7 College Football teams rising or falling after Week 1, including LSU, Clemson, and more

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The first full week of the college football season is in the books.

Let’s try and recap the week that was by looking at four teams trending up, and three teams trending down.

Trending up: LSU

Thanks to a weather delay, college football fans had to wait a little bit longer for Lane Kiffin’s LSU debut.

But that debut did not disappoint.

Kiffin and the Tigers throttled Clemson by a final score of 51-10, and they looked dominant on both sides of the football while doing so. The offense steamrolled the Clemson defensive front to the tune of 309 rushing yards, transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt shook off an early interception to throw for 230 yards and a touchdown — while adding 113 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground — and the defense was even more imposing, stifling the Tigers offense and forcing Dabo Swinney to turn to freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds earlier than expected.

The game was so out of hand, Kiffin was working on his jump shot at one point ahead of an extra-point attempt:

While this game might tell us more about Clemson (more on them in a moment) it was everything LSU fans were waiting for.

And they did not even have former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris suited up.

Trending down: Clemson

What in the world was that?

Dabo Swinney finally dipped his feet into the transfer portal this past offseason, bringing in the most transfers in program history.

But one position Swinney did not address? That would be quarterback, as the coaching staff opted to hand the keys to Christopher Vizzina, who was the backup behind Cade Klubnik last season.

It did not go well, as Vizzina threw a pick-six, was pressured throughout the night, and the offense gained just 145 yards. Swinney was forced to turn to freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds, but he did not offer much of a spark, going 4-of-6 for just 22 yards.

The Tigers have bounced back from some brutal starts before. The 2024 team was also throttled by an SEC opponent to open the year, a 34-3 loss to Georgia. However, that team rebounded to win the ACC title game and secure a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The team we saw on Saturday night, however, looks nothing like that 2024 squad. Nothing at all.

Trending up: Indiana

Curt Cignetti did his best to reload this past offseason, coming off Indiana’s first national title.

Perhaps the biggest question, however, was how the team would replace Fernando Mendoza. With the Heisman winner off to Las Vegas and the Raiders, could transfer Josh Hoover fill his shoes? To do that, he would need to cut down on the interceptions, as he threw 13 a season ago at TCU, after throwing 11 the prior year.

So far, so good.

Hoover was near-perfect against North Texas, completing 13-of-16 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns, without an interception, in Indiana’s 52-16 win. And he showed some toughness as well, taking a hit to the face and rebounding — with blood pouring down his nose and chin — to finish that drive with a touchdown pass to Charlie Becker.

He talked about that moment after the game:

Arguably the defining moment of Indiana’s 2025 season was Mendoza’s tough, fourth-down touchdown run against Miami in the national championship game. But Mendoza showed toughness all season long, including one big hit early in the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State game that he shook off, and another big hit against Iowa that he talked about with me in the days before the 2026 NFL Draft.

Hoover clearly understands the assignment.

Trending down: Oklahoma State

Months of hype around the arrival of Eric Morris and the host of transfers he brought with him from North Texas, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, crashed and burned on the scorching-hot field in Tulsa on Saturday afternoon.

Oklahoma State lost starting left tackle Jacob Sexton on the opening drive, the Cowboys were stopped on fourth down at the end of that possession — something of a theme for Saturday’s game — and never quite got the offense on track in a 24-10 loss to the Golden Hurricane.

The Cowboys were 14-point favorites.

All told, Oklahoma State was 2-of-6 on fourth downs against Tulsa, and it gets tougher from here for the Cowboys, as Oregon comes to Stillwater next week:

Trending up: Miami

Yes, it came against Stanford.

But what we saw from Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney should terrify the rest of the ACC, if not all of college football.

The Duke transfer had a career game in his Miami debut, completing an astonishing 27-of-30 passes for 401 yards and five touchdowns. Three of those were caught by Toney, who caught 12 passes overall for a whopping 234 yards.

Both players set new school records in that game, as Toney broke the school record with those 234 receiving yards, and those three touchdowns tied the single-game record for the Hurricanes. What is even scarier? He did virtually all of that in the first half, as he only caught two passes in the second half.

Of course, one was a touchdown.

As for Mensah, he set school records for the most passing yards, and the most passing touchdowns, in a Miami debut.

“His skill set really fits what we do,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “His ability to read the field and his ability to digest concepts and to continue to evolve is really, really impressive. Sky’s the limit.”

Again, that should terrify the rest of the country.

Trending down: Florida State

The jokes were FLYING on social media Monday night.

The first full week of college football action was scheduled to end with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff between Florida State and SMU. But due to a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium, the game did not get underway until the 9:00 p.m. hour, with limited lights, no replay reviews, no scoreboard, and no coach-to-player helmet communication.

That was bizarre enough, but now let’s talk about how Florida State lost that game.

According to Opta Stats, with the 27-24 win SMU became the first and only FBS or NFL team in the last 30 years to have a turnover margin of minus-three or worse, twice as many penalties as their opponent, fewer rushing yards than their opponent, a lower time of possession than their opponent, and more missed field goals than their opponent, and still win the game:

As the delay wore on, most of the jokes focused on the buyout owed head coach Mike Norvell, and how FSU probably avoided paying the electrical bill to try and save money for that buyout. With Norvell beginning the year on the hot seat, a loss of this fashion only makes things tougher for him from here.

And that begins after a bye week, when they make the trip to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama.

Trending up: Massachusetts

Finally, a quick word about Massachusetts, who kicked off the week with a stunning upset of Rutgers.

The Minutemen were 29.5-point underdogs to Rutgers, but delivered the first win over a power conference opponent in school history, and arguably the biggest win in program history since the school won the 1998 FCS title. Virginia Tech transfer Pop Watson completed 19-of-22 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns, giving him as many scoring throws as incompletions.

Remember, this is a program that has never won more than four games in a season over the past decade-plus, and the Minutemen were just 26-134 entering Thursday night’s game against Rutgers.

THEY WERE 29.5-POINT UNDERDOGS.

College football. It’s the best.

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