New Look, Same Chaos: College Football Week 1 Was Worth Waiting For

By Simon Carroll

The wait is over. If Week 0 served as an aperitif for the 2024 College Football season, then Week 1 delivered a banquet for football fans to feast on. Beginning on Thursday night, and still not over until Florida State and Boston College call it quits this evening, an incredible 96 games featured an FBS program the last five days. The first 60 minutes of a team’s season has, historically, told us nothing. Nevertheless, here’s some far too early takeaways from the opening action of the year:

Dabo's Tigers Don't Live Up To The Head Coach's Hype

Clemson might have won thirty games in the last three seasons, but they’ve definitely taken a step back from the heights established by longtime head coach Dabo Swinney. Entering his 16th season in charge, questions have been asked in Death Valley as to whether the Tiger’s reluctance to embrace the new norm of NIL and the transfer portal is at a cost to the football program. If that hadn’t been answered before Saturday, it sure was by the end of it.

The Georgia Bulldogs might be the best team in the country, and that shouldn’t be forgotten. But they destroyed Clemson in Atlanta in a fashion so ruthless it’s fair to wonder if the Tigers can recover mentally and save their season. Defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin deserves credit for keeping his team in the game before the half, the deficit of just six points not at all a fair reflection of the dominance by the ‘Dawgs. After the break, Kirby Smart watched as his own defense shut down Cade Klubnik and co, with elite corner Malaki Starks putting the capper on an impressive start to 2024 with one of the best interceptions you’ll see all year.

College Gameday, after it opened the season in Ireland, was at College Station for the big evening game (more on that in a minute). And Nick Saban might have stolen the show by using the word ‘shit’ live on air, but not before Swinney had doubled down on his confidence in his team following a strong end to the 2023 season. Fresh off upsetting Notre Dame last year, Swinney said “If Clemson’s a stock, you better buy all you freaking can buy right now”. I think I’ll wait a little longer – The Tigers might not have hit rock bottom yet.

Early Losses Not The Death Knell They Once Were

Clemson wasn’t the only big program to endure a sluggish start to the season. Week 1 is often jam-packed with tune-ups for the blue bloods, but there are always a few matchups that serve as a barometer when it comes to the Power 4 conferences. As alluded to earlier, there are playoff expectations for both Notre Dame and Texas A&M in 2024, despite the latter introducing a new head coach. Well, facing off at Kyle Field meant that one would falter early, and it was the home team Aggies that fell 13-23 to the Fighting Irish.

The good news for A&M? A loss like that, in previous years, may have proved insurmountable when it came to a playoff spot. But with the postseason bracket expanding to 12, and the top four spots reserved for conference winners, big out-of-conference losses in Week 1 aren’t as devastating as they once were. True, Mike Elko and his team have an SEC schedule that provides little respite, but at least they still have the chance to fight their way back into consideration.

It’s a similar story for LSU, who were beaten by USC in Las Vegas last night. With very little to separate the teams, Brian Kelly has to bounce back quickly. If they do, Week 1 will be all but forgotten come December. The aforementioned Clemson Tigers might be heading back home with their tails between their legs, but they too can overcome this early setback, as devastating as it was. The consequences of a big loss used to be a key factor in College Football, and that mindset will be difficult for many fans to get out of.

First Impressions of Playoff Candidates

Okay. Let’s list a load of teams that looked as good as advertised; Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Tennessee. All played FCS schools or Group of Five opponents, and all handled their business. There’s not much to say about this, so I won’t. Sorry if you wanted to know about Arch Manning’s first touchdown pass, but I don’t do mundane. We’ll get to these schools when they do something truly impressive – or perhaps the opposite…

We’ve already given our flowers to Georgia, USC and Notre Dame, who no doubt enjoyed the biggest wins of Week 1. But how about some other strong starts? Penn State marched into Morgantown and beat a feisty West Virginia team despite having a weather delay that extended halftime for more than an hour. The Mountaineers were game opponents, but Drew Allar was a machine and demonstrated consistent accuracy to lead the Nitts to victory. And in something of a rivalry game, Miami pulled Florida’s pants down in The Swamp; transfer QB Cam Ward thrived behind a dominant o-line, leaning on an elite set of weapons headlined by Xavier Restrepo. Not even Mario Cristobal could find a way to lose this one – and his counterpart Billy Napier’s seat is getting incredibly warm. A brutal schedule awaits the beleaguered Gators head coach.

