College Football Week 6 delivered some intriguing matchups for fans to enjoy, including Vanderbilt vs Alabama and Miami vs Florida State. While many of the best teams in the nation shined, we also saw a few players and programs deliver awful performances this weekend.
Let’s dive into our list of the worst performances across college football today.
Related: Week 7 College Football Rankings
Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels
It’s one thing to lose all three of your games by 28-plus points; it’s another for them to all occur on national television. The North Carolina Tar Heels went all-in on Bill Belichick this offseason, allowing him to vastly overpay his staff—who were in over their heads—and bring the Jordon Hudson drama with him. At this point, what’s happened to North Carolina can only be described as humiliation. Clemson led 35-3 at halftime before mercifully taking its foot off the Tar Heels’ neck. Keep in mind, the Tigers were 1-3 coming into Week 6. This team doesn’t look well-coached, and Belichick’s transfer portal acquisitions have been swings and misses. Belichick now has as many 25-point losses this season as North Carolina had in its previous 76 games. The public humiliation will likely continue next Saturday against Cal on ESPN.
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Coaches 2025, including Bill Belichick
Bill O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles
The Bill Belichick coaching pipeline didn’t enjoy college football today. It had already been a rough season for Bill O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles, who entered Week 6 with a 1-3 record. To put this one-sided 48-7 thrashing into greater perspective, O’Brien gave three different quarterbacks a chance on Saturday, and freshman Shaker Reisig was the only one to put up numbers in garbage time. If you take out that 80-yard touchdown drive at the end of the game versus Pittsburgh’s backups, the Eagles’ offense mustered just 136 total yards on 11 drives, with five three-and-outs and three turnovers. Oh, the Panthers also put up 503 total yards against Boston College’s defense.
Diego Pavia Proves All Talk, No Action at Alabama
If you’re going to talk trash, back it up. Diego Pavia did the opposite of that in Tuscaloosa. The Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback turned it over twice in the red zone, with Alabama responding by scoring on both of the following drives. The Vanderbilt Commodores quarteback also underthrew some critical throws, ensuring that Vandy had no chance of coming back late in this game.
Related: Winners, Losers from Alabama Crimson Tide’s Win over Vanderbilt
Penn State Nittany Lions Defense Implodes in Loss to UCLA
Entering Week 6, quarterback Nico Iamaleava ranked 43rd nationally in ESPN QBR (70.3), and the UCLA Bruins averaged just 14.3 points per game. Somehow, the Penn State Nittany Lions defense found a way to surrender 42 points and 435 total yards to UCLA, with Iamaleava posting a 97.5 ESPN QBR (out of 100) and delivering 5 total touchdowns with 128 rushing yards. The Nittany Lions finally got a solid performance from Drew Allar and, inexplicably, Penn State’s defense delivered one of its worst performances—perhaps ever.
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Coordinators, including Penn State’s Jim Knowles
Arch Manning is Shaping Up to be a Historic Bust
Rightfully, amid all of the criticism and mockery of Arch Manning’s struggles, blame for the Texas Longhorns quarterback being grossly overhyped didn’t fall on Manning nor his family. Although, the young quarterback taunting a Sam Houston State player and then laying an egg in his first SEC road game feels appropriate. Manning isn’t entirely to blame for his dreadful performance, especially given the Longhorns’ offensive line allowed 7 tackles for loss and 6 sacks, but he missed a lot of wide-open receivers and made plenty of bad decisions. Texas looks like a team that will lose to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and Texas A&M, and Manning’s issues are a big reason why.
- Arch Manning stats vs Florida (ESPN): 16-of-29, 263 passing yards, 2-2 TD-INT, 9.1 ypa
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Players 2025, including Arch Manning
Boise State’s Maddux Madsen Proves to be Ashton Jeanty Merchant
Maddux Madsen is showing why Ashton Jeanty received 397 touches last season. The Boise State Broncos quarterback was picked off four times on Saturday versus Notre Dame, completing as many passes to defensive players as he did to his leading receiver. Madsen can put up numbers against weaker competition (Appalachian State and Eastern Washington), but that’s a relatively low bar to clear.
Kaidon Salter Ensures Colorado Buffaloes’ QB Carousel Continues
If you have three quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks. Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders already benched Kaidon Salter once this season. It’s fair to say he might do it again following one of the Buffaloes’ more challenging performances in recent years. Salter threw three interceptions in a game where Colorado’s run game and defense kept it fairly close for a while against TCU. While we don’t know what quarterback Julian Lewis is showing the coaching staff in practice, it seems reasonable at this point to explore what he can do in game action because Salter has yet to consistently perform at the level expected of a Power 4 quarterback.
Florida State Seminoles Offense’s Ball Secuirty
The Seminoles had the best offense in college football entering Week 6. Through four games, Florida State averaged 53 points and 600 total yards per game. It looked like this unit ran into a wall on Saturday night versus Miami. A big part of the problem was Florida State’s inability to protect the football. Castellanos was picked off twice, Ousmane Kromah lost a fumble and Duce Robinson also had a fumble (recovered). Those giveaways put this team in an early hole, taking away the ability to stick with avin Sawchuk and the run game. Maybe the late life Castellanos showed, especially on fourth downs, will provide a little spark for next week.
Related: Winners, Losers from Miami Hurricanes vs Florida State Seminoles
