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Welcome back to the College Football Newsletter, which goes down memory lane this week before turning to the future.
Richard and I started covering college football together full-time in 2016. Over the years, I have maintained an informal list of the Week 1 games that the college football internet overreacted to the most. Here are the top handful of games on that list, though frankly I could go longer if I wanted:
1. 2016: Texas 50, No. 10 Notre Dame 47 (OT): This was the “Texas is back” game. It would take the better part of a decade from there for Texas to approach being back, but Joe Tessitore remains one of the best in the business. Notre Dame went 4-8, a fact that many Gen Z’ers are likely unaware of to this day. The Longhorns finished a far superior 5-7 and fired Charlie Strong.
2. 2014: No. 21 Texas A&M 52, No. 9 South Carolina 28. This is also known as the “Kenny Trill” game. His 511 yards broke a Johnny Manziel school record, and this was still near the now-kinda-sad “Johnny Football” cultural peak. (If you were a college student during these years, maybe even if not, you get it.)
3. 2023: Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42. The Frogs were coming off a national title game appearance, and Deion Sanders beat them in his Colorado debut. This was the start of Buffalomania, which ran rampant through our cities for a month.
4. 2017: Texas A&M 38, UCLA 10, but the first half only. The Bruins went on to win this game 45-44 in by far the greatest moment of Josh Rosen’s football career. But if you watched the first half, you were under the impression that Kevin Sumlin was about to lead the Aggies to Valhalla.
5. 2017: No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 3 Florida State 7. At the time, this was the biggest season opener ever. The game was a nothingburger, Deondre Francois got hurt, FSU went 7-6, and Odell Haggins coached out the season when Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M. Bama won it all, and this did not even wind up being their most memorable game played in Atlanta, despite the SEC Championship not including Alabama that year. But in the moment, this game felt huge.
Which 2026 Week 1 game has the best shot to join that list? I can imagine a few candidates.
There are no obvious ones this year, because the sport’s biggest non-conference matchups were mostly punted to Weeks 2 and beyond. However:
Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12. There is a world where the Wolverines go 6-6 and WMU makes the playoff as a 12-1 MAC champion. We probably don’t live in that world, but I wouldn’t rule it out.
No. 11 LSU 51, Clemson 10. I suspect LSU is really good, but this could still be a roller coaster that makes it look a bit silly that the Tigers were getting some votes for No. 1 in the AP Poll this week. It’s also possible Clemson is something less than totally cooked as a program. We’ll see.
UCLA 45, Cal 24. Or maybe this is just us? The Bruins are still just in the “others receiving votes” part of the AP Poll. Richard and I are both pretty bought in on this program as a riser.
Any others? I’m curious what you think. Now, to the week that was around here:
Here are some college football podcasts for you
The Week 2 Tasting Menu is out, with looks at 43 games. I’m back on the mic with Richard here.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: UMass. Rodger Sherman and Richard have this one.
We intend to have two paid subscriber-only episodes for you most weeks this season, and likely more than that on occasion. This became a tricky Week 1 because of some personal business on my end. Thanks to Rodger for filling in for me, and thanks to you, the audience, for rolling with us throughout all of it.
We also like to write!
Richard revisited bunch of other wild endings, on the heels of whatever you’d call the WMU-Michigan thing.
I also took my crack at putting all my thoughts on Safe Harbor in Ann Arbor into one spot.
Because they have a fun game against Washington State this week, read Richard’s story on Kansas State’s home-cooked new staff.
This story isn’t from one of us, and it’s not even in written format. But on the 25th anniversary of September 11, it’s a good time to watch one of the best features SportsCenter has ever done: “The Man in the Red Bandana.”
Thanks for being part of what we do. See you on Sunday.
Um actually that A&M-UCLA game didn't end up happening! Really weird how people keep thinking it was a real result