Table for 12 Week 1: 1st impressions of Arch Manning and every new QB

Was this the greatest Week 1 in college football history? It certainly made a strong case. With three head-to-head matchups between AP top 10 teams and a dramatic Alabama upset in Tallahassee, it was just the sixth time in college football history that four top 10 teams lost their season openers and the first since 1989. 

It also included plenty of new faces, with three of the top 10 teams debuting first-time starters in Week 1 and seven entering the year with a different starting quarterback than they had this time last season. So, along with the meal at this week’s dinner party, we’ve got a meet and greet, breaking down the first impressions of the new QBs who could decide our 2025 College Football Playoff. 

A seat at the table is never easy to come by, and this week, I’m serving up a three-course meal because the Week 1 slate was just too good. The five-day weekend, which continues on Monday night with Bill Belichick’s college debut, has been the football equivalent of those all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouses, and even this vegetarian is leaving his card green. 

First Course

1. Ryan Day gives Steve Sarkisian Deja Vu in Arch Manning’s road debut

We all remember how dominant Ohio State was on its run through last season’s College Football Playoff, but, at least for a moment, Texas had the Buckeyes on the ropes. Then, up a touchdown, Ohio State’s defense authored a historic goalline stand, dropping Quintrevion Wisner for a 7-yard loss, and stripping Quinn Ewers for an 83-yard touchdown return by Jack Sawyer.

Ohio State’s goalline stand in the third quarter of Saturday’s Week 1 rematch between the No. 1 Longhorns and No. 3 Buckeyes wasn’t quite as theatric, but after spoiling a 15-play 70-yard Longhorns’ drive by keeping Arch Manning out of the end zone on a fourth-down quarterback sneak, the result was the same: an Ohio State victory. This time 14-7. 

In the lead-up to the game, the beginning of the Arch Manning era overshadowed the fact that  Saturday’s matchup was a CFP semifinal rematch, but once the ball was kicked, Ohio State’s defense stole the show from the youngest member of football’s first family. Manning looked jittery in the first road start of his career, but beyond the nerves associated with Week 1 in a hostile environment, Ohio State’s new defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, made him uncomfortable. 

After winning the national title last season, DC Jim Knowles fled for Penn State, and Ohio State’s entire starting defensive line was drafted into the NFL. So, Patricia, returning to college football for the first time since 2003 when he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse, had quite the task. And, considering how Patricia’s stock has fallen since he was Bill Belichick’s top protege in New England and the head coach of the Detroit Lions, there was reason to question the hire and doubt that Ohio State’s defense would play at a championship level at all this season, let alone in Week 1. 

Well, Patricia’s unit authored a dominant outing in Week 1, limiting a Steve Sarkisian offense to just over five yards per play, holding Manning to 5.68 yards per dropback, and doing so with just one tackle for loss and one sack. Ohio State’s defensive line, which added Beau Atkinson from North Carolina in an attempt to offset the losses, but otherwise leaned on an inexperienced group, was unremarkable. Manning had time. It just didn’t matter because he had nowhere to go with the football. 

Patricia mixed up the looks on the back end, rotating safeties after the snap, relying on Caleb Downs, who gets my vote as the best defensive player in college football, to help disguise his coverages, and it left a quarterback, bred from a line of football supercomputers, short-circuiting. So does Ohio State have a championship defense in 2025? It would appear so. 

Second course

2.  Brian Kelly has solved his 2 biggest problems

On Saturday night, in “Death Valley Jr.” No. 9 LSU hung on for a 17-10 win over No. 4 Clemson, and for the first time since 2019, LSU is 1-0. It’s a streak that extended back to the Ed Orgeron era in Baton Rouge, and one that has loomed over Brian Kelly all offseason. 

In fairness to the program, the Tigers aren’t interested in scheduling cupcakes in Week 1, but regardless of who was on the other sideline, for LSU fans, the Week 1 losses were getting unacceptable. That was the first problem that Kelly had to solve. It may have taken some cheesy warmup T-shirts, but: check. The second, much bigger and more important problem was the defensive side of the ball. 

