It has been said the biggest improvements are made from Week 1 to Week 2 in college football. Depth charts are finalized weeks and sometimes days leading up to the opening game. The opening game becomes the ultimate evaluation for coaches based on their offseason preparations introducing new schemes, studying game plans, and fine-tuning depth charts. Questions are answered and critical adjustments are made after that first game. Now imagine when that first game is against the defending National Champions and the first-time unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll, the Ohio State Buckeyes. A game of that magnitude will quickly show the coaches what players are ready for the big stage, and what players need more work.
Unfortunately, the opener ended in a loss, and was followed up five days later against a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent: Furman. Although not the level of competition as an Ohio State team, they are a good enough test to practice any corrections or adjustments made after studying game film. There were several observations and assessments from the Furman game that I found noteworthy.