Week one of college football is in the books and I must say it was an exciting week.

A handful of upsets from the top 25 and the biggest upset coming from Howard University when it won 43-40 over UNLV and Howard was a 45-point underdog. That means a $100 bet on Howard to win outright would’ve won you $55,000.

Nice payout.

The best game this weekend came on Monday night when No. 25 Tennessee played Georgia Tech in the brand-new Atlanta Falcons stadium, Mercedes Benz Stadium. There’s two reasons behind this statement of it being the best game.

Reason number one.

I realized how much I appreciate overtime games in college football. It’s done completely different than the National Football League (NFL) and I honestly would prefer this method in the NFL.

The Monday night game had not one, but two overtimes. It was quick overtimes with lots of offense and opportunities for both teams.

In case you don’t know how college overtimes work, let me explain it for you.

There’s a coin toss and the winner decides whether they are on offense or defense first. It’s more about strategy than anything else because both teams have an opportunity to score. It’s not first touchdown wins like in the NFL.

Then, the first offensive team starts 25 yards away from the end zone and follows the same four down rules as a regular game. The goal is to make it to the end zone, but sometimes teams kick field goals if it’s a fourth down.

After the first offensive team finishes its drive, the second team comes out and tries to replicate or improve on the score. If the first team scores a touchdown, the second team needs to score a touchdown to send the game into another overtime. If not, the game is done and the first team would win.

This continues to happen until someone scores above the other team and comes out with the win. In the Monday night game, the two teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime, so it went into a second overtime.

In the second overtime, both scored touchdowns, but Georgia Tech decided to go for a two-point conversion to win the game. They missed the conversion and Tennessee took home the win.

I think this type of overtime is more exciting because it’s faster, there’s no clock and it’s favored more toward an offense than a defense.

I hope NFL will incorporate this type of overtime in the future because it would allow both teams to score and have an opportunity to win.

The longest college football game is a seven-overtime game. Could you imagine a seven-overtime NFL game? How enticing would that be?

The second reason behind Monday night being the best game this weekend, the traditions.

Every team in college football is different, which includes different rituals and handshakes between players and coaches.

In the Monday night game, Tennessee’s defense forced a fumble which was recovered by the Volunteers. After Micah Abernathy recovered the fumble, he ran over to the sidelines ready to dunk.

That’s right, dunk.

Abernathy threw the football into a plastic garbage can that had the phrase “Team 121” on the side. The phrase is based behind the fact this is the 121st Tennessee football team.

As for the meaning behind the garbage can, it is still unknown, but it’s creating some attention on Twitter with backlash as well as funny remarks.

I don’t necessarily mean use a garbage can, but Iowa State should have something similar. A tradition or niche that Cyclone fans can watch or even participate in.

I know Iowa State has the warning before the game and Sweet Caroline after the third quarter, which pumps up the crowd, but it could be interesting to have a similar tradition during the game to excite the fans.

All I know is that I had a great Monday night watching a close game for a few hours, which makes me excited about next week’s college football games.

Along with college football on Saturday, the NFL regular season starts this weekend on Sundays.

Football is back.

What a great thing to say.