North Carolina’s Bill Belichick was the day’s biggest winner from a national storyline perspective. But there were other highs and lows as the college football season started with Week 0.

Here are our winners and losers from Saturday’s eight-game FBS schedule, which whet our appetite for the rest of the college football season:

Winner: Grown-man football

Many coaches and programs spent the offseason studying and copying Indiana’s national championship formula: choose older players with proven production instead of betting everything on young potential. Virginia supplied an early example of why that might be a good idea in its blowout victory over NC State.

The Cavaliers own the most experienced roster in the Power 4 after adding 29 transfers who had already played nearly 23,000 combined snaps elsewhere. NC State had the sixth-least experienced roster. The difference was difficult to miss.

Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings recognized that NC State could not stop his veteran offensive line or quarterback Beau Pribula from running the ball. Virginia ran 57 times, threw only 11 passes and controlled possession for more than 38 minutes of a 60-minute game.

Pribula, a transfer from Missouri, ran for 110 yards and completed nine passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He played to his strengths. Virginia finished with 258 rushing yards and converted all four times it chose to keep its offense on the field on fourth down.

Kitchings deserves credit for refusing to overcomplicate an obvious advantage. The larger winner was Virginia’s decision to build an older roster ready to overpower a younger one. After a 34-8 demolition, last year’s ACC runner-up might be even more dangerous.

UNC looks like totally different team in win over TCU

David Ubben and Jayne Orenstein

Winners: Andrew Luck’s QB choice

Davis Warren already knew something about comebacks before Stanford needed him to deliver one against Hawaii.

The 119th-ranked quarterback in our preseason QB Tiers — lowest among projected Power 4 starters — overcame leukemia in high school. He walked on at Michigan, won the starting quarterback job in 2024, then transferred home to California for one final shot after the Wolverines struggled and he tore his ACL.

Saturday, Hawaii rallied from 23-7 down with 20 consecutive fourth-quarter points before Warren led the Cardinal on a seven-play, 60-yard go-ahead drive. He was 5-for-5 on the drive for 58 yards and ended the night 22-for-34 for 310 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, giving coach Tavita Pritchard his first win as coach after being hired by Luck, Stanford’s general manager.

Pritchard knows what an overlooked Stanford quarterback can accomplish. He led Stanford to a 24-23 win over USC as a 41-point underdog 19 years ago in his first start, throwing a fourth-down touchdown pass with 49 seconds remaining in one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

Beating Hawaii wasn’t an upset, but the Cardinal definitely looked better offensively with Warren than they did a year ago, when they finished 122nd in scoring (18.8 points per game) and lost their opener to the Warriors in Honolulu.

Losers: California home crowds

Who wasn’t excited about the return of college football this weekend? Virginia fans showed up in force — a crowd of 62,779 for the first home sellout in 18 years at a game that was originally scheduled for Brazil. Florida State nearly sold out its home opener against New Mexico State with 65,915 in the stands (67,277 capacity).

UVA announces today’s attendance is 62,779, 8th largest in Scott Stadium history.

Virginia also breaks the student attendance record. pic.twitter.com/IrynG2Wxt1

— Preston Willett (@PrestonWillett) August 29, 2026

The West Coast? Maybe not as excited. No. 14 USC played San Jose State in front of a sparse crowd at the LA Memorial Coliseum in a game that was scheduled after the USC-Notre Dame rivalry wasn’t renewed for 2026.

To be fair, it was hot. Very hot.

Kickoff temperature reached 94 degrees, with a real feel of 10 degrees hotter according to AccuWeather, and the largely unshaded stadium offered the ambience of an outdoor air fryer. USC reported the final attendance figure as 51,144 (77,500 capacity).

What was Stanford’s excuse? It was 76 degrees at kickoff up the coast for the opener against Hawaii. The announced attendance was 23,222 — about 5,000 fewer fans than the 2025 season average. Stanford Stadium’s capacity is 50,424.

Here’s the crowd at Hawaii-Stanford game just after kickoff pic.twitter.com/pLm1V0FcfF

— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) August 29, 2026

Winner: USC’s freshman class

USC’s No. 1 recruiting class didn’t spend opening day waiting for the future. It made an immediate impact in a 42-26 win over San Jose State.

Thirteen of the 34 enrollees appeared on the opening two-deep, and 15 made their college debuts on offense, defense and special teams.

The Trojans started freshmen at all three receiver positions, tight end and defensive end. Trent Mosley, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, Tron Baker and Mark Bowman — the entire starting receiver and tight end group — combined for 18 catches, 214 yards and both USC receiving touchdowns.

