2021 Week Zero canine college football roundup

2021 Week Zero of college football was this past weekend, and while not many canine schools (which we here at Dog O’Day define as either using a canine mascot or having a vet school) were in action on the field, some did see action.

For most conferences, as the pandemic is still ongoing thanks to the Delta variant of COVID-19, any game that cannot be played will be forfeited, resulting in a win for the other team. If both teams are facing outbreaks at the same time, then they both lose for record-keeping purposes, and no game will take place. This applies mostly to football, but can apply to all sports depending on the conference.

In the Big Ten Conference, the Illinois Fighting Illini opened their season against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in new head coach Bret Bielema’s debut in a nationally-televised contest on Fox, and the Illinois team weathered the loss of their starting quarterback to earn the 30-22 victory.

In a nonconference matchup, the Fresno State Bulldogs from the Mountain West hosted the football-independent (Big East Conference in all other sports) UConn Huskies, and Fresno State cruised to a 45-0 shutout over Jonathan’s squad.

In other games, the Pac-12’s UCLA Bruins crushed the Mountain West’s Hawaii Rainbow Warriors by a 44-10 score.

In a rivalry game for the Silver Spade trophy, the UTEP Miners soundly thumped their archrivals in the independent New Mexico State Aggies to the tune of 30-3.

Finally, the Mountain West’s San Jose State Spartans hosted the FCS (a football-only classification halfway between Division I and Division II, more or less) Southern Utah Thunderbirds.

2021 Week 1 gets underway on Wednesday, September 1, and a pair of vet schools clash in Ohio State and Minnesota in a rare Thursday night contest on Fox.

For more college football news within the FanSided Network, see our sister site Saturday Blitz or the site covering your school for all the latest information.