Hiring Blake Baker away from Missouri before last season helped, lifting the Tigers from 122nd in adjusted EPA/play in 2023 to 72nd, but LSU was still a disaster against high-level passing offenses and allowed an explosive play on nearly 10 percent of the opponent’s snaps. On Saturday night, with a revamped secondary, LSU held a Cade Klubnik-led passing offense to -0.25 EPA/dropback. 

Oddly enough, Kelly might have Michigan and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2025 recruiting class, Bryce Underwood, to thank for that. After Underwood flipped to his home-state Wolverines, Kelly spent his newly freed-up funds in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail, adding nine defensive transfers, four in the secondary, and five-star cornerback DJ Pickett, who played significant snaps on Saturday night. 

Analysts have contested that the talent in the portal this offseason wasn’t up to the level of past cycles, but the spending spree paid dividends for the Tigers, holding Cade Klubnik to 6.1 yards per attempt and a wretched 31.4 QBR with an interception by Virginia Tech transfer Mansoor Delane and a crucial fourth-down stop in the final minute. 

LSU’s defense was so bad two years ago, the team managed to lose three games with Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr.; with this year’s unit, that team would’ve won the national championship. Now, the question becomes: Is the LSU offense and Garrett Nussmeier good enough to lead the Tigers to the level Kelly could never reach at Notre Dame? 

Third course: 

3. These Canes are classic Cristobal

With Cam Ward and an electric offense, Miami created an identity that was out of the norm for Mario Cristobal. This year’s Hurricanes might be his perfect team. It may come with a $4 million transfer quarterback, but the former offensive lineman has built up his alma mater through the trenches, and that’s where Miami had the biggest edge over Notre Dame in its 27-24 win on Sunday night. 

Together, Francis Mauigoa and Anez Cooper constitute the best tackle/guard combination in the country, and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson rode it for short-yardage conversions on the ground while providing Carson Beck with the protection he lacked in Athens last season. Meanwhile, Rueben Bain, Akheem Mesidor, and David Blay headlined a dominant defensive line that racked up seven tackles for loss, three sacks, and buried CJ Carr with an intentional grounding and a sack on Notre Dame’s final two plays of the game. 

Notre Dame, with Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, arguably the best running back duo in the country (I’d put them No. 2 to Penn State), was held to a gain of two yards or less on 48 percent of their rushes, and Love was bottled up for just 33 yards on 10 carries. Yet, despite a trench-play masterclass, Cristobal’s conservative tendencies nearly cost him in another big game. 

Before Beck authored the game-winning field goal drive, Miami failed to convert a first-down on four consecutive possessions, a stretch that included made 38-yard field goal on fourth-and-2 from the Notre Dame 20-yard line that was actually worth -0.05 expected points added. It came after Miami ran the ball three straight times following a Rueben Bain Jr. interception. 

Just because Miami won the game doesn’t mean Cristobal has learned how to finish. It won’t be a surprise is his game management costs the Canes at some point this season. 

Send it back: Sometimes when a meal just isn’t right, you’ve got to send it back, and in this category, the losing head coaches feel that way about their team’s performances

4. Kalen DeBoer submits another stinker on the road (Florida State 31 No. 8 Alabama 17)

The pressure was already on Kalen DeBoer after a four-loss first season in Tuscaloosa, and in response, his team submitted another uninspiring outing on the road in a 31-17 loss to unranked Florida State. Mike Norvell’s roster in Tallahassee is much different from the one that went 2-10 a year ago, but that fact hardly takes the sting off this loss for the Crimson Tide. 

Last season, Alabama’s roster was still loaded with talent, but you could make an argument that DeBoer suffered from the exodus that followed Nick Saban’s retirement. He was forced to play a quarterback who didn’t fit his preferred style of offense, and he was forced to play multiple inexperienced freshmen in big roles. This year, Alabama returned 14 starters, eight on defense, and ranked No. 1 in 247Sports team talent composite. Plus, he got his longtime offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, back. 

Yet, Alabama managed to look completely disjointed on offense, lost the battle in the trenches handily to Norvell’s revamped roster, and forced redshirt junior quarterback Ty Simpson to attempt 43 passes in his first career start. A fireable offense? We’ll see. But it’s certainly a step in that direction for a coach whom I viewed as one of the best in the sport after his 2023 national championship game run with Washington. 

