Ohio State's Dominant Performance Against Arch Manning Secures Third Place; Texas Remains No. 1
Top Performances in Week 1 of College Football
In the opening week of the 2023 college football season, several standout performances caught the eye.
At Texas A&M, Mario Craver shone brightly, catching eight passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, quarterback Marcel Reed passed for four touchdowns.
Over at SMU, Kevin Jennings completed an impressive 22 of 30 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns. Ahmaad Moses and Alexander Kilgore each returned an interception for a touchdown, while Romello Brinson caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Robert Henry Jr. of UTSA showcased his skills with a 177-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance.
In the world of touchdown scorers, CJ Donaldson Jr. added a 1-yard touchdown run for Ohio State in the second quarter, and Nicholas Singleton and Sam Leavitt each scored two touchdowns for Penn State and Arizona State, respectively.
Quarterback duels were a feature of several games. Manning completed 17 of 30 passes for Texas, while Sayin completed 13 of 20 for Ohio State. Elsewhere, Behren Morton threw four touchdown passes before leaving with an injury for Texas Tech.
Austin Simmons impressed for Ole Miss, completing 20 of 31 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns. In contrast, Christian Veilleux was 4-of-11 passing for 52 yards, a touchdown, and an interception for Georgia State.
Some quarterbacks made their first starts, but specific details about their performances are not available in the search results. However, rookies and starters in preseason or later seasons, such as Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud in NFL preseason 2025, have been highlighted.
Notable team performances include No. 7 Oregon's 59-13 victory over Montana State, No. 2 Penn State's 46-11 win over Nevada, and Florida State's 31-17 upset of No. 8 Alabama.
Other impressive individual performances include Justice Haynes' 159-yard, three-touchdown rushing effort for Michigan, Jayce Brown's 109-yard, one-touchdown receiving performance for Kansas State, and Gunner Stockton's four-touchdown passing and rushing performance for Georgia.
In the defensive department, Dani Dennis-Sutton forced two fumbles and had 2.5 stops for losses, including one sack, for Penn State.
Finally, some players made their mark with unusual scoring methods. Colton Joseph accounted for most of Old Dominion's offense with touchdown runs of 75 and 78 yards, and Florida State ran for 230 yards and four touchdowns against Alabama.
These performances set the stage for an exciting college football season ahead.
