College Football Week Zero Games, Saturday 8/28/21

There are 7 games being played this year in/on week zero, 4 of the games find FBS teams locking horns: 1) UConn @ Fresno State, 2) Hawaii @ UCLA, 3) UTEP @ New Mexico State, & 4) the lone Power 5 (P5) match-up, has Nebraska traveling to Illinois.

Their is one game where an FCS (63 scholarship program) team takes on an FBS (85 scholarship program) opponent; Southern Utah @ San Jose State.

Finally their are 2 FCS vs FCS tilts; North Carolina Central @ Alcorn State & Eastern Illinois @ Indiana State!

We will begin with the FCS games!

North Carolina Central (MEAC) vs Alcorn State (SWAC): The MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) & SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) are commonly referred to as the Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU)! The MEAC has been dealing with teams leaving the conference for a better financial circumstance the past few years. Hampton left the league after the 2017 season for the Big South Conference. After the completion of the 2018 season, Savannah State announced that it would be leaving the FCS and returning to Division II for financial consideration. Then the bombshell hit, in 2019, Florida A&M & Bethune-Cookman announced they would be leaving the MEAC & joining the SWAC for geographic & travel reasons. Finally, North Carolina A&T revealed that they would also be leaving and were following Hampton to the Big South Conference. The migration has left the MEAC with six (6) teams for the 2021 season, down from eleven (11) during the 2017 campaign! This is the second meeting of these teams, their 1st and only meeting was Sept. 25, 1976, a game won by Alcorn State, 23-7! The game will be played on Georgia State home field, Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, located in Atlanta, GA. This game is 16th addition of the Cricket Wireless (new sponsor) MEAC SWAC Challenge and ESPN’s Game Day will open their 2021 road show at this game!

Eastern Illinois (Ohio Valley Conference / OVC) @ Indiana State (Missouri Valley Football Conference / MVFC): This is the 4th meeting since we began sullyscollegefootballpage.com in 2009 and the 4th meeting all-time / the teams split the 4 games. In 2009, the Panthers (EIU) blasted the Sycamores (ISU), 31-0 & survived ISU in 2017, 22-20, both games were played in Terre Haute, IN. The teams met the following year (2018) in Charleston, IL and ISU got its first win in this 4 game set, 55-41, in a wild score-fest! Finally, the teams met in 2019, the Sycamores held the Panthers to 79 yards rushing, forced 4 turnovers (TO’s), and won the game, 16-6!

Southern Utah (Big Sky Conference / B-Sky) @ San Jose State (Mountain West Conference / MWC): Southern Utah is an FCS (63 scholarship program) member, while San Jose State is an FBS (85 scholarship program) member, will battle one another for the second time in their respective histories! The 1st meeting was in 2010, Sept. 10th, SJSU held off a determined SUSU, winning 16-11! San Jose State inadvertently helped the Thunderbird effort turning the ball over three (3) times, while forcing only one (1) TO! The Spartans (SJSU) had their best season in years’, in 2020 (7-1), winning the West Division, and then beating perennial champ, Boise State, 34-20, in the MWC Championship Game! Their only loss was to Ball State, 34-13, in the Offerpad Arizona Bowl. The outcome was decided just before kickoff, when Coach Brennen was informed that 6 players (5 starters) and both Coordinators, were unavailable for the day’s game! The reason why has never been stated, SJSU gave up 27 points in the 1at quarter, and yes, the coach was informed of this catastrophe just prior to taking the field for warm-ups! What a mess! Meanwhile, SUSU had a 2020 season from Hades! The Thunderbirds (Thor is their Mascot, got to love that) were 1-5 in 2020, losing to Northern Arizona, 34-33, Idaho State, 26-24, Idaho, 33-32, & Weber State, 19-16! They then played Northern Arizona for a 2nd time (Covid) and suffered their worst defeat, 28-20! The T-Birds return almost their entire starting line up on both sides of the ball & roster! They are a committed group, looking for redemption in close games!

U-Conn Independent (IND) @ Fresno State (MWC): This is the 1st meeting between the Huskies & the Bulldogs. Connecticut has not fared well against current members of the MWC, going winless in three (3) games. Of note, since U-Conn opted out of the 2020 season (Covid), this will be their 1st game as an Independent since the 2003 season! FSU is 9-4-1, since 2017, against current Independents & 7-5 in home openers since 2009, having lost the last two (2), to Hawaii, in 2020, 34-19 & Minnesota, in 2019, 38-35! Fresno State returns 19 starters (9* on offense & 10 on defense) while the Huskies bring back 14 starters (7* on O & 7 on D / * signifies QB is back)!

University of Texas El Paso UTEP Conference USA (C-USA) @ New Mexico State (IND): In recent times, the Miners & the Aggies have played every year since 2009, save 2020 (Covid)! UTEP holds a 8-3 edge in that time-frame, that said, the Aggies have won three (3) in a row. NMSU pounded UTEP in 2017, 41-14 and found-a-way in the other two (2) games, 27-20, in 2018 & 44-35, in 2019! The series is called the Battle of I-10! The 1st game in the series was played back in 1914, New Mexico State (@ the time, New Mexico A&M) 19 UTEP (@ the time, Texas M&M) 0. Since that 1st game, these teams have played every year, save 10 seasons (1917, 18, 19, 34, 43, 44, 45, 2001, 03, 20) where they did not lace em’ up & knock em’ loose!

Hawaii (MWC) @ the University of California @ Los Angles (UCLA/PAC 12). These teams have played only once since 2009, a Bruin victory over Hawaii, 56-23, in 2017, a game played in the Rose Bowl (stadium, not the Rose Bowl Game)! UCLA leads the series 3 wins to zero defeats! The UCLANS won the 1st meeting, in 1935, 19-3, in LA and won again, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1939, (just 2 years before the Japanese Empire launched its attack on Pearl Harbor) the 2nd of the three (3) bruin wins, 32-7! Hawaii has struggled in their season, road openers, going just 2-8 in their last 10 journeys off the Islands! The Bruins return 20 starters (10* on offense & 10 on defense) and Chip Kelley’s team is primed to make a bowl and more, in his fourth year at the helm!

Nebraska (Big Ten / B-10) @ Illinois (B-10): The day’s best game! The Huskers & the Illini are now B-10 & West Division rivals. They have met ever year since the Cornhuskers entered the B-10 Conference (2011), with the lone exceptions being 2011 & 2012 (B-10’s divisions were the Legends, Nebraska & Leaders, Illinois) when the teams were in different divisions! The Huskers won 6 of the 1st 7 meetings (Illinois’ only win in the 1st seven (7) meetings, came in 2015, 14-13 in Champaign. That said, Illinois broke a 4 game losing streak to the Huskers, in 2020, 41-23! While the Illini have lost 2 of the last three, they are running rough-shot over the famed Husker defense (Black Shirts), scoring an average of 38 points per game (PPG)! The Huskers are primed, in Frost 4th season, to make a bowl and a run at the West Division title. To that end, a win in Illinois’ Memorial Stadium is an absolute needed outcome; the Huskers play @ Oklahoma & Wisconsin, host Ohio State & Michigan, and face three (3) West Division teams (@ Minnesota, Northwestern & Iowa) that are all better than the Illini!