Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Clemson’s mini-dynasty is over, and that’s only part of ACC’s angst

And now, 17 Final Thoughts from the first three days of Week 1. (Apologies, LSU and USC, I just couldn’t wait.)

1. So, what was your “We’re not in Kansas, anymore” moment of the first full weekend of New World College Football? For me, it was turning on Friday night’s TCU-Stanford game, seeing an ACC logo and realizing I was watching an ACC nonconference game between schools from Texas and California.

The ACC team (Stanford, if you’ve lost track) lost that one 34-27. Which soon became a recurring theme.

2. Were this any season played between 2014 and 2023, I’d be writing a column entitled “The ACC’s Playoff hopes are already on life support.” But in this, the dawn of the College Football Playoff’s 12-team era, we know whoever wins the ACC championship will not only make the Playoff but likely be a top-four seed. No need to write Playoff obits just yet for 0-1 Florida State, 0-1 Clemson or 0-1 Virginia Tech.

That being said, I am willing to declare one ACC coach’s mini-dynasty officially over.

3. If No. 1 Georgia’s 34-3 rout of No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta looked at times like college kids against high school kids … well, it was. Once again this offseason, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney declined to tap into the transfer portal’s wealth of unrestricted free agents to upgrade his roster. Clemson joined Army, Navy and Air Force as the only schools to take zero transfers. And so on Saturday, Swinney’s team took on an opponent that has lost only two games in the past three years with the same exact guys that lost four ACC games last season.

The Tigers’ offense gained just 188 yards.

Three years earlier, these same teams opened the 2021 season, with two-time national champ Swinney coming off his sixth straight Playoff appearance, while Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart had been to one CFP in five years. Georgia won that meeting 10-3 and went on to win the next two national titles. Clemson went on to win last year’s Gator Bowl.

Smart evolved to embrace loosened rules around name, image and likeness compensation and the portal. His biggest stars are still home-grown guys: quarterback Carson Beck, safety Malaki Starks, et al. But knowing he needed help at receiver this offseason, he added Miami’s Colbie Young and Vanderbilt’s London Humphreys from the portal. Both caught touchdowns Saturday.

Clemson, which ranked 109th out of 133 FBS teams last season in catches of 20-plus yards, rode with the same group it had. Quarterback Cade Klubnik averaged just 4.9 yards per attempt Saturday.

4. In fairness, Georgia will whip a lot of people this season. The defense was dominant, and Beck, a projected first-round quarterback, logged six completions of 20-plus yards. Even the Bulldogs’ depleted running backs group produced a bright spot: True freshman Nate Frazier gained 83 yards on 11 carries.

Georgia’s schedule is far too difficult to expect the Bulldogs to cruise unscathed (road trips to preseason No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Ole Miss loom), but that’s not the bar anymore. They just need to get to the Dance.

5. You will not get me to say the words “Miami is back” following one big win. But after humiliating in-state rival Florida 41-17 in The Swamp, the Canes do seem like the clear favorite to win the ACC, a feat they have not achieved since joining the conference 21 years ago.

Washington State transfer quarterback Cam Ward lit up the Gators, finishing 26-of-35 passing for 385 yards, three TDs and one pick to deliver the program’s most impressive win since a 41-8 rout of third-ranked Notre Dame in November 2017. That was so long ago that third-year Miami head coach Mario Cristobal had not yet become Oregon’s head coach.

It may be that Florida stinks. But I’d rather be Miami today than any ACC school besides current first-place team Georgia Tech.

6. In an interview Friday with the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said, “I really believe Billy Napier is going to be the coach at Florida for a long, long time.” Suffice to say, Stricklin did not picture a season-opening 24-point loss for his third-year coach, who was already on every preseason hot seat list.

After watching fifth-year quarterback Graham Mertz go 11-of-20 for 91 yards and an interception, Gators fans will invariably start calling for five-star freshman DJ Lagway. But Florida’s much more pressing issue is its defense, which looked just as hapless as it did for most of 2023. But don’t worry. Florida has only seven games still to go against preseason Top 25 teams.

