College Football Week 1: Top 25 lessons learned about the Top 25

Helmet Stickers

This is a little different than a standard “players of the week” list. It’s easy to see the box score and see who threw for seven touchdowns ( I see you, Drew Lock) but I want to put a spotlight on the players with a human interest angle. I like to find the positive and the inspiring stories to share because too often college athletics can be a bit dirty. There are plenty of great stories and I’ll be happy to share as many as I can each week.

Blind USC long snapper Jake Olson plays in his first game. Eight years ago, ESPN’s Shelly Smith introduced us to Jake Olson, a big USC football fan who was blind. He was adopted by the football team by then-head coach Pete Carroll. Fast forward a few years later and Olson joined the team as a walk-on long snapper. On Saturday, Olson finally got to get in some game action, snapping for the extra point on USC’s last touchdown in their win over Western Michigan. It was the best play of the week. You can watch the clip of his entrance into the game and the snap and the reaction he received from his teammates below.

UAB wins in their first football game in 1,007 days – You won’t find a team that had a bigger win in Week 1 or celebrated as hard as the UAB Blazers. Playing in their first game since 2014 when the program was murdered at the hands of university president Ray Watts, the Blazers set a school record for attendance with 45,212 in the stands. No matter what team you root for, you should try to find a little extra room to fit in some support for UAB.

Michigan State cornerback Tyson Smith returns an interception for a touchdown in his first game back from a stroke. Smith suffered a stroke shortly after the end of last season and he questioned if he’d ever set foot on a football field again. “That feeling when I stepped on the field (Saturday) was more than football, it was a blessing that I was still me,” he said, via the Detroit Free Press. “I felt normal. I didn’t know for sure if I was normal. The biggest play of his collegiate career came against Bowling Green, less than a year from an uncertain football future. Smith had an interception he returned 38 yards for the last touchdown of Michigan State’s win over Bowling Green.