47 YARD RETURN FOR TRENT MOSLEY 😤 @uscfb

Watch on NBC pic.twitter.com/0teZxjWOSE

— USC on BTN (@USConBTN) August 29, 2026

Mosley, a four-star recruit, supplied the breakout performance: seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown, plus 56 yards on two punt returns. Baker, a three-star recruit, caught all four of his targets for 45 yards. Freshman running back Shahn Alston added 30 yards and a touchdown.

Five-star defensive end Luke Wafle contributed two tackles, half a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. He also put some heat on the quarterback. Elbert Hill IV, Talanoa Ili and Madden Riordan made two tackles apiece.

The freshmen didn’t merely occupy jobs; they justified them and some of the hype.

Winner: Miami’s 2027 recruiting class

Mario Cristobal’s team will make its debut on Friday night at Stanford, but a huge star in the Hurricanes’ 2027 recruiting class was on display for a nationwide audience Saturday.

A’mir Sears reclassified from 2028 to 2027 because he believed he was ready to accelerate his path to Miami.

A’mir Sears is NEXT LEVEL 💥 3 INTs and 2 TDs in Columbus’ big upset win over #1 Bishop Gorman pic.twitter.com/LHu3oDNKPz

— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) August 29, 2026

With Cristobal and Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin in attendance, the five-star athlete intercepted three passes and caught two touchdowns as Miami Columbus stunned No. 1 Bishop Gorman 33-28 on ESPN.

Sears has resisted comparisons to Travis Hunter, saying he wants to create his own legacy. But intercepting three passes and scoring twice against the nation’s top-ranked team will not make those comparisons disappear.

Winner: The local walk-on

Belichick won a huge game, and an unlikely player played a huge role in it. North Carolina rebuilt its defensive line with transfers from Penn State, Delaware, Richmond and Florida. Its opening-day star, though, was an unranked walk-on from Raleigh, N.C.

Xavier Lewis entered Saturday with no career starts, 167 defensive snaps, eight tackles and half a sack as a freshman. In his first start, the undersized 6-foot, 260-pound sophomore racked up seven tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry in UNC’s 15-10 upset of TCU. The Tar Heels had six tackles for loss and three sacks as a team.

Lewis played defensive end, defensive tackle, tight end and running back at Rolesville High School and helped lead his team to the state championship game. In the portal-and-NIL era, UNC’s biggest opening-day revelation was a local walk-on who simply stepped up.

Loser: The celebration police

College football entered 2026 with a more sensible penalty system. Offensive pass interference was reduced from 15 yards to 10, while targeting suspensions now escalate only for repeat offenders or egregious hits.

Those are sensible changes. But I’m not a fan of all the changes.

TCU running back Jeremy Payne gained 7 yards for a first down during the third quarter of a 15-10 loss to North Carolina, appeared to briefly swipe under his nose and then pointed downfield, a traditional first-down gesture. He received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for it.

Instead of crossing midfield, TCU went backward. Two plays later, quarterback Jaden Craig was sacked and fumbled. North Carolina turned the mistake into a field goal that extended its lead to five.

I wasn’t a fan of the call. Payne didn’t taunt the opponent or perform any of the more serious hand signals — including gun gestures or throat slashes — that are also supposed to trigger automatic penalties. But his brief motion toward his nose still earned him a costly penalty.

The NCAA deserves credit for making punishments more proportional. But rewriting the rulebook accomplishes only so much if ordinary football emotion can still be treated like an act of hostility. There must be room between taunting someone and briefly enjoying a first down. Payne’s penalty made no sense.

Winner: Charles Huff’s moving company

It is far too early to declare Memphis the Group of 6’s Playoff favorite, but the Tigers already own a result the selection committee may remember come December.

Memphis’ 27-21 win at UNLV gave the American an important victory over a program that reached three consecutive Mountain West championship games. An even larger opportunity awaits on Sept. 12: a trip to Boise State, one of the rebuilt Pac-12’s leading contenders. Win there, and Memphis would own road wins over prominent teams from the two conferences most likely to challenge the American for the guaranteed berth.

What makes Memphis’ start more remarkable is how quickly Huff constructed this roster. The Tigers added 81 newcomers — 61 transfers and 20 freshmen — while returning only four starters from new Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield’s final 8-5 team.

Huff brought 18 players with him from Southern Miss, where the Eagles went 7-6 in his lone season after leaving Marshall. Nine started Saturday, including eight on defense. The former Golden Eagles accounted for 53 tackles and four of Memphis’ six sacks, while running back Jaylin Carter — among the Southern Miss transfers — led Memphis with 97 rushing yards and a touchdown.

It’s the latest example of the portal era’s strange new version of continuity. Huff changed the address on Southern Miss’ most useful pieces, and they were ready to deliver on opening night.