7. As No. 7 Notre Dame was closing out its 23-13 win against Texas A&M, which had entered as a three-point favorite, ABC put up a graphic with the Irish’s remaining schedule and percent chance of beating each foe. The computer spit out at least 76 percent odds of victory for Notre Dame in every game between now and the regular-season finale at USC (62 percent). In what may prove to be as tough of a test as any it will face this season, Marcus Freeman’s team flexed its muscles.

Pregame concerns about the Irish’s inexperienced offensive line proved warranted for much of the night, but ultimately that group opened holes for Jadarian Price’s 47-yard touchdown to go up 13-6 in the third quarter and, after A&M tied it, Jeremiyah Love’s 21-yard touchdown to go back up 20-13 late. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s defense was predictably suffocating, allowing just 3.6 yards per play and picking off two Conner Weigman passes.

It was a much-needed big win for Freeman, whose team may need to win 11 games to secure an at-large berth.

8. Penn State fans had to be ecstatic about what they saw in the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions’ 34-12 win at West Virginia. Second-year starting quarterback Drew Allar (11-of-16 passing, 216 yards, three TDs) looked sharp running the offense that new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki made famous at Kansas, and Allar’s playmakers showed the type of explosiveness Penn State lacked in 2023. Junior Harrison Wallace III, who missed most of last season, caught a 50-yard touchdown. Running back Nick Singleton, who averaged just 4.4 yards per carry a year ago, averaged double that on Saturday and broke a 40-yard score.

James Franklin’s team cruised in what figured to be its lone test prior to an Oct. 12 trip to USC.

9. Not since Adrian Peterson debuted at Oklahoma two decades ago have I seen a freshman who doesn’t play quarterback get built up quite like Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith, the nation’s No. 1 recruit last winter. The South Florida native wasted no time delivering, catching six balls for a game-high 92 yards and two touchdowns in the second-ranked Buckeyes’ 52-6 win over Akron. And the scary thing is, Ohio State still has Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate, too.

Surely no one in the Horseshoe was happier Saturday than Ohio State transfer quarterback Will Howard (formerly of Kansas State), who finished 17-of-28 for 228 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

10. Two of the Buckeyes’ supposed biggest threats in the Big Ten did not engender the same confidence. Defending national champ Michigan led Fresno State just 16-10 in the fourth quarter, with its offense looking every bit like a unit that lost its first-round quarterback and entire offensive line. Surprise starting quarterback Davis Warren went just 15-of-25 for 118 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Eventually Warren led a 75-yard drive, then Will Johnson nabbed a pick six to help the Wolverines pull away 30-10.

More puzzling: No. 3 Oregon led FCS foe Idaho just 17-14 with nine minutes left before winning 24-14. An offensive line that allowed just five sacks all of last season gave up three in the first game. But it may have just been a weird day for the Ducks, who still put up nearly 500 yards, with new quarterback Dillon Gabriel finishing 41-of-49 for 380 yards.

11. Between “College GameDay” and his Allstate, Vrbo and Home Depot commercials, I saw more of former Alabama coach Nick Saban on Saturday than I would if he were still coaching. But it was definitely a different day on the Crimson Tide sideline. Case in point: The new Alabama head coach was seen smiling and laughing.

Kalen DeBoer enjoyed watching five-star freshman receiver Ryan Williams put up touchdown catches of 84 and 55 yards, running back Justice Haynes break an 85-yard touchdown run and quarterback Jalen Milroe rip off a 40-yard run in the Tide’s 63-0 rout of Western Kentucky. Saban would have a hard time nitpicking this performance.

12. Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea was so impressed by New Mexico State’s 31-10 rout of Auburn last year that he hired the Aggies’ offensive coordinator, Tim Beck. Star quarterback Diego Pavia soon followed. On Saturday, the duo helped the Commodores, who went 2-10 last season, stun Virginia Tech 34-27 in overtime. Pavia was 12-of-16 for 190 yards and two touchdowns while running for 104 yards on 26 carries, and Vandy’s defense, ranked 123rd against the run a year ago, inexplicably stifled the Hokies’ rushing attack.

