Notre Dame Beats Michigan; Auburn Upsets Washington in 1st Big Saturday of College Football

The 2018 College Football season began with a few games on August 25th, but got underway in earnest on an extended Labor Day weekend. There were two games that matched Top 25 teams against each other on Saturday September 1st.

The sixth ranked Washington Huskies opened against the #9 Auburn Tigers in the Chick Fil A Kickoff in Atlanta. The Huskies were 10-3 in 2017, but ended the season with a 35-28 loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. Washington wasn’t just looking to start its own season off on a high note by beating a one of the top teams in the Southeast Conference, it also trying to do its part to raise the prestige of the entire Pac-12 Conference. Last season was a disaster for Pac-12 teams in bowl games, with an overall record of 1-8. Only Utah won its game, beating West Virginia in the lower profile Heart of Dallas Bowl, with both of those teams finishing with 7-6 records. That’s not the kind of post season a Power Five conference wants; in fact it was the worst Power Five post season bowl record ever.

Auburn had its own memories from last season to erase. The Tigers handed arch rival and eventual National Champion Alabama its only loss of the season, but then lost to Georgia 28-7 in the SEC championship game, and followed that with a 34-27 lost to Central Florida in the Peach Bowl. Both losses were in Atlanta, too.

Auburn took a 15-6 lead with 1:23 left in the second quarter after a booming 53 yard field goal by Anders Carlson, but Washington scored a touchdown with 43 seconds left on a four play drive capped off by a Jake Browning touchdown pass to Quinten Pounds to close out the half with Auburn leading 15-13. The Huskies took a 16-15 lead on a Peyton Henry field goal with 14:06 left in the fourth quarter. The Tigers took the lead for good on a JaTarvious Whitlow 10 yard run; the two point conversion attempt failed, but the Auburn defense slammed the door the rest of the way for a 21-16 victory.

In South Bend, Indiana, #12 Notre Dame hosted #14 Michigan. The Fighting Irish and Wolverines had met 39 times previously, including 31 games since 1978. Michigan led the series 21-17-1.

This was the first matchup of the two since 2014, when Notre Dame shut out Michigan 31-0. Early on, the Fighting Irish looked like they were going to go that route again, jumping off to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The Wolverines outscored the Irish the rest of the way, but couldn’t catch up and Notre Dame held on for a 24-17 victory.

Its perhaps hard to believe, but Michigan hasn’t won the Big Ten title since 2004. Bringing in Jim Harbaugh to coach was supposed to be a key to changing that, after Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke failed to do so. Michigan was 10-3 in 2015, Harbaugh’s first season, with a 41-7 win over Florida in the Citrus Bowl. The team was also 10-3 in 2016, but lost a 33-32 squeaker to Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Last season, the Wolverines were 8-5 and ended the campaign with a 26-19 loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. However, Harbaugh’s teams are 0-3 vs. Ohio State and are just 9-9 in their last 18 games.

This was a big win for the Fighting Irish, who now have a good chance to open the season 4-0, with games against Ball State, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest coming up, before hosting Stanford and playing at Virginia Tech.