September isn’t even halfway over and three teams ranked in the top 20 of the preseason AP Top 25 are already staring at 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 field goal as time expired.
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It was far from a fluke win, however. Georgia Tech led 13-0 in the first half and Clemson needed to score a touchdown with less than four minutes to go to simply tie the game.
The Tigers were No. 4 in the first AP poll of the season after winning the ACC a season ago. They’ve hardly looked on a playoff path. Clemson was outmatched in the second half of its 17-10 Week 1 loss to LSU, and then went the entire first half of its Week 2 win against Troy without scoring a touchdown.
QB Cade Klubnik entered the season as a Heisman favorite after he threw for 36 TDs and over 3,600 yards in 2024. So far through 2025, he’s thrown as many touchdowns (three) as interceptions and is completing 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 field goal of the game.
There’s still plenty of time for Klubnik to turn it around. But if he’s going to get going, he’ll need some help from his offensive line. The Tigers’ blockers have looked pedestrian far too often through the first three weeks of the season as Klubnik has regularly needed to leave the pocket.
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If you’re wanting to be an optimist about the Tigers, you’ll point to their College Football Playoff appearance in 2024 after a 34-3 blowout loss to Georgia in Week 1. But that team scored a combined 165 points over their next three games and reeled off six straight victories before losing to Louisville.
That Louisville loss was Clemson’s only ACC loss of the season. The Tigers have already matched that total in 2025 and there are games against No. 10 Florida State and 2024 regular season ACC champion SMU up ahead. This doesn’t currently look like a Clemson team that’s positioned to rip off seven straight conference wins.
Kansas State, meanwhile, is the first 1-3 team in college football. The Wildcats were the No. 17 team in the first top 25 and a favorite to win the Big 12 before losing 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 via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Things really haven’t improved from there. Kansas State’s lone win of the season came in Week 1 against FCS North Dakota, but even that was a nail-biter. The Wildcats needed a TD pass with 42 seconds left for the 38-35 victory.
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A week ago, Kansas State ran just eight plays in the second half as Army controlled the game. The Black Knights — who lost to FCS Tarleton State to open the season — had the ball for over 40 minutes and ran the ball 70 times in their 24-21 win over Kansas State.
Friday night, K-State lost 23-17 to the Big 12’s newest Wildcats. Arizona went up 17-3 in the first half before Kansas State tied the game at 17-17 in the third quarter. But after tying the game, Kansas State punted twice and turned the ball over on downs three times.
All three of those turnovers on downs came on incomplete passes to wide receiver Jayce Brown. QB Avery Johnson shined in a part-time role as a freshman in 2023, but he has struggled to take the next step as a passer over the last two seasons. Johnson was just 13 of 29 for 88 yards on Friday night and has rushed for just 62 yards on 25 carries through the first four games of the season.
No. 8 Notre Dame dropped to 0-2 for the second time in four seasons Saturday night with a 41-40 loss to No. 16 Texas A&M. The Aggies scored on a fourth down with 13 seconds to go to get the win after Notre Dame’s holder bobbled the snap on the extra point following the Irish’s go-ahead TD with less than three minutes to go.
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In 2022, Notre Dame started 0-2 in the first two games of coach Marcus Freeman’s tenure. The second loss to Marshall caused a bunch of consternation within the Notre Dame fanbase following Brian Kelly’s departure to LSU.
This year, Notre Dame has lost to two ranked teams to start the season and doesn’t have another remaining on its schedule. Getting back to the national championship game may seem like a long shot at this point, but if any team can run the table the rest of the way, the Irish would be one of our picks.
For as bad as things have been for Notre Dame, Clemson and Kansas State in the early stages of 2025, it could always be worse. Just ask UCLA. The Bruins dropped to 0-3 Friday night with a 35-10 home loss to New Mexico. It was the Lobos’ first win over a power conference opponent since 2008 and led to the firing of second-year UCLA coach Deshaun Foster on Sunday.
Nico Iamaleava and the UCLA Bruins have had a rough start to the season. (Gina Ferazzi/Getty Images)
(Gina Ferazzi via Getty Images)
The Bruins have given up at least 30 points in all three of their losses as Nico Iamaleava has been sacked six times so far this season. The former Tennessee quarterback is also the Bruins’ leading rusher with 139 yards and is the only UCLA player with a rushing TD so far.
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It was clear when Iamaleava transferred to UCLA this spring that he was joining a team that had a lot less talent than the one he quarterbacked to the playoff in 2024. And that has been very obvious on defense. Opponents are rushing for 244 yards per game against the Bruins and averaging 5.5 yards a carry.
UCLA is off in Week 4 ahead of a trip to Northwestern on Sept. 27 that could determine control of the Big Ten cellar. If the Bruins don’t beat the Wildcats, it’s hard to find more than one or two wins on the schedule.
Here are this week’s winners and losers:
Winners
Houston: The Cougars moved to 3-0 with a 36-20 win over Colorado on Friday night. QB Conner Weigman rushed for two 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 total and are a real threat to make a bowl game in Willie Fritz’s second season.
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West Virginia: The Mountaineers bounced back from their Week 2 loss at Ohio with a 31-24 overtime victory over rival Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. WVU sent the game to overtime on a 2-yard TD pass from Nicco Marchiol to Grayson Barnes with 11 seconds left.
