A look at the best team in Colorado: The Air Force Falcons
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Just outside Denver, in the Front Range Urban Corridor, the best college football team in Colorado is flying under the radar.
At the Air Force Academy, that is usually by design. The capability is a state secret.
In this context, though, success leads to visibility. Off to the best start by a service academy in more than two decades and carrying the nation’s fourth-longest winning streak (11), No. 22 Air Force (6-0) opens its defense of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy against Navy on Saturday (noon ET, CBS) as the top-ranked Group of 5 team in the country.
“We’ve always said if we go undefeated and win the conference, but we lose the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and we lose against one of the service academies, it’s a wasted year,” said senior linebacker Bo Richter. “We want to go out and dominate every week, but these games [against Army and Navy] just mean so much more.”
This year, the stakes are raised. The usual ramifications exist, but with each win, the Falcons inch closer toward the possibility of claiming the Group of 5’s New Year’s Six bowl berth — an accomplishment that would stand as one of the most significant by a service academy in college football’s modern era.
If it seems as if the Falcons have come out of nowhere to their current perch, it should not. They are the only Group of 5 team to win at least 10 games in the past three full seasons (2019, 2021, 2022) and one of just seven at the FBS level. Only Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan have better winning percentages over those seasons.
If it seems improbable, that checks out. Air Force’s elevated success in recent years has come despite a confluence of events that seemingly should have made winning more difficult.
In an era when teams reload and fill holes through the transfer portal, Air Force cannot. While other schools can attract talent with even modest name, image and likeness benefits, Air Force cadets are not eligible for the same. This year, the NCAA adopted a rule change in the name of player safety that had an outsized impact on the triple-option offenses employed only by the service academies. Even the U.S. Congress passed a law in December that, after this season, will eliminate the opportunity for service academy graduates to defer their service requirements and pursue professional sports.
Given all of that, it’s hard to make sense of Air Force’s incredible run.
“I don’t know if you can, if you just leave it unfiltered,” said coach Troy Calhoun, the former Air Force player in his 17th year as his alma mater’s head coach. “It might not make sense.”
FOR CALHOUN, GAME WEEKS against Army and Navy always present a unique dynamic.
“What resonates so strongly is you have players on both teams that are going to go serve,” he said. “You don’t get along for those three hours, but in a much bigger picture, holy cow, you just never know where you could be. All over the world, we’re really joined at the hip, and you don’t know if that’s going to be in the Middle East or if that’s in Korea or wherever that may be. That’s the reality of this game more than anything else.”
Roughly seven years ago, Calhoun went on a coach’s tour to visit troops overseas. There were multiple stops in Europe and the Middle East. At Ramstein Air Base in Germany, he was greeted by current Air Force defensive assistant Anthony Wright. At Aviano Air Base in Italy, he ran into former players who were flying F-16 fighter jets. And in Bahrain he saw an old nemesis: former Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who set the NCAA record for touchdown runs by a quarterback in 2009 (27).
“We wanted to beat him so bad,” Calhoun said. “But when you go interact with the human being, your thought is, ‘I’m so glad this guy is on our side.'”
All three service academies face similar challenges. It’s hard enough, anywhere in college football, to piece together enough good players to be competitive. Adding the additional obligation of military service, plus demanding academic and physical obligations on top of football has a way of thinning out the talent pool.
“That’s hard to find,” Calhoun said. “And then you want somebody who can make a play in the open field on Saturdays, too.”
The barriers to entry have always been steep. Few high school players enter the recruiting process with a future military career in mind. The dream of an NFL career is exponentially more prevalent, and for many of those kids, the thought of signing with Air Force, Army or Navy can represent an admission that it is unlikely to come true.
In 2019, a policy change removed the requirement for service academy graduates to spend two years on active duty before they were allowed to pursue a career in professional sports. Instead, they were able to seek a waiver to defer their service and pursue professional sports immediately after graduation.
The way Calhoun saw it, the waiver system made sense. It didn’t mean anyone was getting out of their service obligation, only that in some cases it would be delayed. In theory, it allowed the academies to recruit more ambitious future leaders, which, at their cores, is what the academies are all about.
However, last year a congressional bill reversed the 2019 decision, reestablishing the two-year service requirement, although it did retain the waiver option for players through the current senior class.
“We’re waiting to see [what happens], and, candidly, I think that would be a mistake for our country [to reinstitute the two-year waiting period],” Calhoun said. “If they were to go play in the NFL, it’s the rarest of the rare, but if you went for two or three years, you’re still going to serve a good number of years on active duty or in the reserves.
“Why would we deter that? Why would we want to take somebody that’s maybe looking at Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice and the academies? We want that person. If they have those intangibles, the drive, the unity, the ability to build teamwork. We want them.”
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receivers coach Chad Hall was a standout running back and receiver at Air Force 2005-2007, and for the two years after graduation, he described himself as “the most boring 22-to-24-year-old you’ve ever met.”
That’s what it took to keep his NFL dream alive. Hall worked in aircraft maintenance after graduation.
“All I would do is wake up at 4 a.m., go to work, finish work, go train, go to sleep, wake up, do it all over again,” Hall said. “I didn’t take any leave during those two years just in case I had the opportunity to get into an [NFL] camp, I could take leave.”
When the opportunity arrived, he was ready. After Hall attended a pro day in Salt Lake City in March 2010, the Philadelphia Eagles signed him a few days later.
“For those next, really, two months, I flew to Philly on Sunday night, had practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Flew back Thursday on the 1:30 flight, landed in Salt Lake City, went straight to work,” Hall said. “Worked a half-day Thursday, got up, worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday until my flight and then flew back. I had leave saved up where I was able to take some days off, and my [Air Force] leadership was working with me.”
He went on to spend parts of five seasons in the NFL with the Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs and Jaguars.