Head of the table: The best individual performance earns the seat at the head of the table

5. Tommy Castellanos walked the walk (Florida State 31 No. 8 Alabama 17)

As a quarterback, your mouth should never write a check that your body can’t cash. And boy, did Castellanos write a big check this summer. The Boston College transfer, who was benched by former Nick Saban assistant Bill O’Brien last season, told On3’s Pete Nakos, “They don’t have Nick Saban to save them, I just don’t see them stopping me,” and those words proved to be prophetic. 

With Gus Malzahn, the Bama-killer, as FSU’s newly installed offensive coordinator, Castellanos led the Seminoles to 230 rushing yards with 78 of his own on 16 carries with a rushing touchdown. Four different Florida State players scored on the ground as Mike Norvell’s team imposed its will in the trenches, and for the second-straight season, Kane Wommack, Alabama’s defensive coordinator, had no answer for an undersized dual-threat quarterback running an option-heavy system with plenty of window-dressing and eye candy. 

The Noles generated eight explosive plays, with Castellanos averaging 9.6 yards per dropback. No player more clearly put the target on their back for Week 1, and no player delivered more than Castellanos. Is FSU looking to make a reservation at the CFP dinner table? Maybe the Noles can grab a seat at the bar. 

First Impression: Whether you’re a dinner party guest of a first-time starting QB, 

6. Arch Manning, Texas: 17/30, 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (No. 3 Ohio State 14 No. 1 Texas 7)

Arch Manning posted a 37 percent off-target percentage in Week 1, the highest of any Texas QB in a single game over the last 10 years (according to ESPN). Manning was pressured on 35 percent of his dropbacks, but none of those pressures occurred on dropbacks of under 2.5 seconds, of which there were just six. Those in rhythm dropbacks netted just four completions and 1.8 yards per attempt. 

Translation: Ohio State’s defensive looks forced Manning to hold onto the ball, and when he did get the ball out quickly, the Buckeyes rallied to make the tackle. Manning had time, but he looked like a young quarterback who didn’t trust his eyes. In his first two starts last season, against Louisiana Monroe and Mississippi State, he could take an extra beat to confirm the window was there before letting it fly.

Ohio State sped up his process, and it led to inaccuracy. None of this is particularly alarming for a young quarterback making his first start in a hostile environment, but everyone who expected a finished product will ratchet the discourse up to DEFCON 1 (DEFCON 1 is the worst, not 5, I checked, but doesn’t it feel like it should be the other way around?).

7. Julian Sayin, Ohio State: 13/20, 126 yards, 1 TD (No. 3 Ohio State 14 No. 1 Texas 7)

Ryan Day didn’t ask Julian Sayin to do all that much in Week 1. He admitted as much to Jenny Taft on the field postgame, but that doesn’t mean Sayin wasn’t impressive. The former five-star, who transferred from Alabama after Nick Saban retired, looked comfortable making his first start as a redshirt freshman and hit just enough throws to win and his numbers would’ve looked even better than 13-for-20 for 126 yards and a touchdown if it weren’t for three drops, two from “the best player in college football” as Gus Johnson continually declared Jeremiah Smith (no argument here). 

8. CJ Carr, Notre Dame: 19/30, 221 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT (Miami 27 Notre Dame 24)

If you want to see what it looks like for a quarterback to play with training wheels, watch Notre Dame’s offense against Miami in Week 1. Once upon a time, CJ Carr was the darling of South Bend after his spring game performance, but 141 days since, the redshirt freshman has narrowly won the starting job over unheralded veteran Kenny Minchey, and has lost the trust of his play-caller, Mike Denbrock. 

Notre Dame leaned on Carr’s legs, doing an lousy impression of the Riley Leonard offense in for much of the game, but until Debrock absolutely had to open up the playbook with his team down two scores in the fourth quarter, everything was underneath, first-read throws, and the only passes he was allowed to attempt over 10 yards downfield were heavily schemed up shot plays, mostly off play-action. Carr threw a nice deep ball to Malachi Fields in the second half, and found Eli Raridon to take advantage of a coverage bust, but he was asked to make very few real throws and even fewer decisions. 

Notre Dame can roll through most of its schedule with Leonard-lite, but a matchup with Texas A&M next week in South Bend suddenly looks like a playoff eliminator for the Fighting Irish. 

