Welcome to the sixth season of Final Thoughts, my weekly attempt to capture all of the college football weekend’s most important stories. Hopefully one day I’ll succeed.
Here are 20 of them from the first three days of Week 1. (Sunday and Monday results still pending.)
1. You knew Lee Corso was going to don the Brutus Buckeye head for his emotional final “College GameDay” pick Saturday. For one thing, it was the perfect full-circle moment from his first such stunt in 1996. But also, ESPN broadcast the pick inside the Horseshoe. Imagine how quickly 100,000 Ohio State fans would have turned on the 90-year-old legend if he had pulled a Hook ’Em.
A hearty salute to Coach, who went out on a high note by correctly picking the third-ranked Buckeyes to beat No. 1 Texas. But I doubt he foresaw either the 14-7 final score or the day-long face-plant by a certain Longhorns QB.
2. The Manning camp earned a lot of praise for an old-school approach that saw Arch willingly spend two years waiting his turn behind Quinn Ewers. But three years of waiting allowed the Arch hype to reach impossible heights. Anything short of a Heisman and national title would be seen as a disappointment.
But Manning’s performance Saturday — 17 of 30 for 170 yards, one touchdown and one pick — wasn’t “disappointing.” It was shockingly bad. He panicked under pressure and missed open receivers by several yards, throwing either at their feet or a step behind them. Manning finally made some big throws on Texas’ penultimate drive that cut the score to 14-7, then teased a potential miracle with a 30-yard completion to start the next. But the Horns stalled from there, and Manning’s nightmare day ended under pressure again, throwing short on fourth down.
There’s a long season to go, with plenty of room for the QB to grow. But Saturday served as an ominous reminder that five-star ratings and famous last names do not guarantee success. As of now, Arch Manning is a struggling three-game college starter.
3. Ohio State coach Ryan Day made a surprising defensive coordinator hire in former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, but his debut could not have gone better. The defending national champs showed no sign of having lost seven starters to the NFL in April, with their secondary continually flummoxing Manning by disguising coverages as deftly as an NFL team. Linebacker Arvell Reese, a first-time starter, was seemingly everywhere, and cornerback Davison Igbinosun had 10 tackles.
After a one-week hiatus, Ohio State will surely return to No. 1 in the polls come Tuesday.
The Buckeyes were hardly flawless. Their offense gained only 203 yards. QB Julian Sayin finished 13 of 20 for a modest 126 yards, albeit with a beautiful 40-yard touchdown to Carnell Tate. But with the defense ensuring a low-scoring game, I can’t fault Day for keeping the game plan conservative. Jeremiah Smith will not be limited to six catches for 43 yards every week.
The Buckeyes’ defense held Texas to just seven points in their win Saturday. (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
4. For the first time in his LSU tenure, Brian Kelly will not be mad about his team’s first game of the season. Quite the opposite. His defense, such a sore spot in the Jayden Daniels era, stamped itself as elite by going to the other Death Valley and silencing fourth-ranked Clemson in a heart-stopping 17-10 victory.
Clemson QB/Heisman candidate Cade Klubnik faced relentless pressure from Harold Perkins Jr. and LSU, finishing 19 of 38 for 230 yards passing, no TDs and an interception. And he was a non-factor in the running game. Even so, he led Clemson into the red zone at the end with a chance to send the game to overtime, but the disruptive Perkins forced him to hurry an incompletion.
Kelly saw a lot of dividends on defense from his top-ranked transfer class, most notably lockdown CB Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech), DE Jack Pyburn (Florida) and DT Bernard Gooden (USF).
5. And then there’s the fifth-year senior who’s been at LSU since the Ed Orgeron era: QB Garrett Nussmeier. As recognized as he is for his talent, as gaudy as his stats were last season (4,052 yards), he’d lacked a signature win … until now. Shaking off a tough first half, he led a pair of second-half touchdown drives and could have had a third. An unusual fourth-quarter replay decision made his 28-yard completion to Barion Brown not just short of the end zone but incomplete altogether. The score was 10-10 at the time, but Nussmeier shook off what could have been a crushing setback and led his team to victory.
6. Clemson dropped its fourth straight game to an SEC opponent, dating to the start of last season, but this was hardly a humbling result like last year’s season-opening 34-3 debacle against Georgia. Its defense was stout against the run and allowed just two plays of 20-plus yards. But a lack of playmakers on offense has been a recurring thorn for Dabo Swinney’s teams the past several years, and it was exacerbated when top receiver Antonio Williams left with an injury in the first quarter. Clemson’s rushing game was nonexistent; its longest gain all night was for 7 yards.
That doesn’t mean the Tigers can’t still win the ACC. But they may have an unexpected foil.
