Touchdowns, first downs and penalty flags

Week one is in the books and I went 9-4 on my predictions for the week. Here are our award winners for opening weekend.

Touchdown: Robert Griffin III, Baylor QB, engineered a huge lead in Friday night's Baylor win over TCU only to see the Bears fall behind late on a Griffin fumble and TCU score. Griffin returned to the field and engineered a drive which culminated with a Baylor field goal. This was a huge win for Baylor's confidence and hopes for a second straight bowl season.

Penalty flag: Notre Dame not only endured a game which took almost six hours to complete, due to weather delays, but they also laid an egg in their 20-23 home opener loss to South Florida.

First down: Luke Fickell made his debut as interim head coach of Ohio State and the Buckeyes shut out Akron, 42-0.

Touchdown: Let's give it up to the Rice band who, at halftime, performed in a "$-E-C" formation during the Owls' game with Texas. Thank goodness someone is making fun of all this conference realignment hysteria.

Penalty flag: Let's throw the flag on University of Oklahoma president David Boren who publicly came out and signaled that OU had multiple options when it came to conference affiliation. Is there some reason why University presidents and some Athletics Directors feel compelled to play out this mini-drama in public? In OU's case, Boren's comments were the opposite of the solidarity remarks previously offered up by Joe Castiglione, OU's A.D.

First down: Kansas proved that all of the off-season talk about running the ball wasn't a smoke screen. The Jayhawks employed four young backs--a sophomore and three freshmen--to gain 301 yards in 55 attempts against McNeese State.

Touchdown: Suspensions? What suspensions!? LSU ran away from Oregon in Arlington, TX, 40-27, last night and clearly established themselves as a national title contender.

Penalty flag: Missouri's colors are Old Gold and Black. Why then can't the school and Nike make a uniform that is just that--uniform--in its use of the proper gold? The gold in the helmet's "M" and on the jersey is correct but the yellowy mustard color of the pants is not.

First downs: Missouri's defense; Kellen Moore, Boise State QB; Matt Barkley, USC QB; Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State QB; Landry Jones, Oklahoma QB; and Auburn's kicking game.

Penalty flags: The weather, which disrupted games in South Bend, Ann Arbor and Lawrence, among others; Ol' Miss and Georgia, the only losers in the SEC's opening games; and Kansas State's offense, which committed five turnovers.