Tag: season opener

Pete Carroll: Seahawks QB Geno Smith was ready for this moment

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has come a long way in his NFL career, returning to the starting position to beat the Denver Broncos.

The Seattle Seahawks beat Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos on the national stage Monday night, thanks in no little part to their new starting quarterback, Geno Smith.

Smith won the job this summer over fellow QB Drew Lock, earning the chance to square off with Wilson head to head during his return to Lumen Field.

It was Smith who came out on top.

“How about Geno? I mean, Geno, 17 for 18 in the first half,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game. “Who does that? Guys just don’t do that. Remember, he did it against Jacksonville. He had, I don’t know, 12, 13 in a row, something like that. Geno played tonight like he has been playing the whole time we’ve been practicing. That’s what he has been looking like. He didn’t look any different than what he has looked like in practice.

“That’s why we had the belief in him, and that’s why he was able to win the job and go out there on Monday Night Football and win the football game.”

Smith finished the outing completing 23 of 28 attempts for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t throw a single interception and ended the night with a 119.5 passer rating.

“He is the best he has ever been,” Carroll continued. “Because of the four years of being in the system and being loved up and taken care of and looked after, and he did his part in reverse to always be there for us. He is ready. He is ready for this moment. The experience that he had, the guys — he was so poised and calm in this game. It was just fun playing with him. We were talking as the game is going on, and he is having fun and laughing and enjoying it. The moment came to him, and he was ready for it. That’s a really beautiful illustration.

“It’s a great story, I think it’s a great story.”

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WATCH: Highlights from Seahawks MNF win over Russell Wilson and his Broncos

Quarterback Geno Smith and his Seattle Seahawks emerged victorious in their 17-16 win over Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos on Monday.

The Emerald City was on fire Monday night when Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos rolled into town to square off against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field for their season opener.

Seahawks’ starting quarterback Geno Smith put on quite a show, leading Seattle to a 17-16 victory over Seattle’s former franchise man and his new squad.

The Seahawks defense played a major role in the win, with a couple of huge stops thwarting Wilson’s efforts to get the ball into the endzone.

Seattle came away with a hard-fought win and sole possession of a 1-0 lead in the NFC West.

You can catch all the highlights from the game below.

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Seahawks familiarity with Russell Wilson makes for fun game planning

Coach Pete Carroll and his Seattle Seahawks are gearing up to square off against a very familiar face in Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson.

Coach Pete Carroll has been busy readying his team to face their former franchise quarterback – Broncos QB Russell Wilson – when Seattle squares off against Denver in the Seahawks season opener. There probably isn’t another player in the league Carroll feels he knows better.

“I hope I do a really good job,” Carroll told reporters on Monday. “I do have as much information as you could have, I probably haven’t known a player any closer than knowing Russ, his quarterback play, his mentality, and all of that.

“He knows me too, he knows us – we will see what happens.”

But despite everything Carroll thinks he knows about his next opposing quarterback, that isn’t stopping him from utilizing any intel he can get from the former Broncos now on his team.

“It’s absolutely on the docket for all of the obvious reasons,” Carroll said. “Sometimes guys can carry whatever, some of the history, and at times, it can fuel guys well. Not knowing that, I want us to take the next opponent as best as we can, so the guys can perform like they are capable of and not get distracted.

“Any distractions affect your play, so we don’t need anything that isn’t going to help us.”

The Seahawks and Broncos are set to kick off on Monday, Sept. 12 at 5:15 p.m. PT.

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Alabama CB Eli Ricks not starting against Utah State

Eli RIcks coming off the bench against Utah State

Former LSU cornerback, [autotag]Eli Ricks[/autotag], was maybe the biggest grab out of the transfer portal for Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide this offseason. However, it might take a few more weeks for Ricks to see starting time as he will be second string today against Utah State.

Saban elected to go with McKinstry and Arnold to start, but Ricks will get a chance to showcase his abilities throughout the night. Tyler Harrell, another huge portal addition, will also be out this evening against the Aggies.

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5 reasons why Alabama gets the win over Utah State

5 reasons why the Crimson Tide won’t have much trouble taking down Utah State

The Alabama Crimson Tide head into the 2022 college football season with only one goal on their mind, a national title. The first step to achieving this goal is to take care of the Utah State Aggies who come to Tuscaloosa this weekend for a showdown in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama currently enters the game as a 41.5-point favorite over Utah State per Tipico Sports, suggesting the Tide should have their way. However, don’t expect Alabama to be caught sleeping walking to start the season, Nick Saban has been preparing for the Utah State Aggies as if they were the 2007 New England Patriots.