7. Apparently, the football gods decided Florida State fans had suffered enough. After the Playoff snub in 2023 and the 2-10 debacle of 2024, Mike Norvell’s Noles skipped straight past rebuilding mode, coming out and whupping No. 8 Alabama 31-17 in rainy Tallahassee and eliciting a massive Week 1 field-storming. I’d use the word “shocking,” except that FSU looked like the better team from the opening snap.
Norvell staked his program’s turnaround on former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator and Tommy Castellanos, who was benched last season at Boston College, as his QB1. They melded perfectly Saturday, with Castellanos thriving in the run game like so many Malzahn QBs before him behind a transfer-heavy offensive line that took it to the Tide defense.
Nearly the entire starting lineup on offense for FSU was newcomers, including freshman receiver Jayvan Boggs. Pre-transfer portal, this would have been a multi-year rebuild. Now, even a 2-10 team can flush and start over in one cycle.
8. Suffice it to say, Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama tenure is turning into a disaster. The Tide have lost to five of their last nine Power 4 opponents, and this one might be the most troubling yet — which is saying something with Vanderbilt on that list. New quarterback Ty Simpson (23 of 43, 254 yards, two TDs, 0 INTs) took three sacks while escaping roughly 20 others, and the running backs, missing top returnee Jam Miller, struggled to find rushing lanes.
DeBoer, who went 25-3 at Washington, should not be counted out after 14 games, but he has clearly reached a crisis point. Alabama has gone from a program that routinely broke opponents’ spirits under Nick Saban to one that now looks broken itself. He has a lot to get figured out by the time the Tide visit Georgia on Sept. 27.
Alabama has not looked like its old self in Kalen DeBoer’s tenure, and that trend continued in a loss to unranked Florida State. (Melina Myers / Imagn Images)
9. Arguably the wildest recruitment of the NIL era occurred last November when Michigan flipped five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU thanks to a generous donation (believed to be north of $3 million a year) from billionaire Larry Ellison’s Maize-and-Blue-bleeding wife, Jolin. It was evident since spring that Underwood would be the Wolverines’ Week 1 starter. And he’s off to a promising start.
Underwood went 21 of 31 for 251 yards, one TD and no picks in a 34-17 win over New Mexico. He looked comfortable and confident, albeit against an overmatched foe. On a third-and-14 from his own 21 shortly before halftime, he lasered a 39-yard pass to redshirt freshman receiver Channing Goodwin, after which Underwood helped his team build a two-touchdown lead
10. Underwood wasn’t the only notable newcomer for Michigan’s offense. Former Alabama RB Justice Haynes ran 16 times for a career-high 159 yards and three TDs. It’s hard to know how good Michigan’s defense might be based on a Mountain West opener, but Sherrone Moore’s more pressing issue was fixing last year’s 129th-ranked offense. If nothing else, he appears to have more weapons.
However, the degree of difficulty increases significantly next week when the 14th-ranked Wolverines visit No. 18 Oklahoma. The Sooners’ heralded transfer QB John Mateer (Washington State) threw for 392 yards in a 35-3 tune-up against Illinois State.
11. In the sport’s first-known trade of quarterbacks, Tennessee’s new guy is off to a considerably better start than the old one. Joey Aguilar, whom the Vols plucked from UCLA when Nico Iamaleava bolted in April, largely cruised in a 45-26 rout of Syracuse, a 10-win team last season. He went 16 of 28 for 247 yards, three TDs and no interceptions, including a 73-yard touchdown to redshirt freshman Braylon Staley that helped build a big lead.
Iamaleava, who walked away from his $2.2 million deal at Tennessee, had a less enjoyable debut for his new team, UCLA, which suffered a humiliating 43-10 home loss to Utah. He went 11 of 22 for 136 yards, ran for 47 and was sacked four times in front of an announced crowd of 35,032 at the Rose Bowl. No wonder Bruins coach DeShaun Foster didn’t want anyone watching his practices.
12. But the bigger story of that game was Utah’s new-look offense, which Kyle Whittingham imported from New Mexico. Former Lobos quarterback Devon Dampier, with help from former Lobos OC Jason Beck, shredded the Bruins, going 21 of 25 for 206 yards and two TDs while running 16 times for 87 yards and a score. Another ex-Lobo, RB NaQuari Rogers, carried 16 times for 61 yards,
Whittingham, the Utes’ head coach since 2005, saw his offense go stagnant the past two years and stumbled to a rare losing record (5-7) last season. Here’s guessing this year’s squad will be a factor in the Big 12 title race.
13. I’m sure Deion Sanders would have loved another year with Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. But they would not have been able to prevent Georgia Tech from running all over Colorado’s defense in the Jackets’ 27-20 win in Boulder on Friday.
