Sooners cruised to a 49-31 victory over the Houston Cougars.

On the night, Hurts registered 508 total yards (332 passing, 176 rushing) and six total touchdowns. His 508 total yards of offense was the fifth-highest total in school history. As the game transpired, Hurts gained plenty of Heisman steam, although the recent history of Heisman winners from the University of Oklahoma helped that cause.

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Overall, Hurts looked like a different quarterback than what we saw during his time at the University of Alabama. Maybe Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley is truly the quarterback whisperer.

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