5 Takeaways From Week 1 of the College Football Season

Besides Arch Manning’s and Bill Belichick’s disappointing debuts, much else occurred during the first full weekend of the college football season.

There’s already significant movement in the top 25, and a new Boise State could emerge from the Group of Six conferences this year. Here’s a look at five highlights from Week 1 action.

​1. Florida State Makes Statement, Alabama Slides

Florida State bounced back from a 2–10 season in style on Aug. 30 with a 31–17 win over No. 9 Alabama in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Seminoles tumbled last year under head coach Mike Norvell as his team failed to meet expectations in 2024 after a College Football Playoff snub in 2023. FSU didn’t demonstrate post-season worthiness in 2023, however, as the Georgia Bulldogs bulldozed the Seminoles 63–3 in the Orange Bowl.

The Seminoles looked quite the opposite against another longtime SEC power in the Crimson Tide on Aug. 30, with control of the line of scrimmage. Boston College transfer and quarterback Tommy Castellanos shone for the Seminoles, with 152 yards passing and 78 yards rushing.

Conversely, Alabama didn’t look like the championship contenders of the past under former head coach Nick Saban. Year two under Kalen DeBoer ushered in more cause for concern with the program’s fourth loss to an unranked team.

That said, three of those four unranked teams were blue-blood programs in FSU, Michigan, and Oklahoma. Vanderbilt’s titanic upset last year also made waves, and the Commodores only finished 7–6 for the year.

Against FSU, the Crimson Tide couldn’t get to 100 yards rushing, and Alabama’s defense couldn’t slow down the Seminoles. Alabama gave up 482 yards of total offense and four rushing touchdowns.

While the Crimson Tide gets an apparent reprieve with Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, things won’t get easier with Wisconsin and a brutal SEC schedule around the corner.

​2. LSU Looks Like a Contender

Speaking of the SEC, the No. 9 LSU Tigers looked like national title contenders after ousting No. 4 Clemson 17–10 on Aug. 30 in a top-10 road matchup.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier delivered a game-winning drive, capped by his touchdown pass to Trey’Dez Green. The defense then stopped Clemson’s rally attempts, which included a stop by LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. on the last play.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly had 29 wins through his first three years with the program after he came over from Notre Dame, but the Tigers haven’t been in the College Football Playoffs during that span. This year’s LSU squad looks poised to change that after a big road win over a 2024 playoff team.

3. Iowa State, Kansas State Trending Same Directions Since Ireland

It wasn’t the Luck of the Irish for Iowa State after all.

Fresh off a 24–21 win over Kansas State in Ireland on Aug. 23, the Cyclones rolled all over FCS power South Dakota 55–7 on Aug. 30 in Ames, Iowa. Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht went 19-20 for 278 yards and three touchdowns as the Coyotes had no answers for the nation’s No. 22-ranked team.

Meanwhile, Kansas State narrowly escaped North Dakota, which comes from the same FCS conference as South Dakota. The Wildcats needed quarterback Avery Johnson to engineer a 10-play, 81-yard game-winning scoring drive in the final 4:19 for a 38–35 win over the Fighting Hawks.

​4. Group of Six Shift

Boise State’s 34–7 tumble against South Florida on Aug. 28 amounted to the start of a wild weekend for the Group of Six teams.

A playoff team last year, the No. 25-ranked Broncos looked grounded without former star running back and Heisman Trophy contender Ashton Jeanty, now with the Las Vegas Raiders. South Florida hasn’t won 10 or more games since 2017, but the Bulls have a promising start.

The biggest upset among the Group of Six came on Aug. 29 when Division II Tarleton State shocked Army 30–27 in two overtimes. The Black Knights went 12–2 and won the American Conference last year, but missed the College Football Playoff. A season-opening loss to Tarleton State won’t help matters this year.

Meanwhile, Tulane stunned Northwestern 23–3 on Aug. 30. Green Wave quarterback and BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff looked solid in his debut, with 18-31 passing for 152 yards and a touchdown, plus 10 carries for 113 yards and a score.

​5. They Finally Meet

Colorado and Georgia Tech met on the football field for the first time ever on Aug. 29, and the irony in that matchup goes back 35 years.

The two schools split the 1990 national title during the poll era when no playoff existed for the top level of Division I. Colorado went 11–1–1 that year and claimed the AP Bowl, but Georgia Tech finished 11–0–1 and claimed the UPI Coaches Poll.

For the Aug. 29 game, Georgia Tech beat the Buffaloes 27–20 as the Yellow Jackets look to build on a strong 2024 season that included notable upsets. Georgia Tech stunned FSU and Miami last year, and the Yellow Jackets pushed rival Georgia to the limit in a 44–42 loss. This year’s Yellow Jackets squad will get a big early test with No. 4 Clemson on Sept. 13.

As for Colorado, it looked like a new era of potential growing pains for head coach Deion Sanders and company. Sanders has a new quarterback and new players on both sides of the ball to mesh in order to improve on last year’s 9–4 record.