Here we go folks! The start of the college football season has arrived and week 1 didn't disappoint. While there were not as many big time kickoff games this season, there were still plenty of early and potentially season defining notes.
Loser: Rutgers (0-1) Loss 21-37 to UMass (1-0)
It is entirely possible that we've just seen the worst loss of the season already. Rutgers paid UMass $1.55 million to come to Piscataway, NJ where 42,454 people watched the Scarlet Knights laid an absolute egg to a team who hasn't beaten an FBS team since 2023 (Army) or won a game in general since 2024 (Wagner, FCS). Rutgers has not had much success since joining the Big Ten, with just 3 winning seasons out of 12 years and with a record of 52-94 (22-84 Big Ten), this might be the worst loss out of all of them.
Greg Schiano, now in his 7th season in his second stint at Rutgers, just firmly planted himself on a scorching hot seat after this game. He's going to need to win some games Rutgers normally doesn't win, or else his second tenure is going to come to a crushing collapse.
Winner: UMass (1-0) Win 37-21 over Rutgers (0-1)
And just as how Rutgers played poorly, UMass showed unbelievable improvement under second year head coach Joe Harasymiak, who was previously the DC for Rutgers from 2022-2024 before taking the UMass job last season. UMass has been a horrific 26-134 since making the FBS jump in 2012. They haven't won more than just 4 games in a single season in the last 14 seasons, and when they have won 4 games, they did it in 2017 and 2018 and proceeded to see their then head coach, Mark Whipple, resign after that.
It's still too early to say this could become a high-water mark season for the Minutemen. But, after struggling for the last decade and a half, having even 1 great moment like getting your first win against a Power 4 school, deserves to be written and praised about.
Loser: Oklahoma State (0-1) Loss 10-24 to Tulsa (1-0)
There was a ton of hype around Oklahoma State after they hired Eric Morris from a North Texas team that went 11-2 last year and brought along QB sensation Drew Mestemaker. The hope in Stillwater this year was to take a step forward and get back towards the top half of the Big 12.
Then this game happened....
Mestemaker went just 29 for 49 with 1 TD and 2 INTs, the offense had 4 turnovers and the defense got gashed 361. (OKST only gained 367 themselves.)
The major problem? Oregon is up next, the same team who killed them 69-3 last year and sealed Mike Gundy's fate. What was seeming as hopeful year 1 start, has quickly turned into a nightmare.
Winner: North Dakota State (2-0) Win 38-0 over Fordham (FCS)
The Bison, 10-Time FCS National Champions, finally made a long awaited jump to the FBS this season, and man have they delivered in every way imaginable.
In Week 0, against Jacksonville State who was the runner-up last year in Conference USA, NDSU used a fantastic finish to lead the Bison to a 33-7 rout of the Gamecocks in Fargo.
Another masterclass in Week 1, albeit against an FCS school in Fordham, has the school from Fargo now 2-0 and beginning conference play by traveling to Colorado Springs to take on Air Force, who is hoping to bounce back from a 4-8 campaign last season.
Loser: Baylor (0-1) loss 16-17 to Auburn (1-0)
Dave Aranda is needing to use 2026 as a good campaign in order to keep his job. A bad pass from DJ Lagway on the final 2 point conversion instead sent Baylor to an 0-1 start and more pressure on Baylor to turn things around.
It wasn't a bad performance from the offense, or defense for that matter. But an unlucky result is not the spring board you want to start a new season with.
Some good news though? Baylor has a pretty manageable schedule until the final 3 games of the season ( @ BYU, Vs. Texas Tech, and @ Houston). If they can get into that stretch at 7-2, then Aranda should be safe for 2027. But they lost almost all of their margin of error already and it's only week 1.
Winner: The Citadel, Tarleton State, and Idaho State
I want to give a shoutout to the FCS schools who stepped up and took down FBS schools. The Citadel held on in triple overtime over FBS bottom feeder Charlotte 43-41. The Citadel haven't had a winning record since 2016 when they went 10-2 and won the SoCon that year.
Tarleton State has had much more success recently, making the FCS playoffs the last two years and getting to the second round both times. Took down a struggling Bowling Green program 20-13 but never gave up the lead once they got a 24 yard TD pass with 9:39 left in the 1st quarter. The Texans, who are the ranked #5 in the FCS Coaches Poll, couldn't have dreamed up a better start to their season as they hope to get further then the second round come playoff time.
Idaho State also went to new Pac-12 member Utah State and cruised 26-17. The Bengals are just outside of the FCS Top 25 and just had their first non-losing season (6-6) since 2018. Could the Bengals, who won the 1981 FCS (I-AA) Championship, use the momentum from the win in Logan, Utah to earn their first playoff appearance since 1983?
Loser: #16 Michigan (1-0) won 13-12 over Western Michigan (1-0)
The Wolverines were bailed out by a bad ref timing call to avoid an all-time embarrassment of being beaten at home by a team who didn't score a touchdown all game.
Bryce Underwood played terribly and almost single handedly threw this game away, before miraculously saving it on the final play. The defense had no answers to stop a 13 minute drive from the Broncos. The offense could not move the ball well at all.
This team looked lost, inefficient, and was lucky in every way to not be starting the season 0-1. The schedule only gets more daunting as #10 Oklahoma comes to Ann Arbor this week. And Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State come on the docket later in the season. This could still go sideways real quick, as if this week wasn't sideways enough for them.
Winner: #11 LSU (1-0) won 51-10 over Clemson (0-1)
LSU had received a ton of attention this offseason, from hiring Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss to dealing with the scandal around putting professional players on their roster.
Kiffin left the two pros off the roster for the Clemson game, and didn't need them for even a second. Outside of a Sam Leavitt interception to start the game which lead to a brief 3-0 lead for Clemson, LSU dominated in every way imaginable.
The offense moved the ball a staggering 644 yards, went 11 of 16 on third down, and held onto the ball for over 36 minutes. The defense was also incredible, allowing just 145 yards and forcing Clemson into going 1 of 11 on third down and the defense didn't allow a touchdown until garbage time.
We'll see LSU in the spotlight again soon enough, Week 3 @ Ole Miss and then Texas A&M comes to Death Valley in Week 4. Obviously this isn't the Clemson of the 2010s, or even the earlier 2020s, but putting up a performance like this means it could be a special season in Baton Rouge.
Loser: Clemson (0-1) loss 10-51 to # 11 LSU (1-0)
Oh how the mighty have fallen, and Clemson has truly fallen from the peak of the sport. This game was a chance to show they were bouncing back from the last few down years and be a contender for the ACC and National Champions once again.
Instead they were humiliated in every way imaginable, never truly being competitive in a statement game. Clemson looked weak and has only fallen further behind in the pecking order with their hopes for this season already on life support.
Dabo Swinney has now suffered the worst loss of his career and is starting 0-1 for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The schedule isn't difficult but trap games against North Carolina and Cal are looming before a date with a Miami squad who looked the part of the defending national runner-ups in their dominating win over Stanford.
Winner: UCLA (1-0) won 45-24 over California (0-1)
In a game that the last wave of conference realignment took away from us, we've saw a true battle for three quarters. Then UCLA put on a show in the 4th quarter to cruise to a win to kickstart the Bob Chesney era in Los Angeles.
It wasn't a perfect game, the defense allowed 11 third down conversions, while facing a total of 21. The team committed 12 penalties and the game was tied 24-24 entering the final quarter. The Bruins and Golden Bears played a game that looked much closer than what the final score indicates, but Bob Chesney, who was hired from James Madison, could be setting UCLA up to be more competitive and potentially make their first bowl game since 2023.
