The Athletic College Football
Top 25 scores and schedule
No. 1 Georgia 48, UT Martin 7
No. 2 Michigan 30, East Carolina 3
No. 3 Ohio State 23, Indiana 3
No. 4 Alabama 56, Middle Tennessee 7
No. 6 USC 66, Nevada 14
No. 7 Penn State 38, West Virginia 15
No. 8 Florida State 45, No. 5 LSU 24
Duke 28, No. 9 Clemson 7
No. 10 Washington 56, Boise State 19
No. 11 Texas 37, Rice 10
No. 12 Tennessee 49, Virginia 13
No. 13 Notre Dame 56, Tennessee State 3
No. 15 Oregon 81, Portland State 7
No. 16 Kansas State 45, Southeast Missouri State 0
Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42
No. 18 Oregon State 42, San Jose State 17
No. 19 Wisconsin 38, Buffalo 17
No. 20 Oklahoma 73, Arkansas State 0
No. 21 North Carolina 31, South Carolina 17
No. 22 Ole Miss 73, Mercer 7
No. 23 Texas A&M 52, New Mexico 10
No. 24 Tulane 37, South Alabama 17
No. 25 Iowa 24, Utah State 14
Clemson has lost:
- Three of its last four games
- Four of its last seven
- And three of those losses were by three scores.
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The Athletic College Football
Duke stuns No. 9 Clemson for first win over AP top-10 opponent in 34 years
Duke upset No. 9 Clemson 28-7 in the teams’ season opener Monday at Wallace Wade Stadium. Here’s what you need to know:
Entering the game, Duke had lost 28 straight games against teams ranked in the AP Top 10. The last time the Blue Devils beat an AP Top-10 opponent was in 1989 when they took down No. 7 Clemson.
Duke quarterback Riley Leonard completed 17 of 33 passes for 175 yards. He added 98 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Clemson QB Cade Klubnik went 27-for-43 for 209 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception in his first start.
The Week 1 loss was offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s first game with Clemson, which hired Riley in January after he helped lead TCU to the national title game in the same position.
Read more here.
Duke, Coach Elko getting it done
Duke football coach Mike Elko tells ESPN in the middle of the postgame field storm: "This is what I envisioned Duke could be when I took this job."
Duke students are ready to celebrate
I love how many Duke students ready to rush the field are currently wearing basketball jerseys. Perfect.
Clemson proves to be WAY overrated
Thought at halftime, "Clemson isn't a top-10 team." Thinking now, "Clemson isn't a top-25 team (and it's not even close)."
Duke on verge of ending top-10 drought
Entering today, Duke had lost 28 straight games against teams in the AP top 10.
The Blue Devils' last win over a top-10 team came against then-No. 7 Clemson in September 1989.
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Terrible Clemson performance continues
This is a truly astonishing and horrendous performance in the red zone by Clemson. My jaw actually dropped on that fumble.
Missed opportunities for Clemson
Make that FIVE trips inside Duke’s 25-yard line and seven total points.
More miscues for Tigers
Huge fumble recovery by Duke DB Jeremiah Lewis. Unique transfer portal story with him. Lewis spent four years at Duke and transferred to be a starter at Northwestern in 2022. He left the program after the Pat Fitzgerald firing and opted to re-join the Blue Devils in August. Now he's making a big impact in this upset bid vs. No. 9 Clemson.
Kicking woes continue for Tigers
Things keep getting worse for Clemson. The Tigers can't move the ball down the field vertically and just folded after running back Phil Mafah's 49-yard rush put them in the red zone with a fresh set of downs. A false start and a series of uninspiring runs forced the Tigers to settle for a field goal attempt ... which they just missed from 23 yards out. It's too early to write off Clemson, but sheesh. What a disastrous opener so far.
Clemson leads at the half, but it hasn't been pretty
OK, so, Clemson still has some problems. At the half, the Tigers lead Duke 7-6 after an uninspiring half of football. Feels like we've seen this movie before, but there were so many expectations for the Tigers offensively with a new quarterback and playcaller. Defensively, the Tigers settled in a little more, but what a weird half. Curious to see if Clemson lets loose in the second half.
