The college football season has officially begun, and with it, a seemingly unending stream of developments and disasters. Two of the biggest and most notable of week one being the unranked Florida State Seminoles beating the 8th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. And 8x super bowl winning Coach Bill Belichick’s long awaited debut for UNC against the TCU Horned Frogs.
On September 1st, Bill Belichick made his long anticipated debut as the head coach of the University of North Carolina’s football team. The 8x Super Bowl winning coach (6 as head coach of the New England Patriots and 2 as an assistant coach with the New York Giants) signed to be the new head coach of the Tar Heels in late January of 2025. Following a 6-7 season with a loss to the Uconn Huskies in their bowl game, with a final score of 27-14
This set the stage for an excited fan base going into the season opener against the TCU Horned Frogs at home. The Frogs, who went 9-4 the previous season, with notable wins over Arizona and Texas Tech, didn’t cause Tar Heel fans much worrying. After all, having a brand new coach with 8 Super Bowl rings should make this easy, right?
From kickoff however, that would soon be proven to be anything but true. The first quarter was relatively even, with a level game at 7-7 at the half, but quickly into the second half, UNC began to fall behind. Their quarterback, left handed sophomore Gio Lopez, ended up completing just 40% of his passes, for roughly 70 yards and no touchdowns. During the third quarter, following a bad fumble from Lopez and an apparent injury, he was subbed off for Max Johnson, a two time transfer from LSU, then Texas A&M, and now UNC. Johnson did noticeably better, going 9/11 for 103 yards and a touchdown, but it was too little too late.
Overall, the Tar Heels finished the game with 222 yards of total offense to go with 2 touchdowns in a crushing 48-14 loss to the Horned Frogs. Leaving many fans in a spot of confusion and doubt. UNC’s next game against Charlotte will be crucial in deciding public opinion on Belichick, and will be important in setting the tone for the season. Because recovering from a loss like this is gonna be a long, long, process.
On the other hand however, where Bill Belichick went into his disappointing debut with all the cards in his hand, the Florida State Seminoles had nothing to lose heading towards their season opener against 8th ranked Alabama.
Florida State has been in a weird, weird spot with their football team as of late. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei led the team to an abysmal 2-10 record in the 24-25 season, taking an initially 10th ranked Seminoles to an unranked finish.
So for many, the reaction when new starting transfer quarterback Thomas Castellanos started to engage in trash talk online, saying “They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me” was laughable. Not to mention that several Alabama players replied to this provocation. Deonte Lawson, a linebacker for the Crimson Tide, said “All disrespect will be handled accordingly.” Which only reinforced what most thought to be true, that Alabama would win.
And finally, on August 30th 2025, the game was ready to begin. The first quarter was even, ending at 7-7 with the teams seemingly standing on equal footing, but this would quickly change going into the second quarter. Where FSU would silence Alabama fans by scoring 10 unanswered points.
At the beginning of the second half, the general gameplan for Alabama was to turn this around. They unfortunately came up short, scoring only 10 points. The final score of the game was 31-17, not just a win for the Seminoles, but a dominant one. In particular, Thomas Castellanos, the one who started all the big drama in the first place, ended the game with 230 yards rushing/passing the football, and a touchdown on the ground.
So while Castellanos’ comments could’ve been seen as cocky and overconfident, his, and his team’s performance against Alabama cannot be ignored. Who knows what the season holds for the Seminoles. This likely isn’t the end for Alabama, as they did have a remarkably strong recruiting class, and while they may no longer have Nick Saban, they are still a capable football team that had the potential to start the season ranked inside the top 10 teams. And as for FSU, if their showing against Alabama wasn’t a fluke, they have a very bright season ahead of them.
As of the post week 1 AP poll, Florida State has found themselves at the 14th ranked slot, Alabama fell from 8th, all the way down to 21st, and both UNC and TCU are still unranked. FSU and UNC both have tall orders ahead of them, but on opposite sides. UNC and Bill Belichick need to prove last week was just a one time thing. While FSU needs to show everybody what they believe to be true- they are a genuine contender and are going nowhere.
