It was a terrific opening weekend of college football: three top-10 matchups that fit the bill, plenty of upsets and surprises, and signs of great things to come as we start to progress through the 2025 season.
If you happened to just pay attention to Texas A&M's 42-24 win, which I wouldn't blame you for at all, let's catch up on what happened around the SEC.
The good for them but bad for us: Auburn and Jackson Arnold take down Baylor on Friday night
The SEC got things rolling before Saturday even kicked off, as Hugh Freeze's Auburn Tigers marched into Waco, Texas, and took down the Baylor Bears by a score of 38-24.
It was a really exciting back-and-forth match between these two offenses, but the advantage Auburn had along the trenches eventually paved the way to the Tigers' first win of the season. Jackson Arnold, who transferred in from Oklahoma this past offseason, looked much more the part of a former five-star recruit as he completed 11 of his 17 passes for 108 yards, but also added in 137 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Arnold certainly had his issues when with the Sooners but what he had around him in regard to offensive line play and receiving talent made things even harder for the first-year starter. Now, with one of the stronger offensive lines and wide receiver rooms in the country, Arnold has a new lease on life and seemed much more comfortable in a Tigers uniform than he ever did in Norman.
The bad for them but good for us: Arch Manning struggles in loss at Ohio State
For all the shine Texas' new starting quarterback received heading into the 2025 season, it's fair to say this was a bit of a disappointment. Manning looked lost for the majority of their 14-7 defeat by the Ohio State Buckeyes — poor throwing mechanics and missing open receivers were what stood out most — and ended his day 17-30 for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
While Arch and the entire Longhorn offense looked out of sync for most of that game, it couldn't have been any more different on the other side of the football. The Texas defense did as much as it could to keep this game close, holding the Buckeyes to just 3.8 yards per play, a third-down conversion rate of 25 percent and 14 total points.
We all know that this Texas offense will find its groove as the year goes on and, when it does, they'll get right back to being one of the best teams in the nation... but let's not pretend it wasn't fun to watch them struggle like this after everything we had to hear this offseason.
The good for them but bad for us: Brian Kelly gets his first season-opening win at Clemson, 17-10
Maybe the most impressive performance we saw from the SEC in Week 1 of the regular season came from LSU's defense; a group that has had plenty of issues the last few seasons under Brian Kelly but looked dominant Saturday night in its seven-point victory over the Clemson Tigers.
Clemson came into the year as one of the projected favorites to win a national title: a team with a projected five first round picks (three of them on offense), one of the best quarterbacks in the nation and really stout and experienced group along both trenches. For all the hype they received, LSU made quick work of shutting them up.
The Tigers had a significant edge in both trench battles, holding Clemson to just 1.7 yards per carry while keeping their own quarterback Garrett Nussmeier clean for just about the entire contest. This wasn't a game where LSU needed to score 35-plus points to win, a usual occurrence the last couple of years, and showed what might be a much-improved team that can win in multiple ways.
This is the one game of the weekend I'm going to revisit in six weeks: I think LSU is a very good football team, but I'm curious if this has more to do with Clemson not being in the same league as the SEC— a conference they're 0-4 against dating back to last season— than it is about LSU turning over a new leaf. Regardless, still a nice way to start your season if you're Brian Kelly.
The bad for them but good for us: Kalen Deboer's Alabama Crimson Tide get bullied by Florida State, 31-17
In what might have been the most shocking outcome of the weekend, Alabama got pushed around by Florida State and sent all of Tuscaloosa into a tizzy; the Crimson Tide are now a 5-5 football team over their last 10 games under Kalen Deboer.
This was such a lousy showing by Alabama and highlighted all the same issues this team had last season— too many bad penalties, blown assignments on defense, a team that generated no movement in the trenches and an overall lack of effort from one of the more talented teams in the nation.
It's never wise to overreact to what you see in Week 1, but the continuation of these issues under Alabama's newest head coach feels like more than just a blip on the radar. It will be very interesting to see how this season plays out for Deboer and his program.
Some other small nuggets:
- DJ Lagway returned to the gridiron after an offseason filled with injury concerns and picked up right where he left off as one of the more talented throwers in the nation— completing 15-of-18 passes for 120 yards and three scores in the Gators' 55-0 win over Long Island.
- John Mateer made his season debut for Oklahoma and looked the part as one of the more prominent transfer additions of the past offseason— throwing for nearly 400 yards and adding in four total touchdowns in the Sooners' 35-3 win over Illinois State.
- Josh Heupel showed us once again that he can make things work with any quarterback under center for Tennessee, as transfer addition Joey Aguilar looked great in his season debut after being a late offseason addition for the Vols— throwing for 250 yards and three scores in Tennessee's 45-26 win over Syracuse.