Evidence that Clemson’s offense has finally turned a corner will have to wait at least another week.
Facing off against No. 1 Georgia, the No. 14 Tigers cobbled together just 188 yards on 3.6 yards per play in a 34-3 loss. After spending just two snaps inside opposing territory in the first half — one ended in a loss, the other in a penalty — Clemson’s only points came on a 26-yard field goal about midway through the third quarter, by which point the Bulldogs had built a 13-0 lead. Georgia would respond to the Tigers’ field goal with a touchdown on the ensuing possession to erase any sense of momentum.
After coming up just short of the College Football Playoff last season, Georgia looks built to smother teams on the way to a third national championship in four years. For the Tigers, even short gains felt like accomplishments; any long gain felt like an absolute miracle.
Second-year starting quarterback Cade Klubnik finished 18 of 29 for 142 yards, just 4.9 yards per attempt, with an interception. His receiver corps struggled to get any separation against the Bulldogs’ secondary while Clemson’s offensive front failed to get any movement, resulting in just 46 rushing yards on 23 carries. Overall, the performance would be shocking had we not seen it again and again these past three seasons — a crippling run of unrealized production that has coincided with Clemson’s disappearance from the national stage.
Of course, Georgia is going to do this to teams. The Bulldogs were not only dominant defensively but unsurprisingly effective on the offensive side: Carson Beck was 23 of 33 for 278 yards and two scores, kickstarting his Heisman Trophy campaign in style, while seven runners combined for 163 yards and two touchdowns on 6.3 yards per carry.
Even if the Bulldogs are the No. 1 team in the country, that Clemson was thoroughly dominated shows how far the Tigers stand from true title contention. When these two teams met in 2021, a 10-3 Georgia win, you could’ve made the case that Clemson was only a step or two behind the eventual national champs. A few years later, that gap has widened to miles and miles of what seems to be insurmountable space.
That makes Georgia the biggest winner and Clemson the biggest loser from Week 1 of the 2024 season. Here’s the rest of the list:
Winners
Penn State
The No. 9 Nittany Lions’ new-look offense delivered 457 yards on 7.6 yards per play, led by quarterback Drew Allar’s 216 passing yards and three touchdowns on 13.1 yards per throw, in a 34-12 win at West Virginia. This a quick validation of James Franklin’s decision to hire coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, who previously worked wonders in the same position at Kansas. The turning point was a late touchdown drive to end the first half, a 73-yard haul in just three plays to put Penn State in front 20-6 at the break. After an extended weather delay, the Nittany Lions tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the second half for a convincing road win against Power Four opponent. After one week, the Nittany Lions look like a very legitimate Big Ten threat and one of the top contenders for the playoff.
Dylan Raiola
The five-star true freshman kicked off his college career at Nebraska with a bang: Raiola completed 19 of 28 throws for 238 yards and two scores without an interception as the Cornhuskers got started with a breezy 40-7 win at home against Texas-El Paso. One of the biggest additions of the offseason in the Big Ten, Raiola is a clear upgrade over what Nebraska worked with in Matt Rhule’s first season and one of a few reasons why the Cornhuskers are a trendy pick for eight or more wins.
Tennessee
It’s only Chattanooga, so let’s not get too excited. But the 69-3 win for No. 15 Tennessee was highlighted by a wonderful 2024 debut for redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star prospect who got his feet wet in four appearances last season. Iamaleava hit on 22 of 28 throws for 314 yards and three touchdowns, including a 59-yard score to Dont’e Thornton Jr., before taking a seat for almost all of the final two quarters. All but one of his 314 yards came in the first half to set a new program record for one half, breaking by one yard the previous mark set by Tyler Bray against Troy in 2012.
Ohio State and Texas
These two playoff favorites hit the ground running. New Ohio State quarterback Will Howard had 246 yards of total offense and several freshmen made an immediate impact as the No. 2 Buckeyes poured it on in the second half to beat Akron 52-6. One rookie, five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith, led Ohio State with six grabs for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back James Peoples had 30 yards and a score in six carries behind co-starters TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, who combined for 120 yards on 21 touches. Texas rolled past Colorado State 52-0 behind 545 yards of offense to set up next week’s huge non-conference matchup against No. 8 Michigan. The win included the first career touchdown pass for redshirt freshman Arch Manning, who finished with 95 passing yards.
