This past weekend marked the beginning of the 3 month journey to be crowned college football’s king. Since Ohio State shocked the nation last year by defeating Oregon in the College Football Playoff Final, fans have been counting down the days until September 3^rd, when UNC and USC kicked off the season in Charlotte.

There were a few big headlines heading into the season, dealing with teams such as Ohio State and Florida State. Ohio State, along with every other reigning champ, came into the season with big expectations. But this team came into the season with the highest expectations of any team in recent memory. Ohio State returned all 3 Heisman caliber quarterbacks, Ezekiel Elliot who is considered the games best running back, and many starters on their stout defense, including All-American Joey Bosa. This was the first team ever picked preseason unanimous number 1, adding to the pressure of being the reigning champs. Fans wondered how Ohio State would perform in their early season test at Virginia Tech, one of the nations best fan bases. Another preseason headline was how Florida State would recover from losing much of their star power and how they would integrate a once Heisman hopeful and Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson. While these were some of the bigger headlines, fans didn’t forget about the usual suspects, such as Alabama and Auburn, and welcomed a newcomer, TCU, to the big stage. Locally, fans looked forward to UNC’s big game against USC and were hopeful to see if their quarterback Marquise Williams could carry their team to the next level. Also, ECU and NC State fans were hoping for blowouts against their FCS opponents.

Thursday night, UNC started off hot, but 2 costly interceptions from Marquise Williams did all but give the game to USC. Heading into Saturday, teams such as Alabama, Notre Dame, and Florida State stole the spotlight, as they dominated their opponents, answering many questions critics had about them. While some teams dominated, teams such as TCU had poor performances against lesser opponents, potentially hurting their rankings. After a day full of football on Saturday, fans waited anxiously for Monday to see if the defending champ could live up to the hype. Ohio State came out quick 14-0, but after a few turnovers, they found themselves down 17-14 at halftime. Head Coach Urban Meyer set his team straight at halftime, and came out hot in the second half, scoring 28 unanswered points and winning the game 42-24.

After the long wait, college football fans could finally get a glimpse of how their teams looked. After this first weekend of football, I think it’s safe to say the wait has been worth it… because football is back!