- Notre Dame’s playoff chances are on the line in their upcoming game against Texas A&M after an opening loss to Miami.
- Clemson faces a crucial game against Georgia Tech following a disappointing start to the season.
- The matchup between No. 3 Georgia and No. 15 Tennessee will significantly shape the SEC championship race.
Ten wins seems like the magic number for the College Football Playoff, based on the first year of the expanded format. But while that’s a solid limbo bar to separate the cream of the crop in the Power Four from mere playoff contenders, the who, where and how of those wins matter.
No. 8 Notre Dame hosts No. 16 Texas A&M this weekend after losing 27-24 to No. 6 Miami in the season opener. Down the line, the Hurricanes could win the ACC and capture a top-four playoff seed, taking the sting out of that result for the Fighting Irish.
Think back to last season: Notre Dame survived an awful loss to Northern Illinois to make the playoff and advance all the way to the national championship game. Clearly, a single loss to Miami won’t sideline the Irish if they take care of business against a schedule that features only one additional opponent ranked in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll in the Aggies.
Southern California might crack the Top 25 when the Trojans visit South Bend in October. Likewise with North Carolina State. By the time November comes around, Navy and Pittsburgh could be in the mix for national rankings. These same teams might also hover around bowl eligibility and do little to bolster Notre Dame’s credentials.
One loss in September is survivable against this schedule; two losses right out of the gate would paint an entirely different picture.
As they head into Saturday, the Irish have to embrace the reality of this matchup: Losing to A&M would deal a potentially devastating blow to Notre Dame’s playoff hopes — not a fatal blow, maybe, but one that would leave the defending national runner-up in a serious bind even with months to go before the playoff bracket is released in early December.
That puts the Irish under the spotlight as we look at the team, game, coach and quarterback facing the most pressure heading into Week 3 of the 2025 season
Team: No. 11 Clemson
It’s been a nightmarish two weeks for the preseason ACC favorites, with a disappointing loss to No. 4 LSU followed by an often ugly, tighter-than-expected win against Troy. And this feels like a continuation of a distressing trend: Clemson has now dropped three of five dating to last season.
Through these two games, the Tigers have scored just four touchdowns while ranking 120th in the Bowl Subdivision in yards per game and 95th in yards per play. Stumbling out of the gate has handed ACC front-runner status to the Hurricanes and raised another round of serious questions about this team’s viability as a championship contender.
You can pretty much write off the Tigers with a loss Saturday at Georgia Tech, which has started out with wins against Colorado and Gardner-Webb. A second defeat in three weeks would require Clemson to run the table from here to justify at-large playoff consideration and could demand an unblemished finish simply to reach the ACC championship game.
Game: No. 3 Georgia at No. 15 Tennessee
There’s still a sense of unknown circling around both teams, mostly because of the wins each has posted through two weeks: Georgia has beaten Marshall and Austin Peay, while Tennessee has topped Syracuse and East Tennessee State. The Volunteers have better looked the part, though, scoring a combined 117 points while averaging 605 yards per game, second best in the Bowl Subdivision.
Nasty weather and an extended pregame delay impacted how the Bulldogs looked in the win against Austin Peay. The offense is still adjusting to the tweaks in scheme and approach implemented to better suit new quarterback Gunnar Stockton. Overall, Georgia brought back seven starters, with four additional players with starting experience brought in through the transfer portal.
Some early-season struggles aren’t unexpected. And these hiccups might also be a byproduct of Georgia trying to hamper Tennessee’s ability to prepare by playing things closer to the vest against a pair of overmatched opponents.
The result in Knoxville will shape the direction of the SEC race. The Bulldogs can erase any doubt and give themselves room for error against a slate highlighted by No. 7 Texas, No. 13 Mississippi and No. 18 Alabama. The Volunteers can establish prime playoff positioning against a schedule that includes just two more ranked teams in the Crimson Tide and No. 16 Oklahoma.
Coach: Billy Napier, Florida
Napier is on borrowed time after the Gators’ 18-16 loss to South Florida, which included a botched three-and-out possession late in the fourth quarter that helped spark the Bulls’ massive upset.
His overall record speaks for itself: Napier is 20-20 in three-plus seasons at Florida, giving him the lowest winning percentage of any coach with at least 30 games of experience at Florida during the modern era. Last weekend’s loss was the program’s first at home against a school from Florida other than Florida State or Miami since Stetson in 1938.
Given the Gators’ schedule, the odds of Napier returning for another year are nearly infinitesimal. The gauntlet of eight matchups against teams in this week’s Coaches Poll starts on Saturday night at LSU, which is close to a must-win game any Power Four coach will face in September.
The Gators have dropped six of seven in Baton Rouge and haven’t won two in a row in this rivalry since 2008-9.
Quarterback: Arch Manning, Texas
No FBS quarterback is becoming more familiar with wall-to-wall scrutiny. While not unexpected – his name, his reputation, the fact that he’s the starter at Texas all play a role — the parsing of every Manning throw is vastly greater than the attention heaped on any other player in the FBS.
He accounted for five scores in last week’s win against San Jose State, a big uptick in production from the opener against No. 1 Ohio State. But Manning was still under fire for things seemingly as innocuous as his grimace after misfiring a sidearm throw against the Spartans. (Steve Sarkisian said this week that Manning “doesn’t have any” injuries.)
The SJSU win still progress for the first-year starter. He’ll have to continue that improvement in what should be another rout, this time against Texas-El Paso. The Miners allowed 233 yards on 8.3 yards per attempt in a loss to Utah State and then gave up 295 yards on 8.2 yards per throw in last Saturday’s win against Tennessee-Martin.