One final word; the Big Ten has been giving it both barrels this offseason, suggesting they’re coming for the SEC’s crown as biggest conference in the nation. Well, reigning champs Michigan did little to promote that theory, finally seeing off Fresno State after being just 6 points ahead in the 4th quarter. And what about the mighty Ducks of Oregon, ranked #3 in the nation? A 24-14 win over FCS Idaho will not have impressed anyone. Both those performances landed on my radar, and there’s plenty for two of the so-called challengers to improve on going forward.

Standout Performances

I’m sure, across 96 games, you’ll find scores of elite performances from Week 1. I’ve got three for this section, but I do acknowledge there are many more; fans of Dylan Raiola, Kyren Lacy, Kyron Ware-Hudson etc. can take solace in the fact their omission is more to do with the length of this article than it is me ignoring their big days.

First up, let’s start off in Boulder, CO. The Buffaloes are forever going to take up too much airspace whilst Coach Prime is at the helm, and expectations are a lot higher than squeaking past FCS heavyweights North Dakota State. But Travis Hunter played EVERY snap on Thursday night – both offense and defense. They tell me he’s a better cornerback than wide receiver; with 132 yards and 3 catches from seven receptions, he must be superior to Deion himself. The third TD grab was quite simply outrageous.

Boise State were given a game by Clay Helton’s high flying Georgia Southern Eagles, but the Broncos came out on top largely thanks to a ridiculous demonstration of ball carrying from Ashton Jeanty. The lauded running back decided to stick around this offseason, and his team benefited greatly – Jeanty finished on 267 rushing yards and six touchdowns from just 20 carries. That’s 13.3 yards a tote. Maybe more scary is just how good his backup is too – true freshman Sire Gaines had 110 yards and a score himself. Yeesh.

Let’s finish in the Sonoran Desert. It’s hard to know just what we’ll get out of Arizona this year, the program switching to the Big 12 and head coach Jedd Fisch bolting for Washington. Well new leader Brent Brennan will be pleased with junior receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who helped the Wildcats to a 61-39 win over New Mexico on Saturday night. McMillan put up an insane 304 yards and 4 scores from just 10 catches, immediately having draft gurus naming him WR1 for next year’s NFL Draft. He’s already more than a fifth of his way to matching last years’ 1,400 receiving yards. The Big 12 better watch out.

GO5 Roundup

My fantastic colleague Rory will usually be writing this weekly article. But if you think I’m going to ignore the Group of Five when I step in, you’re sorely mistaken. Who else is going to wax lyrical about UNLV taking down Houston, allowing their Power 4 opponents just one consolation score with a minute left in the game? Willie Fritz left Tulane to take over as head coach of the Cougars this offseason; if he didn’t know the size of the job then, he sure does now…

Cheeky mention for Nevada; we all assumed that SMU were sluggish starters when they struggled to beat the Wolfpack last week. Well, maybe the team from Reno are actually pretty good? For those familiar with Sun Belt football, Troy have been a strong team for some time, so for Nevada to head to Alabama and win there shouldn’t be disregarded. This is Jeff Choate’s first head coaching job at this level – and he’s looked impressive thus far.

Let’s also give some props to schools that took on bigger opponents and narrowly lost – Miami of Ohio taking it to Northwestern in a losing effort in the Wildcats’ new (temporary) lakeside stadium, or UCLA escaping the islands with a field goal win over a spicy Hawaii team. Not forgetting Western Michigan, who forced Wisconsin to score 15 points in the 4th quarter to beat them in Kalamazoo.

God I love college football. Roll on next week!

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

Lead Writer, Head Of Content

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST.

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