College football is back, which means so are the Pony Ponderings.
No grand theme here. No need to manufacture one. Just the stuff I watched over the weekend that I can’t stop thinking about.
And let’s start with a guy I’ve spent plenty of time just crushing over the last two years..
Fine, Bill. You Get Your Flowers.
Good for Bill Belichick. Nobody has been harder on the guy than me. And I thought the criticism was warranted.
The man who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots—who built his entire identity around preparation, discipline and eliminating distractions—seemingly became a shell of that guy during his first year at North Carolina.
There were book tours. He showed up to his girlfriend’s cheerleading competitions. The weird TV News interview appearance where his girlfriend said, “we aren’t talking about this,” when Bill was asked how the couple met. There were distractions everywhere. Meanwhile, the actual football team went 4-8.
I honestly wondered if Bill thought college football was going to be easy. Six rings. Greatest coach in NFL history. How hard could the ACC possibly be? Well, college football punched him in the mouth.
Remember how the Belichick era started last year? TCU walked into Chapel Hill and embarrassed Carolina 48-14. UNC eventually stumbled through that 4-8 season and missed a bowl. Fast forward one year.
Same opponent. Different continent. Completely different football team.
North Carolina beat TCU 15-10 in a wet, ugly game in Dublin, and there was something almost poetic about how they did it.
Defense. Discipline. Situational football. You know—Bill Belichick stuff. Honestly, I am proud of him and them.
Carolina held TCU scoreless for the final 49 minutes. The Horned Frogs managed only 281 total yards, averaged just 4.0 yards per play and committed 11 penalties for 89 yards. UNC, meanwhile, was flagged only three times for 20 yards. Billy Edwards Jr. threw for 232 yards, and the Tar Heels outgained TCU 322-281.
It wasn’t pretty. Carolina turned it over twice. The Tar Heels scored one offensive touchdown.
But that’s almost why I liked it. Last year’s Carolina probably loses that game. This Carolina found a way to win it. And did you see Belichick afterward? Or more importantly, hear him?
I swear you could hear the smile in his voice.
For all the jokes, all the criticism and all the questions about whether this whole North Carolina experiment was some strange late-career vanity project, I think Saturday reminded us of something:
Bill cares.
His legacy matters to him. Winning at North Carolina matters to him. Proving he can actually build this thing matters to him.
One Saturday in Ireland doesn’t erase 4-8.
But it was the first time since he arrived in Chapel Hill that I watched North Carolina and thought:
Yep. That looks like a Bill Belichick football team.
So I’ll do something I haven’t done much lately.
Tip of the cap, Bill.
You earned it.
Tony Elliott Is Everything I Want College Football To Be
Speaking of tipping my cap, Tony Elliott might be my favorite coach in college football. He’s a real one.
Forget wins and losses for a second. This guy gives a damn about his players. He talks about culture. He talks about family. Guys want to play for him.
In an era when college football can increasingly feel like an NFL transaction wire with marching bands attached, Elliott feels like a throwback to what I still want this sport to be.
And nobody should forget what this man walked into at Virginia.
Elliott left Clemson, where he had helped coach Trevor Lawrence and a national championship program, because he wanted his opportunity to lead.
Then, during his first season at Virginia, tragedy struck.
Three Virginia football players—Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry—were killed following a class trip to Washington, D.C.
There isn’t a coaching manual for that. Elliott wasn’t hired to lead a football program through unimaginable grief. Yet that’s exactly what he had to do. And look where Virginia is now.
Last season the Cavaliers went 11-3, setting a school record for victories. They went 7-1 in ACC play, finished alone atop the ACC regular-season standings for the first time in program history, won the Gator Bowl and finished No. 16 in the AP poll—the program’s best final ranking since 1995.
Elliott was named ACC Coach of the Year. Then Saturday happened. Virginia didn’t just beat NC State. The Hoos obliterated them 34-8.
UVA outgained the Wolfpack 413-168. They ran for 258 yards. They held the ball for more than 38 minutes. NC State managed just eight points and 168 freaking yards. And hello, Beau Pribula.
Virginia only asked him to throw it 11 times, but he didn’t need to do much more. Pribula threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns and then carved up NC State with his legs for another 110 yards.
That’s 265 yards of offense from your quarterback on only 11 pass attempts.
