Elms’ Essentials is back! Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me!
College football season is officially back, and with that it means that your favorite weekly takeaways series returns as well. Week one has come and gone, and with it we witnessed a lot and proceeded to have totally reasonable and definitely not insane overreactions to all the action. Many teams in the Top 25 were playing their opening games against, let’s call it, not-so-strong competition, but there were some highly anticipated marquee matchups. And as for how those went…
Oh, wait, I’m saying too much in the intro again! Never mind that, let’s get into some takeaways!
Arch Manning and Texas underwhelmed against Ohio State
What else did you think I was going to start with?
The story heading into this game was the performance and hype surrounding Texas sophomore quarterback Arch Manning, nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning and the most highly anticipated season debut in college football. The results? Well, generally speaking…underwhelming.
Manning struggled in a 14-7 loss to the defending national champion Buckeyes, and the fact of the matter is that he looked…well, like a player who was making his first career road start in one of the loudest stadiums in the country. He was skittish in the pocket and he struggled to throw balls with conviction and accuracy. Underthrown passes were a recurring trend for him throughout the game. Aside from one beautiful touchdown throw to Parker Livingstone, Manning did not play well.
Ohio State, on the other hand, had a new starter of their own in Julian Sayin, and he played better than Manning, but that wasn’t saying a ton. He completed 13 out of his 20 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown pass. But he also didn’t turn the ball over and did make some nice throws during the game. Combine that with a fantastic effort from the Buckeyes’ defense under new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and that recipe was just enough to cook up an Ohio State victory. See what I did there?
Tennessee could not have dreamed of a better start offensively
We may need to keep an eye on the Tennessee Volunteers, because that offense was absolutely dynamite in their season opener against Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Volunteers almost immediately got things going in the first quarter, where they converted on a 34-yard field goal to take an early 3-0 lead. Running back Peyton Lewis then punched it in from two yards out to extend the lead to 10-0. Colton Hood then pounced on a Syracuse fumble and returned it 22 yards to the house.
But after that, that’s when Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar really got going. Aguilar connected with Braylon Staley on a beautiful deep ball to extend the Volunteers’ lead to 24-7 in the second quarter.
Aguilar tacked on two more passing touchdowns from there, and it was all Tennessee from that point forward. Syracuse could not keep up despite a valiant effort, and the Volunteers secured a season-opening win by a score of 45-26.
Aguilar’s performance was excellent, as he completed 16 of his 28 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. The Tennessee offense also rushed for 248 yards on the ground, tearing apart Syracuse’s defense throughout the game. The schedule gets a bit more challenging for Tennessee going forward after their game next week against ETSU, but that’s life in the SEC. Still, the Volunteers’ offense looked sensational in this one, and they are worth monitoring going forward.
Alabama has…issues
That might be putting it nicely, to be completely honest.
It wasn’t that the Crimson Tide lost to Florida State by a score of 31-17, a Florida State team that had gone 2-10 the previous season. Oh no, it wasn’t just that.
It was how painfully average they looked, on both sides of the ball.
To his credit, for the most part, new ‘Bama starting quarterback Ty Simpson played pretty well. His completion percentage was not great, but he threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns. However, the biggest problem for the Tide was their inability to stop Florida State’s offense, led by new transfer quarterback Tommy Castellanos. Castellanos only completed nine of his 14 pass attempts, but he ran for 78 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown on the ground.
When your defense cannot seem to stop a quarterback who completed nine passes all game long, there are some serious problems afoot.
And the worst part about this for Alabama is not that they lost this game and looked underwhelming throughout the contest, but that this is the same kind of thing we saw last year, during head coach Kalen DeBoer’s first year at the helm following Nick Saban’s retirement. The Crimson Tide went 8-4 last year and lost to a 7-5 Michigan team in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
There has to be some kind of deeper issue going on at Alabama right now that we don’t know about. Because it seems like the problems for the Tide are much deeper than just surface level.
