College Football Week One Preview:

#1 Texas-#3 Ohio State, #9 LSU-#4 Clemson,
#6 Notre Dame-#10 Miami In National Spotlight
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = below)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Aug. 28, 2025)

The 2025 college football season is ramping up Thursday through Monday with an intriguing Week One schedule, led by three high-profile national matchups that will pair teams from the preseason top 10: #1 Texas at #3 Ohio State, #9 LSU at #4 Clemson, and #6 Notre Dame at #10 Miami.

Closer to home, the Week One highlights include head-to-head clashes that match four of North Carolina’s seven Football Bowl Subdivision programs and a Labor Day affair that will highlight new UNC head coach Bill Belichick in a truly exclusive gridiron television window.

From the national schedule, which includes only three “Top 25 vs. Top 25” matchups this week, here are more details on our “Three To See” selections:

National “Three To See,” Game One

#1 Texas (0-0) at #3 Ohio State (0-0), Sat., noon (FOX)

This scintillating matchup requires, among other things, at least one “Believe It Or Not” reference and at least one compelling “Did You Know?” offering right out of the gate.

Believe it or not, Texas and Ohio State — two of the biggest brand names in college football history — have played each other only four times ever, and all four matchups have come within the past 20 years, with each side winning twice.

The easiest game to remember, of course, is the Buckeyes’ 28-14 victory over the Longhorns in January, in last season’s College Football Playoff semifinals, as Ohio State was on its way to winning the national championship.

Meanwhile, since the Buckeyes are a one-point favorite at this writing, here’s an intriguing “Did You Know?” reference: Did you know that this game, assuming the line holds until kickoff, will represent the first time in modern college football history that the preseason #1 team (Texas here) will be a Las Vegas-style underdog in its opening game?

It makes sense, right? The only time a #1 team would ever be an underdog in its opener is if it’s playing on the road against another very highly ranked team, and that’s exactly the case here, with the Buckeyes #3 in the preseason polls, and a partisan crowd of more than 100,000 expected in Columbus on Saturday afternoon.

What’s extra-crazy about this one is that Ohio State had 14 players drafted by NFL teams off its 2024 squad, and Texas had 12 players selected in the draft back in April, yet these programs are so stacked under head coaches Ryan Day and Steve Sarkisian that they’re nevertheless still considered among the best teams in the country.

Among the other Fun Facts in this one is that, while both quarterbacks are in their first year as a full-time starter, Arch Manning of Texas — a redshirt sophomore, son of Cooper Manning, nephew of Eli and Peyton Manning, grandson of Archie Manning — is the preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, despite throwing only 95 career passes at the college level.

Meanwhile, Julian Sayin of Ohio State is an Alabama transfer who was considered the nation’s top high school quarterback during the 2023 season but left the Crimson Tide during his only month on campus there, in January 2024. He’s been at Ohio State for more than a year and a half at this point, but he’s thrown only 12 passes for the Buckeyes, and he’s taking on the nation’s top-ranked team in his first start.

There will be many other big games during the 2025 college football regular season, but this game at noon on Saturday is a heck of a start.

National “Three To See,” Game Two

#9 LSU (0-0) at #4 Clemson (0-0), Sat., 7:30 p.m. (ABC)

As with Texas and Ohio State, both LSU and Clemson are very popular picks to make the College Football Playoff this year.

Also, like Arch Manning of the Longhorns, LSU senior Garrett Nussmeier and Clemson senior Cade Klubnik are both considered Heisman Trophy candidates and possible first-round NFL draft picks in 2026.

Fourth-year LSU coach Brian Kelly has taken Cincinnati, Notre Dame and LSU to many double-digit win totals and Top 25 finishes — even top-five national finishes with the Bearcats and the Fighting Irish — but his 29-11 record through three seasons with the Tigers has the LSU fans looking for more.

On the other sideline, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, now in his 17th full season as the head coach of the Tigers, already has two national championships, nine ACC titles and three National Coach of the Year awards during his time representing the Big Orange Tiger Paw.

Anything is possible, of course, but there are a lot of reasons to like Clemson (a four-point favorite) in this game, starting with the fact that it is being played — in prime time, on Saturday night, on national TV — at the Clemson version of Death Valley, aka Memorial Stadium. That should offer a heck of a home-field advantage, especially against an LSU team that’s breaking in a lot of new players in key roles.

Second, Clemson has 80 percent of its production back from last season, the highest rate of any college football team in the entire country.

The Tigers’ high-end NFL talent includes Klubnik at QB, Antonio Williams and Bryant Wesco Jr. at wide receiver, multiple offensive linemen, TJ Parker at defensive end, Peter Woods at defensive tackle, Wade Woodaz and Sammy Brown at linebacker, and Aveion Terrell at cornerback, among others.

Clemson is just the most loaded team in the ACC this season, by far, and one of the most stacked teams in the entire country. LSU is very, very talented, too, but those Tigers have a lot more new faces in important roles, and a trip to Clemson is a really bad place to try to get your feet wet with a new team or as a first-time starter in major college football.

#6 Notre Dame (0-0) at #10 Miami (0-0), Sun., 7:30 p.m. (ABC)

Many college football fans are old enough to remember the famous “Catholics vs. Convicts” game in this rivalry, during the 1988 regular season, when the undefeated Irish (led by coaching legend Lou Holtz) beat the previously undefeated Hurricanes (led by coaching legend Jimmy Johnson) in a 31-30 midseason thriller when both teams were ranked in the national top five.

The rivalry cooled off a bit after that, and these two programs have played only four times over the past 35 years, but now both teams are in this year’s preseason top 10, and both are viewed as serious contenders to make the College Football Playoff.

Notre Dame, under fourth-year head coach Marcus Freeman, is coming off a trip to the national championship game. Miami, under fourth-year head coach Mario Cristobal, is coming off a 10-3 campaign that was by far the best of his teams since he left Oregon to take the top job at his alma mater.

Although both Notre Dame and Miami will be breaking in new starting quarterbacks, after 2024 starters Riley Leonard and Cam Ward moved on to the NFL, there will be plenty of talent on both sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night.

The Fighting Irish have three of the top returning players in college football in junior running back Jeremiyah Love (a possible first-round NFL pick next year), junior linebacker Drayk Bowen and sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore. Miami also has several highly regarded NFL prospects, led by junior offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa and junior defensive end Rueben Bain Jr.

The quarterback matchup in this one will be fascinating. Miami will start Georgia transfer Carson Beck, who led the Bulldogs to a lot of big wins over the past two seasons but also suffered a serious elbow injury in last year’s postseason. Notre Dame will start highly touted redshirt freshman CJ Carr, a former prep All-American who is a grandson of the legendary former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr.

Both quarterbacks are extremely talented, and there’s plenty of talent around them, but everyone is wondering how Beck — a sixth-year senior who’s almost 24 years old — will handle his return from injury, and how Carr will handle the fact that his first college start will come on the road … against a top-10 opponent … on national TV … in a prime-time Sunday night game … with the entire football world watching.

Also in play during this game will be a different kind of culture clash than the one from 1988, with Notre Dame neither losing nor adding a large number of big-name transfers during this Portal Era and Miami having a very length list of incoming transfers in key roles.

NOTE: For the in-state edition of our Week One college football preview, including analysis on the highest-profile games, plus schedules and TV/streaming options for all 32 teams (FBS, FCS, Division Two, Division Three) in the Bold North State, please click HERE.