September isn’t even midway over and two groups ranked in the prime 20 of the preseason AP Top 25 are gazing disappointing seasons.
No. 12 Clemson dropped to 1-2 with a 24-21 loss at Georgia Tech on Saturday on Aidan Birr’s 55-yard discipline objective as time expired.
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It was removed from a fluke win, nevertheless. Georgia Tech led 13-0 in the first half and Clemson wanted to rating a landing with lower than 4 minutes to go to merely tie the recreation.
The Tigers had been No. 4 in the first AP ballot of the season after profitable the ACC a season in the past. They’ve hardly seemed on a playoff path. Clemson was outmatched in the second half of its 17-10 Week 1 loss to LSU, and then went the complete first half of its Week 2 win towards Troy with out scoring a landing.
QB Cade Klubnik entered the season as a Heisman favourite after he threw for 36 TDs and over 3,600 yards in 2024. So far by means of 2025, he’s thrown as many touchdowns (three) as interceptions and is finishing fewer than 60% of his passes. On Saturday, he was 15-of-26 passing for 207 yards and his first-quarter fumble led to Georgia Tech’s first discipline objective of the recreation.
There’s nonetheless loads of time for Klubnik to flip it round. But if he’s going to get going, he’ll want some assist from his offensive line. The Tigers’ blockers have seemed pedestrian far too usually by means of the first three weeks of the season as Klubnik has frequently wanted to go away the pocket.
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If you’re wanting to be an optimist about the Tigers, you’ll level to their College Football Playoff look in 2024 after a 34-3 blowout loss to Georgia in Week 1. But that crew scored a mixed 165 factors over their subsequent three video games and reeled off six straight victories earlier than shedding to Louisville.
That Louisville loss was Clemson’s solely ACC lack of the season. The Tigers have already matched that whole in 2025 and there are video games towards No. 10 Florida State and 2024 common season ACC champion SMU up forward. This doesn’t presently appear like a Clemson crew that’s positioned to rip off seven straight convention wins.
Kansas State, in the meantime, is the first 1-3 crew in faculty football. The Wildcats had been the No. 17 crew in the first prime 25 and a favourite to win the Big 12 earlier than shedding their Week Zero opener to Iowa State in Dublin.
Avery Johnson and the Kansas State Wildcats have struggled early on this season. (Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Images)
Things actually haven’t improved from there. Kansas State’s lone win of the season got here in Week 1 towards FCS North Dakota, however even that was a nail-biter. The Wildcats wanted a TD go with 42 seconds left for the 38-35 victory.
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Every week in the past, Kansas State ran simply eight performs in the second half as Army managed the recreation. The Black Knights — who misplaced to FCS Tarleton State to open the season — had the ball for over 40 minutes and ran the ball 70 occasions to Kansas State’s 43 whole performs of their 24-21 win.
Friday night time, Ok-State misplaced 23-17 to the Big 12’s latest Wildcats. Arizona went up 17-3 in the first half earlier than Kansas State tied the recreation at 17-17 in the third quarter. But after tying the recreation, Kansas State punted twice and turned the ball over on downs 3 times.
All three of these turnovers on downs got here on incomplete passes to broad receiver Jayce Brown. QB Avery Johnson shined in a part-time position as a freshman in 2023, however he has struggled to take the subsequent step as a passer over the final two seasons. Johnson was simply 13 of 29 for 88 yards on Friday night time and has rushed for simply 62 yards on 25 carries by means of the first 4 video games of the season.
But for as dangerous as issues have been for Clemson and Kansas State in the early levels of 2025, it may at all times be worse. Just ask UCLA. The Bruins dropped to 0-3 Friday night with a 35-10 house loss to New Mexico. It was the Lobos’ first win over an influence convention opponent since 2008.
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The Bruins have given up not less than 30 factors in all three of their losses as Nico Iamaleava has been sacked six occasions to date this season. The former Tennessee quarterback can also be the Bruins’ main rusher with 139 yards and is the solely UCLA participant with a speeding TD to date.
It was clear when Iamaleava transferred to UCLA this spring that he was becoming a member of a crew that had quite a bit much less expertise than the one he quarterbacked to the playoff in 2024. And that has been very apparent on protection. Opponents are speeding for 244 yards per recreation towards the Bruins and averaging 5.5 yards a carry.
UCLA is off in Week 4 forward of a visit to Northwestern on Sept. 27 that would decide management of the Big Ten cellar. If the Bruins don’t beat the Wildcats, it’s laborious to discover a couple of or two wins on the schedule.
Here are this week’s winners and losers:
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Winners
Houston: The Cougars moved to 3-0 with a 36-20 win over Colorado on Friday night time. QB Conner Weigman rushed for 2 touchdowns and was 15-of-24 passing for 222 yards as Houston outscored Colorado 20-6 in the second half. The Cougars are already one win away from matching their 2024 win whole and are an actual risk to make a bowl recreation in Willie Fritz’s second season.
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza and WR Omar Cooper Jr.: Yes, it was solely Indiana State, however take a second to recognize Mendoza and Cooper’s stat strains in the Hoosiers’ 73-0 win. The Cal switch was 19-of-20 passing for 270 yards and threw 5 touchdowns. Four of these went to Cooper as he had 10 grabs for 207 yards. The No. 22 Hoosiers host No. 9 Illinois in a really pivotal and must-see Big Ten matchup in Week 4.
Losers
Wisconsin: Look, few folks thought the Badgers would go into Tuscaloosa and win with a backup quarterback. But Wisconsin was overmatched in almost each side of the recreation throughout its 38-14 loss to No. 19 Alabama.
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Wisconsin didn’t rating an offensive landing till there was simply 5:29 to go and Alabama had referred to as off the canines. The Badgers had simply 209 whole yards and QB Danny O’Neil threw two interceptions. Alabama, in the meantime, averaged greater than twice as many yards per play whereas QB Ty Simpson was 24-of-29 passing for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Kent State: The Golden Flashes had been so, so shut to getting their second win of the season. Kent State opened 2025 with a win whole of 1.5 at sportsbooks following their 0-12 season in 2024. Kent State beat Merrimack to open the season and led Buffalo 14-0 in the first half on Saturday.
Alas, Buffalo scored 17 straight factors to take the lead and received the game-winning TD with 1:03 to go. Kent State went up 28-24 with 2:38 to go after a 3-yard run by QB Dru DeShields capped a 21-play drive that went 93 yards and took over 12 minutes. But the Bulls responded by going 76 yards in eight performs and lower than 90 seconds as Victor Snow caught a 22-yard TD go from Ta’Qaun Roberson.