The 2025 college football season was always set to kick off with a bang since the first round of games on the first full Saturday would include the defending national champions against the No. 1 team in the nation along with Lee Corso’s final headgear pick. SEC haters thought they were about to have a weekend too.
In two marquee games, the SEC generated headlines for suffering losses. However, the headlines that they were 4-2 in games against Power Four schools, more such wins than any other conference, didn’t follow. It’s even more impressive that not one SEC team faced a Power Four team at home: Four were on the road, and two were at neutral sites.
Simply put, SEC dominance is still on display, even if the perceptino contradicts the narrative. After all, the Auburn Tigers won at the Baylor Bears, the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Virginia Tech Hokies, and the Tennessee Vols beat the Syracuse Orange. Here are our 10 BIGGEST college football Week 1 takeaways, though.
1. Ohio St. looks like national champs, but is Texas offense that bad?
Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes came out and defended their national championship with a defensive slugfest in an ugly 14-7 win over the Texas Longhorns. They did Lee Corso proud as put on Brutus for his final headgear pick, the one he ever put on as well nearly 30 years ago. OSU should have been No. 1 to start the year and proved it Saturday.
However, Arch Manning’s awful debut with the Longhorns was the story. Texas was 1-of-5 on fourth downs, with Manning missing one easy throw, making a bad read on another and failing to convert on a tush push on a third. That’s a tough environment for anybody to have their first real start in, though, so Manning will likely be fine. He was just a victim of too much early hype.
2. Alabama in trouble; Is Florida St. BACK?
Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide were supposed to just need their quarterback in Ty Simpson along with offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb reuniting with DeBoer. After all, Jalen Milroe was supposedly not a fit for the offense. It didn’t matter, as Bama scored just 17 points. Are they in trouble? They should be better, but this was a bad start. Don’t panic yet, though.
On the other side, the Florida State Seminoles have a lot to celebrate. Mike Norvell’s team had a strong first win after last year’s 2-10 campaign, and given the state of the ACC, they are immediately deserving of being in the College Football Playoff conversation. They deserve credit for what they and their home crowd did more than Bama fans should panic.
3. LSU FINALLY gets big win; Cade Klubnik still overrated
Brian Kelly has waited four years for this, and the Tigers have actually waited six. Their last season-opening win came in 2019, when they won the national championship with Joe Burrow. Garrett Nussmeier and that defense both seemd to turn a corner as they went into the other Death Valley to face the other Tigers as underdogs and pulled out an ugly, beautiful victory.
Dabo Swinney’s team, for their part, validated what should have been noticed all offseason. Cade Klubnik did not turn a corner late last year. He just faced easy competition. He led Clemson’s offense to 14 points against South Carolina at home in the final week of the regular season. Against SEC competition, he’s horrible, and that was once again the case.
4. Miami makes statement with Carson Beck; Notre Dame may be DONE
Transitioning to a more pro-style quarterback was no issue for Mario Cristobal, as the Hurricanes pulled off a critical 27-24 season-opening win against the Fighting Irish. It should be a sign of things to come, but Cristobal is bound to screw up, as he almost cost this team by sitting on a lead and playing it safe late because he didn’t know ND had another timeout.
Marcus Freeman’s team, meanwhile, could be in trouble. Losing to Miami by three on the road shouldn’t be a big deal, but the Texas A&M Aggies in two weeks are now their likely last chance at a quality win unless the USC Trojans turn things around. As a result, this could have actually eliminated them from CFP contention.
5. Lee Corso goes out in STYLE
Picking Brutus and getting OSU right was the headliner. However, Lee Corso also picked FSU against Alabama and got that right. It was doubly fitting since FSU is his alma mater and he was a graduate assistant there. He got every other marquee game right as well, including LSU over Clemson and Miami over Notre Dame. That’s an impressive feat, but it’s not all.
Every school Corso coached at, meanwhile, as a head coach or assistant, all won too, including the Indiana Hoosiers, Maryland Terrapins, Navy Midshipmen, Louisville Cardinals and Northern Illinois Huskies. It was as if the college football gods were looking down on him and wanted to make sure he was rewarded for everything he did.
6. Bill Belichick humiliated
You could see the North Carolina Tar Heels losing to the TCU Horned Frogs in their opener, but losing 48-14 was wild. Bill Belichick’s problem is defense is his calling card, and winning as a defensive team requires having players. UNC has none, so expect more humiliations like this until he recruits better, and it will be hard to recruit if those humiliations happen. He could be in trouble.
7. Big 12 impossible to figure out
TCU’s road win followed the Utah Utes embarrassing Nico Iamaleava and the UCLA Bruins on the road Saturday. Before that, though, the Big 12 was awful, as the Colorado Buffaloes fell to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Baylor fell to Auburn and the Cincinnati Bearcats fell to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, all at home.
That means TCU and Utah are among the two favorites to win this league now along with the Iowa State Cylones, who beat the Kansas State Wildcats in Ireland in Week 0. KSU barely beating the North Dakota Fighting Hawks is alarming. Of course, the Arizona State Wildcats and Texas Tech Red Raiders are in the race too, but ASU looked ugly over the weekend, and both played FCS schools.
8. Group of Five CFP race wide open out with Boise St. loss
Speaking of wide open races, the Boise State Broncos were last year’s Group of Five College Football Playoff team. By losing to the South Florida Bulls last week on the road, that race is now wide open. The Mountain West and American Athletic Conferences will likely always compete for that final spot, and we now have no idea who it will be.
9. Heisman race
- Devon Dampier, Utah
- Jackson Arnold, Auburn
- Josh Hoover, TCU
- Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
- LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
This is completely based on who individuals played, where they played them and how they played. Others had better stats but against far inferior competition. Devon Dampier and Jackson Arnold both led their teams in passing and rushing in Power Four road wins. Josh Hoover and Garrett Nussmeier were both highly efficient in Power Four road wins, and LaNorris Sellers had to will his team to an ugly win.
10. Top 10
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Miami
- South Florida
- Iowa State
- Georgia Tech
- Florida State
- TCU
- Utah
- Auburn
Don’t worry. This will change as the college football season progresses. However, we can’t base anything off what teams have done in the past. Right now, we’re only weighing schedule strength and wins and losses, and SOS is just whether or not you played a Power Four school, if that school made the CFP last year and if the game was at home or on the road.
By those three standards, LSU easily is No. 1 since they match all three. Ohio State, Miami and South Florida all faced CFP schools last year. Iowa State and GT both have Power Four wins away from home, and ISU is 2-0. TCU, Utah and Baylor have Power Four road wins, and FSU beat a near-CFP team from last year.
Only four other teams have an argument to be in the top 10 this week: Tennesssee, Nebraska, South Carolina and the Cal Golden Bears, who beat the Oregon State Beavers, a Power Four adjacent team, over the weekend. However, Oregon State is not Power Four, Nebraska is just bad, and UT and SC weren’t on the road, so they just missed. But for now, it’s really you’re college football top 14.
