Do you remember? Before we got four weeks into September? This isn’t Earth, Wind and Fire that we’re talking about; it’s the 2025 college football season.
Before the season started, we all had our preseason expectations, but since then, there have been some surprises during the first four weeks of play. Let’s take a look at what may have caught fans off guard.
Quarterbacks haven’t lived up to the hype
One of the biggest surprises this season has been how underwhelming — to put it nicely — the play of some of the preseason’s top quarterbacks has been.
Drew Allar has Penn State undefeated, but has thrown only four touchdowns and has the 106th best QBR in the FBS at 38.8 — the third-worst among Big Ten starters.
Arch Manning came in with all of the hype, but he struggled in his first game of the season against Ohio State with only one touchdown and one interception. He put up the same stats against UTEP while only completing 44 percent of his passes, leading to a 26.4 QBR. For the season, Arch Manning has only a 54.3 QBR despite playing a team from the Mountain West and two teams from Conference USA.
In the SEC, we all saw DJ Lagway struggle with five interceptions against LSU, and now he’s in a walking boot entering Week 5. He’s not the only SEC quarterback injured either. Oklahoma’s John Mateer looked like a Heisman frontrunner before he injured his thumb. Now he’ll be out for potentially a month.
After leading Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last year, Nico Iamaleava transferred to UCLA in the offseason and has yet to win a game.
Clemson’s Cade Klubnik was supposed to have the Tigers as a College Football Playoff contender, but he’s off to a 1-3 start with a 6:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 46.8 QBR.
There have been other quarterbacks to play well this year, but the ones with the preseason hype have largely disappointed.
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Clemson has three losses before October
Speaking of Klubnik, did anyone think the Tigers would be 1-3 after four games, with the one win being a struggle against Troy from the Sun Belt?
Clemson has the second-worst scoring offense, second-worst third-down offense, fourth-worst total offense and sixth-worst pass defense in the ACC. No one expected Clemson to play like this at the start of the year.
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A DII star looks the part at Ole Miss
While some quarterbacks have been surprising disappointments, there’s a quarterback who’s been a surprising star down in Oxford. Ole Miss signal caller Trinidad Chambliss has impressed in his two starts against Arkansas and Tulane. He’s completed 68 percent of his passes, accounting for 834 total yards and five total touchdowns.
Chambliss played Division II football last year, making his performance at Ole Miss even more impressive.
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Florida State looks elite
2-10. That was Florida State’s record in 2024. It was an abysmal year in Tallahassee. Yet, the tables have turned for the Seminoles in 2025.
Florida State has the top scoring defense, scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense in the ACC. In fact, the Seminoles have the top scoring offense, total offense and the No. 2 rushing offense in the country.
Now I know that Florida State has played East Texas A&M — an FCS school — and Kent State, a team that went winless last year. However, the Seminoles also dominated Alabama to open the season.
We’ll need to see how FSU does as it enters ACC play, but so far it looks the part of a CFP contender — a big leap from last year.
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Vanderbilt isn’t a one-year wonder
A team from the state of Tennessee is ranked No. 18 and is 4-0 after four weeks. No, it’s not the Volunteers. It’s the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Vanderbilt has a dominant win over Virginia Tech and a ranked win over then-No. 11 South Carolina.
Last year, Vanderbilt surprised the nation with a win over then-No. 1 Alabama. This year, the Commodores knocked off a preseason CFP dark horse and are surprising as a legitimate challenger in the SEC.
🗓️ SCHEDULE: Weekly FBS TV schedule and times | College Football Playoff schedule | Bowl schedule
The American Conference looks loaded
When it comes to the fifth automatic bid for a CFP spot, the American Conference has looked the part. The conference has three undefeated teams with Memphis, Navy and North Texas. South Florida was previously ranked in the AP Poll and has wins over Florida and a then-ranked Boise State.
The only other team that’s undefeated and not in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC is UNLV. Outside of the Rebels, a team from the American Conference looks primed to challenge for a College Football Playoff spot. That's surprising for a conference that had only 16 total votes in the preseason AP Poll.
