Fourth Quarter: Instant Massivity
College football spends six months every offseason in complaint mode: Everything is terrible, the sport is ruined, the old charms are gone, save us from ourselves! And then the most beautiful thing happens—the games begin, and everyone falls back in love with the drama and pageantry and absurdity. And boy howdy, do we have a welcome-back schedule to cleanse the palate this week.
Three top 10 matchups. High intrigue. Semi-unbearable anticipation. Early playoff positioning. Brand-name bragging rights. This is as good as an opening weekend as The Dash can remember. Let’s sprint through the top games and storylines.
No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State (31)
When: Noon ET Saturday. Line: Ohio State by 1.5. How big is it: The size of Jupiter.
This game is vast and contains multitudes. It contains Arch, and all that came before him in the family lineage, and all that the Manning surname conveys. It contains a Longhorns program that has never been preseason No. 1 before and is seeking its first national championship in 20 years. It contains the reigning national champions and their 103,000-seat stadium, which can wreak bloody havoc upon visiting teams. It contains the best player in college football in Buckeyes receiver Jeremiah Smith, and maybe the second-best player in Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs. It contains the final appearance of ESPN icon Lee Corso. It is as big as season openers get.
Dash pick: Texas 24, Ohio State 14. Take the built team over the rebuilding team. And it might not be close.
No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson (32)
When: 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Line: Clemson by 4. How big is it: Equal in weight to a ton of bricks crashing down on the losing coach.
It’s a long season with less on the line early in the 12-team playoff era, but somebody here is finally going to start the year right. Brian Kelly is 0–3 in season openers since moving to Baton Rouge and developing a Southern accent in exchange for a small fortune in salary. Dabo Swinney has lost his last two openers, a beatdown by Georgia last year and an embarrassing comeuppance from Duke in 2023. Kelly is under some palpable heat, and Swinney is carrying the banner for the ACC in a vital opening weekend for the league.
Dash pick: LSU 27, Clemson 24. The Tigers (Bayou version) are due for a return to prominence and should at last have a defense that can make it happen. The Tigers (upstate version) still have some ground to cover for their own return to prominence after losing by 31 to Georgia, 14 to Texas and at home to Louisville and South Carolina last season.
No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 10 Miami (33)
When: 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday. Line: Notre Dame by 2.5. How big is it: Larger than Biscayne Bay.
The Irish are favored but the burden of proof lies on the home team, which is still trying to prove its playoff worthiness. Miami again spent liberally in the NIL market to bring in a millionaire established quarterback, among other pieces, while Notre Dame is the team with a completely unproven QB and an extended history of South Florida heartache against the Hurricanes. Joe Montana was the Irish QB the last time they beat the Canes down here. Since then, six straight losses.
Dash pick: Notre Dame 24, Miami 20. The Irish simply have better personnel across most of the field, plus a been-there, done-that level of assuredness after three CFP victories last year.
No. 5 Alabama at Florida State (34)
When: 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Line: Alabama by 13.5. How big is it: Bigger than the dueling nine-foot tall statues of Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Bobby Bowden in Tallahassee.
There is a lot of psychic payload here, almost entirely within the minds of the Seminoles. It was Alabama that controversially pipped unbeaten Florida State for the final playoff spot in 2023, and frankly the Noles haven’t been the same since then—their record is 2–11. They’re trying to crawl out of the smoking crater of ’24 and reassemble their ACC superiority complex against a member of the SEC oppressor class. A competitive loss wouldn’t be bad for Florida State. A loss of any kind would be traumatic for Kalen DeBoer.
Dash pick: Alabama 31, Florida State 16. The Crimson Tide have a really good roster. If Ty Simpson comes through at quarterback, they’ll contend for the national championship.
Georgia Tech at Colorado (35)
When: 8 p.m. ET Friday. Line: Georgia Tech by 4. How big is it: Larger than the Flatiron rock formations to the west of Folsom Field.
In the midst of a huge ACC credibility weekend, don’t sleep on this Big 12 vs. ACC battle. Those two leagues are jockeying for the likely third spot in conference power rankings, and potentially for multiple playoff bids. And for those still arguing about which of these teams really deserved the split 1990 national title, here’s the chance to settle it on the field 35 years later.
Dash pick: Georgia Tech 31, Colorado 28. The Buffaloes won’t backslide dramatically from last season, but the early going could be difficult while replacing the Heisman Trophy winner and the star quarterback, among other pieces.
TCU at North Carolina (36)
When: 7:30 p.m. ET Monday. Line: TCU by 3. How big is it: So vast that the entire sports-take industry may buckle beneath its density.
As of now, nobody has any realistic idea how good or bad the Tar Heels will be under Bill Belichick. So the first 60 minutes of his first tenure as a college coach will be intensely scrutinized. Referendums will be made. Sweeping judgements will be declared. Select from the following menu of options: or vs. or
Dash pick: North Carolina 35, TCU 34. Sonny Dykes has the misfortune to be the loser in the two most hotly anticipated coaching debuts of the last three seasons—first to Deion Sanders in 2023, now to Belichick.
Literary Corner
There has been a lot of quality football literature produced this offseason, and The Dash will highlight a few of those works in the coming weeks. First up: (37), by Friend of Dash Ivan Maisel is a compelling portrait of arguably the most underappreciated giant coach in the history of the sport.
The Notre Dame coach has the second-best winning percentage in college football history, trailing only the man he played for, Knute Rockne. Leahy’s 107-13-9 career record (including two seasons at Boston College) was interrupted by Navy service in World War II. He also retired from coaching at a shocking age, just 45, a product of burnout after winning four national championships. Leahy’s life and times, largely unexamined until now, make for fascinating reading.
Coach Who Earned His Comp Car This Week
Matt Campbell (38), Iowa State. Speaking of underappreciated coaches, the winningest in Cyclones history added an important victory to his count Saturday in Ireland over rival Kansas State. After taking Iowa State to the Big 12 championship game last season, he should have another title contender this season. The 45-year-old Campbell has had several possible suitors for other jobs, but he and Iowa State have been a great marriage.
Coach Who Should Take the Bus to Work
Frank Reich (39), Stanford. He hadn’t coached since being at the Carolina Panthers in 2023, and it showed in his debut with the Cardinal. Reich completely mismanaged the clock at the end of the game against Hawai’i, allowing the Rainbow Warriors to run it down and kick the winning field goal on the final play while he still had timeouts on the board. His choice of starting quarterback was open to second-guessing as well, and then third-guessing when Reich stuck with Ben Gulbranson for the entire game as the Stanford offense flailed. Reich doesn’t have a lot to work with in this interim season, but he sure didn’t maximize the Cardinal’s chances capturing what could be one of the few winnable games on the schedule.
Point After
The Dash wound up in New England in April, and what that region may lack in terms of hospitable spring weather it can make up for in quality beer. Try a Fiddlehead IPA, made in the beer Nirvana of Vermont by Fiddlehead Brewing (40), and thank The Dash later.
