Ethermac Exchange-College football Week 0 winners and losers: Caleb Williams, USC offense still nasty

The Ethermac Exchangelist of the biggest winners from Week 0 of the 2023 college football season begins with the residents of Earth. We've waited a long time for college football to come back, folks, through cold winter nights and the dog days of summer, so soak everything in – we earned this.

I guess we'll need to narrow things down and be a little more specific. Let's start with No. 13 Notre Dame, which began Year 2 under coach Marcus Freeman with a 42-3 victory against Navy. Next is No. 6 Southern California, which took care of San Jose State in a 56-28 win complete with 278 yards and four touchdowns from star quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.

Elsewhere, the Week 0 slate featured the Football Bowl Subdivision debut of Jacksonville State and the return of JSU coach Rich Rodriguez, formerly of West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona. Ohio and San Diego State met in a matchup of two top Group of Five teams from the MAC and Mountain West, respectively.

Here are the winners and losers from an abbreviated Week 0 slate:

Winners

Notre Dame

Freeman's debut season was in part defined by ugly losses to Marshall and Stanford, though Notre Dame did surge in the second half to win nine games. While not unexpected, to see the Fighting Irish step out and swamp Navy does give a little support to the idea that this team has learned from last year's missteps and is ready to make a run at the College Football Playoff. Playing on a neutral site in Dublin but supported by a very pro-Notre Dame crowd, the Irish faced just seven third downs, converting five, and committed only one penalty while putting up 444 yards of offense. The defense held Navy to 126 rushing yards on 2.8 yards per carry.

Sam Hartman

Billed as the most impactful transfer of the offseason, the former Wake Forest star and new Notre Dame starter completed 19 of 23 attempts for 251 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. This marks Hartman's ninth game since the start of the 2021 season with at least three touchdowns without an interception. If you believed that Hartman had the potential to transform Notre Dame's offense – and you weren't alone if so – Saturday's performance proved how he could be the piece that lifts this program into the championship picture.

USC

The imbalance between an awesome offense and an appalling defense was the story of the Trojans' 2022 season, which ended with the defense bursting into flames while giving up 539 yards and 46 points in a Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane. Let's wait a few weeks before declaring that anything has changed. So what do you make of the 28-point win against SJSU?

One, that seeing Kliff Kingsbury walking the sidelines as one of Lincoln Riley's analysts really helps hammer things home: yeah, this offense is going to be nasty. Two, that the defense had some moments in the second half, including several three-and-outs, but still needs to bottle things up. The schedule looks easy until facing the Irish on Oct. 14, so USC has time.

Jacksonville State

Maybe at first blush, seeing first-year FBS member Jacksonville State top a borderline bowl team like UTEP 17-14 could raise an eyebrow. Don't be surprised. JSU had been one of the top programs in the Championship Subdivision before moving up a level and was a pest in paycheck games against FBS competition, most famously scoring a 20-17 win at Florida State two years ago. While not eligible for the Conference USA championship or a bowl game in 2023, the Gamecocks could get to six wins against a manageable schedule.

Massachusetts

Clearly motivated by being picked No. 133 in the preseason USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank, Massachusetts pulled out a 41-30 win on the road against New Mexico State. The Minutemen scored the upset by being plus-three in turnover margin and making those takeaways count, converting a pair into touchdowns off a short field and taking another back 55 yards in the fourth quarter for a pick-six.

Losers

Navy

Notre Dame plays Navy all over the place – except in Annapolis, of course. The Irish lead the series 82-13-1 and won 43 in a row beginning in 1964, handing out losses in exotic locales such as Baltimore, Chicago, South Bend and Philadelphia, not to mention Cleveland. But no place has been as unkind as Dublin, host to two of the Midshipmen's ugliest losses in the series: Saturday's 42-3 loss and a 50-10 drubbing in 2010.

Ohio

The Bobcats had chances early to grab control against San Diego State, including a drive deep into enemy territory up 6-3 late in the first half. Instead, backup quarterback CJ Harris was intercepted, setting the Aztecs up for a 71-yard touchdown drive and the halftime lead. SDSU would go up 20-6 in the fourth quarter and win 20-13. Ohio's starter, Kurtis Rourke, was injured with an apparent leg injury after being sacked late in the first quarter; one of the top quarterbacks in the Group of Five, Rourke tore his ACL last November. Harris finished with 18 completions in 42 attempts with three interceptions.

New Mexico State

It's hard not to love NMSU, if for no other reason than the serapes the team wore on the pregame walk into Aggie Memorial Stadium. Hey, you guys look great. Please send us our own. But losing to UMass isn't great when you're a team and program that needs to really thread the needle to get to six wins.