Texas and Ohio State take centre stage in Week 1
Published
We got a taste last weekend, but now college football takes full flight.
Week 1 began Thursday night and rolls all the way through until Monday. Five days, and more star-studded matchups that we can even keep track of.
TSN and TSN+ are your home for NCAA football action all fall with Week 1 games getting underway at noon ET/9am PT including Syracuse's visit to Tennessee on TSN2.
Click here for a full NCAA on TSN schedule.
Here are five storylines to look out for this weekend:
The two biggest names in college football take centre stage in Columbus
Texas and Ohio State, in itself, is a dream matchup. But add in the element of Arch Manning – the Heisman frontrunner, and the player everyone is waiting to see – and Jeremiah Smith, who took college football by storm last year as a do-it-all, freshman standout, and Saturday’s meeting at the Horseshoe has the makings of an all-time classic.
What can we expect from the two most intriguing players in the sport?
It’ll be interesting to see how Steve Sarkisian employs Manning, after claiming earlier this week that he doesn’t need to be “superhuman” against the Buckeyes. Last season, Manning made two starts in place of Quinn Ewers and didn’t hold much back, passing for 583 total yards in wins over Mississippi State and UL Monroe.
There’ll be an emphasis on playing mistake-free against Ohio State, but that doesn’t mean Sarkisian won’t be willing to dial it up, especially if Texas finds itself trailing. The Longhorns have a mostly new group of wide receivers, but do return sophomore Ryan Wingo, who was Manning’s favourite target in his limited action last fall.
There are also several factors that could impact Smith’s overall production on Saturday. For all his exploits last season, he was limited to just one catch for three yards by Texas in the Cotton Bowl, though the decision to smother him allowed Ohio State’s other offensive weapons to excel in a game it eventually won by two scores.
The Buckeyes also have a new quarterback, Julian Sayin – a first-time starter, stepping in for NFL-bound Will Howard – and new play caller, Brian Hartline, who assumes the duties that had belonged to Chip Kelly.
Like Sarkisian, Hartline and Ryan Day might elect to keep things conservative in a game where a single turnover could be the difference between a win and a loss.
How both teams scheme will likely determine whether Manning and Smith are other-worldly, or otherwise ordinary, when Texas and Ohio State get together.
--
LSU is the team with the most to gain this weekend
It’s Week 1, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the playoffs.
LSU and Clemson meet under the lights Saturday night at Memorial Stadium – or Death Valley Junior, if you’re asking Brian Kelly – in the second-biggest matchup of the weekend.
It’s a game that carries plenty of weight for both programs, but particularly LSU, which faces a gauntlet in SEC once conference play kicks in in a couple weeks.
Kelly’s team has Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Alabama and Oklahoma on its schedule, and if it loses two of those in addition to a loss against Clemson, LSU almost certainly falls short of the playoffs. But if the Tigers finish 10-2 with a road win over the presumptive ACC champion on their resume, their ticket to the 12-team bracket is a near-guarantee, and they’re more than likely hosting a first-round game.
A year ago, LSU opened with a non-conference loss to USC, then recovered with six straight wins before losses to Texas A&M and Alabama sent their playoff hopes up in flames. This SEC season will have its own share of carnage, and a Week 1 win or loss against Clemson might be the determining factor in whether or not LSU is playing meaningful games in December or January.
There’s that, and plenty more at stake.
Quarterbacks Cade Klubnik and Garrett Nussmeier are Heisman favourites and likely first-round picks in next year’s NFL Draft, each eager to get a leg up on the other. Then there’s LSU’s five-game Week 1 losing streak – including all three of its openers under Kelly – which dates back to the 2019 season, when it went on to win the national championship. The opponent in that title game? Clemson, of course.
--
Alabama has a chance to make an early statement against Florida State
Kalen DeBoer’s first year at Alabama didn’t yield the type of legendary results that had become the norm during Nick Saban’s reign. Under their new head coach, the Tide didn’t even make the playoffs.
Unthinkable, at least to folks in Tuscaloosa. But it’s too early to close the book.
DeBoer is 113-16 in his career as a head coach, with nine of those losses coming in his first year at a program. From Year 2 on, he’s 79-7. He’s joined this season by his long-time offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, who spent 2024 with the Seattle Seahawks after being part of the exodus at Washington following DeBoer’s departure last January.
Ty Simpson steps in at quarterback, replacing the electrifying-yet-erratic Jalen Milroe, and inherits the SEC’s most talented wide receiver trio in Ryan Williams, Germie Bernard and Miami transfer Isaiah Horton. Alabama also boasts one of the best defences in the country, and it’ll be eager to get its hands on new Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos, who provided more than his share of bulletin-board material.
That bitterness about missing out on the inaugural 12-team playoff? It’s still simmering. A meeting with the Seminoles in Tallahassee might be the perfect setting for the Tide to assert itself in the second chapter under DeBoer.
--
Notre Dame’s first two games are its toughest, and it needs to win at least one of them
The Irish visit Miami on Sunday, and are home to face Texas A&M in Week 2. Nothing to worry about, especially for a team that won three playoff games en route to a national championship appearance last season, right?
Marcus Freeman will have Notre Dame prepared, but facing a pair of ranked teams with playoff aspirations is a challenge for any team – particularly one that’s starting a redshirt freshman at quarterback.
Riley Leonard is out, CJ Carr is in. Like his predecessor, Carr will be asked to play mostly mistake free, which – in Week 1, at least – won’t be easy on the road against the Hurricanes’ formidable front seven.
After Miami and Texas A&M, things get easier, but not by as much as in past seasons. In 2025, all but one of Notre Dame’s games are against Power Four opponents.
One thing that’s certain: The Irish’s backfield won’t skip a beat. Jeremiyah Love might be the best running back in the nation, and his partner, Jadarian Price, is nearly as electrifying in his own right.
--
North Carolina under Bill Belichick is still a mystery
Belichick isn’t the only new face in Chapel Hill. North Carolina’s roster features more than 70 new players, including 30 that joined in the spring. In all, the Tar Heels return just six starters from a roster that won six games last season, which is more than just eight of the 67 total teams in the Power Four.
So, what can we expect when they take the field on Monday?
Nobody seems to know.
At least there’s a favourable schedule, which includes only one game against a team that’s ranked in preseason and is void of meetings with Miami, SMU and Louisville – widely considered to be the strongest teams in the ACC outside of Clemson.
One fun note on Belichick’s first game on Monday: It's a non-conference matchup against TCU, which is the same opponent Deion Sanders faced in his debut on Colorado’s sideline two years ago – an exhilarating, 45-42 Buffs win that’s still being talked about.
We learned a lot about Coach Prime that afternoon, as well as Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. What will be able to take away from Belichick and North Carolina?