Missouri is the state in the country with the most states surrounding it, sharing a border with eight other states, it is a hotbed of college football. For the third year, I am here to break down how all 20 teams in the surrounding area performed in the last week. 

Starting in Nebraska, the Huskers had a classic pay-to-win matchup against UTEP. After the first quarter, it was tied 7-7 after Kam Thomas hauled in a 38-yard touchdown reception, burning the Big Red secondary along the way. Fears rose that this was the Nebraska of old, but newly crowned Big 10 Freshman of the Week, Dylan Raiola, had other plans, slinging two more touchdowns, both in the second quarter to will Nebraska to their first season opening win since 2019, 40-7. This also marks their biggest season opening win since they beat Fresno State by the same margin in 2016. 

Across the river in Iowa, the Hawkeyes finally realized that playing offense AND defense was a good idea, blowing out Illinois State, 40-0. After leading by a measly 6-0 in the first half, Cade McNamara looked like his old Michigan self going 21/31 with 251 yards and three touchdowns. The defense also stepped up strong like they usually do allowing under 200 total yards, registering four sacks, and picking off Tommy Rittenhouse once.

Over in Illinois, the Fighting Illini had a very lackluster game in the best way possible for them , shutting out FCS Eastern Illinois, 45-0. Luke Altmyer went 19/24 and found the endzone four times, over 20% of the time he connected with a receiver. Sophomore Donovan Leary was able to find the field as well, but to less avail going just two-for-five for 29 yards. The defense only let Pierce Holley complete half of his passes and picked him off twice. They also held the Panthers to under 200 yards. 

On the coast of Lake Michigan, Northwestern got into a good old fashioned grudge match with Miami of Ohio in their temporary stadium. Vanderbilt and Mississippi State transfer Mike Wright had to put the team on his back, leading the team in passing and rushing, clocking a total of 243 yards and having the only touchdown for the Wildcats. Despite the tired offense only putting up 13 points, that was enough to outpace the RedHawks led by Blaine Gabbert’s baby brother who, while throwing 227 yards, tossed two passes to the wrong team and never found the endzone. Northwestern was able to mark their first win in the new stadium winning, 13-6.

In the ACC, the reigning conference runner ups had the largest margin of victory in the conference as Louisville steamrolled past Austin Peay, 62-0. Sixth-year Tyler Shough put up over twice as many yards as Austin Peay did, going for 232 yards and four touchdown passes. The running game got in on the action too, registering 293 yards, all my different tailbacks. The defense stepped up strong as well, only letting the Governors hang 106 total yards on the day. This performance pushed them to the #22 ranking and the second highest AP ranking in the ACC. 

Kentucky had quite possibly the most interesting game of the weekend, and it was not because of what happened on the field. In a game that was already scheduled to start at nearly 8 pm, storms delayed the kickoff until 10 pm. The Wildcats came out of the gate swinging, scoring 24 points in the first half, shutting out Southern Miss. Halfway through the third quarter, after scoring once more, the game was delayed again because of storms. Thirty minutes after the delay, both teams decided to call the game over and Kentucky won, 31-0 without even having to play 45 minutes of ball. 

Down in the Volunteer state, Nico Iamaleava started his first season as the starter with a bang only missing six of his 28 passes on the day and putting up 313 yards on UT-Chattanooga. Junior Dylan Sampson also notched a trio of touchdowns as he ran for 124 yards and averaged a first down every time he ran the ball. The defense also played strong against the Mocs holding them to just a field goal and let them just get barely past the 200 yard mark on the day. Tennessee would go on to win, 69-3 against their across state campus. 

Cross state rival Vanderbilt was expected preseason to be a punching bag, just like they have been for most of recent history. Hosting Virginia Tech, a dark horse in the ACC, a blowout was more than expected. The Commodores led by transfer quarterback Diego Pavia had other plans racing out to a 17-0 lead early and led by 14 going into the half. Virginia Tech responded quickly though, going on a 27-3 scoring run and it looked like Vanderbilt would choke away a win once again, but with under two minutes to go, Pavia connected with Sedrick Alexander to tie the game up. Going into overtime, Pavia scampered to the endzone to get the lead back. The defense for Vandy stepped up and Vanderbilt walked away with their first non-conference Power Five win since 2017, 34-27 in overtime. 

Down in Arkansas, Bobby Petrino started his return to Fayetteville off with a bang. Coming back as offensive coordinator, Arkansas managed to drop 70 points on Arkansas Pine-Bluff in a game that was almost over before it started with the Razorbacks leading 28-0 going into the second quarter. Boise State transfer quarterback Taylen Green and Utah transfer running back had great SEC debuts with Jackson rushing for over 100 yards and two touchdowns and Green notching four touchdowns and over 300 yards on the day. UAPB was unable to get any sort of offense going to match the Hogs, especially on the ground. Oshawn Ross was the leading rusher with 13 yards, but thanks to four sacks from Arkansas, UAPB ended the day with just seven yards on the ground. 

Oklahoma kicked off their first game in the SEC with lots of horns downs flying around the stadium, seemingly not aware that the T in TU stands for Temple not Texas. Despite the confusion, the conference debut went well for the Sooners winning, 51-3. Jackson Arnolds performance was much stronger than his bowl game last year going 17/25 with four touchdowns. Despite the offense putting up nearly 400 yards, like in many of these early season games, the defense played even better. Temple could not break 200 yards and quarterback Forrest Brock couldn’t complete even 50% of his passes and was picked off twice.

