College football never seizes to disappoint on a weekly basis. It was another weekend full of one-score contests and instant classics many will be thinking about when reflecting back on a season that was in a few months. Every single ranked matchup from the weekend came down to a one-score margin.
The most impressive result from the weekend was Oregon’s surgical win over Penn State in Happy Valley in one of the most hostile environments you’ll ever see — the Nittany Lions’ annual white out game didn’t disappoint from the views of the crowd on television. Oregon pulled out a gutsy double overtime victory in a game where both offenses were slowed and suddenly came alive in the second half. Oregon may have the best win of any team in this young season considering the circumstance and quality of team they were matched up with.
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The story of No. 4 LSU’s season has been the Tigers’ failure to launch offensively this year. The offensive line is a disaster and the run game has been nonexistent — greatly funneling the offense into one dimension and derailing execution. Ole Miss has found something in Division-II transfer Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback. Ole Miss has surprised some after being wiped of plenty of defensive talent in this past NFL Draft. But head coach Lane Kiffin has them right in the mix in the SEC once again while LSU has some serious issues to sort through on the offensive side despite their defense looking borderline elite.
No. 17 Alabama went in between the hedges in Georgia and knocked off No. 5 Georgia in Athens with an impressive jump-start of offense in the first half. The Crimson Tide scored all 24 points in the first half and inched out a 24-21 win. Kirby Smart now moves to 1-7 in his career against Alabama as the head coach at Georgia. That one win was a 2022 National Championship win over the Tide. Both of these teams have warts and don’t quite look like the dynasties they both felt like within the past decade.
Multiple key starters were missing when No. 23 Illinois hosted No. 21 USC including multiple players in the defensive backfield for both teams. USC’s Makai Lemon did everything he could to keep his team in it until the end. Meanwhile, Illinois fumbled twice going to the goal line resulting in turnovers. Illinois quarterback Luke Altmeyer averaged nearly 13 yards per attempt in this game.
Let’s talk about a few eye-popping individual performances from the past weekend’s action
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love is an elite, 3-down RB prospect
We already knew how good Love would be as a true runner of the football coming into the season. But Love is doing even more in 2025 as a pass catcher with some of the shortcomings of Notre Dame’s offensive line. Love has everything you could ever want in a running back with height, weight, and speed. He’s also explosive and one of the best hurdlers I’ve seen as a ball carrier. He’s freakishly athletic in every way. Love caught 5 passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns. He also added two more on the ground against Arkansas.
USC has a pair of stars at receiver, but Makai Lemon stole the show on Saturday
The USC Trojans boast a pair of star receivers despite losses like Zachariah Branch (Georgia), Duce Robinson (Florida State) and Kyron Hudson (Penn State) to the transfer portal this past cycle. Counterpart Ja’Kobi Lane was playing sparingly in this one so it was the Lemon show. He’s not the biggest or fastest guy on the field, but Lemon has awesome sense with the ball in his hands and routinely makes difficult look easy in the Trojans offense. Lemon had a big day going for 11 catches, 151 yards, and 2 touchdowns. But it could have been even more if an incredible effort on a flea flicker that went for a 75-yard touchdown was called back due to penalty.
Oregon QB Dante Moore proves he has the goods against Penn State
There was some question on the legitimacy of Dante Moore’s start to the season playing against plenty of lesser competition with Oregon’s significant talent advantage against most foes. Moore got his first test in a massive road environment against a very good team. He did not disappoint looking composed and in control of his offense throughout the evening.
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The stats themselves weren’t “wow” level, but they were very efficient. He showed off his NFL-caliber arm and plenty of translatable throws on film. Moore might be the leader in the clubhouse as QB1. He’s got five-star pedigree and has shown clear improvement from the last time he got consistent run in 2023 when he was at UCLA starting as a true freshman.
