Week 1 has officially come and gone, and there has already been plenty of shakeups and surprises throughout the landscape. There will undoubtedly be even more of that in the weeks to come as the action continues in Week 2 with many more intriguing matchups.
But, ahead of that slate, here’s a look into the top five games from Week 1 of the 2024 college football season that caught our attention:
Related: Top 3 college football games to Watch in Week 2
1. USC 27, LSU 20
No game was more entertaining and came down to the wire quite like the matchup between the Tigers and the Trojans.
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Quarterback performance was a huge storyline in this one with two largely inexperienced passers in Miller Moss and Garrett Nussmeier who both looked beyond their years in Week 1. Nussmeier, previously referred to as a “gunslinger” seemed to be much more in control during the game, and Moss’ abilities shown as a pure passer as a mental perspective exceeded the expectations considering the amount of reps he’s gotten under his belt.
This served as a solid opening test for LSU to figure out what it needs to do to get better as a football team and showed USC to be one of the nation’s most underrated teams.
Also Read: USC Trojans Football Commits 2025 Tracker
2. Tennessee 69, Chattanooga 3
This wasn’t a close game by any means, but what was turning heads and kept people tuned in was the sheer dominance of Nico Iamaleava’s performance. He was a highly touted recruit and had earned a lot of hype ahead of the season, but it’s hard to truly quantify the potential of a prospect until he’s seen real-game action at the college level.
It seems as if the national media had almost forgotten about Tennessee to an extent ahead of the season, but it’s all eyes on the Volunteers until further notice after the way they showed out in the season opener. Iamaleava finished out the game 22-for-28 passing, throwing for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns.
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3. Penn State 34, West Virginia 12
The West Virginia defense and a nearly 2 1/2 hour rain delay did not stop the Nittany Lions from rolling without any real loss of momentum into a dominant victory on the road in Morgantown.
Drew Allar put on one of the most impressive quarterback performances of the week, completing 11 of his 17 passing attempts for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns.
4. Notre Dame 23, Texas A&M 13
So much for the Conner Weigman hype train… at least for now. After many analysts advertised Weigman as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate and one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, the Aggies passer could not have fallen flatten as he connected on 12 of his 30 passing attempts for 100 yards without a touchdown, but with a pair of interceptions.
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Quarterback Riley Leonard and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were the far more impressive team as the former Notre Dame quarterback made a statement, completing 13 of his 30 passing attempts for 158 yards, also carrying the ball 12 times for 63 yards against his former head coach.
The Fighting Irish have set the tone for what is to come moving forward and will look to remain steady throughout the season.
5. Georgia 34, Clemson 3
If there was any doubt that Georgia was the best college football team in the nation, there is not anymore. It looked like it was either team’s game in what seemed at first to be a strong defensive effort from both sides defensively. But, in reality, all the Bulldogs really needed to do was to make some halftime adjustments that made all the difference.
Georgia couldn’t be stopped as it went on a 28-3 run, with Beck both managing the game well and showing just how accurate of a passer he is at all levels of the field. He finished the contest 23-for-33 passing, throwing for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Crissy Froyd covers college football for Sportsnaut.com Follow on XÂ @crissy_froyd