For several current Air Force seniors, the possibility of making an immediate attempt at an NFL career while the rules still permit it is intriguing.
“I think I’m going to do it,” said Richter, who leads the team with 7.5 tackles for loss and will graduate as part of the winningest class in school history. “I know Trey Taylor, our safety is definitely going to try to do it. I wouldn’t be surprised if John Eldridge, our running back does it. There’s a lot of guys that are going to try to make that opportunity for themselves.”
Before Austin Cutting (2019) and Jordan Jackson (2022), it had been 20 years since an Air Force player was selected in the NFL draft. No one has been selected earlier than the sixth round.
AFTER LEADING THE nation in rushing yards the past three seasons, Air Force again ranks No. 1. The Falcons’ average (334.2) is nearly 60 yards more than Liberty‘s (274.6), the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense.
This comes despite an NCAA rule that was adopted in the offseason that prevents blocking below the waist when outside the tackle box, something Calhoun felt targeted the service academies.
“I mean, it had to be. Let’s be real here,” Calhoun said. “I am a full believer in player safety, and I don’t think this was a player safety item. I think part of it was there’s a style of play that you didn’t want to encounter. … The service academy part of it, I think that was a factor.”
Army coach Jeff Monken was so spooked by the perceived impact the rule change would have on the triple-option flexbone offense that he instituted wholesale changes in the offseason to include more snaps from the shotgun and more passing. After averaging 8.2 pass attempts per game over the past five seasons, the Black Knights are throwing the ball 16.2 times per game this year.
For the Falcons, there has been no noticeable difference. Only once in the past 20 years have they averaged more yards per carry (2011), and they’ve never averaged fewer penalties per game (2.67) in that same span than this year.
Part of the offense’s success this season is a credit to the emergence of first-year starting quarterback Zac Larrier, the former Mountain West Conference 200-meter track champion, who is second on the team with 473 yards rushing. However, the Falcons will be without Larrier, a senior, against Navy — and for the foreseeable future — after he injured a knee in the 34-27 win against Wyoming on Saturday.
Larrier was replaced in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys by senior Jensen Jones, who proceeded to lose fumbles on back-to-back snaps before later icing the game with a 14-yard run.
“I wouldn’t say [losing Larrier] really impacts us a lot,” center Thor Paglialong said. “Zac, Jensen, Ben [Brittain], they’ve all been taking reps, so we’re confident with whoever we put back there.”
It helps that the Air Force defense ranks No. 9 nationally in scoring (14.7 PPG), and although that number is impacted by the fewer possessions in game dictated by Air Force’s offensive approach, the Falcons still rank No. 9 among Group of 5 schools in points allowed per drive (1.6).
Only Oregon and LSU average more points per drive in the FBS than the Falcons (3.84), who are one of just four teams to score touchdowns on at least 50% of their offensive drives this season.
Without the option to add players through the transfer portal, Air Force — the same goes for Army and Navy — has become even more of an outlier. Perhaps that’s a strength. It would partially help explain how Air Force is winning in the face of disadvantages.
“Coach Calhoun said this a couple weeks ago, but we don’t get ready-made guys,” Richter said. “We develop talent here. That’s so true. You see coaches ID a guy they want and say, ‘That’s the guy who is going to be the future of this position.’ Then you see them pour into these guys and see them blossom.”
At 6-0, there’s a temptation for Air Force to look ahead. Going to the Peach Bowl to play, say, Alabama carries a lot more intrigue than the Mountain West’s best bowl bid to play a midtier Pac-12 team in Los Angeles at the end of the year.
Recently, Richter overheard a teammate talking about how they could go undefeated. He shut it down quickly.
“It’s cool that we’re 6-0, but no one is going to remember that Air Force was 6-0 halfway through the season if you lose three games and go 10-3,” Richter said. “Nobody would care.”
At least that’s the case in these Rocky Mountains parts.
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Bill Connelly
The 2025 college football season opened in earnest with incredible weather in most locales (Lubbock, Texas, aside), exciting and jam-packed environments … and very few points. No one topped 17 points in either of Saturday’s top-10 matchups, FBS teams averaged only 23.5 points per game against other FBS teams, and throughout the country, rebuilt offensive lines and new quarterbacks seemed at a disadvantage against rebuilt defenses.
What did we learn about how 2025 will play out? Not a ton. The season doesn’t end for almost four more months, after all. As LSU coach Brian Kelly said to ESPN’s Molly McGrath after his Tigers’ win over Clemson, the only statement his team made Saturday night was “that we got to 1-0. I mean, this is a long season. This is a journey, and this wasn’t our destination. We have to play better … but that’s why I love playing games like this, on the road, against a top-five team. It just gets you better for the rest of the season.”
Kelly is right, of course. But that’s absolutely no fun. From Thursday evening through Monday night, there were so many games and a lot to react to. It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t let ourselves overreact a bit. We might even be right about a thing or two!
I’m not a “hot takes” person by nature, but Week 1 is the perfect time to fire off a few. So from Arch Manning, Bill Belichick and Alabama having really bad times to Tulane and Iowa State looking like playoff teams and Jonah Coleman looking like a Heisman contender, here are some (perhaps foolish) overreactions to everything we just saw.
Arch stinks! Matt Patricia for the Broyles Award!
OK, there might be a little hyperbole there. But it’s like Saturday’s Texas–Ohio State game — a 14-7 win for the defending national champs over the visiting Longhorns — was designed in a lab to maximize the potential takes emanating from it. New Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia looked like the greatest defensive coach in the history of the sport, and new Texas starting quarterback Arch Manning, after an offseason of limitless hype, laid an egg on national television.
