Arch is unhappy with Texas’ defeat to Ohio
Arch is unhappy with a 14-7 defeat to Ohio State in week one.
- Alabama lost to Florida State 31-17 in the season opener.
- Tulane emerged as a potential group of five playoff candidates after beating Northwestern.
- Tennessee showed a strong offense in their victory over Syracuse.
It was erased as 15 years of unparalleled domination disappeared – Poof! – During the season and one game period.
Nick Saban is not walking through that door. Not Heck, AJ McCarron. There is no theoretical reason for optimism.
After losing to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma in director Karen DeBorer’s debut, the 8th Crimson Tide opened in 2025, finishing last season at or near the bottom of the Power 4 in an embarrassing 31-17 defeat in the unranked Florida state. The loss was Alabama’s first season opener since 2001.
Alabama has nothing particularly good at doing, and there are some obvious flaws, including offensive plays that averaged only 4.6 yards per play. From drops to missing blocks to missed allocations, Alabama’s attack could combine poor preparation with poor execution. Defensively, the tide allowed 6.1 yards per play and 10.9 yards per pass.
This is similar to Alabama’s second year game. It’s an average program that’s far from the national championships than at any point in the Saban era.
And considering that it has been unfolding since his victory over Georgia last September, it has become extremely difficult to see how Deboer’s tenure is going well.
This will make the Tide the biggest loser of the first Saturday of the 2025 season. The second comes in Texas, losing 14-7 in one of the most hyped season openers in recent history.
winner
Ohio
The victory over Texas reinserts the defending national champion in a poll by US LBM coaches as the Longhorns fall in the rankings. But that’s just the beginning. It is difficult to overstate the long-term impact that the results of Saturday’s season opening game will have on both teams along with the Big Ten and the SEC. In particular, how the Select Committee will ultimately evaluate the Buckeyes, Longhorns, and these two meetings
Playing with the reworked roster and coaching staff, the Buckeyes narrowed down enough from different offenses to get the type of victory that stays deep in the regular season and beyond. The match against Pennsylvania and Michigan will determine the Big Ten, but the odds of Ohio making the playoffs in some capacity have increased dramatically.
After the Buckeyes score just 203 yards per play with 3.8 yards per play, including just 2.3 yards per carry, the offensive end needs plenty of improvement. Before Saturday, the Buckeyes’ fewest yards in regular season games since 2016 were 252 yards in Michigan’s loss last year. By default, Julian Sayin surpassed Manning by avoiding turnovers and drawing attention to star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
But this was something to be expected. OSU was overhauling things with new personnel and attacks behind new attack coordinators. The ongoing changes to the defense speak to the ability of the unit to maintain the Buckeyes while they are at or near the top of the FBS. The defense national champion will pass the famous test to open the year and should only get better from here.
LSU
No. 9 LSU forced Cade Klubnik into late for the fourth down, along with No. 4 Clemson in the red zone, earning 17-10 in the other Death Valley, regaining a huge chunk of momentum lost during the 2024 season. Considering the program’s unwinning mark in the season opener under Brian Kelly, not only flipping the script, but this will bring LSU back to the map as a legitimate contender for the SEC Crown and the National Championship. The defense stepped up: Clemson managed an offense of just 261 yards, only 1.6 yards per carry. While that performance rekinds criticism of Clemson’s offense, the story that comes out from Saturday is about the growth seen from LSU after years of gloomy defences.
I don’t know a bit about whether beating Alabama actually means anything regarding the worst possible climbing potential in the Seminoles ACC. However, from a symbolic perspective, it is difficult to reach the deep meaning behind the victory over the Crimson Tide. At the very least, the win talks about how Mike Nobel will remake the program in the offseason, especially when hiring new coordinators Gus Malzahn and Tony White. Another big addition was that former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos said it was accurate in June when Alabama said “we don’t have Nick Saban to save them.”
Turrain
Tulane is the current favourite of the group of five-man playoff bids after an astonishing defeat in South Florida on Friday night and a 23-3 victory over the Northwest. Brigham Young’s quarterback transfer Jake Retzlaff threw for 152 yards and ran for a game-high 113 yards with two touchdowns. The Wildcats join Duke and No. 15 Mississippi State, one of three power four teams to play non-conference on Tulane. They should split the game against the Blue Devils and Rebels, losing only once in American play.
Tennessee
The No. 18 volunteers did not suffer from Nico Iamaleava’s hangover, beating Syracuse 45-26 in Atlanta behind a 281-yard total offense and three scores from new starting quarterback Joey Aguilar. The Appalachian State and UCLA transfers threw a balanced offense for 247 yards, running 246 yards and two touchdowns per carry. Based on Saturday, volunteers must be taken seriously as SEC candidates.
John Meter
The new Oklahoma quarterback saw some of the impact transfers by completing 30 of 30 throws for 392 yards with four touchdowns as Sooner beat Illinois 35-3. 392 yards set a new program record for their debut. Defeating Redbirds hasn’t said anything about the Sooners’ chances against the SEC or Michigan next week, but it’s clear that Matthere and coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who are away from Washington, will have a major positive impact on the crime.
loser
Texas
The Longhorns will try to make up for the rest of the regular season against their schedules that include No. 4 Georgia, No. 17 Florida, No. 21 Texas A&M and Oklahoma. We only have a year of data, but Texas could probably lose twice in the SEC and still stand in a massive playoff bid. However, the issue works deeper for the Longhorn, and includes early questions about Manning, the overall state of the offense, and whether he has enough experienced talent to play and beat the best teams in FBS. After months of praise as a SEC favorite, belly flops in the regular season, Texas didn’t resemble a team that many would expect to wire to the wire on top of their coach’s vote.
Archmanning
No player reflects this disappointment more than Manning, who went 17 out of 30 for 170 yards. Average 5.7 yards of anemia per throw, plus touchdowns and interceptions, and you can go with another 38 rushing yards. (It may not have been more commercials from Manning than completion against male defense from Manning during Fox’s broadcast, but it was nearby.) His struggle was highlighted by the fact that 98 of his passing yard came after the final five minutes of Texas, after being taken over by 14. This week’s Longhorns and their quarterbacks are absolutely cruel.
Karen Deboer
He blames Alabama’s latest failure. The next few months will determine if Deboer will return in 2026, but unless the tide completely collapses in SEC play, he should think that at least a year will be another year. Deboer’s current predicament can be linked to a fateful choice, rather than the results of evaluation, development and game day preparation. It’s about replacing the best coaches in the history of the program and continuing to carry on the expectations of the Saban era. It’s always better to trade guys that replace guys, you know.
Cade Clubnik
Clemson’s path to the playoffs still passes through teams such as Miami, SMU and the rest of the upper crust of ACC. Ultimately, LSU’s losses do much more to Clemson’s reputation and national respect than the Tigers’ overall playoff odds. (By the way, that level of respect was just a huge hit.) Klubnik, who started this year as one of the co-leaders of the Heisman Trophy, has a more specific impact, but he struggles to move past the mediocre game with losses. The senior hit 230 yards for 19 of 38 with throws and interceptions.
Kansas
After dropping Dublin’s Week 0 opening game to Dublin’s No. 21 Iowa State, No. 20 Kansas struggled to clean up the championship’s subdivision North Dakota before scoring with 42 seconds remaining to score to score 38-35. This featured a better game from quarterback Avery Johnson, who had 318 passing yards and three scores, but passing FCS opponents a little bit does not help bring the Wildcats’ depreciation back to the corner.