The Mountaineers then won the game in OT as Tye Edwards scored his third TD and Pitt couldn’t find the end zone on its possession.
The teams have now alternated wins in the series for the past four years after not meeting from 2012-2021.
Miami: The No. 5 Hurricanes established themselves as the clear top team in the ACC with a 49-12 win over USF on Saturday. Miami led 28-6 at halftime of the thunderstorm-plagued game as Carson Beck was 23-of-28 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns and two interceptions.
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USF’s magic ran out after beating Boise State and Florida in the first two weeks of the season. The Bulls are still a force to be reckoned with in the AAC but may have a hard time getting back into the top 25 the rest of the season. Miami, meanwhile, looked impressive again on a day where Clemson lost and SMU dug itself an early hole against FBS newcomer Missouri State.
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza and WR Omar Cooper Jr.: Yes, it was only Indiana State, but take a second to appreciate Mendoza and Cooper’s stat lines in the Hoosiers’ 73-0 win. The Cal transfer was 19-of-20 passing for 270 yards and threw five touchdowns. Cooper had 10 grabs for 207 yards and 4 touchdowns. The No. 22 Hoosiers host No. 9 Illinois in a very pivotal and must-see Big Ten matchup in Week 4.
Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy: The transfer from Louisiana-Monroe rushed 22 times for 250 yards and three touchdowns in the No. 25 Tigers’ 52-10 win over Louisiana on Saturday. That wasn’t a full game’s worth of playing time, either. Hardy didn’t have a carry after scoring his third TD of the game with 10:02 left in the third quarter.
Hardy has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of his first three games for the Tigers and has scored five touchdowns after running for 1,351 yards and 13 TDs as a freshman in 2024.
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Stanford: The Cardinal got their first of what could be just a few wins in 2025 with a 30-20 home victory over Boston College late Saturday night. RB Micah Ford rushed 17 times for 157 yards and scored the go-ahead TD with 5:07 left in the third quarter. The Cardinal then tacked on a field goal in the fourth to make it a 10-point lead as Boston College didn’t score at all in the second half.
Losers
Virginia Tech: A bad start to the season got a whole lot worse for the Hokies in a 45-26 loss to Old Dominion that dropped them to 0-3. ODU led 28-0 at halftime thanks to three first-half turnovers by Virginia Tech, and the final score was only semi-respectable thanks to 19 fourth-quarter points by the Hokies.
Sunday morning, the school fired coach Brent Pry. The Hokies were 16-24 in Pry’s tenure after he was hired to replace Justin Fuente after the 2021 season.
Virginia Tech is now 0-3 after losing at home to Old Dominion. (Photo by Ryan Hunt/Getty Images)
(Ryan Hunt via Getty Images)
Wisconsin: Look, few people thought the Badgers would go into Tuscaloosa and win with a backup quarterback. But Wisconsin was overmatched in nearly every facet of the game during its 38-14 loss to No. 19 Alabama.
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Wisconsin didn’t score an offensive touchdown until there was just 5:29 to go and Alabama had called off the dogs. The Badgers had just 209 total yards and QB Danny O’Neil threw two interceptions. Alabama, meanwhile, averaged more than twice as many yards per play while QB Ty Simpson was 24-of-29 passing for 382 yards and four touchdowns.
Washington State: The Cougars had a first half to erase from their memories forever against North Texas. Washington State turned the ball over five times in the first 30 minutes as it lost 59-10 to the Mean Green. The Cougars fumbled twice and QB Jaxon Potter threw three interceptions as North Texas had four TD drives of 20 yards or less.
UNT QB Drew Mestemaker was 24 of 29 passing for 211 yards and four TDs as 15 North Texas players had at least one catch.
Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers’ 11-win seasons are starting to feel far, far away. Coastal Carolina lost 38-0 at home to East Carolina on Saturday night to drop to 1-2. The 38-point home loss follows a 48-7 blowout loss at Virginia to open the season and a 13-0 win over FCS Charleston Southern in Week 2.
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Coastal won 22 games over the 2020 and 2021 seasons under now-Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell as they established themselves as one of the best non-power conference teams in the country. Chadwell left after a 9-3 season in 2022 and things have started slowly sliding backwards since. The Chanticleers were 8-5 in Tim Beck’s first season in 2023 and fell to 6-7 in 2024. Given the way that 2025 has started, CCU will be lucky to get to six wins again.
Kent State: The Golden Flashes were so, so close to getting their second win of the season. Kent State opened 2025 with a win total 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 points to take the lead and got 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 plays and less than 90 seconds as Victor Snow caught a 22-yard TD pass from Ta’Qaun Roberson.
Northwestern State: Look, we’re realists. We understand that most FCS schools are playing FBS opponents for the paycheck and lopsided scores are the expected cost of doing business to help subsidize the athletic department. But it’s been especially rough for Northwestern State over the past two weeks. After losing 66-0 to Minnesota in Week 2, the Demons lost 70-0 to Cincinnati on Saturday. The Bearcats led 56-0 at halftime as Northwestern State had just 102 yards of total offense the entire game. That was, sadly, an improvement over Week 2. The Demons had just 42 yards of offense against the Gophers.