First things first: My apologies to Chip Ferguson. In the intro to my Friday preview column, I referenced the 1988 Florida State-Miami game, in which preseason No. 1 FSU entered the game as just four-point favorites over the defending national champions — the narrowest point-spread for a preseason No. 1 since at least 1978 — and got rocked by the Canes 31-0. Ferguson started for FSU and was benched by the third quarter because of poor play, and I mentioned that Manning would almost assuredly clear the Ferguson bar.
He did. Barely.
Ferguson vs. Miami (1988): 10-for-16 for 121 yards and two interceptions — 101.0 passer rating
Manning vs. Ohio State (2025): 17-for-30 for 170 yards, one TD and one INT — 108.6 passer rating
Manning completed three passes for 65 yards late in the fourth quarter in Texas’ lone TD drive of the game. That allowed him to narrowly clear the bar. But it was about the only one he cleared. Manning was nervous and inaccurate for large portions of Saturday’s affair, and when he had time to look for an open receiver, none came open. With Ohio State’s all-world safety Caleb Downs lurking in the back, leading returning receivers DeAndre Moore Jr. and Ryan Wingo combined to catch four of 12 passes for 41 yards, and the Buckeyes secondary blanketed Manning’s options.
I got a lot of mileage out of the “Matt Patricia hasn’t been successful in a job since 2016” line this offseason — what can I say, I enjoyed saying it — but any time I said it, I also acknowledged that it might turn out that nothing but raw talent matters. Ohio State clearly has a lot of that.
I couldn’t tell if Patricia was doing anything impressive schematically; all I knew for sure was, wherever Manning and Texas looked for a matchup advantage, they failed to find one. It seemed like they thought they’d run the ball behind their interior line, and they created some rushing efficiency overall, but they got stuffed on fourth-and-short twice, including once on fourth-and-goal from the OSU 1. And wherever Manning was looking downfield, he rarely saw what he wanted. He was forced to check down repeatedly: Only five of his 17 completions gained double-digit yardage, and when he tried to force the issue in the third quarter, his pass was picked off by Jermaine Matthews Jr.
There are quite a few differences between coaching at the pro and collegiate levels, but the biggest one might be that, at the right school, you can lean heavily on talent advantages than you can in the pros and put players where they need to be to exploit those advantages. What we saw Saturday certainly suggests Ohio State will have massive advantages over just about any offense it will face over the next three months.
The major question for the Buckeyes, at this point, is what advantages will they find on offense? Because, for as poor as Texas’ offense might have been Saturday, it was the more successful unit of the two.
Total yards: Texas 336, OSU 203
Yards per play: Texas 5.0, OSU 3.8
Success rate: Texas 43.3%, OSU 33.3%
First downs: Texas 16, OSU 11
Ohio State won because its defense stopped Texas inside the OSU 10 and forced the game’s only turnover. The Buckeyes offense finished only two drives inside the Texas 40, running backs CJ Donaldson Jr. and James Peoples averaged just 3.0 yards per carry, and in his first collegiate start, Julian Sayin went just 13-for-20 for 126 yards. Jeremiah Smith, the No. 1 player heading into the season, caught six of 10 balls for just 43 yards, and Carnell Tate‘s 40-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter was very well timed and OSU’s only gain of more than 16 yards all game.
Neither of these teams is a finished product, and with both teams’ overall inexperience, especially on offense, it will take a while for them to become their finished versions. But while I billed this game as a fantastic opportunity to answer a lot of my questions about these two teams, I think I finished the game with more questions than when I started.
I was wrong about Alabama
The most disappointing thing about Alabama’s performance Saturday wasn’t quarterback Ty Simpson, though he wasn’t good enough (4.9 yards per dropback and as many negative plays as 20-yard gains). It wasn’t receiver Ryan Williams dropping multiple passes and catching just five of 11 targets for 30 yards. It wasn’t an experienced offensive line that I thought would hold the biggest advantage in the ballgame, but it did no such thing. It wasn’t even a Bama secondary that gave up a couple of big plays to speedy receivers Squirrel White and Jaylin Lucas. That stuff happens.
The most disappointing thing about the Tide’s performance in Tallahassee was how totally unprepared they looked.
Felt like old times tonight!! 🍢
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) August 30, 2025
When FSU’s Mike Norvell hired Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator and brought former Malzahn recruit Tommy Castellanos aboard to run the offense, it was fair to make a few assumptions about how things would go. Malzahn has built lots of fun rushing attacks around mobile quarterbacks through the years, and Castellanos is similar to Kyler Murray with his legs and running style (and very much not like Murray with his arm). It was easy to craft a vision of a motion-friendly FSU offense occasionally utilizing misdirection and giving Castellanos freedom to run and make things happen.
FSU drove 75, 65 and 52 yards and scored 17 points in its first three drives, then began the second half with a 68-yard TD drive. The progress slowed from there, but the Noles uncorked a 10-play, 75-yard drive to ice the win midway through the fourth quarter. Castellanos rushed for 86 yards, and five FSU ball carriers had at least one 10-yard rush. (Micahi Danzy had gains of 26 and 32 yards among his three carries.) When Castellanos was at Boston College last season, opponents quickly learned that, instead of attempting to sack him when he dropped to pass, it was best to corral him and force him to make plays with his arm. It was as if Bama’s defenders hadn’t watched any film. Time and again, they flew in for the sack, only to see him spin away and make a play with his legs.
Almost everyone on the Bama offense — including a few somewhat known players like Williams, who is expected to make big contributions this year — performed poorly, aside from receiver Germie Bernard and tight end Josh Cuevas (though even they combined to catch only 11 of 21 passes). But when the defense was getting bullied and Bama needed its offensive stars to keep up, they instead disappeared for swaths of time. FSU went 7-for-14 (50%) on third and fourth downs, while Bama went only 8-for-22 (36%), and though the Tide looked like they might come back from down 17 points, they never got the ball with a chance to tie.
