College football Week 1 draft watch thread

College Football is back! Now it's time to start the long process of evaluating the new crop of prospects that will be declaring for the 2014 NFL Draft. If prospect watching isn't your thing, certainly football watching is if you're on this site. If you're at home bored, or going out to your favorite sports bar, there's a game to watch if you want to see one.

Notable Games (All Times Pacific)

Buffalo at (2) Ohio State, 9:00 AM

Massachusetts at (23) Wisconsin, 9:00 AM

Toledo at (10) Florida, 9:21 AM

Rice at (7) Texas A&M, 12:00 PM

Central Mich at (17) Michigan, 12:30 PM

Miss State at (13) Oklahoma State, 12:30 PM

Temple at (14) Notre Dame, 12:41 PM

Nicholls at (3) Oregon, 1:00 PM

(1) Alabama at Virginia Tech, 2:30 PM

Eastern Wash at (25) Oregon State, 3:00 PM

Louisiana Monroeat (16) Oklahoma, 4:00 PM

(5) Georgia at (8) Clemson, 5:00 PM

New Mexico St at (15) Texas, 5:00 PM

Wyoming at (18) Nebraska, 5:00 PM

(12) LSU at (20) TCU, 6:00 PM

Nevada at (21) UCLA, 7:00 PM

(19) Boise State at Washington, 7:00 PM

(22) Northwestern at California, 7:30 PM

Things of Note:

• Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes are bowl eligible this year after going undefeated last season. They're very dangerous on offense, lead by quarterback Braxton Miller, a dual threat quarterback who can run and throw.
• Johnny Manziel is suspended for the first half against Rice. Although the Texas A&M quarterback was never deemed guilty of getting paid to sign autographs by the NCAA, Texas A&M oddly enough gave him a small suspension. A half is all the 2012 Heisman winner should need to put up some big stats. This is likely Johnny Football's last year in college if it's a good one, which I expect it to be.
• Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron was spotted wearing a walking boot yesterday. He practiced all week and will be playing, but there is no firm answer as to why he was wearing one, so speculate away. Alabama takes on Virginia Tech and start the long journey to try and win their third National Championship in a row.
• Notre Dame didn't only lose Manti Te'o and some other key pieces to the NFL, they lost the quarterback that took them to the National Championship game as well. Everett Golson was suspended for the Fall semester for bad grades, so the Fighting Irish will have to turn to Tommy Rees, who's started over twenty games for ND in his career. Don't be surprised if Notre Dame falls out of the top 25 this season.

Game Of The Week:

(5) Georgia at (8) Clemson, 5:00 PM

Both of these teams have a chance to go to the National Championship game, and that dream for one of them may end week one! Playing in the SEC is tough, but these teams both can compete with Alabama this year, so this game is basically that of a playoff variety.

I'll be keeping a close eye on Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins in this game. He's a frontrunner to win the Bednarik Award (Best Receiver). Watkins should ultimately become this years version of Tavon Austin and draw raves at the combine. He has a lot of strengths to his game and more pros than cons, he already has a degree of polish to it. To view other Bednarik award hopefuls click here.

On the other side, there's Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who's entering his fourth season as starting quarterback. At 6'1", Murray will have to put up big numbers yet again to receive love from NFL scouts who consider that on the short side for an NFL QB. Murray became a more accurate passer last season (3,894 yards,36 TDS, 10 INT), and there's no reason think he won't get better again.

What games are you going to watch? What prospects should we keep an eye on? Talk away!