Ten Takeaways: Week One
Things are already nuclear in Tuscaloosa
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Ten Takeaways: Week One
1. Return of the big-time slugfest?
Games last year between Ohio State-Penn State, Georgia-Texas in the SEC Title, and most of the later-round playoff games presented a thought that stuck with me all offseason: Are we exiting the era of high-scoring shootouts that defined a large chunk of high-profile matchups the past decade, and moving back to the physical slugfests that were the trademark of the 2000s?
The results of the three highest profile games of week one only further embedded the idea into my skull. Ohio State-Texas, Clemson-LSU, and Miami-Notre Dame all finished with each team scoring under 30 points. The Buckeyes and Longhorns each had young QBs and two coaches who seemed determined to play things as safe as they possibly could. Clemson-LSU had two veteran QBs, but was dominated by two strong defenses. That felt like a 2008 SEC on CBS game the way it played out. Lastly, Notre Dame-Miami was the most entertaining of the three, but never veered into true shootout territory. It had tons of exciting plays offensively, but each defense also shined, keeping things tight.
I'm not saying shootouts are dead. We saw multiple in big games last year, and we'll see them again this season. Low-scoring games early in the season might be a product of defenses being ahead of offenses at this point. It could be that defenses have caught on to offensive schemes in this era, too. What if QBs nationwide just aren't what they were a decade ago? Or, maybe the slugfest really is back to prominence in major college football. Whatever the answer is, it's something worth monitoring for the rest of the year in big games.
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2. Ohio State out-executes Texas
For my Ohio State subscribers, check out Bulletpoints to see my full thoughts on the Buckeyes' win over the Longhorns:
Colton Denning
Here's another take I need to get off my chest while we're at it: You can't tell me that Ryan Day and Steve Sarkisian didn't hold back with how they each managed this game. Whether it was a conscious choice or not, the reality that two losses –let alone one– isn't the end of the world anymore in an expanded playoff world has to at least pop into coaches' heads at places who already get the benefit of the doubt like Ohio State and Texas. Especially in these big-time non-conference games early in the season! I felt like it definitely did for Day and Sarkisian.
Day and new offensive coordinator Brian Hartline kept things vanilla offensively in QB Julian Sayin's first start. They ran on 15 of 20 first downs, while mostly avoiding shots downfield - outside of Carnell Tate's 40-yard TD catch to make it 14-0. Day was content to lean on his defense against Arch Manning, which worked out brilliantly. New defensive coordinator Matt Patricia had the Longhorns in a bind for the vast majority of the game, led by another top-tier performance from All-American safety Caleb Downs. The fact that Texas outgained and out-first downed Ohio State doesn't mean much to me, because it never felt like they were in control of the game. This felt like Ryan Day's version of Tresselball - just with a punt team who still can't punt effectively.
Meanwhile, Sarkisian coached like a guy who was also fine leaning on his defense, while knowing he could take a loss and not be severely punished for it. For all the heat Arch Manning's taken for his performance, though, it's odd that Sarkisian didn't utilize Manning's best trait (his mobility) a bit more. Then again, there's little reason to run him repeatedly into the teeth of what might be the nation's best defense when you have aspirations of playing 15 more games to a national title. Both coaches obviously wanted to win, but you can't tell me that fewer repercussions for losing non-conference games in this new era didn't play any sort of factor in how they managed it.
On the game itself, I think it's pretty simple: Ohio State out-executed Texas. They definitively won the trench battle defensively, while at least holding more serve offensively than Texas did. The Longhorns took a couple of costly penalties on Ohio State's first scoring drive, committed the game's only turnover, and went a combined 6-19 on third and fourth downs - including getting stuffed on fourth-and-goal from the two:
All the angles of that unreal goal line stop by the @OhioStateFB defense 🌰🔒@wendys pic.twitter.com/cRrNA8LYCm
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 30, 2025
It makes sense that advanced stats would look at how things played out on paper and say Texas should've won, but the game didn't play out that way in reality.
Finally, what to make of Arch Manning? Let me try to bring some nuance. I always thought the hype was overblown, and his performance backed that up. He flat-out missed two handfuls of throws, while looking like he didn't trust anything in front of him. Patricia threw the sink at him, and I don't think Manning or Sarkisian were prepared for it. On the flipside, he also dropped a couple of nice dimes on Texas' final two drives, and his mobility is a real threat. The makings are there for a quality QB, just probably not one that folks had as the Heisman favorite.
3. Tommy Castellanos walks it like he talks it against Alabama
Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos spent all summer telling anyone who would listen that he and his team weren't afraid of Alabama:
He and the Noles backed up his talk by soundly beating Alabama into a pulp, picking up a huge win for Mike Norvell in the process. What stood out to me the most is that 2025 Florida State immediately showed the ability to take a hefty punch that last year's group couldn't. After Alabama used nearly the first nine minutes of clock on their 17-play, 85 yard opening touchdown drive, FSU needed just over three minutes to respond with one of their own. After that, they bullied the Tide.