My general approach to Bama heading into this season was pretty simple: If Simpson is good, Bama is great. Coach Kalen DeBoer’s pre-Bama track record was almost flawless, and I thought if Simpson was solid and the pass rush improved a little, the Tide would have everything they needed. But neither Simpson nor Bama’s pass rushers (in either sacks or containment) performed well enough, and the units I wasn’t concerned about also failed to come through. It was an all-around dud, starting with the coaching staff, and it’s not like they lacked motivation. This is a long season, and the Tide have time to recover. But it takes your GPA a while to rebound from an F on the first test of the semester.
This section is primarily about Bama, but Castellanos & Co. deserve massive praise. They made the Tide look unprepared. I’m still not sure what to expect from the Seminoles in 2025, and I still have the memory of Castellanos running out of steam after a lovely start to 2024. The crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium was loud enough to almost drown out Joe Tessitore on the TV call, and the team looked like it had all the motivation it lacked last season. And when you’re already 50% to last year’s win total after one game, you’re doing something right.
I was right about Clemson (and Miami is winning the ACC)
As questionable as it may have been to buy lots of Bama stock this offseason, I certainly felt justified in not buying Clemson stock. The Tigers led the nation in returning production in 2025 and were extremely likely to improve, but I struggled with the idea that a team that has averaged an 18.5 SP+ ranking and 3.5 losses per season over the past four years could suddenly become a top-five team, as poll voters suggested.
Clemson is obviously talented and will threaten to win the ACC this year. But a 17-10 home loss to LSU on Saturday night certainly threw doubt on the Tigers’ supposed top-five bona fides.
The Clemson run defense, a liability in 2024 despite loads of blue-chippers on the line, was mostly solid Saturday. Of course, the visiting Tigers were terribly inefficient on the ground last season, and LSU’s Caden Durham and Zavion Thomas still combined for 100 yards in 20 carries. Still, when you hold LSU — a team that hasn’t ranked in the defensive SP+ top 20 since 2019 — to 17 points, you should like your chances, and the experienced Clemson offense simply couldn’t move the ball. Only two of Clemson’s 58 snaps gained more than 20 yards, and half gained one or fewer. And with the game in the balance, Cade Klubnik‘s final 14 dropbacks netted 47 yards and a dreadful 14.3% success rate. Clemson has now lost its past seven games against ranked SEC foes.
Like any other Week 1 disappointment, the Tigers obviously have time to rebound and grow. But the whole point of buying stock in a team with actual experience — as opposed to all the highly ranked teams with major continuity and/or experience issues heading into 2025 — was that it would be pretty fully formed when the season began. The Tigers might not have that much room to grow, and within the ACC they now have to worry about a Miami team that actually has its act together.
Well, maybe. Miami looked really good to start 2024, too, so we know it can backfire to fully buy in on the Hurricanes. But with a 27-24 win over Notre Dame on Sunday night, they scored their first victory over a top-10 team in nine tries and nearly eight years. The Miami offense fell into a second-half funk as the Irish came back from 14 down to tie the game, but Georgia transfer Carson Beck threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns, North Dakota State transfer CharMar Brown moved the chains twice in short yardage on Miami’s final drive, and Carter Davis‘ 47-yard field goal provided the winning points. And against what is supposed to be an excellent Notre Dame offensive line, Miami sacked CJ Carr twice on the Irish’s final possession.
It was an excellent start against what is, on paper, the best team Miami will face in the regular season. LSU transfer CJ Daniels and freshman Malachi Toney combined for 11 catches, 128 yards and 2 touchdowns, including the single best play of Week 1. And at the very least, Miami erased the bitter taste from its poor 2024 finish.
0:59
CJ Daniels makes jaw-dropping 1-handed TD grab for Miami
CJ Daniels goes full extension for a one-handed touchdown grab to put Miami up late in the first half.
Rapid-fire overreactions
The big games were the big games, but we had so much else to overreact to. Here are some quicker takes:
A defensive player is winning the Heisman
Don’t ask me which one, though if Ohio State let Caleb Downs line up on offense a few times, I think we might have our answer. But some defender needs to get on a roll because offenses stunk in Week 1 — OK, some didn’t, but go with me here — and there has never been a better chance for an Ndamukong Suh-like charge from a defender (only, with the proper respect from Heisman voters this time).
Indeed, all the major offensive measures are down compared to where they were this time last year. In Week 1 of last season, in FBS vs. FBS games, teams averaged 2.11 points per drive and 5.52 yards per play; this year it was 1.9 points per drive and 5.4 yards per play. Efficiency numbers actually improved — success rate rose from 40.6% to 41.2%, completion rate rose from 61.0% to 61.3%, sack rates fell from 6.0% to 5.1% and overall turnover rates improved slightly from 2.0% to 1.7%.
So what’s the problem? Big plays vanished: The percentage of completions gaining at least 20 yards fell from 16.3% to 14.7%, and despite the uptick in completion rate (and the downtick in sacks), average yards per dropback fell from 6.4 to 6.0. You know how pro defenses adapted to force Patrick Mahomes to settle for checkdown after checkdown because they were basically forming an umbrella at the back? It appears college defenses are doing the same thing. They’re forcing quarterbacks — who, on average, are less experienced than in recent years — to dink and dunk and score points before making a crippling error or coming up short on third down. It’s working.
Somehow, scoring plummeted in Week 1 even as coaches got much more aggressive on fourth down. Or perhaps because of it. Teams went for it on fourth down in opposition territory 44.0% of the time in Week 1 (again, looking only at FBS vs. FBS games), up from 33.1% in Week 1 last year. And despite this increase, fourth-down conversion rates also went up, from 49.6% to 54.7%.
Coaches increasingly understand when going for it is to their advantage, but might that be further tamping down their willingness to take shots downfield, since it’s now more OK to come up just short of the line to gain and utilize fourth downs? “Nerds ruined college football” is quite the overreaction, especially coming from a nerd, but consider that food for thought as we advance further into the season.
