The spotlight on Texas and Arch Manning overshadows LSU and Clemson, teams that will play in a Week 1 clash featuring two premier quarterbacks.
Cade Klubnik and Garrett Nussmeier are among just a few proven quarterbacks playing for teams ranked in the preseason top 10.
Texas pegged as favorite in preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, but No. 1 ranking not necessarily a great omen for championship success.
Maybe we’re spotlighting the wrong Week 1 quarterback matchup.
When Fox blows out coverage for Arch Manning and No. 1 Texas against No. 2 Ohio State, that will become the prevailing storyline of college football’s first full Saturday – and it doesn’t matter how Manning performs.
If Peyton Manning’s nephew dazzles, the Heisman locomotive will rumble down the tracks with the speed of the Shanghai Maglev. If he struggles, the alarmists will practice their craft.
Manning’s showing will offer hints about Texas’ national championship potential. The Buckeyes will counter with Julian Sayin, a former five-star recruit of their own who’s making his first career start.
Hours later, two of the nation’s most established, most accomplished, most talented quarterbacks, two guys who require no introduction, will compete against one another.
I’m referring to the Garrett Nussmeier versus Cade Klubnik billing when No. 9 LSU plays at No. 6 Clemson in a clash of well-stocked teams that somehow continue to fly below the radar of top national championship frontrunners.
College football’s poll voters sleeping on Clemson, LSU
You’ll probably hear that the clash of top-ranked teams in Columbus, Ohio, could preview the national championship game. That’s a justifiable prediction, but neither would it be baseless to predict that the nightcap in Death Valley could be Part I of a two-part series that will be revived in the playoff.
Clemson touts one of the nation’s most established rosters, and Dabo Swinney even inserted a few transfers to polish the depth chart. At LSU, Brian Kelly donated $1 million bucks from his own wallet to spur an offseason fundraising drive, and the Tigers went on a transfer-buying spree to install a talented cast, on each side of the ball, in support of Nussmeier.
Where does that leave Manning’s Longhorns? Well, as front-runners, despite their starting quarterback’s relative inexperience.
Texas, after receiving 28 of 67 first-place votes in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, will aim to join 2017 Alabama with the distinction of being the only teams to go from preseason No. 1 in the coaches poll to national champions, since the launch of the College Football Playoff.
That precarious history for No. 1 teams, though, belies that poll voters generally aren’t far off the mark.
In the playoff era, no national champion was ranked worse than No. 6 in the preseason coaches poll, and eight of the 11 playoff triumphers were ranked within the top three of the preseason balloting.
And, still, as I sort through many of the top-ranked teams, I see one inexperienced quarterback after another.
Manning started two games last season against overmatched opponents. He looked the part of a man with his surname, but he’s thrown just 95 passes in his college career. Those 95 passes make Manning more experienced than four other starting quarterbacks from preseason top-10 teams.
If Manning or Sayin leads his team to a national title, he’d become the most inexperienced quarterback to start for a national champion since 2018 Clemson won the title behind true freshman Trevor Lawrence.
Arch Manning nabs spotlight, but Garrett Nussmeier, Cade Klubnik are proven
No. 3 Penn State, No. 6 Clemson and No. 9 LSU are the only top-10 teams that returned their starting quarterback, although No. 10 Miami features a proven hand in transfer Carson Beck from Georgia.
Elsewhere throughout the top 10 forms a collection of starters who were blue-chip recruits but who, combined, have thrown fewer than half as many passes in their college careers as Klubnik.
“He’s what you want,” Swinney said of Klubnik during a July meetup with reporters.
So is Nussmeier, who waited his turn behind Jayden Daniels during a time when other quarterbacks would have flown the bayou to become a starter sooner elsewhere.
This will be Nussmeier’s second season starting. Daniels and Joe Burrow won a Heisman Trophy in their second season starting for LSU.
“He loves LSU,” Kelly said of a fifth-year senior who began his Tigers career playing for Ed Orgeron. “He wants to lead our football team to a championship. If the Heisman follows with that, I think he’s good with that.”
Maybe then, the clientele at Louisiana’s Walmarts will recognize LSU’s quarterback who threw for more than 4,000 yards last season.
This summer, Nussmeier and Manning went on a Walmart run in Thibodaux, Louisiana, while roommates at the Manning Passing Academy.
Customers recognized Manning and wanted their picture with him.
Nussmeier observed the scene from the background, apparently going undetected.
Manning and his No. 1 Longhorns command the spotlight, but I can’t imagine either Swinney or Kelly would trade his starting quarterback.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.