Back in the Big 12, Oklahoma State was on major upset alert in the opinions of many facing off against FCS national champion South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits have won the last two championships bolstered a 29 game winning streak coming into the weekend. The Cowboys played completely unphased, blowing out the Jackrabbits, 44-20. Alan Bowman and Ollie Gordan continued their one two punch as Gordan ran for over 100 yards and found the endzone twice while Bowman threw for nearly 300 yards and three touchdown passes. While the Jackrabbits put up solid offensive numbers with nearly 400 total yards, they never made it to the endzone on the ground and quarterback Mark Gronowski threw a pick that stalled a drive and started a scoring run for the Cowboys at the SDSU 47 yard line. 

Kansas started their season off at their temporary residence at KC Children’s Mercy park with a routing of FCS Lindenwood. While the passing attack for the Jayhaws was lackluster, only putting up 199 yards with two quarterbacks with a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio, it was the rushing attack that really sparked the offense. Kansas had nine players run the ball combining for 331 total yards and four touchdowns on the evening. The defense also did their thing letting the Lions only total 202 yards in their 48-3 victory.

The Jayhawks rival Kansas State put up a very similar performance against another FCS team, UT Martin. The big question coming into this game was the running back position. While DJ Giddens was making his return as the established starter, Dylan Edwards was coming in as a top transfer from Colorado. The two backs both managed to get an ample amount of the workload. Giddens led the team in rushing with 124 off of 13 carries, and while Edwards only got 45 yards on the day, he had two touchdowns, one in the air and another on the ground. The 35 point win allowed the Wildcats to experiment more with their rushing game before more difficult games arise later in the season.

Finally in the Big 12, Iowa State had a low scoring blowout taking down North Dakota, 21-3. Rocco Becht went an astounding 20/26 with 267 yards as well as two touchdown passes. He also was able to rush for another on the ground. While the defense had some serious bends at points allowing 174 yards on the ground, they did not break only allowing one field goal on the day. 

Down in the Group of Five, the Northern Illinois Huskies put on an offensive clinic against Western Illinois. Quarterback Ethan Hampton played a nearly perfect game completing 90% of his passes for 328 yards and five touchdown passes. His performance was not the only impressive offensive showing as five different players rushed for over 40 yards and helped compile the team to 312 total yards on the ground. While the defense allowed nearly 300 yards on the day, only one touchdown was scored by the Leathernecks. The only liability for the Huskies was the special teams with one PAT being missed and another one being blocked and returned for a touchdown, but with a 54-15 win, I don’t think they care all that much.

While every other team in the Border 8 walked out with a victory, Western Kentucky was not so lucky. With five of the last six Alabama head coaches losing to Group of Five opponents in their first season, there was discussion going around about the Hilltoppers potentially pulling off the upset, but the result could not end up being further from that. Quarterback Jalen Milroe put up very impressive numbers against the Hilltoppers in his first game with 279 total yards and five total touchdowns. After his day was done, Ty Simpson came in behind him and put up another 98 yards and another touchdown. Western Kentucky was unable to even keep it remotely close, only putting up 147 yards on the day and was picked off twice. Nothing seemed to be working for the Hilltoppers, but lucky for them, the schedule only gets easier from here.

Under first year head coach Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee State got into a grudge match with Tennessee Tech. Early on it looked like it would be all Blue Raiders scoring 21 points in just over 20 minutes, but after a safety for the Golden Eagles, they kicked into high gear scoring 25 of the next 28 points to take the lead 25-24 with just barely over a minute left in the game. Nicholas Vattiato locked in for the Blue Raiders as he led them 75 yards in 50 seconds leading to a 30 yard Frank Peasant touchdown run that would let them squeak out with a victory. 

Memphis took on North Alabama and took them down in blowout fashion. 31 of the Tigers points were scored in the first half before taking their feet off the gas and just scoring 9 to close out the game. The difference in points didn’t matter though as North Alabama never made their way onto the scoreboard and only put up 185 yards on the day. The defense of Memphis made the day very difficult for the North Alabama quarterback room picking them off twice and registering three sacks on the day.

Hosting FCS Northwestern State, Tulsa looked like they may have gotten more than they had bargained for, trading touchdowns and being tied 14 all going into the second quarter. After the demons had tied it up, the Golden Hurricanes went on a four touchdown run and never looked back finishing the day with a 62-28 victory. Tulsa finished the day with a stunning 622 yards and seven offensive touchdowns. They also returned two punts for touchdowns to add an exclamation point to their victory. 

Finally in the Sun Belt conference, Arkansas State barely got out with a victory against their lower division rivals, Central Arkansas. Leading 27-10 going into the fourth quarter, the Red Wolves looked like the game was over, but Central Arkansas found the endzone three times, the third of which put them up 31-27 with 55 ticks left on the clock. Jaylen Raynor led his team 70 yards down the field though, and found Corey Rucker in the endzone with three seconds to go to all but walk it off with a 34-31 victory. 

Border 8 Standings 

(ranking, team, overall record, record versus Border 8 teams)

1. Nebraska (1-0) (0-0)
2. Iowa (1-0) (0-0)
3. Illinois (1-0) (0-0)
4. Northwestern (1-0) (0-0)
5. Louisville (1-0) (0-0)
6. Kentucky (1-0) (0-0)
7. Tennessee (1-0) (0-0)
8. Vanderbilt (1-0) (0-0)
9. Arkansas (1-0) (0-0)
10. Oklahoma (1-0) (0-0)
11. Oklahoma State (1-0) (0-0)
12. Kansas (1-0) (0-0)
13. Kansas State (1-0) (0-0)
14. Iowa State (1-0) (0-0)
15. Northern Illinois (1-0) (0-0)
16. MTSU (1-0) (0-0)
17. Memphis (1-0) (0-0)
18. Tulsa (1-0) (0-0)
19. Arkansas State (1-0) (0-0)
20. Western Kentucky (0-1) (0-0)