Three college football teams that missed the mark in Week 1

Not every ranked team started the season the way it hoped too. Here are three teams that fell well short of expectations in Week 1 of the college football season.

Michigan Wolverines

No. 16 Michigan needed a controversial second chance Hail Mary just to escape with a 13-12 win over Western Michigan, who entered the game as 27.5-point underdogs in Kyle Whittingham's debut as head coach. 

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood threw an interception, lost a fumble at his own 31-yard line with under two minutes to play and nearly threw two more interceptions before officials put one second back on the clock after his first Hail Mary attempt appeared to touch a WMU defender who was out-of-bounds as the clock hit zero.

Underwood then connected with receiver JJ Buchanan on a 47-yard touchdown to avoid what would have been one of the biggest upsets in program history. Western Michigan out-possessed Michigan by more than 15 minutes and finished with 221 total yards to Michigan's 276 yards. For a team many had potentially competing for the Big Ten title, needing to be gifted a second chance just to survive a MAC opponent was far from the statement Michigan wanted to make.

Oregon Ducks

No. 2 Oregon walked out Autzen Staduim with a 34-27 win over Boise State, but the ducks were 18.5-point favorites and needed a 62-yard touchdown pass from Dante Moore to Dakorien Moore with under eight minutes left just to pull away. Oregon trailed 17-7 in the second quarter and was tied at 24-24 late in the third quarter before finally putting the Broncos away.

The Ducks committed 10 penalties and allowed a muffed punt to turn into a Boise State touchdown. Oregon outgained Boise State by a wide margin in total yardage, but for a team many are picking to win the national championship, this was too tight of a game. But, it could be that Boise State is a better team that many thought.

Clemson Tigers

Clemson entered the season unranked in the AP poll for the first time in 15 years, and head coach Dabo Swinney predicted the Tigers could go undefeated. Instead, Clemson fell to No. 11 LSU 51-10, one of the worst games in Swinney's coaching career. 

Starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and was pulled from the game for freshman Tait Reynolds late in the second quarter. LSU built a 44-3 lead by the third quarterback and Clemson's only touchdown came on an 11-yard run by David Eziomume in the fourth quarter, long after the outcome was already decided. It was Clemson's worst loss in nearly 30 years and a brutal way to open a season in which the Tigers were hoping to reestablish themselves as an ACC and playoff contender.

These teams didn't start the season the way many were expecting them too, but there is plenty time to build a resume for the CFP. We saw it happen two years ago when Notre Dame lost to NIU and then went on to play in the national title game.