Week 0 Recap
Breaking down all five FBS games from the introductory week to the 2025 College Football season.
College Football is finally back, and ten teams officially kicked off the season with an entertaining group of Week 0 games.
#22 Iowa State vs. #17 Kansas State
The day started with the annual Ireland game, this year featuring #22 Iowa State and #17 Kansas State, where the Cyclones defeated the Wildcats 24-21 (coincidentally the same score as last season’s Ireland matchup between Florida State and Georgia Tech).
In what was a sloppy, relatively low-scoring game for the first three quarters, both teams turned the ball over multiple times. One of the most influential turnovers, despite no points coming from it for Iowa State, was Kansas State’s muffed punt after the opening drive of the game.
Starting running back Dylan Edwards, also serving as punt returner, dropped the ball and got hit by an Iowa State player in a seemingly routine tackle. It didn’t look severe, it wasn’t an egregious hit, and it looked like a normal play. However, Edwards suffered an injury and never returned to the game.
In the post-game press conference, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman was asked about the details of Edwards’ injury and said, “I don’t know. They told me after the first couple plays that he was no longer available.”
Edwards never played an offensive snap in the game. Kansas State then looked to running backs Joe Jackson and DeVon Rice, who totaled 60 yards on 17 carries (3.5 yards per carry). For reference, Edwards averaged 7.4 yards per carry last season for the Wildcats. Quarterback Avery Johnson was able to run the offense relatively well without Edwards, accounting for 294 total yards and 3 total TDs, including their lone rushing touchdown, but the offense never truly got going.
While the loss to a conference rival in a standalone TV slot in the very first game of the season is a tough one to stomach for Kansas State, they still have everything in front of them and, should they have their starting running back available again, they can certainly be a player in the Big 12 title race.
Matt Campbell continues to build the Iowa State program, winning their first game outside of the United States in their only appearance abroad. The Cyclones have beaten ranked opponents in back-to-back games (ended last season with a Pop-Tarts Bowl victory over #13 Miami), doing so for the first time since 2018, and have beaten Top 20 opponents in back-to-back games for the first time since 1973.
The story for the Cyclones was quarterback Rocco Becht, who could quickly work his way into the national spotlight if he builds off Saturday’s performance. Becht accounted for 201 total yards, 3 total touchdowns, and 0 INTs, consistently placing the ball in catchable spots for his receivers despite the wet conditions.
Iowa State has now beaten Kansas State three consecutive times and in five of their last six meetings.
Idaho State at UNLV
What was projected to be the most lopsided game of Week 0 turned out to be one of the most exciting games of the day.
In Dan Mullen’s debut as head coach at UNLV, returning to the sideline after working for ESPN for three years, the Rebels were favored to beat Idaho State by THIRTY (30) points. Depending on which place you looked, UNLV was anywhere from a 26.5-point favorite to a 30.5-point favorite over the FCS Bengals.
UNLV is coming off one of their greatest seasons in program history, in which they finished with an 11-3 record and ranked 23rd in the final AP poll.
Idaho State went 5-7 last season and is historically an underwhelming program at the FCS level. The Bengals haven’t had a winning season since 2018 and have had six different 1-win seasons since 2008.
None of that mattered yesterday, however, as Idaho State put up 555 total yards of offense, 30 first downs, and 31 points on the road in Las Vegas.
The Bengals led 10-0 in the first quarter, 17-14 in the 3rd quarter, and 31-24 in the 4th quarter, but ran out of gas late as UNLV scored the game’s last 14 points to win 38-31.
The Rebels split time at quarterback between Virginia transfer Anthony Colandrea and Michigan transfer Alex Orji. After Orji fumbled at the goal line on UNLV’s opening drive, Colandrea received the majority of the playing time. He finished with 195 passing yards, 93 rushing yards, and a touchdown.
Orji did come back late in the game and got another chance down near the end zone, where he took advantage of the opportunity and scored an 11-yard touchdown after hurdling a defender, giving the Rebels the lead and eventually the win.
It wasn’t quite how they pictured it, but Mullen and Rebels got the job done and started the 2025 season 1-0. They travel to Sam Houston in Week 2.
