The overreactions of the first week often turn into ice-cold reactions by mid-October.

See, for example, Colorado 2023.

We’ve all seen enough evidence of Clemson’s decline over the past three seasons to safely say that Coach Dabo Swinney’s program’s days as a national championship contender are over, and we don’t have to worry about looking ridiculous later this year.

What actually did 34-3 victory of No. 1 Georgia over No. 14 Tigers on Saturday in Atlanta was remarkable for how unsurprising it was.

“When you get beat like that, it’s on the head coach,” Swinney told reporters. “Complete control of an absolutely crappy second half. Sometimes you get your ass kicked and that’s what happened to us today.”

The Bulldogs may not be the defending champions — No. 9 Michigan holds that title — but at 43-2 and with two national titles since the start of the 2021 season, they are the benchmark in college football.

This winning streak of Kirby Smart’s team began in the 2021 opener against Clemson. That night in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bulldogs beat Tigers 10-3 without an offensive touchdown.

Since then, Georgia has become a rocket ship, and Clemson is basically the same team it used to be: a failure on defense, a dysfunctional offense, and the coach simply refusing to take every available opportunity to improve his team.

Swinney’s lack of activity in the transfer portal is well documented.

“People say what they want to say,” Swinney said. “It doesn’t matter what I say. We do what’s best for Clemson. When you lose like that, they have every right to say what they want and write what you want.”

The thing is, this really goes way beyond the portal. Cade Klubnik is now the second consecutive five-star quarterback recruit to fail at Clemson, following DJ Uiagalelei.

Maybe the receivers have a chance to get better this season. There was a lot of talk about five-star freshman TJ Moore in the preseason. He had one catch against the Bulldogs.

In the last three years, Clemson has only drafted three offensive players, none of them higher than the fourth round. Who will change that in the near future?

The good news is that things are only going to get easier for the Tigers, because while Georgia isn’t in a league of its own, it can at least compete in the broom closet.

This Clemson team still looks to be a contender for the Atlantic Coast Conference title, with defensive lineman Peter Woods and linebacker Barrett Carter making life difficult for most opponents. The Tigers D even held up well for one half against Georgia.

Try not to turn this into an indictment of the ACC, but it is not good news for the fear-filled conference that the recent national title winner is simply no longer part of these conversations.

Now, Virginia Tech loses to Vanderbilt could be an indictment against the ACC.

Fortunately, Miami looked like a real opponent with the number 19 and flooded Florida behind Cam Ward. On the “Are you back?” scale, the 41-17 victory of the Hurricanes was a solid 7 1/2.

The smell wafting out of Gainesville, Florida, is resignation. A decisive season for coach Billy Napier It started with no signs that the Gators were better than before.

“To be honest, it’s embarrassing,” Napier said.

Florida only has seven more seeded opponents left.

Clemson fans are probably resigned now, too. The Tigers salvaged last season by winning their final five games, renewing hope that Swinney’s program might be able to find its mojo again.

It was nowhere to be found in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“We didn’t win a national championship tonight. We didn’t lose the ACC tonight,” Swinney said.

No, and with a new 12-team College Football Playoff, Clemson can still dream big.

The problem is that the biggest dreams now seem like pipe dreams.

Debuts

Riley Leonard’s first game as quarterback for No. 7 Notre Dame was a powerful performance behind an inexperienced offensive line against No. 20 Texas A&M on a raucous Kyle Field. The Fighting Irish beat an SEC team on the road for the first time in 20 years, winning 23-13.

Penn State fans couldn’t have been happier with new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki after the eighth-place Nittany Lions defeated West Virginia 34-12. Kotelnicki was poached from Kansas to add some momentum to a team that struggled through a 10-win season last year, and he delivered in Game 1. Drew Allar averaged 12.7 yards per attempt. Harrison Wallace averaged 23.3 yards on five catches. Nick Singleton averaged 8.8 yards on 13 carries. Mission accomplished for Game 1.

No. 25 Iowa also introduced a new offense, with former Western Michigan coach Tim Lester replacing the beleaguered Brian Ferentz, son of Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz. It took a while for Iowa – without the suspended Kirk Ferentz – to get the offense going. 40-0 win over Illinois State. The Hawkeyes finished the game with 490 total yards, their best performance since their win against Middle Tennessee on September 28, 2019, when they had 644 yards.

No. 2 Ohio State may have fielded the most talented team in college football, and there’s a very real chance its best player is a freshman. Receiver prodigy Jeremiah Smith caught two touchdown passes during a scrappy first half against Akron. before the Buckeyes rolled in the second half on the way to a 52-6 victory.

This could be the year of the phenomenal rookie receiver: Ryan Williams from Alabama (two catches, 139 yards and two TDs); Texas’ Ryan Wingo (four for 70); Auburn’s Cam Coleman (two for 62, TD) and Perry Thompson (two for 82, TD); and Iowa’s Reece Vander Zee (five for 66, two TDs) all shined Saturday.

Nebraska’s highly touted freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola was rock solid in his first career game, throwing for 238 yards and two scores. Cornhuskers rolled over UTEP 40-7, setting up an exciting Week 2 game against Colorado.

Diego Pavia, who transferred from New Mexico State, ran 104 yards, threw for 190 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown. Vanderbilt defeated Virginia Tech 34-27 in overtime. A big win for Commodores coach Clark Lea, who coached both Pavia and former New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill of Las Cruces, and hopes to show enough progress in Season 4 to earn a Season 5 at his alma mater.

The first Alabama football game without Nick Saban as coach since 2006 couldn’t have gone better. Kalen DeBoer’s fifth-place Crimson Tide won 63-0 against Western Kentucky and quarterback Jalen Milroe has these crazy statistics: 7 of 9 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns and 79 rushing yards and two TDs on 10 attempts.

Across the country

In the transfer portal era, it is a big challenge for schools outside the Power Four to retain stars. This offseason, there was no bigger player than running back Ashton Jeanty at Boise State. The preseason All-American ran for 267 yards and six touchdowns in a wild 56-45 win at Georgia Southern. The Broncos play at No. 3 Oregon, which had a flawed 24-14 Victory against Idaho, next Saturday. … Arizona All-American Tetairoa McMillan was the receiver of the day, scoring a school-record 304 yards and four touchdowns in a 61-39 win against New Mexico. The 300-yard receiving game was the first in college football since Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2022 Rose Bowl against Utah. … No. 4 Texas defeats Colorado State 52-0, but the big news was that Arch Manning had the longest playing time of his career. College football’s most famous backup quarterback completed 5 of 6 passes for 95 yards and his first touchdown pass. … Michigan looks like it could use a guy like Manning. With the Wolverines playing with two quarterbacks, the offense sputtered, but Will Johnson and the defense were outstanding against Fresno State. The Longhorns visit the Big House next week. … Many transfer quarterbacks debuted for their new teams. One who didn’t get much attention in the offseason was former Alabama blue-chipper Eli Holstein, who transferred to Pitt. Holstein was 30 of 40 for 333 yards and three touchdowns in a 55-24 victory by new offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s wide-open attack. Victory over Kent State … Reminder: There is still a Pac-12. Washington State and Oregon State are a two-team conference this season. The Cougars won their first game after the cancellation, 70:30 against Portland State. Oregon State did the same, They defeated Idaho State 38-15.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo on https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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