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Justin Williams here, and I’m sitting in for Jayna after our first full Saturday of college football. Yep, we made it.
May all your interceptions be one-handed leaping barrel rolls.
Top-ranked UGA routs Tigers
The No. 14 Tigers got manhandled by top-ranked Georgia in a 34-3 rout at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was an ugly defeat for a Clemson program that has been trending in the wrong direction for a few years.
“At the end of the day, we just got our butts kicked,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
Nothing went right for the Tigers, who had 188 yards of total offense, including an underwhelming day for QB Cade Klubnik (18-for-29 for 142 yards passing). It was a slow start for both sides, with Georgia leading 6-0 at the half. Then the Bulldogs reached the end zone on four of their first five possessions to start the second half while keeping Clemson completely bottled up.
Georgia — which backed up the No. 1 ranking and championship chatter — will make a lot of opponents look bad this season. Yet this is a top-15 Clemson squad that appears to be a long way from those preseason ACC championship and Playoff expectations, let alone the same program that won two national titles in the past decade.
The fact is we haven’t seen that Clemson since 2020, and it’s only natural to wonder if we ever will again, as our Grace Raynor wrote. It was the Tigers’ worst loss since 2013 in terms of point margin, but it also amplified the criticism Swinney has faced for refusing to utilize the transfer portal. Outside of the service academies, Clemson was the only FBS program that did not have a single incoming transfer this offseason.
“People are gonna say whatever they wanna say,” Swinney responded after the game when asked about his team’s lack of transfers. “And when you lose like this, (people have) got every right to say whatever they wanna say.”
There’s been no shortage of opinions, but after Saturday’s performance, Swinney and Clemson have bigger problems than the critics.
Golden on the Road
Irish grind out a win in College Station
It wasn’t pretty, but Marcus Freeman and his No. 7 Fighting Irish battled to a 23-13 road win over No. 20 Texas A&M, spoiling the debut for Aggies coach Mike Elko. Offense was in short supply for most of the night as both quarterbacks struggled in a defensive slugfest. But Notre Dame’s running game came up clutch in the second half with touchdown runs of 47 and 21 yards to eke out a victory. The defense shined, limiting Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman to 12-of-30 passing for 100 yards and 2 INTs.
The win was massive for the Irish, in both the immediate and big-picture sense. A top-20 road win over an SEC opponent should provide a nice jewel in Notre Dame’s Playoff pursuit, and the Irish should be favored in the rest of their games.
The Aggies’ at-large Playoff hopes aren’t dashed, particularly with a favorable schedule by SEC standards — no Georgia, no Alabama, no OleMiss. But A&M will have to get much better play from Weigman and the offense if it wants to make any noise in conference play.
Cam Ward threw three touchdown passes on Saturday in his Miami debut. (Matt Pendleton / USA Today)
Final Scores
Roundup of other notable games
How did these Week 1 outcomes impact the 12-team Playoff race? We’ll be updating our CFP projections every Sunday.
Vegas Holiday
No. 23 USC vs No. 13 LSU preview
We’re not done yet. College football has blessed us with an extended holiday weekend of games, continuing tonight with a Top-25 Big Ten (!) vs. SEC bout in Las Vegas between the Trojans and Tigers (7:30 p.m., ABC).
(Yeah, USC being in the Big Ten is gonna take some getting used to.)
Realignment glitches aside, I love the similarities between these two teams, stretching back to USC hiring Lincoln Riley and LSU hiring Brian Kelly a day apart in November 2021. Since then, both coaches had strong first seasons followed by sophomore slumps, each producing a Heisman Trophy-winning QB in the process. And tonight, each team will start a junior quarterback with one career start — Miller Moss for USC and Garrett Nussmeier for LSU — which is quite an anomaly in a sport rife with transfer QBs.
Both programs are rolling out new defensive coordinators after getting gashed last season, and both will have Playoff aspirations under the new expanded format.
The mix of storylines and expectations, and the Sunday night prime-time slot, gives this one a little extra juice — and will put a little extra pressure on whichever team comes up short.
Quick Snaps
Wondering why the two-minute timeout (warning) has made its way to college football? We’ve got you covered.
BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill did not coach in his team’s season-opening win over Southern Illinois after suffering a heart attack on Thursday. Hill confirmed on social media he has been released from the hospital and is feeling better.
The NCAA blocked Oklahoma State from putting QR codes on players’ helmets. The codes would have linked to the school’s official NIL collective, allowing fans watching from home to donate.
You can buy tickets to every college football game here.
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(Top photo of Dabo Swinney: Ken Ruinard-USA Today)
