The SEC's Big Statement, Michigan's Break, LSU: 5 College Football Takeaways From Week 1
· Yahoo Sports
It was a fascinating week with a few all-time endings, a truly historic upset, a few dud performances from great teams, and lots and lots and lots of blowouts. But it was Week One. This is how it’s supposed to work – especially when it’s as fun as it all was. Here are our winners, losers, and thoughts on the crazy run of season-openers.
5 Biggest College Football Takeaways From Week 1
Week 1 Takeaways
5. Week 1 Winners and Losers
4. The Big Ten’s Rough Run
3. The Michigan Miracle
2. LSU is the Real Deal
1. SEC Has Had Enough
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Week 1 Quick Hits
- Week 1 didn’t have a slew of interesting games, but it had plenty of big moments that should define the season.
- The SEC had a fantastic first weekend, the Big Ten was shaky, and the ACC and Big 12 were fine – but we’re just getting started.
- Michigan got one extra second to pull off a miracle against Western Michigan.
5. Winners and Losers After Week 1
Winner: Boise State vs Western Michigan
Boise State might have lost to Oregon, and Western Michigan might never get past how the Michigan game ended, but here’s the punchline – both the Pac-12 Broncos and the MAC Broncos got a higher profile from their performances against power teams.
And now, it all sets up for something potentially huge – Boise State goes to Kalamazoo to face WMU on September 26. The winner might be in the driver’s seat for the Group of Six champion’s spot in the College Football Playoff.
Loser: Conference USA
Kennesaw State and Delaware were great, but Liberty lost to James Madison, FIU couldn’t do much against USF, and in one of the weirdest games of the weekend, Western Kentucky got rocked by Nevada 49-14. Throw in Jacksonville’s Week 0 loss to North Dakota State, and Conference USA is, for all intents and purposes, the first conference to tap out of the CFP race.
Winner: College Football Fans Who Don’t Want Pro Players
It was the hottest topic before the games began – should college football allow Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to go from NFL training camps to the LSU Tigers? Lane Kiffin fought it tooth and nail, and in the end, he chose not to put them on the roster for the Clemson game, turning down the temperature on the argument … for now.
Loser: Malachi Toney and Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
So, players can make millions playing at one school and go to another school for more millions, and they’re not considered professionals, but guys choosing to try out for the NFL when they still have college eligibility … that’s wrong? Okay. But here’s the reverse issue.
Miami’s Malachi Toney showed against Stanford why he’s one of the best players in college football with 12 catches for a school-record 234 yards and three touchdowns.
Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele struggled late in the loss to UCLA – he was working through a banged-up ankle – but still, he’s rising into a superstar pro prospect.
They’re not eligible for the NFL Draft until 2028 because they’re not three years out of high school.
Winner: UMass
UMass didn’t win a game in 2025, and the two victories in 2024 were against FCS teams. The 37-21 victory over Rutgers to start the weekend wasn’t just the program’s first win over an at-the-time power conference team since moving up to the FBS in 2012; it was on the road. That means …
Loser: Florida State
UMass has one more road win since the end of the 2023 regular season than Florida State.
The Seminoles weren’t great in the 34-17 win over New Mexico State to start the season, and now they’re 1-1 after losing to SMU 27-24 on Monday night. On the plus side, it was close until the final seconds. However, SMU cranked out close to 600 yards of offense like the Seminole defense wasn’t there.
4. The Big Ten’s Rough Run
Most of the big teams did just fine. Indiana and Ohio State were doing performance art in their respective openers; USC was brilliant against a good Fresno State team, and most teams – like Iowa, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Purdue – did their jobs.
But Rutgers losing by 16 to UMass was a hit. It might be Rutgers, and not Ohio State, but it’s still a Big Ten team, and it wasn’t even close against a program that hadn’t won a thing in years.
Oregon was inexplicably low-energy until it turned it on in a 34-27 win over Boise State. Wisconsin couldn’t do anything against Notre Dame in a blowout loss. Penn State was great on the field against Marshall, but its inexplicable public relations own goal – with the way it’s bringing back the past – is now a giant piece of the season’s narrative.
Nebraska beat Ohio by four touchdowns, but it took a while to get going. Northwestern wasn’t anything great against South Dakota State, and that’s not why you called …
3. The Michigan Miracle
Look, by the full letter of the replay law, the officials did get it right, and one second maybe, sort of, okay-fine-should’ve been put back on the clock after Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood overshot the end zone on what appeared to be the final play against Western Michigan.
And you all know the rest (I’m assuming that. A dear friend who loves all things Michigan was out watching – triple-gag – a country music something and didn’t know what everyone was texting about.)
Yes, it seemed like home cooking on the clock, and yes, the confusion was ridiculous, and no … Western Michigan didn’t win. It didn’t stop the final play that did happen. Underwood did throw a 60ish-yard laser off his back foot, and the play would’ve counted just the same if the ball hit the turf, and …
Rationalize this all you want, but for a whole lot of fans still grouchy about the controversy surrounding the 2023 national championship team … of course Michigan was on the right side of this.
HAIL MARY MIRACLE!
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 6, 2026
Michigan wins it on the FINAL PLAY OF THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/rSAyXj9azh
2. LSU is the Real Deal
We spent the entire offseason screaming from the rooftops that Lane Kiffin taking over the LSU job was a bigger deal than just Lane Kiffin taking over the LSU job. Yes, of course, this is just one game, but it was the way his Tigers looked in a 51-10 win over Clemson that made it feel like the world had changed.
That’s Clemson. It’s not the Clemson of a decade ago, but it won the ACC title two years ago and got to the College Football Playoff. It looked and played like it was running in sand compared to the lightning-fast LSU Tigers.
With Kiffin as the leader of the show, LSU is now the true bad boy program of college football. It’s pushing every button, bending every rule, and it’ll unapologetically try to destroy everything about your football season, because it can.
Are we getting ahead of ourselves? Of course. There’s still a brutal SEC slate ahead, but Kiffin and his staff did the best job in the transfer portal, and now we’re here. This is going to be a wild ride.
Week 1 Takeaways
5. Week 1 Winners and Losers
4. The Big Ten’s Rough Run
3. The Michigan Miracle
1. The SEC Has Had Enough
Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh talks with his team as Auburn Tigers take on Baylor Bears in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. Auburn Tigers defeated Baylor Bears 17-16.LSU is just one of 16 that had a lovely weekend.
Starting with Oklahoma’s 51-0 win over UTEP on Friday night, the SEC went 16-0. Most were paycheck-game dominations, but East Carolina isn’t bad, and the Alabama offense and new star quarterback Keelon Russell went off. Kent State is better than UMass – at least it’s supposed to be – and South Carolina took out the Golden Flashes by 57.
Auburn did hold on for dear life in the thrilling 17-16 win – okay, the game wasn’t great, but the end was – over Baylor, and the Ole Miss secondary didn’t make the trip in the wild win over Louisville, but across the conference, this had a different feel.
The SEC is mad as hell, and it’s not going to take it anymore.
Let’s see what happens this week with Texas hosting Ohio State, Oklahoma going to Michigan, Mississippi State going to Minnesota, Texas A&M and Arizona State getting together, Missouri playing the rivalry game at Kansas, and Arkansas traveling to Utah. But at the very least, the SEC is a conference full of focused teams looking to do big things.