Rock bottom has arrived for No. 23 Clemson in the form of a Saturday night massacre that paints a brutal picture about the state of Dabo Swinney’s program.
All those fears and concerns and question marks about how he was managing the roster, hiring his staff and approaching the transfer portal — all were proved to be on point in a 51-10 loss to Lane Kiffin and No. 13 LSU.
Nowhere is Swinney’s approach and mistakes more obvious than in his decision to go with senior quarterback Christoper Vizzina instead of bringing in a transfer, as did more than half of the teams in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll.
While Kiffin’s transfer, Sam Leavitt, threw for 230 yards with another 113 yards on the ground with three total touchdowns, Vizzina went 10 of 16
for just 81 yards as the Tigers managed just 145 yards as a team. Clemson converted one of 13 third downs, turned the ball over once and ran for only 40 yards on 26 carries.
Clemson’s decline has many chefs but one primary culprit: While Swinney first made the program one of the best in the nation, his unwillingness or inability to adapt to the new normal of college football.
That’s how Kiffin was able to remake LSU into a potential SEC power in one offseason. Of course, Clemson lost to LSU last season, too, before Brian Kelly was fired.
Schematically and athletically, Clemson look behind the times and more like one of the worst teams in the ACC. The Tigers, Kiffin and Oregon headline the biggest winners and losers from Week 1 of the 2026 season:
Winners
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin didn’t end up rostering the former NFL players that were successful in their court case Thursday, avoiding an escalation in the ongoing and insane confrontation with the SEC. Instead, the story out of Saturday will be the immediate arrival of a confident, athletic and explosive LSU team that may just outplay even the wild expectations heading into Kiffin’s first year. Clearly more talented overall than Clemson, the Tigers showed why Kiffin and a talented transfer class have quickly changed the program’s outlook.
Oregon
No. 2 Oregon trailed unranked Boise State 17-7 until a 27-yard touchdown pass by Donte Moore moved them within a touchdown heading into halftime. In the second half, the Broncos evened the score at 27-27 with just under nine minutes to play but gave up a 62-yard scoring strike to receiver Dakorien Moore less than a minute later. Boise’s offense couldn’t mount a response, going three-and-out on the ensuing possession and then turning the ball over the downs with 1:41 remaining to seal the Ducks’ 34-27 win. This should be an eye-opener: Boise might be an elite Group of Six team, but Oregon has to improve before taking over the Big Ten.
Josh Hoover
No. 6 Indiana’s new quarterback picked where his predecessor left off: TCU transfer Josh Hoover went 13 of 16 for 231 yards and four scores in a 52-16 win against North Texas. The Hoosiers’ repeat odds hinge on how well Hoover replaces Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, and specifically whether he can trim the turnovers that came to define a big part of his multiple-year starting run with the Horned Frogs. To get started with no interceptions and more touchdowns than incompletions is a good sign.
Mason Heintschel
But let’s give the pre-Labor Day Heisman to Pittsburgh sophomore Mason Heintschel, who put together the line of the weekend by completing 31 of 41 attempts for 453 yards and tied a program record with seven touchdown passes to lead the Panthers to a very impressive 59-14 rout of Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks are the favorite in the MAC thanks to one of the strongest rosters in the Group of Six, so the win speaks to the Panthers’ potential as an ACC sleeper after dropping three of four to end last season.
Penn State
The Matt Campbell era is off to a good start. No. 17 Penn State scored 17 points in the first quarter and had no issues beating Marshall 45-0 thanks to nearly error-free football and the immediate impact of several transfers who followed Campbell from Iowa State. The most noteworthy is quarterback Rocco Becht, who hit on 13 of 18 attempts for 271 yards and four scores without an interception. Transfer linebacker Caleb Bacon had six tackles, three for loss, and a sack, while holdover receiver Koby Howard led the way with 161 receiving yards and a score on six grabs.
Texas transfers
A good chunk of the chatter around Texas this offseason centered on the transfers added on offense to boost Arch Manning’s supporting cast. These new pieces gave the Longhorns an immediate boost in a 59-7 rout of Texas State, helping Manning go over 300 yards with at least four scores for the second time in his career. On the ground, North Carolina State transfer Hollywood Smothers had 70 rushing yards on 10 carries and another 28 receiving yards with a score. At receiver, highly regarded Auburn transfer Cam Coleman had two touchdowns on three grabs. On the other side of the ball, Pittsburgh linebacker transfer Rasheem Biles had five tackles, two solo, and shared in a tackle for loss.
Auburn
Auburn kicked things off under former South Florida coach Alex Golesh with a late goal line stand to hold off Baylor for a 17-16 win. That helped the Tigers overcome three interceptions by new quarterback Byrum Brown, who followed Golesh from USF. Another player who came along to the SEC, wide receiver Keshaun Singleton, had a team-best 89 receiving yards. Leading 17-10 after Brown’s 11-yard touchdown run with 3:21 remaining, Auburn gave up a short touchdown pass by Baylor’s DJ Lagway with nine seconds left. Baylor coach Dave Aranda went for the two-point try and the win, but Lagway’s completion to tight end Matthew Klopfenstein was stopped just inches short of the end zone. (Let’s also give Aranda a round of applause for pure bravery.)
Losers
Western Michigan and Michigan
A highly controversial added second and a miraculous 47-yard touchdown pass by Bryce Underwood allowed No. 18 Michigan to escape with a 13-12 win against Western Michigan, but not without damage to the Wolverines’ reputation. They were pushed around by the Broncos, who had the ball for over 40 minutes, and outside of the game’s first drive and last play were clearly the inferior team. WMU can take a little solace in that, though the Broncos would rather have a memorable upset in Ann Arbor. This one raises some major questions about how far Michigan can and will go in Kyle Whittingham’s first season.
Oklahoma State
Maybe new coach Eric Morris won’t be able to immediately flip the fortunes of one last year’s worst Power Four teams. Despite Morris bringing in a ton of offensive firepower from his previous stop at North Texas, Oklahoma State managed just 368 yards on 4.3 yards per play in an embarrassing 24-10 loss to Tulsa. The biggest offseason addition, sophomore quarterback Drew Mestemaker, went 29 of 49 for 241 with one touchdown and two interceptions. A trendy bowl team in the preseason, the Cowboys are clearly much more of a work in progress.
Boise State
Pushing Oregon to the limit gives the Broncos enormous credibility in the Group of Six chase for the College Football Playoff. Looking ahead, Boise’s playoff path still goes through the Pac-12 championship and potentially losing no more than once the rest of the way, depending on what happens in the American, Mountain West and elsewhere. But the performance in Autzen Stadium paints the Broncos as the best overall team in the Group of Six — name another team on that level that makes Oregon sweat like that — and even worthy of consideration for this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clemson hits rock bottom to lead college football winners and losers from Week 1
