Bill Belichick, North Dakota State, USC: 5 College Football Takeaways From Week 0

From everyone freaking out about attendance, to a brilliant coaching mind doing what he does best, to a brilliant football program doing what it does best, here’s what mattered about Week 0.

5 Biggest College Football Takeaways From Week 0

Week 0 Takeaways
5. Week 0 Winners & Losers
4. Virginia Might Be Better
3. USC is fine, but Florida State …
2. Now in the FBS, NDSU is NDSU
1. Bill Belichick Is a Good Coach
– CFN Week 1 Rankings From 1 to 138

Week 0 Quick Hits

• Week 0 was about the ACC – Florida State was blah, North Carolina beat TCU, and Virginia looked amazing.
• In the Group of Six chase for the College Football Playoff, Hawaii had Stanford in big trouble, and lost. North Dakota State threw its hat into the ring with a dominant performance over Jacksonville State.
• Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team did its job against TCU.

5. Winners and Losers After Week 0

Winner: Virginia sellout

Out of 136 FBS teams in college football last year, Virginia averaged 48,776 per game, good for 47th in the nation. And no, the stands didn’t exactly appear to be overflowing, but however they got to the number, the announcement of 64,947 fans for the 34-8 win over NC State was the first sellout since 2008.

Loser: USC empty seats

It really doesn’t matter that the Los Angeles Coliseum was full of friends and family for USC’s 42-26 win over San Jose State – Southern California is suffering through a rough heat wave, and it was San Jose State. It was still a bad look to see a seemingly empty stadium – even with the announced attendance at over 51,000 – for one of the power programs in college football.

Winner: Charles Huff

All the guy does is win, and he just won again. In 2024, Charles Huff took Marshall to a Sun Belt title. Southern Miss brought him aboard in 2025, and he took a struggling program and went 7-5. Memphis made it three stops in three years for Huff, and helped by a fantastic performance from the pass rush, the team went to Las Vegas and started out the Huff era with a 27-21 win over UNLV.

Loser: Mountain West

North Dakota State won – more on that in a moment. But this was supposed to be a showcase Week 0 for the Mountain West. San Jose State did a nice job of making the USC loss a battle, but Hawaii gave the Stanford game away late, and UNLV losing at home to Memphis from the American Conference 27-21 was a gut punch for Mountain West national perception.

Winner: Tavita Pritchard

Hawaii lost, but it was more like Stanford won. The Cardinal were seemingly on the verge of losing at home to the Rainbow Warriors after being up 23-7 in the fourth quarter, but the team stayed calm, went on a great late touchdown march, and took a 30-27 lead in the final moments to give new head coach Tavita Pritchard his first win. But something else happened along the way to the clock hitting 0:00 …

Loser: Hawaii +4.5

The line was Stanford -4.5, and with just a few moments remaining, that was it. Stanford was up four. All that had to happen was anything but a Hawaii turnover returned for a score.

With just over a minute to play, Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado lost the ball, Stanford’s Tevarua Tafiti picked it up, tore up the field and … he looked like he was about to take a knee at the goal line to seal the win (there was still time left for Hawaii to get the ball back).

But he paused, ran into the end zone, the Cardinal won by ten, and with that, Bless Your Heart, or Count Your Blessings (aka Winnings).

4. Virginia Might Be Even Better

Absolutely no one is picking Virginia to win the ACC Championship who’s not trying to be different. It’s all Miami, and maybe a sprinkling of other teams out there based on schedules. But Virginia is coming off an 11-win season, it should’ve won the ACC title – it lost 27-20 to Duke in heartbreaking fashion – and now it’s even better.

The defense loaded up with depth and talent, Missouri quarterback transfer Beau Pribula ran for a team-high 110 yards and completed 9-of-11 passes for 155 yards and two scores, and the Cavaliers steamrolled over NC State 34-8.

Try this for the rest of the ACC schedule: at Florida State, Syracuse, at SMU, Duke, at Wake Forest, Cal, North Carolina, at Virginia Tech. No Miami, no Clemson, no Louisville.

3. USC is fine, but Florida State is a different problem

DO NOT WORRY about USC. Don’t worry about the empty seats in the Coliseum – the place will be buzzing when Oregon comes to town – and don’t worry about the points San Jose State put up in the fourth quarter to make a blowout look 42-26 close.

Trojan quarterback Jayden Maiava was incredible, the defense was good when it had the foot on the gas, and it was Week 0. Whatever. Florida State, on the other hand …

Florida State beat Alabama 31-17 in the 2025 season opener. It beat New Mexico State 34-17 to open up this year.

Quarterback Ashton Daniels was okay, the running game was solid, and there wasn’t any real drama, but that’s not why you called.

Coming off a two-year run going 7-17, and after a strange 2025, this was when the Seminoles were supposed to come out, hang 66 on the board like it did against Kent State last year, and then move to the SMU showdown.

Instead, FSU looked like a boatload of blah. But to be a cliché – that’s what Week 0 against New Mexico State is for.

2. North Dakota State: Business As Usual

It’s easy to say after the fact, but of course North Dakota State was going to come out and beat Jacksonville State 33-7 to start life as an FBS football program, because blowing out teams and winning games is what North Dakota State does.

Since 2011, the Bison have won ten FCS national titles, came in second two other times, and is now 199-22 over that span. (By the way, that’s an ungodly 90% winning clip.)

It’s now a Mountain West program, and outside of road trips to UNLV, Hawaii, and New Mexico, what Week 0 showed is that North Dakota State is about to do North Dakota State things on the FBS.

1. Bill Belichick is a Good Football Coach

Week 0 Takeaways
5. Week 0 Winners & Losers
4. Virginia Might Be Better
3. USC is fine, but Florida State …
2. Now in the FBS, NDSU is NDSU

Okay, so it’s JUST ONE GAME, but after spending the last year being dunked on in creative and thunderous ways, Bill Belichick was able to remind everyone why he’s among the greatest defensive coaches in the history of the sport.

I picked TCU to win, but close – you don’t give the greatest NFL coach of all-time an entire offseason to prepare for one team. Belichick’s Tar Heel defense pitched a gem in the 15-10 win.

It held TCU to just 281 yards of total offense, stiffened time and again on fourth downs, didn’t allow a point after the third quarter, and the team actually won.

The Tar Heels were only flagged three times. TCU was hit with 11 penalties, couldn’t close out drives, and when it really mattered the most, jumped offsides on a late fourth down play to seal the victory for UNC.

Don’t start booking tickets for Las Vegas in late January quite yet – that’s where the College Football Playoff National Championship will be held. At Clemson, Notre Dame, Pitt, at Duke, and with Miami, Louisville, and at Virginia still on the slate – that’s a problem. But for one Week 0 game, Bill Belichick showed that elite coaching still matters.