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It’s still too early to proclaim “It’s over!” for your favorite football team. This past weekend had more than its share of surprises, though.
Gasping at the results (the good and the bad) seemed to be this weekend’s theme.
Some college and professional football teams are off and running in this 2025 football season. They are definitely on a roll.
Other teams have left us scratching our heads at how they could possibly be playing so badly at this point of the football season.
Let’s start with some of the “good gasps” in college football!
Indiana 63, Illinois 10 – Indiana’s blowout win on Saturday night over the formerly unbeaten Fighting Illini was a very big surprise.
Wins over Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, and Indiana State had even tried and true Indiana Hoosiers fans wondering how good their 2025 football team really was. IU certainly answered the call on Saturday! Transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza passed for five touchdowns as 4-0 Indiana inserted itself into the Big Ten title conversation once again this year.
Texas Tech 34, Utah 10 – The home crowd at Utah is every bit as loud as you’ll hear at any SEC game on a Saturday.
Texas Tech had to insert their back-up quarterback (Will Hammond) into the game in the second half after the starter was injured. Hammond led the inspired Red Raiders offense to 24 points in the final quarter as Texas Tech (4-0) rolled to an impressive road win. There is only one AP Top 25 opponent (BYU – at Lubbock) remaining on the schedule for Texas Tech. Can they run the table?
Ole Miss 45, Tulane 10 – Beating Tulane wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but the Ole Miss back-up quarterback looks to be a better player than the Rebels’ NIL darling 5-star freshman.
Senior back-up quarterback Trinidad Chambliss transferred to “The Sip” from NCAA Division II Ferris State (Michigan). The former high school basketball star runs the Ole Miss offense like an NBA point guard. Chambliss passed for 307 yards and added another 112 yards on the ground against a solid Tulane football team. Unbeaten Ole Miss (4-0) hosts #4 LSU this Saturday afternoon at 2:30PM on ABC. Oh, boy!!!
UL-Monroe 31, UTEP 25 – ULM was coming off of a 73-0 paycheck beatdown at the hands of Alabama two weeks earlier.
A stunned crowd in El Paso’s Sun Bowl watched the Warhawks soar to a 31-7 lead in the third quarter of this game. The Miners then rallied to close within six points late in the fourth quarter. It took not one, but two interceptions by ULM (now 2-1) during the final two minutes to secure a 31-25 victory. The Warhawks’ long-time Sunbelt Conference nemesis Arkansas State rolls into Monroe this Saturday afternoon for a 2PM homecoming game.
Then there were the college football lows…
Syracuse 34, Clemson 21 – The 3-1 Syracuse Orange buried the orange-clad Clemson Tigers Saturday in a five-hour game featuring a 90-minute weather delay during halftime.
Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney is now 1-3 for the first time in his 17-years as the team’s head coach. Syracuse was clearly the better team on Saturday. Clemson’s offense never seemed capable of completing passes longer than ten yards – even when the Tigers were down by multiple scores in the fourth quarter and the remaining crowd groaned its disapproval. Syracuse played well, but Clemson is spiraling out of control and needs an intervention this week.
Tulsa 19, Oklahoma State 12 – The 2-2 Golden Hurricane won this annual match-up for the first time in 27 years and its first game in Stillwater since 1951!
Tulsa played well, but Oklahoma State is imploding for the second straight season under veteran coach Mike Gundy. The Cowboys are now just 1-12 in their last 13 games going back to 2024. Perhaps Coach Gundy and Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney need to commiserate this week.
UCF 34, North Carolina 9 – If you watched the Tar Heels get trounced in their season-opening home game by TCU, this game looked like an instant replay.
The Knights of UCF (now 3-1) scored early and often in taking a 27-3 lead early in the third quarter. Carolina (now 2-2) continues to struggle passing the football and added two more interceptions in this game. UNC’s 73-year old rookie head coach Bill Belichick was able to take another sideline nap in this game. His Tar Heels get this week off to prepare for a visit from Coach Dabo Swinney’s reeling 1-3 Clemson Tigers on October 4.
NFL – Let’s celebrate a victory by these surprising teams!
Carolina Panthers 30, Atlanta Falcons 0 – Did anyone see this one coming?
Formerly winless Carolina (now 1-2) steamrolled their NFC South rival Atlanta in the biggest NFL surprise of the weekend. Former overall #1 draft pick Bryce Young was able to watch Atlanta’s young quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. throw two interceptions and get chased around much like Young has endured over his first two NFL seasons. Atlanta played quite well in a 22-6 win at Minnesota the previous week. The players and coaches obviously didn’t very prepare for Sunday’s game at Carolina.
Cleveland Browns 13, Green Bay Packers 10 – This result was nearly as surprising as the Carolina win.
Cleveland (1-2) trailed 10-0 at home with a little bit more than four minutes left in the game. A field goal followed by a Green Bay turnover allowed the Browns to tie the score at 10-10 with two minutes to go. The Browns then blocked a late Green Bay field goal and converted their own 55-yard game winner on the final play to secure Cleveland’s first win of the season.
Colts and Bolts remain unbeaten! If you predicted both Indianapolis and the Los Angeles Chargers to be 3-0 at this point in the season, you should be very happy today!
Indy blasted hapless Tennessee 41-20 in Nashville to zoom into the AFC South lead. The gritty Los Angeles Chargers stayed unbeaten by taking down AFC West rival Denver 23-20. Quarterback Justin Herbert took the Chargers into the end zone with a touchdown pass with less than three minutes to go and then moved his team into field goal range for the game winning 3-pointer.
NFL lows of the week:
Seattle Seahawks 44, New Orleans Saints 13 – Have you located your favorite Saints paper bag to wear for the remainder of this season?
The winless New Orleans Saints trailed 38-6 at halftime. That was the most points allowed in a half by New Orleans than in any game since October, 1973. The Saints were called for 11 penalties, too. They are now tied with 0-3 Tennessee for the NFL lead in committing the most penalties (31) after three weeks of the season. Seattle (2-1) scored on a 95-yard punt return and also blocked a punt by New Orleans. It was a total beatdown in Seattle.
Jacksonville 17, Houston Texans 10 – The New Orleans Saints were expected to struggle this season, but the Houston Texans (also 0-3) were predicted to win the AFC South.
Third-year quarterback CJ Stroud continues to regress as he tossed two more interceptions to the Jaguars’ defense on Sunday in J-ville. Stroud has more interceptions (3) than touchdown passes (2) as Houston’s offensive struggles worsen. The former Houston Oilers (Tennessee Titans) are also 0-3 and return to H-town for a game this Sunday with the Texans. Someone has to win, right?
Chicago Bears 31, Dallas Cowboys 14 – Dallas dropped to 1-2 with another defensive blooper in Chi-town on Sunday.
The Cowboys’ junior high school pass defense schemes allowed Chicago QB Caleb Williams to complete five passes longer than 25 yards in this game. Williams had four touchdown passes and nearly 300 yards of offense for the Bears (1-2). Dallas lost its top receiver, CeeDee Lamb, with an ankle injury early in this game. Cowboys’ quarterback Dak “Dink” Prescott completed 13 short passes to tight end Jake Ferguson but accounted for just 82 yards. Prescott also completed two passes to the Chicago Bears’ defense as part of four turnovers served-up by the Dallas offense on Sunday.
Green Bay comes into Big D next Sunday night for a nationally televised game on NBC as both teams are coming off a head-scratching loss.