What to watch in week one of the college football season
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00:00The 2022 college football season kicks off this week and joining me to preview some of the top
00:06games is our Sports Illustrated Recruiting Analyst John Garcia Jr. I'm Claudette Montana
00:11Pattison with SI right now and John we're breaking down our top three games of the week starting with
00:17West Virginia versus Pitt. This is a historic game but probably extra special this year because JT
00:24Daniels and Keaton Slowis will be playing each other and their former teammates at USC.
00:30Yeah the USC quarterback pipeline is extending well beyond Los Angeles and if Jackson Dart wins
00:35the job at Ole Miss by the way that would be three former Trojans starting east of the Mississippi.
00:40But yeah the backyard brawl should be totally fun this year. It's the Thursday night game
00:45prime time and this is a really really intense rivalry for those outside of the region. So
00:51beyond the quarterback storylines this is a knock down drag them out kind of game for bragging
00:56rights. Obviously Pitt is coming off of the ACC championship and West Virginia has a coach that
01:01could be creeping towards the hot seat. So both programs have a lot at stake and then of course
01:06those quarterbacks both looking for redemption. You know after transferring from USC of course
01:12Daniels transferred twice after spending the last couple years at Georgia where he helped lead that
01:18national title team at least from a practice perspective. So yeah a lot on the line for these
01:22programs and these quarterbacks in particular and who knows this could be the start of a great
01:26comeback or maybe even NFL story between the two of them. Well speaking of Georgia the Georgia
01:32Bulldogs are taking on the Oregon Ducks on Saturday. Dan Lanning of course former defensive
01:37coordinator at Georgia now head coach at Oregon. A little bit of a rivalry there probably for him.
01:44What are your thoughts on this game? Plenty of familiarity between these two coaching
01:48staffs and then you bring in Bo Nix if you're Dan Lanning the former Auburn quarterback who
01:53of course played against Georgia three or four times before making his transfer up to Oregon. So
01:57a lot of storylines in this one. Kirby Smart and that Georgia Bulldog team looks totally different
02:02and we might perceive them the opposite way compared to last year where they were so defensive
02:07laden. Now the offense under Stetson Bennett and the best tight end room in college football
02:12should be leading the way for Georgia this fall. So intriguing again a lot on the line for both of
02:16these programs and obviously Dan Lanning as familiar with Georgia as one could possibly be
02:22to kick off his head coaching career. Will be fascinating to see that one although it's in
02:25Atlanta so almost a home game for the Bulldogs and you expect them to show one. Another game we have
02:31to talk about is this Ohio State Notre Dame game. These are two like national brands. Also Marcus
02:37Freeman's debut as Notre Dame head coach. What are your expectations for this one? This should be
02:42fascinating in and of itself. I mean this is a marquee like you said. This is like an NFL game
02:47almost in terms of the expectations and anticipation. Freeman going against the program he played for
02:53right? A great Ohio State player back in the day. Now leading the Irish against his Buckeyes to kick
02:58off his head coaching career. Going to be fascinating from that perspective. Tyler Buckner
03:03the quarterback there should usher in a new style of offense for Notre Dame under Tommy Reese. So I
03:08think that will be exciting and conversely Ohio State we know their offense is great but they need
03:13to step it up defensively. They hired Jim Knowles to replenish that unit and bring some new attitude
03:19to the Buckeyes after his time at Oklahoma State. So can they bounce back on that side of the ball
03:24and then maybe kick off their quest for a college football playoff national title because that
03:29offense is as good as it gets in college football. So again storyline city in week one and I'm excited
03:35about it.