Kirk Herbstreit names his top-performing coaches from Week 1

Week 1 of the college football season is in the books and several teams and coaches had impressive performances. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has named his top coaches from the opening weekend of the college football season.

Herbstreit didn’t just choose head coaches but he also went with four defensive coordinators and an offensive coordinator out of his seven selections.

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Here are Herbstreit’s top coaches from Week 1 of the college football season:

Clark Lea, Vanderbilt head coach

The Commodores opened the season with an upset win over Virginia Tech, stunning the Hokies in overtime. Vanderbilt jumped out to a big lead, only to see Virginia Tech fight back and jump ahead.

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However, Lea’s squad didn’t quit and rallied for a 34-27 victory. There’s no doubt that the Vanderbilt job is a tough one, but Lea has his program off to a strong start in 2024. Kirk Herbstreit and others are taking notice.

Bill O’Brien, Boston College head coach

Speaking of head coaches pulling off an upset, Bill O’Brien won his opener with Boston College on Monday as the Eagles upset Florida State in Tallahassee. The ACC was viewed as wide open entering the 2024 season, but most didn’t expect Boston College to factor into the race.

With the way the Eagles played on both sides of the ball at Florida State, that could change. O’Brien is an excellent play caller, and he proved it once again on Monday.

Al Golden, Notre Dame defensive coordinator

Kirk Herbstreit has Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden as his first coordinator on the list. The former Miami head coach did a masterful job in a win at Texas A&M.

Golden’s unit held Texas A&M to only 13 points and 246 yards of total offense. The Aggies were held out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.

Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State offensive coordinator

New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is already having a big impact on the Nittany Lions offense. Kotelnicki came over from Kansas this offseason and is off to a great start.

Penn State went to a tough place to play in Morgantown and put up 34 points and 457 yards of offense. Quarterback Drew Allar threw for 216 yards and three scores while averaging 12.7 yards per attempt.

D’Anton Lynn, USC defensive coordinator

D’Anton Lynn was brought in to improve the USC defense, which has really struggled under Lincoln Riley. So far so good as the Trojans defense aided in USC’s upset of LSU on Monday.

Kirk Herbstreit took notice as the Tigers were held to only 20 points. It was far from a perfect performance but USC played well enough to earn the win.

Glenn Schumann, Georgia defensive coordinator

Glenn Schumann’s defense lost a ton of talent from last season, but you wouldn’t know it with the way the Bulldogs played on Saturday. Georgia allowed only a field goal against Clemson in a 34-3 victory.

A lot was made this offseason about how much better Clemson would be on offense in Year 2 under Garrett Riley. Perhaps the Tigers will be OK on that side of the ball, but they were no challenge for Schumann and Georgia this past weekend.

Geoff Collins, North Carolina defensive coordinator

Mack Brown has been searching for a solid defensive coordinator since returning as the North Carolina head coach. He may have found one in Geoff Collins.

The Tar Heels were excellent in a win over Minnesota last Thursday. The Golden Gophers managed only 17 points and 244 yards of offense.