Winners and Losers: College Football Week 1

*(Photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)*

Winner: The Entire Pac-12 South (minus Arizona)

The Pac-12 has often been the subject of ridicule and jest from the college football world, but at least the South division had something to say. Three ranked teams entered the weekend (No. 15 USC, No. 24 Utah, No. 25 Arizona State), and all three will leave it ranked too.

UCLA took down No. 16 LSU in the one unranked-over-ranked upset of the division. The Bruins under Chip Kelly have finally started 2-0 and put Ed Orgeron squarely on the hot seat as he travels back to Baton Rouge.

Sadly, the Pac-12 North did not share this success, with Washington, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State, and Cal all losing, and Oregon defeating (but not covering against) Fresno State.

Next up on the slate: UCLA takes on Fresno State in what should be one of the top underrated games of next weekend, ASU faces UNLV, Colorado hosts Texas A&M (good luck, Buffs), USC plays Stanford, Utah travels to BYU in this year’s Holy War, and Arizona plays Mountain West foe San Diego State.

Loser: Tobacco Woes

*(Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images via si.com)*

No. 10 UNC opened this year with great expectations... and it looks like they’ll remain as just expectations, at least so far. Heisman hopeful QB Sam Howell put up a pathetic 17-32, 208 yd, 1 TD, 3 INT performance against unranked Virginia Tech. The Hokies did have their first full game in Lane Stadium in over a year, but UNC needs to shape up.

Duke didn’t help out either, flopping to Charlotte, 28-31. The 49ers’ win is their first against a Power 5 program, as QB Chase Reynolds tore up the Blue Devils’ D with 324 yds and 3 TDs.

Wake Forest and NC State did have great games, however, and beat down on Old Dominion and South Florida respectively. Seems like it’s once again clear the Atlantic Division reigns supreme in the ACC.

Winner: UGA’s Defense

Dabo Swinney started his full-time head coaching duties at Clemson in 2009 and has scored at least one touchdown in every game since.

Until now.

No. 3 Clemson fell 10-3 against No. 5 Georgia in Charlotte, NC this weekend in a dreadfully boring offensive affair, but the defensive performances were stellar. UGA’s lone touchdown was through a second-quarter pick-6 off of a woeful DJ Uiagalelei, who vastly underperformed in his first game as a starter.

Georgia accomplished a lot more Saturday night: snapping Clemson’s 10-game winning streak against the SEC, the first back-to-back Clemson losses since 2011 (L vs Ohio State in Playoffs), and their seven sacks were the most vs Clemson in the Dabo Swinney era.

Georgia could easily win out the regular season, playing in a weaker SEC East and their remaining out-of-conference schedule is UAB, Charleston Southern (FCS) and at Georgia Tech.

Loser: Geoff Collins

Speaking of Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets have amassed a 6-17 (5-12) record under head coach Geoff Collins. This record includes a 3-7 season in 2019 and 3-6 in 2020.

Tech started this season no differently, falling to Northern Illinois at home, despite being 19-point favorites. Mind you, NIU went 0-6 last year.

The Yellow Jackets have the third-hardest schedule remaining, and given that Clemson, Georgia, and Notre Dame (plus UNC and Miami) are still left to go, this could be yet another long year for GT football.

Winner: The 19+ Point Underdogs

*(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson via montanasports.com))*

For the first time in history, three 19+ point underdogs won this weekend.

Georgia Tech/NIU was the first of these losses, but Montana topping No. 20 Washington was likely the most impressive. The Grizzlies took down the Huskies 13-7 in a grueling game. Washington QB Dylan Morris threw 3 INT, including the game-sealing one, and blew a 7-3 lead after the third quarter.

Montana is No. 9 in the FCS polls but was reportedly paid $675 thousand to play (and lose to) Washington. The win is also just the sixth time an FCS team has beaten a ranked FBS opponent and the first since 2016. The six-point margin of victory is the most since then-FCS Cincinnati beat Penn State in 1983.

Vanderbilt, oh Vanderbilt. The Commodores became just the sixth SEC school to lose to an FCS squad (East Tennessee State) in a pathetic 23-3 loss. Mind you, this same matchup was in Nashville two years ago, and the ‘Dores won 38-0. Simply terrible.

Loser: All the Smart Schools

*(Photo by George Walker IV / Tenneseean.com)*

Academics are the point of universities, but for most of the academically affluent schools in the country, they seemed to want to veer away from sports for a bit.

Duke and Vanderbilt’s losses were tough, but Stanford, Cal, and Rice all fell just the same.

Stanford had very little to say at Kansas State, only scoring a garbage-time touchdown against the Wildcats on the road to fall 24-7.

While Carson Strong and Nevada didn’t over-impress, the Wolfpack did come back from down 14-0 to win 22-17. Cal lacked efficiency, racking up 373 yards to produce just three scores. The Golden Bears travel to TCU next week, a welcome sight for the Horned Frogs who demolished Duquesne in their opening game.

Lastly, Rice put up an admittedly excellent fight against Arkansas but blew a 17-7 lead early in the third quarter to fall 38-17.