College Football Week 0 winners and losers

Looking back at College Football Week 0, here are the biggest winners and losers as college football returned to our living rooms.  

College Football Week 0 is in the books and to be honest, it went about as expected. USC and Notre Dame both rolled to big wins, while each of their quarterbacks was stellar.

There weren’t really any major upsets to think of on Saturday outside of UMass over New Mexico State, although folks who bet on Hawaii to cover the spread against Vanderbilt will be pleased with Saturday night’s result as the Rainbows lost 35-28 (to cover on the road) after losing 63-10 last season.

That was the one pick I missed in my three best bets for College Football Week 0. But as a whole, here are the winners and losers from the first weekend of the 2023 season.

Winner: Sam Hartman/Notre Dame football

Hartman exceeded expectations in the opener. The Wake Forest transfer was expected to be good, but he was nearly perfect. Notre Dame football scored on its first five drives and it didn’t take Irish fans long to fall in love with their new quarterback.

Hartman completed 14-of-17 passes for 197 and two scores in the first half and finished the game 19-of-23 with four touchdowns and 251 yards.

Yes, Navy doesn’t have a great defense and is probably going to struggle to a be .500 team. That doesn’t matter though. Hartman made a big impression and he launched his 2023 Heisman Trophy campaign with a head-turning performance that even had Joe Montana impressed.

The Notre Dame football offense has been held back by average quarterback play for years and it seems like that will finally stop with Hartman, who is anything but average.

The Irish are winners too. Notre Dame football dominated Navy and looked impressive on both sides of the ball doing it. With a legit quarterback, this team could be a true playoff contender.