Since the beginning of time, preseason college rankings have always been, and continue to be a bunch of nonsense. Sports writers from every corner vote on who they think are the best teams in the country. Given that no one has seen a minute of real football yet, it’s a pretty wild shot in the dark.

Luckily for us fans, football is officially BACK and the preseason rankings are a distant memory!

Here at Smack, we did the heavy lifting so you wouldn’t have to – after not leaving our couch for the last five days, here are our five biggest takeaways from the first weekend of college football.

1) College football runs through Athens until proven otherwise:

Coming into the season there were a lot of questions about Georgia and how they’d handle the massive roster turnover from last year's National Championship team.

It’s safe to say that after “Whacking the Quack” and obliterating the #11 ranked Oregon Ducks 49-3, talks of a potential setback were greatly exaggerated. Georgia was dominant in every facet of the game and their retooled defense spent the entire four quarters bullying the Ducks all over the field. Offensively, Stetson Bennett looked like an early season Heisman favorite and it’s probably time we all start putting more respect on the Mailman’s name. 

2) Clemson’s quarterback change isn't an “IF” question, it’s a “WHEN” question:

Last night the #4 ranked Clemson took the field against Georgia Tech with nothing but questions surrounding their QB 1 DJ Uiagalelei. Expectations have been high for “DJ” since he stepped foot on campus but unfortunately for the quarterback and the Tigers, he hasn’t been able to live up to the hype.

If you haven’t heard of the name Cade Klubnik, I’d suggest you get used to it. When the freshman stepped onto the field with the game in hand, the entire offense changed for the better. Klubnik showed the poise the position hasn’t seen since Trevor Lawrence and with three more cupcake games on the schedule, I’d expect a lot more playing time for the freshman. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him starting by Week Five.

3) The “Backyard Brawl” should kickoff every college football season: 

Thursday night, West Virginia and Pitt played in the “Backyard Brawl” for the first time in 11 years and it did not disappoint. You could feel the hatred these two schools have for eachother radiating from the TV, and the game on the field will go down as one of the best college football games we’ll see this season.

This was the perfect way to kickoff college football and, I for one, want to see this every year.

4) SEC is King:

New year, same story. The SEC went 14-1 this weekend to open up the season with some big wins along the way. Florida upset #7 Utah, #19 Arkansas beat #23 Cincinnati and the aforementioned Georgia dismantling of the Oregon Ducks just once again proves that the South dominates football.

5) The state of Florida could be back: 

 It was a big opening week for a state that is used to being a powerhouse. 

• Formally-unranked Florida knocks off #7 Utah 
• Florida State upsets LSU in New Orleans
• Miami has a competent coach and a lot of NIL money 
• UCF keeps winning