As the 2025-2026 college football season is now underway, many games have already shaken up the landscape of college football. Throughout weeks one and two, many top teams have fallen, including preseason favorites Texas and Clemson.
Texas, being the number one ranked team in all of football, had a disappointing showing in week one. Texas traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the defending national champions, the number-three-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
This game ended up being a defensive showcase as both teams were able to shut down each other’s highly-touted quarterbacks. Possibly the biggest name in college football, Arch Manning struggled to move the ball down the field against the Buckeyes, as he had 170 passing yards and one touchdown. For the Buckeyes, they have former five star Julian Sayin running the offense at quarterback. While he threw for less yardage, only totaling 126 yards and one touchdown, he had a much more efficient day, completing 13 of his 20 passes.
This efficiency allowed the Buckeyes to not give Texas any extra chances to win the game, unlike Manning who threw a crucial interception that led to a touchdown the following drive. This allowed the Buckeyes to take control of the game with a 14-point lead. In the end, Ohio State prevailed with a 14-7 win over the Longhorns.
Another huge game in week one included the number-four-ranked Clemson Tigers taking on the number-nine-ranked LSU Tigers. This was yet another defensive game, as again neither team scored more than two touchdowns. LSU came out on top defeating Clemson 17-10. Clemson’s run game was completely shut down, which forced their quarterback Cade Klubnik to have a very heavy workload, throwing nearly 40 passes.The Tigers came out on top with a 17-10 win, which boosted them in the rankings to number three nationally.
Other important games in week one include number-ten-ranked Miami defeating the number-six-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, as well as unranked Florida State taking down the number-eight-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The Seminoles had a historically bad last two seasons, and this big win might be foreshadowing that Florida State is back to their college football prominence.
Week two was headlined by number-14-ranked Michigan traveling to Norman, OK, to take on the number-18-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Both of these schools are coming off a disappointing season, as they are both perennial powerhouses and amongst the college football blue bloods.
This game included two elite-level defenses, as well as offenses led by new quarterbacks. Michigan is led by former five star true freshman Bryce Underwood, the number one recruit in the class of 2025. Oklahoma is led by Washington State transfer John Mateer. Mateer was the number-one-ranked quarterback in the transfer portal, a huge pickup for the Sooners as they had terrible quarterback play last year.
The game was dominated by the Oklahoma defense. They pressured Underwood the entire game, as well as completely shutting down the very good Michigan run game. Underwood had a tough game, only completing nine out of 24 of his passes. Mateer had a Heisman-level performance, putting up 350 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. While the box score for Mateer is very good, actually watching the game shows how elite of a playmaker he is. Mateer is sure to be a Heisman favorite down the road this season.
