Pressure on Penn State, a must-see at Illinois and more in Week 1

By RJ Young and Laken Litman
FOX Sports College Football Writers

College football season is here!

After a handful of games to get us going in Week 0 — including a Nebraska–Northwestern thriller in Ireland — the schedule heats up with a host of great matchups in Week 1.

What are the most important games? Who are the most interesting players? What might surprise you? FOX Sports College Football Writers RJ Young and Laken Litman are here to help make sense of it all with our Week 1 college football roundtable.

Here is everything you need to know.

Which coach needs a win most in Week 1?

Young: James Franklin, Penn State. The Nittany Lions haven’t won a game since skunking Rutgers 28-0 on Nov. 20, and they didn’t see a 100-yard rusher all last season.

With Franklin being rewarded with a 10-year, $70 million extension just three days after PSU’s last win, the Nittany Lions need to show they’re a force in the Big Ten against Jeff Brohm and a potent Purdue offense that has the ability to hand them a third-straight loss at Ross-Ade on Thursday night (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

Litman: Brian Kelly. After all the drama and viral moments surrounding his move from Notre Dame to LSU last November, Kelly needs to prove he’s the right fit in Baton Rouge. He has a talented team, which includes star wide receiver Kayshon Boutte who was named a preseason first-team All-American, but the Tigers get an early test in Week 1. 

LSU faces a Florida State team in desperate need of a winning season — the Seminoles haven’t had one since 2017, so this is a critical year for third-year head coach Mike Norvell. Will the Tigers look like an SEC contender or will FSU, which easily won its season opener, spoil Kelly’s debut?

Which freshman are you most excited to watch?

Young: Nick Singleton. The Nittany Lions have yet to produce a show-stopping feature back since Saquon Barkley left Happy Valley. That was five years ago. 

In Singleton, they have a home-grown National Gatorade Player of the Year who rushed for 2,059 yards and 44 TDs as a prep senior. He has the capacity to be the dynamo frosh in 2022 that Ohio State tailback TreVeyon Henderson was in 2021. 

Penn State coach James Franklin on RB Nick Singleton

Penn Franklin speaks on bringing in Manny Diaz as his DC, what he expects out of RB Nick Singleton, and what he thinks about the future of college football.

Litman: Walter Nolen, defensive lineman from Texas A&M. 

Nolen was the No. 2 overall player in the 2022 class and was reportedly going to Michigan before ultimately choosing the Aggies and joining one of the nation’s most scrutinized recruiting classes in this new NIL era.

Nolen is 6-foot-4, 325 pounds, and scouts say he’s quick and agile on his feet and adds a ton of depth to an Aggie defense that was a top-15 unit last season. With his size and speed, it’s not unrealistic to think Nolen could be one of the more dominant defensive tackles in the SEC by the time his college career is over.

Which transfer are you most excited to watch? 

Young: The easy answer is Caleb Williams at USC. But, for me, it’s Quinn Ewers at Texas.

It’s easy to forget the stir Ewers made — as one of just six players ever with a perfect 247 Composite score of 1.000 — when he decided to reclassify, skip his senior year of high school, and get to Ohio State a year ahead of schedule. But with C.J. Stroud solidifying his position as Ohio State’s starter at QB, Ewers returned to his home state and to play for its flagship university. 

Now that Ewers is the Longhorns’ starter, I’m looking forward to watching how he does under the bright lights on the Forty Acres.

Why you should watch Texas’ Quinn Ewers in Week 1

RJ Young answers important questions before Week 1, including which transfer are you most excited to watch?

Litman: For the sake of being different here, I will go with Williams, who followed Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC. The new-look Trojans are going to be one of the more intriguing teams to watch with these two running the offense. Can Riley make them a Pac-12 and College Football Playoff contender? There’s certainly enough star power.

Heading into their second year together, Williams and Riley have developed a strong relationship and trust. Williams knows Riley’s offense, and it helps that he’ll have skill players like reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison, who transferred from Pitt, and Mario Williams, who also transferred from OU.

As a true freshman last season at Oklahoma, Williams started the last seven games and completed 136 of 211 passes for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns with just four interceptions. He also ran for 442 yards on 79 carries, with six more touchdowns. He set OU freshman records for regular-season passing yards (1,670) and passing touchdowns (18). Williams should pick up where he left off in Norman and be a Heisman Trophy candidate in his first year in Los Angeles.

