College football is back, baby! After Week ... um ... zero ... we were treated to a full weekend of games. Some Thursday night games, several on Friday, a big slate on Saturday, three games on Sunday and Monday Night Football. I only wish that the powers that be in college football put the best foot forward.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ONE SECOND
Every week of college football has that one main headline coming into Monday. In Week 1, that headline is about how the Big Ten refs found an extra second to put on the clock. If you are reading this, you likely already have an opinion on the ending of that game but it isn't the best look when a Michigan 13-12 win over Western Michigan on a Hail Mary is the storyline coming out of the first week of the season. This game was ugly, poorly played, poorly officiated (even before that final review) and was uninteresting to everyone aside from possibly seeing a major upset -- or seeing an improbable final play.
WHERE ARE THE GOOD GAMES?
Remember in past season openers we had these awesome matchups between non-conference teams from different parts of the country? What happened in 2026? The "game of the week" was Clemson at LSU, and that was mainly due to all the energy and chaos that surrounds Lane Kiffin. Not only did people forget Clemson was playing in that game, Clemson forgot they were playing in that game. They didn't show up at all and were blasted in the signature time slot for college football (more on that in a bit).
The only game between ranked teams hasn't happened yet: that will be Louisville vs Ole Miss in Nashville tonight. No offense to those two programs, but is anyone clamoring for that matchup? I'm looking forward to it, but it's no Texas-Ohio State like we had last year. Louisville will be just the second ranked team to play on the road this weekend. Miami was the first when they blew out Stanford, 45-6, on Friday. SMU will be the third when they travel to Florida State on Monday. The only three ranked ACC were able to go on the road while none of the mighty SEC, Big Ten or Big 12 decided to do so.
Of the 21 ranked teams to have played this week, they won by a total of 744 points -- that is an average of 35.4 points. We were treated to the best teams in the nation smacking around schools like: Arkansas Pine Bluff, Tennessee State, Texas State, Missouri State, Abilene Christian, Utah Tech, Furman, and Clemson. There are a couple really good games next week, but not that many. The schedule makers need to be better.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DABO
Clemson was routed at LSU. Sure, most likely every other FBS school would have went into Death Valley and lost last night to a great LSU team with all that was surrounding it ... and many of them would have been blown out. But this is Clemson, a program that a decade ago was trading blows with Nick Saban's Alabama teams at their peak and coming out with some knockouts. A program that was looked at as the dominant force in the ACC and one that could become the next big thing in football.
Last night, they lost 51-10 to LSU, and it wasn't that close. Last year, they lost 17-10 at home to an LSU team that would eventually finish 7-6 and fire their coach. Clemson finished 7-6 on the season and Dabo Swinney keeps going. The year before that, Clemson lost 34-3 to Georgia in the season opener. That Clemson team snuck into the College Football Playoff by winning the ACC title game. In 2023, Clemson lost 28-7 to Duke in the opener. They did beat Georgia Tech in the 2022 opener, but lost 10-3 to Georgia at the start of the 2021 season.
Clemson has lost 5 of its last 6 openers -- but kudos to them for typically scheduling a great opponent in those games. The Tigers have been sinking lower and lower on the national food chain and lower and lower in an ACC that they used to dominate. We all know what Dabo Swinney has accomplished at Clemson and there should be a statue in front of the stadium and quite a few buildings named after him, but his time as a coach running a top level program may be over. This not only isn't up to the standard we all have for Dabo and his program ... this isn't up to the standard he set for himself. The rest of their schedule isn't daunting, aside from hosting Miami on October 3rd, so there could be a way the Tigers claw back to competing for the ACC crown. However, nothing we saw on Saturday night says that they could make it through a season with road trips to Cal, Florida State, Syracuse and Duke, and home games against North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and the finale against rival South Carolina without suffering another 3 or 4 losses.
Clemson could be entering the Tommy West/Tommy Bowden phase of their program is significant changes aren't made. From 1994 to 2008, those two coaches led Clemson to zero ACC championships, zero 10-win seasons, and 8 years where they won 7 or less games.
WHO IMPRESSED ME THE MOST?
Miami. I figured they'd be a strong contender for an ACC title, but really weren't a power on the national stage. They looked strooooooong at Stanford on Friday night
WHO DISAPPOINTED ME THE MOST?
Michigan. Not only that they needed a fortunate review for them to beat Western Michigan on a Hail Mary (the Wolverines were a 27-point favorite), but the fans at the standium and online acted like they won the national championship.
GAMES I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT WEEK
Ohio State at Texas
Oklahoma at Michigan
Missouri at Kansas
Alabama at Kentucky
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