SI:AM | Six College Football People to Watch in Week 1

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I seriously can’t believe that three of the 21 four-homer games in MLB history have come this season. Eugenio Suárez did it in April, Nick Kurtz did it last month and then Kyle Schwarber just joined the club last night.

In today’s SI:AM:
🧀 What Parsons brings to the Packers
🤠 Why Jerry needs to go
⭕ How OSU became QBU

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What to watch in Week 1

After easing into the new college football season with the bite-sized Week Zero slate and a larger handful of Thursday night games, the season really gets started this Saturday. You’ve got your typical superpower vs. cupcake tuneup games (like No. 7 Oregon vs. Montana State), but there are also some high-profile matchups on offer. Here are a few of the folks who you should expect to make headlines in Week 1.

Lee Corso – ESPN commentator

Just before noon ET on Saturday, Corso will put on the mascot head for the final time. Will it be Brutus Buckeye or Hook ’Em?

Corso has defined the college football viewing experience for nearly 40 years as the energetic, entertaining heart and soul of ESPN’s College GameDay. Saturday’s show in Columbus before the showdown between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State will be the final broadcast of the 90-year-old’s career.

Corso’s weekly mascot head pick is one of the greatest gimmicks in American sports television history—a signature moment that Corso turned into a must-watch event every week. Though his health has slowed him down in recent years, Corso’s status as a college football icon is undeniable.

Bill Belichick – North Carolina coach

This is really happening, huh? After months of generating headlines (mostly for non-football reasons), Belichick will finally take to the sidelines for his first game in charge of the Tar Heels.

It’s a weird situation. Belichick is 73. The last time he spent significant time on a college campus was in 1975, when he graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He went 4–13 in his last season coaching the Patriots. All anyone wants to talk about is his 24-year-old girlfriend/business partner/PR rep.

But there’s a football game to be played, and there’s nowhere for Belichick and UNC to hide if it goes sideways. The Tar Heels are set to play TCU at home on Monday night (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in the traditional standalone Labor Day game. The Horned Frogs are the betting favorite (-3.5).

Jeremiah Smith – Ohio State wide receiver

Texas quarterback Arch Manning is drawing all the attention in the top-ranked Longhorns’ showdown with No. 3 Ohio State, but the best player on the field might be on the other sideline.

Smith was otherworldly last season, leading the Big Ten with 1,315 receiving yards and 15 touchdown receptions, both FBS records for a true freshman. If he was able to do that just one year removed from high school, imagine what he’ll be able to do with the benefit of having already dominated the college level.

Smith will be catching passes from a new quarterback, with former five-star recruit Julian Sayin taking over for the graduated Will Howard, and Sayin has to feel good about having a reliable target like Smith to help him ease into the starting role.

It’ll also be a chance at redemption for Smith, who was held to just one catch for three yards in Ohio State’s playoff semifinal win over Texas last season.

Jeremiyah Love – Notre Dame running back

If Notre Dame is going to challenge for the national title again after losing to Ohio State last season, a win on the road against a No. 10 Miami team in the season opener will look pretty good on the playoff résumé come December.

Riley Leonard, Notre Dame’s hard-nosed quarterback, has gone pro, but the Irish still have their star running back: Jeremiyah Love. Leonard did a lot of running last season, but so did Love. He ran for 17 touchdowns, making him one of only eight running backs in FBS to do so, and ranked 10th in the nation with 6.9 yards per carry.

With the Irish breaking in a new quarterback (redshirt freshman CJ Carr, the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr), a strong running game will be extra important.

Garrett Nussmeier – LSU quarterback

The other top-10 clash features No. 9 LSU traveling on the road to face No. 4 Clemson in a matchup of quarterbacks who could be first-round picks in next year’s NFL draft: Nussmeier of LSU and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik. Both are also among the early favorites for the Heisman Trophy.

The pressure will be higher for Nussmeier, having to go on the road against a really good Clemson team. Nussmeier wasn’t great in road games last season, throwing five touchdown passes and four interceptions in four games. (The Tigers went 2–2 in those games.) Interceptions were Nussmeier’s Achilles’ heel last season. He threw 12 of them, the most in the SEC and tied for fifth most in FBS. Clemson, meanwhile, had one of the best pass defenses in the nation last season, ranking 17th in opponent completion percentage (56.3%). Nussmeier can make a major statement about LSU’s ceiling this season and his own pro draft stock with a good performance in a tough environment on Saturday night.

Hunter Watson – Sam Houston quarterback

UNLV’s game against Sam Houston is suddenly a lot more interesting after the Rebels survived a close call against Idaho State in Week Zero. UNLV’s supposedly talent-laden roster full of power-conference transfers didn’t come close to living up to the hype in a 38–31 comeback win over the FCS-level Bengals. Now, the Rebels have to face a Sam Houston team that entered the season with Conference USA title hopes. The betting markets initially had UNLV favored by 13.5 points, but the spread has moved to UNLV -9.5 after the Rebels’ opening dud.

The Bearkats dropped their season opener to Western Kentucky in Week Zero, but Watson played well, completing 19 of 30 pass attempts for 209 yards with one interception. He also ran the ball 14 times for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Watson is in his second season as the Bearkats’ starter after having led the team to a 10–3 finish in 2024. He was one of only 14 quarterbacks to total at least 1,800 passing yards and 600 rushing yards last year. Now he gets to face a UNLV team that just got torched by Idaho State to the tune of 555 total yards.

The best of Sports Illustrated

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The top five…

… plays in college football last night:
5. A frantic scramble by Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula for a touchdown.
4. Cameron Pettaway’s kickoff return touchdown on the first play of Bowling Green’s season. The very same thing happened on Bowling Green’s first play last season.
3. All these broken tackles by USF quarterback Byrum Brown.
2. Nyziah Hunter’s toe-tap touchdown catch for Nebraska just before halftime.
1. Michigan Tech offensive lineman Rowland Ball’s heads-up play to help running back Jake Rueff stay on his feet. Rueff never touched the ground and was able to keep running for a touchdown.