At one point Saturday, the Under was 17-3 for the weekend; it ended up 29-14 (67.4%), a solid improvement over last year’s 26-16 (61.9%) in Week 1. Offenses eventually picked up steam a bit in 2024, and they probably will this season too. But damn, were points hard to come by this weekend.
Iowa State is winning the Big 12
ISU and Kansas State returned from Ireland just a few days ago, and both scheduled Week 1 games against FCS opponents. Perhaps somewhat predictably, K-State had to labor significantly against both jet lag and a solid North Dakota team, but against South Dakota, a top-five FCS team on paper, Matt Campbell’s Cyclones cruised.
Projected to win by 21.4 per SP+, they rolled 55-7. Rocco Becht completed 19 of 20 passes for 278 yards and 3 scores, and after giving up 80 yards in 12 plays on USD’s opening drive, the Cyclones allowed just 129 from there. Kicker Kyle Konrardy crushed a 63-yard field goal at the end of the first half.
ISU couldn’t have been more dialed in, and though plenty of other potential Big 12 teams looked the part — especially TCU (def. North Carolina 48-14), Utah (def. UCLA 43-10), Arizona (40-6 over Hawaii), BYU (69-0 over Portland State) and Texas Tech (67-7 over Arkansas-Pine Bluff) — the Cyclones passed a particularly unique test and blew me away.
The kids are alright
For as much as QBs seemed to struggle in Week 1, some particularly young ones looked the part of future stars. Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, the most touted freshman in the country, was solid in his debut against New Mexico, weathering a couple of mini-funks and finishing 21-for-31 for 251 yards and a touchdown. But a couple of others did even better.
No one made more of an out-of-the-gate impression than Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. In Cal’s surprisingly easy 34-15 win at Oregon State, the blue-chipper completed his first nine passes for 146 yards and 2 scores and finished with 234 yards and 3 TDs, no sacks and 2 rushes for 30 yards. It was one of the more poised and mistake-free debuts from a true freshman.
Maryland’s Malik Washington went about similar numbers differently: He started 3-for-11 for 19 yards, and the Terrapins were tied with Florida Atlantic 7-7 after one quarter. But from there, he went 24-for-32 and threw three touchdown passes in a 39-7 romp.
Thanks to offseason attrition, Cal and Maryland were forced to undergo youth movements of sorts, handing the reins to youngsters and hoping they could get enough help from transfers and random incumbents to get by. Both more than got by in Week 1.
While we’re at it, a couple of redshirt freshmen looked outstanding at the Group of 5 level: North Texas’ Drew Mestemaker went 24-for-32 for 329 yards, 3 touchdowns and 30 non-sack rushing yards in a 51-0 blowout of Lamar, while Texas State’s Brad Jackson, with help from a rampant run game, went 18-for-26 for 214 yards and 4 TDs (plus 57 rushing yards) as the Bobcats rolled 52-27 over Eastern Michigan. Quality quarterbacking was rare in Week 1, but these teams found plenty of it with youngsters.
Tulane to the CFP
A football game lasts a long time. About 45 minutes or so into the USF–Boise State game Thursday evening, things had loosely gone as BSU would have hoped. Sure, the Broncos had lost a costly fumble at the USF 20 on the opening drive, but they were moving the ball efficiently, and USF was not. Boise State had a 46% success rate to USF’s 10%, and the Bulls’ first nine snaps had lost 10 yards.
Then came the final 2 hours, 45 minutes. USF put together a couple of good drives, and BSU stalled. After looking strong early, the Broncos trailed 10-7 at halftime. Then it was 17-7. And 24-7. Boise State kept turning the ball over on downs, and USF kept scoring. And after about 3½ hours, the Bulls had won 34-7 — somehow BSU finished plus-6 in yardage and minus-27 in points — and completely flipped the race for the Group of 5’s guaranteed CFP spot on its head.
Now, Boise State remains a contender. The Broncos are still very talented and will likely be favored in every game besides their Oct. 4 trip to Notre Dame. But the upset opened a door, and above all others, Tulane walked through it.
The Green Wave were 6.5-point favorites against Northwestern on Saturday, but that was a bit of an insult to the home team. SP+ projected Tulane as a 15-point favorite, and even that eventually undersold the Green Wave in a 23-3 win that was more dominant than the final score indicated. They converted most of the game’s big plays and made new Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone‘s life hell, picking off four of his passes and sacking him three times. Green Wave QB Jake Retzlaff threw for 152 yards and rushed for 113, including a 69-yard touchdown sprint in the second quarter. Tulane was basically bigger, stronger, faster and angrier than the Wildcats at every position. The Green Wave could also be favored in all but one remaining game — their Sept. 20 trip to Ole Miss being the exception — and unlike BSU, they haven’t used a mulligan yet.
Rice will bowl
Because I didn’t include a “how sexy is your offense?” component in preseason SP+ projections, Rice was projected only 116th, with an average projected win total of 4.8, heading into Scott Abell’s first season in charge. But that offense did something sexy Saturday.
Turner turns it up!
Rice 14 – Louisiana 3 pic.twitter.com/MVk9EH97Fa
— Rice Football (@RiceFootball) August 31, 2025
It took the Owls no time to spin an opponent into the ground with Abell’s option offense. Rice rushed for 206 yards, and thanks to a surprisingly spry defensive effort, the Owls upset Louisiana 14-12. They’ll probably need another upset or two to get to 6-6, but this is overreaction territory! I say they get to at least 6-6!
North Carolina won’t
If nothing else, Bill Belichick’s first North Carolina team won the scripted portion of its first game. TCU’s defense had no way of really knowing what the Tar Heels, with almost completely new personnel and a coaching staff heavy in pro influences, were going to attempt when their Monday night affair started. And sure enough, UNC carved the Horned Frogs up for 83 yards and a touchdown in just seven plays. TCU quickly went four-and-out, and everything was sunshine and moonbeams in Chapel Hill.