As always, you never know in a season opener whether a team is that much better or its opponent (which I unfortunately predicted to go 10-2) was overrated. But Lea was off to a 9-27 start through three seasons, and Vandy fans have suffered through 10 consecutive losing campaigns. At long last, they have hope.

13. In a clever new Dr Pepper “Fansville” commercial, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers plays a deputy sheriff who tells Brian Bosworth they don’t need backup “even if he’s got great hair and famous relatives.” Right on cue, backup Arch Manning made headlines for throwing his first career touchdown in garbage time of the fourth-ranked Longhorns’ 52-0 shutout of Colorado State.

The bigger story was the impact of several new players. After Texas lost two running backs to season-ending injuries this summer, freshman Jerrick Gibson got on the field and gained a team-high 67 yards on 10 carries. Freshman receiver Ryan Wingo caught four passes for 70 yards. Transfers Isaiah Bond (Alabama) and Matthew Golden (Houston) combined for three touchdowns.

They’re all headed to Ann Arbor next weekend to take on the champs.

14. On Wednesday, Boise State launched a social media Heisman Trophy campaign for star running back Ashton Jeanty. On Saturday, the junior delivered a Barry Sanders/Ricky Williams-esque performance, running 20 times for 267 yards and six touchdowns in the Broncos’ 56-45 win at Georgia Southern. Chances are, a Group of 5 running back is not going to win the Heisman, but Jeanty leading his team to a Mountain West championship and CFP berth is an attainable goal.

To be worthy of the #HEI2MAN, you have to be #BuiltDifferenthttps://t.co/2fDkCvClio#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/RgfmK1rZ6h

— Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) August 28, 2024

15. We already have our first gaudy Colorado TV rating of the season: 4.8 million watched Deion Sanders’ Buffs hold off FCS power North Dakota State 31-26 on Thursday. Shedeur Sanders was his usual gunslinging self (26-of-34, 445 yards, four touchdowns, one interception), and two-way star Travis Hunter put on a clinic all night. It’s too early to say how much Colorado has or hasn’t improved, but one area that stood out to me was its defensive line. Pitt transfer Dayon Hayes was among several guys who brought pressure.

Perhaps it was due in part to the tutelage of new Colorado grad assistant Warren Sapp.

Next up for that Buffs defense? A date with Nebraska freshman savior Dylan Raiola. The five-star quarterback got off to a promising start in the Huskers’ 40-7 win over UTEP, going 19-of-27 for 238 yards, two touchdowns and no picks in barely one half of action. It helps that Nebraska coach Matt Rhule went heavy on receivers in the portal, adding Texas’ Isaiah Neyor and Wake Forest’s Jahmal Banks. Neyor had six catches for 121 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown, while Banks had four catches for 61 yards and a score.

NBC will be coming to Lincoln to show the old Big 8 rivals squaring off in prime time. The Huskers’ suffering fan base will surely be rocking Memorial Stadium.

16. The Pac-12 may be dead, but the spirit of Pac-12 After Dark lived on in No. 21 Arizona’s wild 61-39 win over New Mexico in new head coach Brent Brennan’s debut. Wildcats star Tetairoa McMillan notched the sport’s first 300-yard receiving game since Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2022 Rose Bowl, finishing with 10 catches for 304 yards and four touchdowns. But New Mexico sophomore quarterback Devon Dampier gave Arizona’s defense fits, throwing for 252 yards, running for 126 and producing five touchdowns. Keep an eye on that guy in the Mountain West this season.

17. Watching a Big 12 team host an After Dark game seems normal already. It was not even my most jarring viewer experience Saturday night.

That would be Washington playing a late-night game on Big Ten Network. (The Huskies beat Weber State 35-3, if you missed it.) Just think — one day, that channel is going to re-air classic Michael Penix Jr. games from two different schools.

(Photo: Mike Zarrilli / Getty Images)