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Not much working for Clemson
So ... Clemson has sort of picked up right where it left off a season ago? It's still early and there is a lot of football to play, but so far Garrett Riley's offense looks no better than Brandon Streeter's did a year ago.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik hasn't settled in and kicker Robert Gunn just had his field goal attempt blocked. Defensively, the Tigers haven't exactly stopped Duke from moving down the field. Dabo Swinney will have to answer some questions if this keeps up ...
All eyes on Clemson-Duke
As we head into Clemson-Duke for the final game of the weekend, all eyes are on Clemson's offense, specifically coordinator Garrett Riley and quarterback Cade Klubnik. This is a unit that has a ton to prove from the last two years. If the Tigers are going to make their way back into the CFP, it starts with this duo.
The Athletic College Football
Preparations are done for the Tigers
The season is here for No. 9 Clemson as it opens on the road in ACC play against Duke.
The Athletic College Football
It's game day in Durham
Duke faces No. 9 Clemson at 8 p.m. ET in the season opener for both teams.
At Second Glance: What we learned about Georgia's offense, defense and Carson Beck
Kirby Smart started laughing, derisively, when he got a question Monday about whether Carson Beck looked nervous in Georgia’s season opener.
“I don’t understand you guys sometimes. I really don’t,” Smart said.
We’re a conundrum, all right. For instance, who rewatches an entire game against UT Martin and writes an opus about it?
Read more here.
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Michael Penix Jr., Shedeur Sanders impress in Week 1
Each week throughout the college football season, The Athletic’s NFL Draft team will take stock of the prospective 2024 class of QBs. We’ll analyze the performances, identify the standouts and try to decipher how it all might impact the ’24 draft.
Michael Penix Jr.’s first half against Boise State was better than what most quarterbacks this weekend accomplished over full games. The Washington southpaw finished the opening 30 minutes Saturday with 264 yards and four touchdowns on 17 completions.
Penix missed a couple of deep throws early in the second quarter that would have gone for big gains (or even scores), but he found his touch right after that and hit four consecutive completions over two drives — 20 yards, a 38-yard touchdown, 29 yards and a 44-yard touchdown. When he checked out midway through the fourth quarter of Washington’s 56-19 win, Penix had amassed 450 yards and five touchdown passes on 29-of-40 passing.
Read more here.
Keep an eye on Clemson-Duke over/under
Clemson is a 13-point favorite at Duke tonight, but the more interesting betting tidbit is in the point total. It's at 55.5 (after opening at 57.5) on BetMGM. That is somewhat noteworthy because only three Clemson games had higher over/under lines last year: Wake Forest, the ACC title game against North Carolina and the Orange Bowl against Tennessee.
Wake, UNC and Tennessee were all strong offenses last year. Duke has a solid offense and brings back quarterback Riley Leonard, but this looks more like a sign of returned confidence in the Clemson offense with Cade Klubnik at quarterback.
Florida State is appointment viewing
Florida State beat LSU to open the 2022 season too. But this one felt different.
The Seminoles have dudes all over the field. It has a quarterback in Travis who is equal parts exciting and dangerous. It has one of the strongest receiving corps in the country, led by Michigan State transfer Coleman, who finished the game with nine receptions, 122 yards and three touchdowns.
Florida State thoroughly dominated in the second half against an LSU team that was a trendy pick to win the SEC. Now it’s hard not to question if the Seminoles are legit national title contenders.
Week 1 overreaction? Maybe. But there is no question this is going to be an interesting team to track as it pertains to the 247Sports Team Talent Composite. Florida State ranks No. 20 nationally, but its starters are so much better than the data indicates. The Seminoles have the offensive firepower, sure, but they also have one of the best pass-rushers in the country in Jared Verse.
Florida State is must-see for the rest of the season.
Read more here.