Fresno State at Kansas
It just might be the season where things finally come together for starting quarterback Jalon Daniels and the Kansas Jayhawks.
In their proud debut of the upgrades to David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Kansas had a packed crowd of 41,525, and those fans got what they paid for.
The Jayhawks dominated Fresno State 31-7, led by QB Jalon Daniels’ impressive performance. Daniels went 18/20 passing (90%), accounting for 223 total yards and 3 touchdowns.
In comparison to recent seasons, this is a significant win for the Jayhawks’ program. The Group of 5 matchup, which is supposed to have a high probability of victory for most Power 4 teams, has been a stumbling block for the Jayhawks in recent years.
2017: Lost to Central Michigan, 45-27
2017: Lost to Ohio, 42-30
2019: Lost to Coastal Carolina, 12-7
2020: Lost to Coastal Carolina, 38-23
2021: Lost to Coastal Carolina, 49-22
2023: Beat Nevada, 31-24 (Nevada went 2-10)
2024: Lost to UNLV, 23-20
While many people may look at Kansas beating Fresno State 31-7 and not think much of it in terms of impressiveness, this win may be an indicator that the program could be turning the corner to some extent, and is a great sign for the road ahead.
Sam Houston at Western Kentucky
In what was the most impressive individual performance of Week 0, Western Kentucky quarterback Maverick McIvor led the Hilltoppers to a 41-24 victory over Sam Houston.
McIvor, who transferred in from FCS Abilene Christian, went 33/51 passing (64.7%), accounting for 408 total yards and 4 touchdowns, and did not turn the ball over.
McIvor spread the ball out all over the field, as nine different WKU players had a reception, six different players had multiple receptions, and three different players had a receiving touchdown. Matthew Henry led the group with 7 receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown.
The game was close for about 40 minutes, with Sam Houston leading 24-20 in the 3rd quarter, but the Hilltoppers ran away with it late as they scored the last 21 points.
Western Kentucky improves to 1-0 and sits atop the Conference USA standings.
Stanford at Hawai’i
The most exciting ending of Week 0 came between the Stanford Cardinal and Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors.
Stanford jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead after kicking a field goal and then hitting Hawaii QB Micah Alejado in the end zone, forcing a fumble and recovering it for a touchdown on their first defensive play of the season.
Hawai’i battled back, taking a 14-13 halftime lead.
Stanford’s offense was tough to watch, largely relying on running backs Micah Ford and Sedrick Irvin, who accounted for 159 combined rushing yards and a touchdown.
Oregon State transfer quarterback Ben Gulbranson was dreadful, going 15/30 for 109 yards, and threw an interception right to a defender while the Cardinal was driving with the lead and a chance to put the game away late in the 4th quarter.
The two major storylines from the game for Hawaii were QB Micah Alejado and kicker Kansei Matsuzawa.
Alejado suffered an ankle injury during the game and was visibly limping throughout most of the 4th quarter. Despite the injury, Alejado led the Rainbow Warriors down the field on their last two drives, in which Kansei Matsuzawa nailed a 37-yard field goal to tie and a 38-yard field goal to walk it off.
The announcers for the game noted Matsuzawa’s intriguing path to College Football, which included teaching himself how to properly kick field goals by watching YouTube videos after moving to the United States from Japan.
In the post-game press conference, Matsuzawa talked about how hard he had been working not only as a kicker, but also to learn English.
He said, “I’m kind of nervous right now, more than when I [kicked the] game-winning field goal. Speaking English is tough, but yeah, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the moment. And when we gave up the second touchdown to Stanford, then I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be my game.’ And I just prepared for the game-tying field goal and also game-winning field goal. I knew it was going to happen.”
Hawaii’s victory gave them their first win over a Power 4 program since 2019.
Stanford can loosely be referred to as a Power 4 team at the moment, having gone 3-9 in four consecutive seasons and appearing to be on track for another 3-9 season, if not worse. The Cardinal, already 0-1, faces a difficult schedule this fall, including preseason #26 BYU, #16 SMU, #10 Miami, and #6 Notre Dame.
As Week 0 comes to a close, the good news for College Football fans is that we don’t have to wait long until Week 1 arrives. SEVENTEEN games will be played on Thursday night as an appetizer for the massive slate of matchups on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
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