9. Ty Simpson, Alabama: 23/43, 254 yards, 2 TDs (Florida State 31 No. 8 Alabama 17)

The hope for those who saw Alabama as a national championship contender this season was that Kalen DeBoer’s Year 2 roster was so good that Ty Simpson could be average in his first season as the starter, and that would be enough. We learned two things on Saturday: 1. The Tide need a quarterback who can elevate an offense. 2. Ty Simpson is not that guy. 

As expected, Simpson was fine when he was protected, and he got the ball out quickly. That just didn’t happen nearly often enough. Alabama’s offensive line, down its right guard, struggled to keep the Seminoles out of the backfield, but Simpson made matters worse. The redshirt junior looked a green as it gets in his first career start, bailing on clean pockets, holding onto the ball too long, and trusting his athleticism more than he should. And when those mistakes put him in trouble, he didn’t have the tools to get himself out of it. 

You know who does have those tools? 5-star freshman Keelon Russell. 

10. Bryce Underwood, Michigan: 21/31, 251 yards, 1 TD (No. 14 Michigan 34 New Mexico 17)

Last season was such a disaster at quarterback for Michigan that big-money Michigan boosters, led by Larry Ellison, scrounged up the $10 million it took to pry the No. 1 quarterback in the country away from his LSU commitment. Bryce Underwood, a Michigan native, promptly won the starting job in fall camp, and the true freshman five-star lived up to the hype in his debut against New Mexico at The Big House on Saturday night. 

Sherrone Moore eased him in, leaning on the run game, using a heavy dose of RPOs early, and routinely moving the pocket for the athletic 6-foot-4, 230-pound 18-year-old to split the field in half. Then, once Underwood got comfortable, the Michigan staff asked him to play big boy quarterback, with straight dropbacks in obvious passing downs, and that’s when he really shined. 

Underwood has a rare combination of arm strength and accuracy, not to mention his blend of physicality and mobility. He completed throws to all levels, both from the pocket and on the move, going 21-for-31 for 251 yards and a touchdown. If he can continue to play how he did in Week 1 against Big Ten competition, then Michigan could surpass Oregon as the conference’s clear No. 3 behind Ohio State and Penn State.

Dessert: Whether it’s a rich play design or a decadent athletic display, here’s a sweet football treat

11. Beamer Ball wins the Beamer Bowl

Virginia Tech and South Carolina aren’t natural rivals, but family ties made for one of the more underrated matchups of Week 1 on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta. The “Beamer Bowl” did not disappoint, and Shane Beamer had to cook up a little Beamer ball to win it. 

South Carolina didn’t play like the SEC dark horse that many are expecting – maybe the loss of five NFL draft picks on the defensive side had something to do with that – but the Gamecocks did play like a team coached by a Beamer. And nothing was sweeter in Week 1 than LaNorris Sellers delivering Frank Beamer the game ball. 

Kid’s menu: The CFP saves one spot at the big kid’s table for the Group of Six

12. American takes a bite out of the Mountain West (USF 34 Boise State 7)

Boise State was the first Group of Five participant in the 12-team College Football Playoff last year, and entered as the favorites to claim the spot as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion in the country. 

However, in Week 1 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, USF and the American Conference scored a huge head-to-head win over the Mountain West favorites. The win greatly improves not just USF’s, but the entire conference’s chance of grabbing the G5 bid to this year’s CFP. 

Spencer Danielson’s Broncos looked hapless without Jeanty; Maddux Madsen was unable to handle the additional playmaking responsibility, and his counterpart on Thursday night, Byrum Brown, looked like this season’s G5 superstar. Brown missed the final eight games of last season after suffering a gruesome season-ending leg injury, but quickly shook off the rust with two electric touchdown runs and completed four passes of over 20 yards. 

The more shocking development, though, was the play of USF’s revamped defense under DC Todd Orlando. The Bulls were flying around, dislodging the ball from receivers, forcing five fumbles, and stuffing Boise State on 30% of their runs. 

Rather than hoping Brown’s return to health would solve all his team’s problems, third-year head coach Alex Golesh aggressively attacked the transfer portal, adding 13 players on the defensive side of the ball, and suddenly, he may have a CFP contender on his hands.