The Alligator Army Weekly Open Thread, Vol. XXVI

The first week of 2016 college football is already over. We waited many long months for the new season to arrive and it feels like the first games already came and went so fast.

Florida opened the season against UMass and it was not quite what we expected. With SEC play on deck this week, the Gators know that they need to improve on their opening performance. Kentucky comes to The Swamp after blowing a 35-10 lead by giving up 34 unanswered points to Southern Miss, but will assuredly be fired up for the chance to end their 29-game losing streak to the Gators.

This long opening weekend was billed by many in the media as the best opening weekend ever. There were many marquee match-ups and they delivered entertaining games. Seven top 25 teams lost this past week, which sets the all-time record for the most ranked teams losing in the opening weekend. (But five games this weekend featured ranked teams taking on other ranked teams, so at least five ranked team losses were guaranteed to happen.)

On Thursday night, Tennessee went to overtime against Appalachian State (and had some incredible overtime luck), in a game that was a lot more amusing prior to watching the Gators struggle with UMass until the fourth quarter (but at least we never trailed! And didn’t go to overtime! Silver linings!). Will Muschamp won his first game as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. And Louisville’s Lamar Jackson did some things.

Houston upset Oklahoma in the noon slot on Saturday, which gave this season its own great kick-six play (remember last year’s big kick-six play?). Texas and Notre Dame played a 50-47 double-overtime shootout on Sunday, which culminated in a thrilling win for Charlie Strong and Texas.

The SEC had mixed results. Wisconsin managed to upset No. 5 LSU at Lambeau Field (and this terrible thing happened). Georgia beat North Carolina, with promising play from freshman QB Jacob Eason and the return of RB Nick Chubb. Mississippi State was upset by South Alabama. Texas A&M survived an rally attempt by UCLA in OT, the Aggies led 24-9 with five minutes to play before UCLA came back and tied the game. Alabama destroyed USC (with freshman QB Jalen Hurts). Clemson survived at Auburn, and Ole Miss lost to Florida State.

What game did I miss mentioning? What was your favorite game from opening weekend (or your favorite games)? What were some of the more memorable opening weekend moments you saw?

And as always, this Weekly Open Thread is for any and all comments on any and all topics, with the rules of commenting decorum still applying.