So here are five reasons why the Tide should walk away victorious:

Recent Notre Dame season openers in prime time

Don’t you love when the whole college football world is watching?

For the sixth time in eight years, Notre Dame will open the season with a game in prime time. And why not? TV networks will do whatever it takes to maximize exposure of college football’s most prominent programs, and Notre Dame definitely is among them. Of course, playing so well in recent years doesn’t hurt.

With this happening so frequently of late and this year’s opener against Ohio State perhaps the most anticipated yet, it only makes sense to look back at when the Irish have played their first game of the season under the lights recently. College football shines a little brighter whenever those lights come on, especially when the teams are starting with a clean slate. Even if everything goes south for the rest of the season, you can’t take away the feeling this atmosphere provides for the players, coaches and fans present.

Here’s the recent history of the Irish’s season openers at night:

Conflicting sharp action makes Nebraska-Northwestern an intriguing Week 0 matchup

Nebraska beat Northwestern 56-7 in 2021. That isn’t slowing bets on the Wildcats.

The last time Nebraska took the field against conference foe Northwestern, a beat down commenced to the tune of a 49-point blowout of the Wildcats.

That’s likely what’s informing the line for Saturday’s opener between the teams, as Nebraska opened as a double-digit favorite and currently sits at -10.5 at Tipico Sportsbook.

However, the sharp action coming in on the matchup, taking place in Dublin, Ireland, suggests it’ll be a lot more interesting than last season’s. While one bettor at Hard Rock Sportsbook threw $33,000 on the favored Cornhuskers to come away with a win, SuperBook was among the sportsbooks to see sharp action for the other side. Northwestern’s line has since dropped from 13.5 to 11 points there.

According to Action Network data, the public is split 50-50 on bets against the spread, while 54% of the moneyline bets have been in favor of Northwestern. And Nebraska has seen a larger share of the money wagered.

It probably shouldn’t be so surprising to see conflicting bets on a neutral-site season opener between conference and division foes who finished the previous season with the same exact record.

That’s also probably a good reason to avoid the spread altogether and go with the wiser bet … for this game to fall under 51.5 points, as our Blake Schuster already advised and 77% of the public has backed.

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LOOK: Wisconsin football’s season openers from the last decade

Photos of the Wisconsin Badgers’ season openers from the last 10 years:

On Sept. 3, the Wisconsin Badgers will open up their season at home against the Illinois State Redbirds. This will be the third consecutive year that the Badgers start their year at home after playing Illinois in 2020 and Penn State in 2021.

Related: Wisconsin OLB Nick Herbig is the top-ranked edge rusher in this PFF stat

Wisconsin struggled last year against the Nittany Lions, with quarterback Graham Mertz throwing two costly interceptions in the low-scoring loss. Despite the tough loss to Penn State, the Badgers have won 7 of their last 10 season openers.

Although many of these victories come from non-Power 5 opponents much like the Redbirds, the Badgers have had some memorable victories including beating the LSU Tigers at Lambeau Field in 2016.

Below are photos of the Wisconsin Badgers season openers from the last 10 years:

 

Notre Dame could be down one of their stars against Ohio State

Not great Bob

This was not the news that anyone wanted to hear. As Notre Dame head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] met with the media today, he announced an injury to star All-American offensive lineman [autotag]Jarrett Patterson[/autotag] that could potentially keep him out of the season opening contest against Ohio State.

Freeman said that Patterson suffered a foot sprain during practice Monday and will be held out of practice for the next 10 days. That would put the star lineman as “questionable” for the highly anticipated road contest against Ohio State.

The one saving grace is that Patterson has not yet been labeled out of the game, but not being fully healthy leading up to the game is not the best news. Time will tell if Patterson can be healthy enough to see the field against the Buckeyes on November 3rd.

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LSU vs Florida State: TV commentators announced for Tigers’ opener

LSU’s opener will be called by one of ESPN’s top voices.

LSU and Florida State kicking off in New Orleans is exactly one month away, and those who are planning to watch on television now know who will be calling the game.

ESPN announced that Joe Tessitore and Greg McElroy will be in the booth while Katie George handles the sideline reporting. Tessitore is one of ESPN’s primetime announcers and with LSU in the Sunday slot, it’s no surprise to see a big-time crew get the assignment.

It hasn’t been that long since LSU last played in the opening Sunday game. In 2018, the Tigers beat Miami 33-17 in Joe Burrow’s first game with the program.

 

The game is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ABC. It’s LSU’s opener, but Florida State will begin its season the week prior with a matchup against Duquesne.

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