With Labor Day in the rear-view mirror, fall has certainly arrived. The group chats are filled with back-to-school photos of the kids heading off to the bus stop, and the first full week of college football has come and gone.
But while some teams already look primed to graduate, others might need another week or two of summer school.
Here are three teams that impressed, and three teams that did not, in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season.
In what was billed as the most anticipated regular-season game in recent college football memory, Texas arrived in Columbus as the top-ranked team in the nation, with a member of football royalty beginning his first season as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback.
But it was Ohio State that came out on top in the much-ballyhooed contest, putting Arch Manning in the proverbial blender and beginning the season 1-0 with a 14-7 victory.
It was not flawless, but the Buckeyes demonstrated that they have the elite defense to lock down talented offenses this season, even after losing eight starters from last year’s title team.
On the other sideline, Texas has some work to do after their Week 1 loss in Columbus.
Looking at the bright side, the Longhorns defense held Ohio State to just 203 yards and a touchdown, and most weeks, those numbers are enough to win football games. Combine that with what we saw from Manning in the fourth quarter, when he seemed to settle into the environment and just play the position without overthinking every decision, and there are positives to take away from Saturday’s loss.
But they will need to sort out things on the offensive side of the ball before a tough early-October stretch that includes a trip to The Swamp to take on Florida, and the annual Red River clash with Oklahoma.
Full credit to the Hurricanes, as they collect their first win over a Top-Ten team since the 2017 season as they knocked off Notre Dame on Sunday night. Carson Beck threw a pair of touchdowns as he takes over the Miami offense after Cam Ward’s departure, freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney looks every bit the part of a future WR1 for the Hurricanes, and they dominated the “middle eight,” turning what was a 7-7 game late in the second quarter into a 21-7 lead by the time Notre Dame got the ball for a legitimate possession mdiway through the third quarter (Notre Dame could only kneel out the half on the final play of the second quarter).
Miami looks legitimate right now, but a big clash with Florida looms later this month.
Over his storied NFL head coaching career, Bill Belichick had never seen his team give up 48 points.
In his first game in the collegiate ranks, Belichick and the Tar Heels did just that, losing 48-14 on Monday night to TCU.
Belichick has endured some brutal losses before, and UNC fans likely calmed themselves with replays of his “[w]e’re on to Cincinnati” press conference from the 2014 New England Patriots season, but this is not Foxborough, and he does not have Tom Brady and company on the sideline.
Then there is the fact that the Tar Heels were beaten up in the trenches, on both sides of the ball.
Belichick will need to fix that, and fast. Having one of the easiest schedules for a Power Four program could help.
The LSU Tigers waited out Clemson’s dramatic pre-game entrance, and then outlasted the Tigers once the game got underway, scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half to knock off Clemson 17-10 on Saturday night.
If anything, that score sells LSU’s effort short. The Tigers turned the football over twice on a pair of fumbles — the first of which led to a Clemson field goal and the second coming just before halftime with LSU facing a fourth down on the Clemson 12-yard line — and kicker Damian Ramos missed a 46-yard field goal attempt. But their defense, as well as QB Garrett Nussmeier, are going to give them a chance to win every week.
Even with mistakes like we saw Saturday night.
What else is there to say? Alabama was battered up front on both sides of the ball Saturday against Florida State, and it does not take long when spinning through that game tape to find examples of that punishment wearing them down, particularly on the defensive side of the football.
Teams that feature the run heavily, such as Florida State last week and Vanderbilt last season, have been able to impose their will on Alabama recently. That is a trend to watch, and a worrying one for Crimson Tide fans.
