Opening Weekend Takes Shape Across the Country

The sport spent Sunday sorting itself out before the calendar flips to September. Some programs arrived at the week with clarity — Alabama named Keelon Russell its starter ahead of the ECU opener, with Austin Mack settling into the backup role in a way the program found encouraging. Miami, meanwhile, heads to Stanford with its quarterback situation long settled and a roster built around genuine conference and playoff ambitions.

Others are carrying uncertainty into the final stretch. Iowa still hasn't named a starter between Drew Hecklinski and whoever else Kirk Ferentz is weighing, with Northern Illinois arriving in Iowa City on Saturday. That kind of unresolved competition this late in camp rarely signals confidence, and it will be one of the more closely watched situations when the Hawkeyes finally take the field.

Ole Miss made the loudest noise of the weekend without playing a down. The Rebels put their two Heisman candidates on the Las Vegas Sphere on Sunday, a marketing move that landed as intended — drawing attention and irritating rivals across the SEC in equal measure. It was a reminder that the season's first real games are days away and the jockeying, on the field and off it, has already begun.