Unfortunately, the game continued. Over the next 30 minutes and change, TCU outgained the Heels 402-39 and outscored them 41-0. UNC briefly perked up when backup quarterback Max Johnson came in and threw a touchdown pass to his brother Jake Johnson — unfortunately not the same guy who starred in New Girl — but the Horned Frogs rolled, 48-14.
When Michael Lombardi, UNC’s general manager and a longtime NFL front-office guy, would talk to the media this offseason, you would hear a lot about running an NFL-style organization at North Carolina, with all sorts of scouting and cap knowledge. That’s great, and maybe that know-how will benefit the program in future seasons as it learns some lessons from 2025. But 2025 doesn’t look like it’s going to go particularly well. The roster Belichick and his NFL staff compiled this season simply doesn’t have enough talent, especially in the trenches, to aim for anything higher than 6-6 in year one. This isn’t the NFL, and you can’t draft talent — there’s still a recruiting element to the college game that goes with all the cap math. We’ll see what happens in future seasons, but in 2025 it looks like the college game, with all its quirks and oddities, is going to get the best of the best coach in NFL history.
But on the bright side, just think of how many Super Bowls TCU’s Sonny Dykes might win if he gets the chance!
Who won the Heisman this week?
I am, once again, awarding the Heisman every week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). For the first time last season, I had a different winner than the actual winner — Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty took the crown with a slight advantage over the actual winner Travis Hunter and Miami’s Cam Ward. How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the real Heisman voting?
With almost no preseason Heisman favorites really looking the part in Week 1, this race hasn’t begun. But we still had some standout performances.
Here is this week’s Heisman top 10:
1. Jonah Coleman, Washington (24 carries for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 22 receiving yards against Colorado State)
𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦 😤
Jonah Coleman was ruled down before the end zone, but it takes nothing away from his effort on this @UW_Football run.
📺: BTN pic.twitter.com/UIMei214Iu
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 31, 2025
2. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (19-for-20 passing for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns against South Dakota)
3. Parker Navarro, Ohio (21-for-31 passing for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 93 rushing yards and a touchdown against Rutgers)
4. Taylen Green, Arkansas (24-for-31 passing for 322 yards and 6 touchdowns, plus 53 rushing yards against Alabama A&M)
5. Mekhi Mason, Louisiana Tech (9 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 2 sacks, 1 pass breakup against Southeastern Louisiana)
6. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M (22-for-34 passing for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 39 rushing yards against UTSA)
7. Robert Henry Jr., UTSA (16 carries for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns against Texas A&M)
8. Devon Dampier, Utah (21-for-25 passing for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 87 rushing yards and a touchdown against UCLA)
9. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State (5 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles against Nevada)
10. KC Concepcion, Texas A&M (three catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, plus an 80-yard punt return TD against UTSA)
0:49
KC Concepcion with a spectacular touchdown vs. UTSA Roadrunners
KC Concepcion (Texas A&M) with a spectacular touchdown vs. UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.
Jonah Coleman’s “beast mode” run late Saturday night was one of the best plays of the weekend, and without his efforts, the Huskies would have been in trouble against Colorado State. And though plenty of QBs posted good stat lines against FCS opponents, only Rocco Becht went 19-for-20. He and his Cyclones were almost perfect against a solid South Dakota squad.
Honorable mention:
• Jackson Arnold, Auburn (11-for-17 passing for 108 yards, plus 151 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns against Baylor)
• Bryson Donelson, Fresno State (23 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown, plus 25 receiving yards against Georgia Southern)
• Jordan Dwyer, TCU (nine catches for 136 yards and a touchdown against North Carolina)
• Justice Haynes, Michigan (16 carries for 159 yards and 3 touchdowns against New Mexico)
• Jayden Maiava, USC (15-for-18 passing for 295 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown against Missouri State)
• Garrett Nussmeier, LSU (28-for-38 passing for 230 yards and a touchdown against Clemson)
• Beau Pribula, Missouri (23-for-28 passing for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 72 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns against Central Arkansas)
• Braylan Shelby, USC (4 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2 sacks against Missouri State)
• Evan Simon, Temple (19-for-25 passing for 248 yards and 6 touchdowns against UMass)
• Steven Soles Jr., Kentucky (3 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles against Toledo)
My 10 favorite games of the weekend
We can admit that Week 1 wasn’t exactly overloaded with great games … or close games of any kind. But here’s where college football’s endless depth kicks in. There’s always a great game and a heart-stopping finish somewhere, even if you have to search a bit.
1. No. 10 Miami 27, No. 6 Notre Dame 24. Loud crowd, late drama and a jaw-dropping one-handed touchdown catch? Yep, this game was awesome.
2 and 3. NAIA: No. 2 Keiser 38, No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan 31 and No. 4 Benedictine 38, No. 3 Morningside 34. The NAIA’s top-10 doubleheader produced a pair of thrillers. First, Keiser traveled from Florida to Marion, Indiana, and led most of the way. But Arjun Lothe scored on a keeper and threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Smith to tie the score at 31-31. But then Jaden Miller ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run, his fourth score of the day, and Keiser prevailed. Meanwhile, in Atchison, Kansas, there were some long touchdowns and nine lead changes, the last of which came with 12 seconds left: Jackson Dooley’s 2-yard keeper allowed Benedictine to open the season with a thrilling win over NAIA royalty for the second straight year.
4. Tarleton State 30, Army 27 (2OT). On Friday, I wrote that Tarleton State jumping to second in FCS SP+ last week might have been a bit of a small-sample overreaction. Whoops. The Texans forced three Army turnovers, got a combined 196 rushing yards and two scores from Caleb Lewis and Tre Page III, overcame a 14-point second-half deficit and took down the defending American Conference champs with better late-game place-kicking.