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King has quietly developed into one of the sport’s top dual-threat guys. He sliced through the Buffs to the tune of 156 yards rushing, 143 yards passing and three TDs. Colorado counterpart Kaidon Salter had his moments, but none of his receivers gained more than 39 yards. So yes, the Buffs may badly miss Shedeur and Travis.
Colorado fell to Georgia Tech in the starting debut of Liberty transfer QB Kaidon Salter, who passed for 159 yards. (Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
14. So much of Hugh Freeze’s struggles his first two seasons at Auburn were due to the fact he just didn’t have the right quarterback to run his preferred RPO-style offense. One game in, it sure looks like he does now.
Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold repeatedly flummoxed Baylor’s defense Friday night with his mastery of the QB read. He carried 16 times for 137 yards and two TDs, one of them a decisive 27-yard dash on fourth-and-1 as Auburn pulled away to win 38-24 in Waco. Granted, Arnold didn’t do much in the pass game (11 of 17 for 108 yards) but the Tigers didn’t need him to. The Tigers rode a dominant offensive line to 308 yards rushing in an encouraging first outing.
15. Watching from her suite at Arrowhead Stadium, Taylor Swift came so close to experiencing one of Nebraska’s patented late-game meltdowns. But in a stunning turn of events, Huskers DB Malcolm Hartzog Jr. picked off Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby to thwart a last-minute drive and seal a 20-17 Nebraska win.
Cincinnati was not a highly regarded foe, but anyone who’s watched the last decade of Huskers football knows how significant a moment this was in Matt Rhule’s attempt to exorcise the program’s close-game curse. Transfer receivers Nyziah Hunter (Cal) and Dane Key (Kentucky) look like nice pickups for second-year QB Dylan Raiola.
16. On the first day of 2025, Oregon early enrollee Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele donned a Ducks uniform for the first time as a spectator at the Rose Bowl. Two days later he entered the portal. On Saturday, he returned to the state of Oregon, this time as Cal’s starting quarterback, and led his team to a 34-15 win at Oregon State.
Justin Wilcox’s program needed a spark after its roster got picked over, losing star quarterback Fernando Mendoza to Indiana and beloved running back Jaydn Ott to Oklahoma. Sagapolutele, Cal’s first true freshman starter since Jared Goff, gives Bears fans hope. The only caveat: Oregon State is not good. The Beavers went 5-7 in their first season post-Pac-12 breakup and do not appear to be trending upward.
17. Former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who left the Cougars in July to avoid a university suspension, had a solid debut for his new team, Tulane. He threw for 152 yards and ran for 113, including a 69-yard touchdown, in the Green Wave’s 23-3 rout of visiting Northwestern. On the other side, SMU transfer Preston Stone had a nightmarish debut for the Wildcats, throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble.
Tulane was my preseason pick to be the Group of 5’s Playoff team, but it will have at least one formidable obstacle in its own conference. USF, which went 7-6 in coach Alex Golesh’s first two seasons, drilled No. 25 Boise State 34-7 in its Thursday night opener. The Bulls’ defense held Boise’s post-Ashton Jeanty rushing attack to 3.2 yards per carry.
18. Virginia coach Tony Elliott, a disappointing 12-23 over his first three seasons, may finally have the pieces he needs on offense. Former TCU and North Texas starter Chandler Morris threw for 264 yards and ran for 50 in the Cavaliers’ 48-7 rout of Coastal Carolina. But one of his sidekicks stole the show. James Madison transfer receiver Cam Ross caught seven passes for 124 yards and a TD and broke a 100-yard kick return in his Virginia debut.
19. There’s always at least one FCS-over-FBS upset in Week 1, but I would not have guessed Army would be the team on the losing side. The Knights, fresh off an 11-win season and AAC championship, fell 30-27 in double overtime to Tarleton State, an upstart program that reached its first FCS playoffs last season. (The Texans moved up from Division II in 2021.)
Meanwhile, Kansas State very nearly fell to 0-2 at the hands of its own FCS foe, North Dakota, but quarterback Avery Johnson averted disaster by throwing a game-winning 6-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left to survive 38-35.
20. Finally, if there was any doubt how much football loves Lee Corso, how about this for a parting gift? The Sunshine Scooter was a player or coach for six schools: Florida State, Maryland, Navy, Louisville, Indiana and NIU. All of them won their openers Saturday.
Corso, a fixture of “GameDay” since 1987, correctly called FSU’s upset of Alabama and LSU’s win at Clemson on Saturday’s show. If this keeps up, there’s going to be a lot of happy folks in Baton Rouge.
He also picked LSU to win the national championship.
(Photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
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