2025-26 NCAA Football (Week 1)

Games I saw (some of):

(1) Texas 7-14 (3) Ohio State

Sludgefest of a game, thought both defenses were really strong. The buzz about this game was the uninspiring debut of QB Arch Manning, the pre-season fave for Heisman (why?), and, well, he wasn't particularly good. That said, the Buckeye offense wasn't vastly better than the Longhorns. The Buckeyes had two good drives and scored on both; the Longhorns had three good drives and came up short inside the 10 yard line on two of them (you could argue both of those drives were really better than the one they scored on). The Buckeyes were the better team on both sides, but the Longhorns were hardly humiliated, so some of that chatter is wildly overblown. I think both of these teams are really good, I suspect both will be in the playoff and really the home field advantage was probably the real difference. 

(9) Louisiana State 17-10 (4) Clemson

Always important to remember when two college heavyweights get together, often the 2nd half is totally different from the 1st. The 1st half had more offense than the Longhorn-Buckeye match but not much as both teams moved the ball a little bit but for the most part stalled. Clemson had one nice drive before the half and were up 10-3. After that, I thought LSU kinda dominated the rest of the game. Clemson didn't get blown out but they were clearly not as good as LSU, who struck me as maybe the revelation of the opening week: they've got a for-real QB, they can move the ball and their D is gonna be stingy. Not ready to give up on Clemson, I suspect they'll hang around all year (thought Florida State and Miami look like stiffer competition than may have been anticipated).

(8) Alabama 17-31 Florida State

This was an eye-opener. Alabama was primed for a real bounce back season--and that could still happen--whereas the Seminoles were so bad last year (so bad!) that I was already ready to write them off. Record scratch! The Seminoles looked damn good! Their offense is scary, that pass rush is for real and whatever ailed them last year seems to be in the rearview. They took it to the Tide from beginning to end and were the better team on both sides. Now Alabama was starting a rookie QB, had some injuries and were on the road, so I'm not ready to write off the Tide just yet but...man, their schedule is rugged and if they don't get the O-line on track, then their season could go sideways pronto. But the Seminoles were the revelation, they look they're back from whatever hole they fell into last year.

(6) Notre Dame 24-27 (10) Miami

I was impressed with the Hurricanes (though maybe not with their too-conservative coach). I was skeptical of QB Carson Beck, who just never did it for me in his time at UGA and seemed to be shooting his mouth off in embarrassing ways all summer. But, he looked good out there in a Hurricane uni, guess the change of scenery is doing him well. This was a good matchup, felt like Notre Dame was the better team early on, but the Hurricanes definitely took over the game after half time, almost low-keyed the game away, but managed to hold on to the W. Don't want to diss the Irish, though, I felt like they weren't playing their best football, feels like this team is going to be better than this for the rest of the season, so we;ll see if they can maintain the top 10-ness (I think they will). 

Top 25

Handled their business

(2) Penn State, (3) Ohio State, (5) Georgia, (7) Oregon, (9) Louisiana State, (10) Miami, (11) Arizona State, (12) Illinois, (13) South Carolina, (14) Michigan, (15) Florida, (16) Southern Methodist, (18) Oklahoma, (19) Texas A&M, (21) Mississippi, (22) Iowa State (twice), (23) Texas Tech, (24) Tennessee

Won but did not impress

(17) Kansas State (week 1). I dunno, man, could be that North Dakota is actually pretty good, but if K State is gonna hang in the top 20, they need to take care of their cream puffs at home, and they struggled hard to put this team away. We'll see: this might be the real wake up call after getting ground down in Ireland the week before.

(20) Indiana. Didn't exactly dominate Old Dominion at home, I really don't think that's too much to ask of a team that made the playoff last year and fancies themselves a gunslinging sorta offense. 

Bad beat

(1) Texas. Unimpressed with the Longhorns? How about you go to Ohio State and win a game, show me how its done. Despite the chirping, UT handled themselves well on the road to open the season and I fully expect they will hang around the top 10 all year long. 

(4) Clemson. I think LSU is really good, something we couldn't have known two weeks ago. I suspect Clemson will be around at the end of the year and this L likely won't be a killer for them.

(17) Kansas State (week 0). (Two weeks in and they've got a Bad Beat and a Did Not Impress, the Wildcats are not off to a great start) Going to Ireland and playing an unknown foe can't be easy, so I'm willing to look the other way, but following that L with a scuffling save at home to a D2 squad is not filling me with confidence. 

Not so good

(8) Alabama. I think Florida State is good and this L won't be a killer for the Tide this year, but, man, they really could've used that win. If they can up their QB play, they can still be a solid team, this season isn't over for the Tide, but, they need to be flawless from here (and that's a tough ask for anyone).

(25) Boise State. Didn't see their shellacking at South Florida, but a friend told me the game was actually a lot closer than the 34-7 score suggests. Oooooooooo-kay. 

Next week's intriguing matches

Iowa @ (16) Iowa State (they got a big W in Ireland but can the Cyclones win in Iowa?)

Baylor @ (17) Southern Methodist (I thought Baylor handled themselves okay against Auburn, think they're gonna give the Mustangs a game this week)

Oklahoma State @ (6) Oregon (the Cowboys haven't been all the great lately but they're not a cream puff, curious to see if the Ducks can put them away early)

(15) Michigan @ (18) Oklahoma (here we go: game of the week; I have no idea what to expect from either team, both were pretty soft last year, let's see if either of them are ready to walk it)