Football is back, and we’re so excited that we’re giving away a $500 Visa gift card to the winner of our Week 1 pick’em contest. Sign up to support our independent college football operation and pick 12 games against the spread to play for the big prize. You have until noon ET on Saturday to enter.

Our pick’em contest, Run The Board, is a weekly and season-long game. We’ll give out weekly prizes and also hand over seats on our Board of Trustees to our top five finishers at year’s end.

By signing up to support the show, you’ll also unlock exclusive perks built for the most loyal fans, including ad-free episodes, bonus content, access to our Discord chat and more.

Join as a Certified or Premium Verballer by clicking below, and we’ll send you an email with instructions for how to submit your winning entry.

A season ago, North Carolina was vaulted into memefied air after a lackluster display against TCU in Bill Belichick’s debut. Today, the Tar Heels stole the headlines for all the right reasons, shocking the college football world with a 15-10 season-opening victory over the Horned Frogs in Dublin, Ireland. 

Week 0 rustiness aside, North Carolina looked like a competent college football team. New quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. played turnover-free football. North Carolina committed eight fewer penalties and was on the receiving end of a game-changing special teams error. The Tar Heels even won in the most Belichickian way possible, drawing TCU offsides late in the fourth quarter to run out the clock. 

North Carolina made headlines this offseason for the odd pairing of Belichick and new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. From the onset, Petrino’s fingerprints were all over the offense. Petrino dialed up two explosive plays early in the game and did a nice job calling plays that played to Edwards’ strengths. 

After the two teams traded early field goals, TCU made headway with its outside zone running game. The Horned Frogs took a seven-point lead early in the first quarter after running back Jon Denman punched it in from two yards out to take a 10-3 lead. The next drive, North Carolina converted on a crucial fourth-down play, and one play later, scored on a nine-yard outside zone run play to tie things up. 

Late in the second quarter, the biggest play of the game occurred when TCU botched a routine snap on a punt. The ball floated over the punter’s head, into the end zone, and the punter was forced to push it out of bounds for a safety that gave the Tar Heels a two-point halftime lead. 

TCU never recovered from that back-breaking mistake. In the second half, new TCU offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis got away from the zone run game and refused to put quarterback Jaden Craig in a position to use his legs. Craig later missed a pass on a critical fourth-down conversion opportunity inside the North Carolina 10-yard line, resulting in a turnover on downs. TCU’s offense mustered just 281 yards and went 1-of-5 on fourth downs over four quarters.

With the win, Belichick silenced the doubters — and perhaps made a lot of folks reconsider this team’s ceiling — if only for a week. For Sonny Dykes, this was an embarrassing loss across the board. One-game referendums, especially after a Week 0 game in Ireland, are often a silly exercise. But there’s no refuting that TCU did not look the part today. The Horned Frogs will have to play much better if they have any hopes of competing in the Big 12 this season. 

If you, too, fell victim to the North Carolina State Offseason Hype Train, you might be entitled to future compensation.

After an offseason of optimism, the Wolfpack’s ACC dark-horse status has officially been revoked until further notice after a 34-8 thumping at the hands of Virginia on Saturday afternoon.

From the onset, North Carolina State looked out of sorts. Promising quarterback CJ Bailey was under constant duress. The Wolfpack couldn’t run the football to save their lives. And the defense got physically manhandled at the point of attack, allowing 258 yards and two scores on the ground.

Tony Bennett feels like a constantly overlooked coach. This game was a good reminder of just how dangerous his team can be when given months to game plan. 

Nothing better encapsulates just how brutally destructive the ’Hoos’ run game was than these two factoids: 

This offseason, the biggest questions surrounding North Carolina State centered on whether quarterback CJ Bailey could play better in big games, and just how much this offense would suffer from losing its top four pass-catchers from last season. 

Bailey struggled mightily Saturday afternoon, finishing 12-of-23 for 84 yards and one interception. He didn’t play well, but his receivers also did a poor job of creating separation and giving him passing lanes. Entering the season, many people thought the Wolfpack had a favorable schedule. After that performance, I’m not so sure. 

North Carolina State should rightfully get a lot of blame for playing poorly, but give Virginia a ton of credit. They tackled well, schemed things up correctly on both sides of the ball, and played like a team that had a point to prove. 

Last season, Virginia came this close to winning the ACC title game and crashing the College Football Playoff party. By the looks of things, the Hoos might have a chance at getting back to Charlotte this season. 