TSU is one of the most ambitious programs in the country; the Texans moved up from Division II recently and are almost openly pining to move up further. They’ve certainly looked like an FBS team in 2025.
5 and 6. No. 9 LSU 17, No. 4 Clemson 10 and No. 3 Ohio State 14, No. 1 Texas 7. Great games with huge plays from all the big-name guys? Not really. Down-to-the-wire battles with electric atmospheres? Absolutely.
7 and 8. FCS: Gardner-Webb 52, Western Carolina 45 and Monmouth 42, Colgate 39. We got two enormous comebacks at the FCS level Saturday evening, both from visiting teams. First, Gardner-Webb spotted Western Carolina a 35-7 lead in the second quarter, then scored 45 of the next 52 points. WCU kicked a late field goal, but the Bulldogs recovered the onside kick and survived. Then, in upstate New York, Colgate took a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter, but watched Monmouth score 35 points in 14 minutes to take a stunning 42-31 lead. The Raiders responded with a touchdown, but Monmouth moved the chains three times and ran out the clock.
9. Kent State 21, Merrimack 17. Kent State entered the game with a 21-game (and nearly two-year) losing streak, and it looked like that streak could continue for a while when Merrimack took a 17-14 lead with 5:40 left. But Da’Realyst Clark — DA’REALYST CLARK! — returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a score.
1:17
Merrimack Warriors vs. Kent State Golden Flashes: Full Highlights
Merrimack Warriors vs. Kent State Golden Flashes: Full Highlights
10. Prairie View A&M 22, Texas Southern 21. The HBCU universe did its best to provide. Howard upset Florida A&M 10-9 with a Matt Conord field goal at the buzzer, and NC A&T missed a tying field goal at the buzzer in a 24-21 Tennessee State win. In Orangeburg, South Carolina, SC State blew a fourth-quarter lead against Wofford but scored late to win anyway. And after a weather delay at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Prairie View gave up a go-ahead touchdown to Texas Southern with 1:15 left but drove 84 yards and won the game on a 14-yard walk-off touchdown pass from Cameron Peters to Rodny Ojo.
(Also, a quick shoutout to Presbyterian: The Blue Hose knocked off their highest-ranked FCS opponent ever, No. 11 Mercer, with a 16-yard Zach Switzer touchdown run and a late stop. Blue Hose 15, Bears 10.)
Welcome to September! Five months into Major League Baseball’s 2025 season, a number of things seem to be settled — from a few divisions to some award races — but plenty of intrigue remains entering the homestretch.
Which of the current contenders will reach the playoffs? How will the closer division races play out? Which teams will secure first-round byes? And how many games will the Colorado Rockies lose?!
To discuss what the final month of the regular season might bring, we asked 16 ESPN baseball experts some of the game’s biggest questions, covering September and beyond, and to explain their answers. We also asked them to make bold predictions about what will happen over the final stretch.
Let’s get into it.
Which team will finish with the best record in baseball?
Milwaukee Brewers: 14
Detroit Tigers: 1
Los Angeles Dodgers: 1
What makes the Brewers the favorite to secure the majors’ best record? Besides the buffer the Brewers have built as we enter the final month of the regular season, there’s just nothing to suggest a falloff. They are on track to win about 100 games and their run differential supports that pace. The remaining schedule is friendly. And Milwaukee’s production has come from every position and category. It’s just a really complete team. — Bradford Doolittle
How many of the current 12 teams projected for the playoffs will be in the postseason field?
All 12: 15
11: 1
You have the Royals ousting the Mariners from the playoff field. Why do you think that will happen? The Kansas City Royals will make the playoffs. Crazy? Not so. They’ve played great in July and August. Vinnie Pasquantino is mashing home runs, Bobby Witt Jr. is red hot and the players they added at the trade deadline have chipped in to make this a good offense. The Royals also have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way. But which team can they catch?
It might hinge on a three-game series at home against Seattle in mid-September. The Mariners have a recent history of falling just short of the postseason — including last year, when the Royals clinched a wild-card spot with 86 wins and the Mariners won 85 (the Mariners blew an 8-0 lead against Kansas City in June, which loomed large at the end of the season). Seattle has struggled on the road, so the aforementioned series can catapult the Royals back into the postseason. — David Schoenfield
Who will be the No. 1 seed in the AL: Toronto or Detroit?
Detroit Tigers: 14
Toronto Blue Jays: 2
The Tigers were the overwhelming choice. Why did you take them? For me, this was mostly a schedule play. The top seed, based on the standings, is likely to be the Tigers or the Blue Jays, with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners all within plausible striking distance. Toronto doesn’t have an easy series left. Detroit’s schedule isn’t nearly as rigorous. In a race this close, with teams this close in talent and production, little things like schedule luck often determine the outcome. — Jeff Passan
You were one of two voters to pick the Blue Jays. Why do you think they top Detroit? The Tigers are a wonderful story, but not so much since the All-Star break, as they have played .500 ball, struggled to score runs and their ERA is among the bottom 10 in baseball. The Blue Jays are peaking at the right time, scoring plenty of runs, and Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber make the rotation formidable. Frankly, all three AL East contenders are better than the current Tigers, and it should show in the final standings. — Eric Karabell
Assuming the Brewers get one, who will get the second bye in the NL?
Los Angeles Dodgers: 9
Philadelphia Phillies: 5
San Diego Padres: 2
Despite dealing with star players slumping and a mountain of injuries this season, the Dodgers are still the slight favorites for the No. 2 seed in a stacked NL. Explain why. Because those are the very reasons why the Dodgers firmly believe their best baseball is still ahead of them. Their bullpen will soon be as close to whole as it has been all season. The same can be said about the lineup. The rotation already is, and the four-man group they’ll put together in October will be scary if the starters remain healthy.