Maybe Virginia’s 11-win season wasn’t some cute little one-year story. Maybe Tony Elliott has actually built something. I really hope so! I am rooting for him.
Virginia is one of the country’s great universities. Charlottesville is one of the great college towns. And now they have a football program worthy of both.
There is something special happening there.
The Bison Are Here — And They Might Be Coming For Everybody
Maybe the biggest statement of Week 0 came in Fargo. North Dakota State’s first game as an FBS program wasn’t some ceremonial welcome to the big leagues. It was a warning.
North Dakota State 33, Jacksonville State 7.
Remember, Jacksonville State isn’t some helpless program NDSU scheduled to celebrate its arrival. The Gamecocks had reached the Conference USA Championship Game in each of the previous two seasons.
Didn’t matter.
North Dakota State outgained them 373-170 and held Jacksonville State to just 85 passing yards and 85 rushing yards. After Jacksonville State scored with 4:16 remaining in the first quarter, the Gamecocks never scored again.
That’s domination.
But why should any of us be surprised?
This is North Dakota State.
The Bison didn’t suddenly become a great football program because somebody slapped an FBS label on them.
They arrived with 10 FCS national championships between 2011 and 2024. They arrived with a culture. They arrived with a fan base. They arrived with expectations.
And 18,573 people packed the Fargodome to watch their FBS debut. That’s why I’ve always believed programs like North Dakota State are good for major college football. This sport is better when places care.
Fargo cares.
Those people don’t need somebody in a television executive suite to tell them their football program matters. They’ve known it for decades.
Now they’re playing in the Mountain West, and I’m going to say this after exactly one FBS game:
I would not be shocked if North Dakota State competes for the league immediately. And if they do that?
Then we’re going to have to start talking about the College Football Playoff. That’s not hyperbole anymore.
The Bison are here.
Charles Huff Didn’t Waste Any Time
How about Charles Huff? New school. New roster. New staff.
Same dude. Memphis went to Las Vegas and beat UNLV 27-21 in Huff’s debut, and that’s a hell of a way to introduce yourself.
UNLV was expected to be one of the Mountain West’s contenders, but Memphis’ defense took over when the game mattered most. The Tigers recorded four sacks in the final seven minutes and held UNLV to 3-of-15 on third down. Marcus Stokes threw for 223 yards and added 45 more on the ground.
That’s how you establish a culture immediately.
Huff brought 17 transfers with him from Southern Miss and rebuilt a huge portion of the program in one offseason. Then his team walked into Allegiant Stadium and beat a good opponent.
Memphis has College Football Playoff aspirations.
After Saturday night, those aspirations look plenty legitimate.
And Don’t Sleep On What’s Happening At Stanford
Tavita Pritchard, take a bow too. There is something fascinating happening at Stanford. I love this, truly.
Andrew Luck is running the football operation. Pritchard—Luck’s former Stanford teammate—is the head coach.
Two Stanford guys trying to restore Stanford football. Now, this is college football.
I love it.
And Game 1 delivered.
Stanford beat Hawaii 37-27, but the final score doesn’t explain how wild it got.
The Cardinal led 23-7 before Hawaii ripped off three fourth-quarter touchdowns and suddenly took a 27-23 lead. Old Stanford might have folded.
This team responded.
Davis Warren went 5-for-5 for 58 yards on the game-winning drive, which ended with Micah Ford’s third rushing touchdown of the night. Then Tevarua Tafiti returned a Hawaii fumble 31 yards for a touchdown to slam the door.
And Warren?
The Michigan transfer threw for a career-high 310 yards, completed 22 of 34 passes, threw a touchdown and didn’t turn the ball over.
That’s a pretty damn good debut.
Stanford isn’t fixed because it beat Hawaii.
North Carolina isn’t fixed because it beat TCU.
North Dakota State isn’t going to the playoff because it beat Jacksonville State.
That’s the danger of Week 0. We get one little taste of football after eight months without it and immediately want to decide everything.
But that’s also what makes this weekend fun.
We finally have evidence.
We finally have football.
And after one Saturday, I know this much:
Belichick finally gave me something to praise.
Tony Elliott’s Virginia looks very real.
North Dakota State looks like it belongs immediately.
Charles Huff hasn’t lost his fastball.
And Andrew Luck and Tavita Pritchard might actually have something cooking at Stanford.
Not bad for Week 0.
College football is back.
Thank God.