Week 1 delivered the kind of wake-up call three big-name programs wanted to avoid.
Michigan, Oregon and Clemson all came into the opener with expectations hanging over them, and all three left with more questions than answers after uneven, stressful or downright ugly starts.
Michigan nearly got buried by an upset nobody saw coming. No.
16 Michigan needed a controversial second chance on a Hail Mary just to slip past Western Michigan 13-12, a team that came in as a 27.5-point underdog in Kyle Whittingham's debut as head coach. Bryce Underwood’s night was a mess for long stretches: he threw an interception, lost a fumble at his own 31-yard line with under two minutes left and almost tossed two more picks before officials added one second back to the clock after his first Hail Mary try appeared to touch a WMU defender who was out-of-bounds as time expired.
That extra snap gave Michigan life, and Underwood made the most of it by finding JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown that kept the Wolverines from suffering one of the biggest upsets in program history. Western Michigan held the ball for more than 15 minutes longer and finished with 221 total yards to Michigan’s 276, a shaky opening for a team many expected to be in the Big Ten title mix.
Oregon escaped with a win, but not with the kind of authority that comes with a No. 2 ranking. The Ducks beat Boise State 34-27 at Autzen Staduim, yet they were 18.5-point favorites and had to wait until under eight minutes remained before Dante Moore hit Dakorien Moore on a 62-yard touchdown pass that finally created some breathing room.
Oregon spent plenty of the night on the back foot, trailing 17-7 in the second quarter and later sitting tied at 24-24 late in the third. The Ducks also piled up 10 penalties and gave Boise State a touchdown after a muffed punt, even though they outgained the Broncos by a wide margin.
For a team picked by many to win the national championship, this was far too close for comfort - though Boise State may have been better than expected.
Clemson’s opener was a full-scale disaster. The Tigers, unranked in the AP poll for the first time in 15 years, had Dabo Swinney talking about an undefeated season before kickoff.
What followed was a 51-10 loss to No. 11 LSU, one of the roughest outings of Swinney’s coaching career.
Christopher Vizzina threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown and was replaced by freshman Tait Reynolds late in the second quarter. By the third quarter, LSU had already built a 44-3 lead, and Clemson’s only touchdown came on an 11-yard run by David Eziomume in the fourth quarter, long after the game had been decided.
It was Clemson’s worst loss in nearly 30 years, and a brutal start for a team trying to reassert itself as an ACC and playoff threat.
There’s still a long season ahead, and Week 1 doesn’t lock anyone into a final judgment. Teams can recover, stack wins and build a CFP case over time. Notre Dame did exactly that two years ago after losing to NIU before going on to play in the national title game.
In Other News...
Clemson's Opener Turned Into A Nightmare For One Brutal Reason
The opener had already been pushed back by weather, and once LSU and Clemson finally got going, the night only got rougher from there. LSU rolled to a 51-10 win, piling up 644 yards while the Tigers struggled to find any rhythm on offense and were held under 100 yards until late in the game.
Sam Leavitt was a major part of the surge, producing both on the ground and through the air as LSU kept Clemson on its heels from the start. Jordan Ross added to the damage with an interception return for a score, turning a lopsided opener into the kind of result Clemson will be talking about for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Turns Clemson Opener Into The Kind Of Spectacle LSU Wanted
The Clemson opener drew a little extra star power on the LSU side, with Lane Kiffin showing up alongside two of the most recognizable Tigers supporters in Livvy Dunne and Theo Von. Dunne, the former LSU gymnast who helped the program win a national championship, and Von, the Louisiana native and LSU alum, both brought the kind of off-field attention that has become part of the modern college football experience.
For Clemson fans, the game itself was the main attraction, but LSUs presence added another layer to the night. Kiffin has crossed paths with both Dunne and Von before through social media and media appearances, which only made the sight of the three together feel like a familiar bit of theater, the kind of spectacle that can turn even an opener into a talking point beyond the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Fans Just Got A Wild Viral Moment Before Kickoff
Before kickoff in LSUs season opener against Clemson, a video making the rounds online captured a woman in LSU attire being escorted by law enforcement through a crowd near Tiger Stadium. The footage quickly became one of the stranger early storylines of the night, but it left plenty of room for interpretation because it did not show what led to the escort in the first place.
Lane Kiffins debut as LSUs head coach then took center stage once the game got underway, and the Tigers from Baton Rouge finished the night with a win over Clemson. Still, for fans heading into and out of the stadium, the viral pregame scene added an unusual footnote to a matchup that already had plenty of attention before the first snap. [Read more 🡒]