That’s a big “if,” considering the pitching ailments that have plagued them the last couple years. But at the end of the day, the Dodgers possess the most depth and talent in the sport. They feel as if they’re on the verge of truly showcasing it. — Alden Gonzalez
The Phillies also received a fair number of votes. What makes them your pick? The Phillies seem to be flying under the radar for a team that has spent most of the season on a 95-win pace. Maybe it’s the Zack Wheeler injury, maybe it’s their struggles against the New York Mets — or maybe it’s just that this is about what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from Philly over the past few seasons.
But there is plenty to like here over the final month and into October as well. Even without Wheeler, the Phillies have the best Game 1 starter of any NL contender in Cristopher Sanchez. Kyle Schwarber has a real shot at Ryan Howard’s franchise home run record (58). They acquired the best reliever to move at the deadline in Jhoan Duran and filled their biggest hole by trading for outfielder Harrison Bader. Oh, and they currently hold that second spot in the NL — with a 1 1/2 game cushion over the Dodgers. — Dan Mullen
Will the Dodgers or Padres win the NL West?
Los Angeles Dodgers: 13
San Diego Padres: 3
The Dodgers were our voters’ overwhelming favorite to win the division. Why — and how — do you think San Diego can overtake L.A.? More than any other team, I think the Dodgers look at their seasons from 30,000 feet, rather than succumbing to the concerns of the moment. They demonstrate this every year with their handling of pitching injuries — they essentially rest veteran starters through long stretches of the season, rather than push them in May and June, in order to do what they can to ensure that the players will be relatively fresh in October. This is why we’ve seen such a deliberate ramp-up with Shohei Ohtani.
That’s why I think the Padres will wind up winning the division. They bolstered their bullpen with Mason Miller at the trade deadline, and since then, it feels like they’ve been playing a series of Game 7s. And, let’s face it, San Diego is all-in in trying to win right now, with its top-heavy roster and the likes of Dylan Cease and Michael King headed for free agency in the fall. The Dodgers, on the other hand, won’t go to the whip in September in the same way. No matter how their own division plays out, they’ll make the playoffs and have a shot to repeat as World Series winners, while it feels as if San Diego is going to go all-out down the stretch to win the NL West.
Different pressures, different styles, different context. — Buster Olney
Who will win the AL West?
Houston Astros: 8
Seattle Mariners: 8
Make the case for the Astros: Picking Houston to win the West isn’t going out on much of a limb: They’re currently in first place, just got slugger Yordan Alvarez back from injury and simply have more pedigree than Seattle. The Mariners have a slightly easier schedule the rest of the way but their road woes are for real — and will likely prevent them from going on an extended run. Picking against the Astros would be the headline-scratching move. They’re the division champ once again. — Jesse Rogers
Make the case for the Mariners: The Mariners aren’t playing their best baseball, but they are healthy and within striking distance of the Astros for the division entering September. Their starting rotation is elite. The bullpen and offense should be better. Meanwhile, the Astros have recently gotten Yordan Alvarez back from injury, but they’re without Josh Hader and Isaac Paredes, among others. The division could come down to the three-game series between the two rivals in late September. — Jorge Castillo
How many games will the Rockies lose?
119: 1
118: 3
117: 1
116: 3
115: 3
114: 3
113: 1
112: 1
We got quite the breadth of answers to this question, but you were one of three to say 118 losses — our second-highest loss total. Why is that your prediction? The Rockies aren’t far removed from being on a modern record-setting pace for losses, and they’ve been especially awful against the current 12 teams in the playoff field: 9-50 (.153). They play 13 of their final 24 against that group, at a time when they’re increasingly leaning on younger and less experienced players. Their September isn’t going to be pretty. — Tristan Cockcroft
Make one bold prediction about the final stretch
Tim Kurkjian: Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh will finish the season with 60 home runs.
Matt Marrone: With most of the playoff field set — other than last-minute jockeying for seeds — all eyes will be on the Mariners over the final days of the season, as Raleigh sets a new AL home run record.
Kiley McDaniel: Between hitting and pitching, Shohei Ohtani catches Raleigh in total WAR.
Passan: Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz will finish in the top five of AL MVP voting.
Karabell: The Phillies call up top pitching prospect Andrew Painter on Sept. 7 and he goes 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA.
Mullen: Nolan McLean will be the NL’s best pitcher not named Paul Skenes over the final month and take the mound in October — as the Mets’ Game 1 playoff starter.
Paul Hembekides: Boston’s Garrett Crochet will overtake Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and win the AL Cy Young Award.
Schoenfield: The Red Sox will catch the Blue Jays and win the AL East.
Gonzalez: Actually, the Yankees will win the AL East.
Cockcroft: Not only do the Yankees overtake Toronto for the division title, but they also grab a first-round bye, even if they can’t quite catch the Tigers for the No. 1 seed.
Olney: The Yankees have such a soft schedule in the final weeks that they wind up with the second-best record in the AL … but because Toronto holds on to win the division, New York is the No. 4 seed and faces Boston in the wild-card round.
Tim Keown: The Padres, with the easiest remaining schedule in baseball, will go 7-0 against the Colorado Rockies in September to win the NL West and take the second first-round bye spot.
Castillo: The Mets will overtake the Phillies and win the NL East.
Doolittle: If we started the playoffs tomorrow, the bracket would look exactly the same as it will after we’ve played out the season.
Voters: Dan Mullen, Liz Finny, Paul Hembekides, Jeff Passan, Eric Karabell, Alden Gonzalez, David Schoenfield, Tim Kurkjian, Kiley McDaniel, Tim Keown, Jorge Castillo, Matt Marrone, Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers, Tristan Cockcroft, Buster Olney
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