Ashton Jeanty
Boise State and Georgia Southern played the wildest game of Week 1, a back-and-forth shootout that saw the two teams combine for 35 fourth-quarter points in the Broncos’ 56-45 win. But the day belonged to Boise running back Ashton Jeanty, who was already a dark-horse Heisman contender after running for 1,347 yards with another 569 yards as a receiver a year ago. Jeanty rewrote the program’s single-game record book with 267 rushing yards and six touchdowns, two off the Bowl Subdivision record of eight in a game.
Alabama
There was never any doubt that No. 5 Alabama would romp over Western Kentucky, so there’s nothing eye-opening about the 63-0 final in coach Kalen DeBoer’s debut. But that’s still a great opener for the guy tapped to replace Nick Saban, with all the pressure and attention that entails. Jalen Milroe and the offense looked comfortable in the Crimson Tide’s new scheme, dropping 42 points in the first half with three touchdowns of 54 or more yards. Two traveling a combined 139 yards went to true freshman receiver Ryan Williams, a 17-year-old phenom who reclassified from the 2025 recruiting class to join the Tide this season.
Notre Dame
The go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter of the 23-13 win at No. 20 Texas A&M was really good stuff from No. 7 Notre Dame, which outside of that spurt was pretty uninspired on offense (but predictably strong on defense). Duke transfer Riley Leonard had 221 yards of offense and was at his best late, always a good sign. Can he take the physical toll of the 12 carries on Saturday night and stay healthy? That question probably defines how far the Fighting Irish go in 2024. Another good question asks how good the Aggies really are, and we won’t know about that for a few more weeks. But you won’t find anything but good vibes about the Irish after this sort of win in maybe the toughest road setting in the country. In other words, if you were thinking 11-1 or so against this year’s schedule, this isn’t shaking your confidence.
Losers
Florida
The clock is ticking on Billy Napier after an ugly, hard-to-watch 41-17 loss at home to Miami showed just how far the program has fallen in his third season. In a must-win game against a bitter rival, the Gators were barely competitive. The schedule was always going to be a problem: Florida is slated to play eight ranked teams, including five ranked opponents in a row to close the regular season. While the Hurricanes have clearly taken a step forward thanks to additions such as new quarterback Cam Ward, who threw for 385 yards and three scores, that the Gators were whipped in the Swamp is the strongest hint to date that Napier’s time is numbered and that this year’s team could be just the second since 1980 to lose eight or more games.
Virginia Tech
At the very least, an overtime loss at Vanderbilt evaporates all of the optimism around the Hokies after a very strong close to last season and and immediately tosses the Hokies out of any consideration for the Top 25. Down 17-3 at halftime, Tech scrambled back to take a 27-20 lead before the Commodores tied the game with under two minutes left in regulation. While not important in the grander scheme of things — any road to the playoff has to include an ACC title — falling to the Commodores is the sort of loss that can come to define a season, if not cut a promising year down to size before getting into September.
ACC
Miami might’ve looked the part, but that result was an outlier amid a bad first step for the ACC. Clemson was blasted by Georgia. Virginia Tech lost to Vanderbilt. No. 21 North Carolina State struggled to put away Western Carolina. A week ago, No. 10 Florida State got things started for the ACC with a loss to Georgia Tech. It’s been a pretty awful start for the conference, which was already badly losing a battle of public perception against the Big Ten and SEC. Down the line, bad losses in non-conference play and sloppy showings from the league’s best of the best could hold major sway with the playoff selection committee as they look through a dozen or more options from the Power Four for the seven at-large bids.
Rice
The Owls have made clear progress under coach Mike Bloomgren, namely in back-to-back bowl bids heading into this season. Rice is still living on the edges of bowl eligibility. The 2022 team went 5-7 in the regular season but was chosen for the LendingTree Bowl by virtue of the program’s high score in the Academic Progress Report. Last year’s team went 6-6 before getting blown out by Texas State in the First Responder Bowl. So getting to the six-win cutoff means Rice has to win games at home against teams such as Sam Houston State, which instead ran for 178 yards, forced two turnovers and beat the Owls 34-14. The Bearkats went 3-9 last season as transitional FBS members and were picked fifth in the Conference USA preseason poll.