What is the best under-the-radar game?

Young: No. 19 Arkansas at No. 23 Cincinnati. (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)

After a win against Notre Dame in South Bend, an undefeated regular season and conference title led to an invitation to the College Football Playoff, the Bearcats are looking to follow up on their most successful season ever.

They’ll face a Razorbacks program that’s coming off of its most successful season in a decade with an eye toward becoming just the third team out of the SEC West to earn an invitation to the CFP. 

Litman: No. 7 Utah at Florida. 

Utah starts the season as a top-ranked team after winning the Pac-12 last season and nearly beating Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Kyle Whittingham’s team is a favorite to win the conference again, but it has a significant SEC hurdle in Week 1. 

A road trip to Florida stands in the way of getting things off to a 1-0 start. After a 6-7 season last year, the Gators are led by a new coach in Billy Napier, who has a lot of young playmakers on this roster. This includes a talented group of running backs, such as freshman Trevor Etienne, the younger brother of former Clemson star and current Jacksonville Jaguar, Travis. 

Is Utah a CFP contender?

RJ Young breaks down the top five storylines around the Pac-12 conference this season, including whether Utah is primed to make its first trip to the College Football Playoff.

Which under-the-radar player are you most excited to watch in Week 1?

Young: Illinois QB Tommy Devito.

Devito earned the starting quarterback job at Illinois just days before the Illini’s season-opener against Wyoming — he would complete 27 of 37 passes for 194 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 38-6 victory.

A transfer from Syracuse, where he started 15 games and passed for nearly 3,500 yards with 27 TDs — including 19 in 2019 — DeVito will be joined in the backfield by 1,000-yard rusher Chase Brown.

He’ll also have a new offensive coordinator in Barry Lunney Jr., who was hired away from UTSA after leading the Roadrunners to an upset of the Illini last year. With Lunney and All-Big Ten back Brown, DeVito might be the missing ingredient to pushing Bret Bielema’s Illini into competition for the Big Ten West Division title. 

The Illini open Big Ten competition on Friday against Indiana (8 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports app), a team Illinois needs to beat to show it can be a force in the West.

Litman: Cameron Rising, QB, Utah.

When it comes to the Heisman Trophy conversation this year, we’ll talk about quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Caleb Williams. One guy that might not be in the conversation yet, but could be is Rising, who is still just a bit under the radar. 

Last year as a sophomore, Rising led the Utes to a Pac-12 title and Rose Bowl game against Ohio State. He had almost 2,500 passing yards with 20 touchdowns to just five interceptions. Entering his junior season, he’s a veteran leader who will likely take Utah to consecutive conference championships.

What team is going to surprise us?

Young: Minnesota. The Gophers dodge both Ohio State and Michigan during the regular season and face just one preseason top-25 team outside their division — No. 15 Michigan State.

They return not just their starting quarterback in Tanner Morgan but the best tailback most have forgotten about in Mohamed Ibrahim. He rushed for 163 yards on 30 rushes with two TDs against eventual Rose Bowl champ Ohio State before suffering a season-ending injury.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck, Morgan and Ibrahim also have been reunited with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarocca. The last time they were all together, the Gophers won 11 games, finished No. 10 in the country and stamped their most successful season in a half-century with a win over No. 12 Auburn in the Outback Bowl.

Can Minnesota win the Big Ten West?

RJ Young breaks down which Big Ten teams he thinks can beat their preseason win projections.

Litman: West Virginia. Neal Brown is on the hot seat after going 17-18 in his first three seasons in Morgantown, but this season he has quarterback JT Daniels. 

The former five-star recruit won the starting job at both USC and Georgia, and now finds himself at West Virginia for his last stand. Daniels is smart and talented, he’s just had problems staying healthy. If he can avoid injuries, he will give the Mountaineers a chance to compete in the Big 12, as well as give himself an opportunity to impress NFL scouts.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously covered college football, college basketball, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and the Olympics at Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. Her first book, written in partnership with Rizzoli and Sports Illustrated and titled “Strong Like a Woman,” was published in spring 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young.” Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.