College football Week 1 overreactions: Ohio State’s biggest threat is Penn State, Travis Hunter for Heisman

Week 1 of the 2024 college football season saw the official death of a dynasty. No. 1 Georgia put the last scoops of dirt on No. 14 Clemson’s grave with a 34-3 thrashing in Atlanta. 

Losing by a lot against Georgia isn’t embarrassing in a vacuum. The Bulldogs have made it their modus operandi to completely thrash teams under coach Kirby Smart. But it felt like a final entry in a growing list of setbacks for Tigers coach Dabo Swinney — more irrefutable proof that the Tigers just don’t have what it takes to run with college football’s big dawgs anymore. Clemson is 6-4 in its last 10 regular-season games against Power Four opponents. 

That doesn’t include 2022’s 35-14 loss to an unranked Notre Dame team or 2023’s season-opening 28-7 loss to an unranked Duke team that hadn’t beat Clemson in 19 years to that point. It’s not like Swinney hasn’t tried to do things differently, though his staunch anti-transfer stance commands plenty of media attention. He went outside his comfort zone to hire offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. It hasn’t worked. In Year 16 under Swinney, Clemson’s just fallen behind. Saturday brought that home. 

But, hey, maybe that’s an overreaction. What else is Week 1 of the college football season for? 

Oregon entered the 2024 season ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25, just behind Ohio State. The Ducks placed second in the preseason Big Ten poll and received all six of the 27 first-place votes that didn’t go to the Buckeyes. 

And yet they might not be Ohio State’s biggest threat to conference supremacy. 

Oregon’s season debut could have only gone worse if it lost. The Ducks plodded to a 24-14 win against FCS Idaho. They allowed three sacks. Idaho scored its first touchdown after Oregon failed to convert on…

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Author : Will Backus

Publish date : 2024-09-01 14:31:05

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