Indiana started a bit shaky but got the job done in the end
The Hoosiers were looking to build off a magical 2024 season, their first under head coach Curt Cignetti, in which they went 11-1 and secured a berth in the College Football Playoff. Their opening game for the 2025 season was against Old Dominion, and while there were some hiccups early on for Indiana, they ultimately outlasted the Monarchs by a score of 27-14.
New transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza, coming in from Cal, looked just okay in his Hoosier debut, as he went 18-for-31 for 193 passing yards and did not throw a touchdown or an interception. He ran the ball six times for 33 yards and a score on the ground. Similar to the rest of the Indiana roster, there was some good and some bad throughout the game for Mendoza.
Maryland transfer running back Roman Hemby had an awesome performance, as he ran for 111 yards on 23 carries. Kaelon Black added 92 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. Indiana's rushing attack may have been the best part of this game for the team.
The defense, like Mendoza, was a bit up-and-down. They gave up a 78-yard touchdown run on the very first play from scrimmage to Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph, and they had trouble stopping Joseph on the ground. But they did an excellent job of stopping him through the air, picking off Joseph three times and limiting him to just 96 passing yards.
Curt Cignetti was not pleased with how his team performed and knows that there is a lot of tape to go back and watch to see how the team can improve and clean up some of the mistakes of this game. But, as they say, a win is a win. And that’s the most important thing in sports.
LSU looked the part of a contender against Clemson
Speaking of sayings, it goes that the greatest teams find ways to win games. That was what we saw from LSU in their 17-10 win over Clemson on the road. There was a lot to like about the (LSU) Tigers in this one, but first things first: in a battle of two quarterbacks who should be in contention to win the Heisman Trophy this season, Garrett Nussmeier won the battle against Cade Klubnik.
Nussmeier looked sharp, poised, and generally more put-together than Klubnik in this game. LSU’s quarterback completed 28 of his 38 passes for 320 passing yards and a touchdown. Running back Caden Durham added 74 yards and a score on the ground.
But the story of this game was LSU’s terrific defense, holding a normally explosive Clemson offense to just ten points and a mere 31 rushing yards. Klubnik did throw for 230 yards through the air, but only completed 19 of his 38 passes. He also threw an interception and posted just a 31.4 QBR compared to Nussmeier’s 82.7.
LSU looked the part of a national championship contender in this one. I know, it’s only Week 1, and I’m not going to crown anyone just yet. But a humming offense and a revamped defense for LSU could spell trouble for the rest of the SEC going forward.
And last but not least…
Miami-Notre Dame was the best game of the weekend
Spicy take alert! Spicy take alert!
Yes, that’s right. I said what I said. It was better than Texas-Ohio State and it was better than LSU-Clemson. This game featured two of the most storied programs in college football going head to head at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and the result was a thrilling contest.
Miami ended up securing the victory over Notre Dame by a score of 27-24. New Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck showed his veteran experience and played well throughout, as he went 20-for-31 with 205 yards and two touchdowns. Beck also didn’t turn the ball over, a nice sight to see following his interception issues in 2024.
As for Notre Dame, they handed the reins to redshirt freshman and first-year starter CJ Carr after the departure of Riley Leonard to the NFL, and for the most part, Carr played well. He went 19-for-30 for 221 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw a costly interception that Miami took advantage of to increase their lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Fighting Irish were able to storm back and tie the game at 24 with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but Miami kicker Carter Davis drilled a 47-yard field goal to give Miami the lead back with just over a minute left. The Hurricanes’ defense stifled Notre Dame’s final drive, and Miami escaped with the win.
This game had a little bit of everything: great offense, timely defense, a kick that would prove to be the game-winner, and an early contender for catch of the year from Miami wide receiver CJ Daniels.
Miami had just a little bit more experience, and they used that to pull out the victory. As for the Fighting Irish, they will be fine. Their team is deep at nearly every position and there was a lot to like from the play of CJ Carr. But in this battle between two heavyweights, the Hurricanes used their experience and home-field advantage to secure the win.