Do you like a game full of haymakers? 

What about explosive plays? 

If you answered yes, boy, oh boy, was Memphis-UNLV the game for you! 

Long after most college football fans fell asleep, this game provided a shot in the arm to cap off a wonderful Week 0 slate. 

Viewers were treated to a first-half Jackson Arnold redemption arc, a dazzling Marcus Stokes debut, and plenty of shot plays from start to finish. But in the end, it was the Memphis defense that got stop after stop in the fourth quarter to hold on for a monster 27-21 win.

Arnold had a tremendous first half, but his hesitancy reared its ugly head down the stretch. Stokes played well in his first FBS game, but the Tigers’ offense stalled out a few times in the final frame. At the end of the day, the game’s co-MVPs were Memphis’ star defensive linemen Elijah Kinsler and J’Mond Tapp, who took over the game in the fourth quarter. The Tigers finished with six sacks, and they needed every single one of them to close out the win.

What more can you say about Charles Huff? He won games at Marshall. He turned Southern Miss into a good Sun Belt team. And now, he notched a gigantic win in his Memphis debut. Take a bow, sir! 

Memphis is now in the early driver’s seat for a Group of 6 College Football Playoff spot after Week 0. UNLV might already be eliminated from CFP contention. Life is hard for G6 teams! 

Don’t let the final score fool you… This one got dangerously close to becoming the Game of the Week.

With the game hanging in the balance, Stanford defensive lineman Tevarua Tafiti stripped Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado and ran it back for a touchdown to cap off a 37-27 victory in head coach Tavita Pritchard’s debut. 

The Cardinal jumped out to a 23-7 lead and looked to be in cruise control. Quarterback Davis Warren was dealin’. The defense was keeping Hawaii out of the end zone. The Rainbow Warriors looked out of answers. Then Micah Alejado took over the ballgame. 

Alejado had a heck of a game. He finished 30-of-50 for 269 yards and two touchdowns, and single-handedly willed his team back into the game. But his golden left arm could only take Hawaii so far. A late Cardinal rushing touchdown and that clutch strip sack sealed the victory for Stanford in an opening weekend thriller.

Making sweeping conclusions after Week 0 is often a fool’s errand, but it’s hard to deny how much better Stanford looked under Pritchard. Stanford has a tough road ahead, but here’s to hoping a proud program can get back onto even footing after years of hard times.

Death, taxes, and North Dakota State. 

This isn’t the state’s motto, but it might as well be. Saturday evening, North Dakota State rolled to a dominant 33-7 win over Jacksonville State, notching its first-ever win as an FBS football school, and surely putting the rest of the Mountain West on high alert. 

Running the ball is a way of life in Fargo, and Saturday was no different. The Bison pummeled the Gamecocks on the ground for 209 yards and just shy of five yards per carry. Quarterback Nathan Hayes, who has big shoes to fill after the departure of Cole Payton, had a solid game, finishing 14-of-22 for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

North Dakota State scored on its opening drive of the game. Jacksonville State swiftly responded with a touchdown late in the first quarter to knot things up. Late in the second quarter, Hayes threw an ill-timed interception, but the defense bowed up and stuffed the Gamecocks on fourth-and-short inside the 15-yard line. 

From that point forward, the Bison were in cruise control, rolling to 26 unanswered points and a comfortable victory.

Jacksonville State is a quality Group of 6 team, which makes what North Dakota State did that much more impressive. It’s difficult to watch that game and not think the Bison could be serious contenders in the Mountain West this season. 

College football is officially back, and Week 0 gave us plenty to chew on before the season really gets rolling. We start with North Carolina getting some revenge on TCU in Ireland, then turn to Virginia's emphatic win over NC State and a huge opening performance from Beau Pribula. How much should we believe after one game, and which results actually changed the way we see these teams?

From there, we work through USC's somewhat misleading final score against San Jose State, Florida State's uneven opener against New Mexico State and a late-night Memphis-UNLV game that may have made the Group of Six playoff race a little more interesting. We also discuss Stanford's dramatic finish against Hawaii and the very different FBS welcome parties for North Dakota State and Sacramento State.

Plus, the return of college football meant the debut of some noticeable changes to the TV experience. We review ESPN's post-BottomLine world, the new on-screen indicator showing which announcer is speaking, a pronunciation controversy involving Beau Pribula and one moment of sweet Eastern Pennsylvania vindication.

▶️ Listen/Watch