Texas takes down the defending champs, Notre Dame stunned at home: Winners and losers from Week 2 of the college football season

For a slate that didn’t look particularly promising on paper, Week 2 ultimately delivered a pound-for-pound very exciting weekend of college football.

The most notable result came out of South Bend in a game no one had on their radar entering the day. No. 5 Notre Dame, a four-touchdown favorite, was upset by Northern Illinois in the biggest win in Huskies program history. Now, questions about Marcus Freeman we didn’t expect to ask after a Week 1 win at Texas A&M are being raised.

The week’s most-anticipated game proved only to be compelling if you’re a Texas (or Ohio State) fan as the Longhorns delivered another huge win on the road in Week 2 by dominating defending national champion Michigan in Ann Arbor.

While that game wasn’t in doubt beyond the early stretches, some other top-10 teams — notably Alabama, Oregon and, of course, the Fighting Irish — found themselves in much tougher battles. Now that we’ve wrapped up Week 2, here are the winners and losers from the weekend.

Winner: Texas wins a big one in The Big House

During Week 2 of the 2023 season, Texas delivered one of the biggest wins of the entire year when it went on the road and upset Nick Saban’s Alabama. A 31-12 win on the road as a two-score favorite against Michigan doesn’t feel quite as significant, but the Longhorns made just as big a statement.

This game was never in doubt from the very beginning. After missing a field goal on its opening drive, Texas went on a 24-3 run and didn’t punt for the first time until five minutes into the third quarter. This was a 31-6 game until Michigan scored with under two minutes to play to make the margin slightly less embarrassing.

Michigan may just not be that good this season — we’ll address this more later — but a dominating performance like this is attention-grabbing regardless. Quinn Ewers had one of his most impressive games at Texas, playing cleanly and efficiently as he completed 24 of 36 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns. A depleted running back room still managed to add 143 more yards on the ground.

And while Michigan’s offense isn’t a world-beater by any means, it was encouraging to see the Longhorns hold the Wolverines to just 82 yards on the ground and fewer than four yards per carry.

Tougher games are ahead for Texas in its first SEC campaign, but there’s no reason to view this team as anything other than a national title contender.

Loser: Michigan’s drop-off was bigger than we thought

I want to start by saying that nothing I saw from the Wolverines on Saturday was overly surprising to me. This team lost so much, from 15 NFL draft picks (including its quarterback and best offensive skill players) to head coach Jim Harbaugh to defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. This just isn’t the same team that won a national title last year.

After that performance, though, it’s safe to say it may not even be close. I thought Michigan was way overrated as a preseason top-10 team, but the offensive situation is more alarming than I expected.

We saw red flags in the opener from Davis Warren, a former walk-on, and he unsurprisingly didn’t fare much better against Texas than he did against Fresno State. He tossed two interceptions with his only touchdown coming on the aforementioned garbage time score.

It’s hard to imagine that expected starter Alex Orji can’t help this team do better given his abilities as a runner, but perhaps the fact that he saw zero action in this game aside from two carries for a one-yard loss should clue us into something the coaching staff already knows.

This was always going to be a rebuilding year, and I doubt a seven or eight-win season would do much to jeopardize Sherrone Moore’s position. But I would maybe advise that he finalize that whole contract thing.

Winner: Tennessee thumps NC State in Charlotte

At the risk of being proven catastrophically wrong, I think the Vols may really have something here. This game looked a bit less exciting during the week than it did entering the season after NC State struggled with Western Carolina in Week 1, but no one outside of the state of Tennessee expected a 41-point Volunteers win.

If you had just shown me the final score, I would’ve assumed it was the Nico Iamaleava coming out party. But perhaps what’s most impressive to me is that it wasn’t.

The redshirt freshman produced, scoring three total touchdowns on over 270 all-purpose yards while completing 16 of 23 passes. But he also made some mistakes, throwing two picks in this game.

It was the rest of the team that picked up the slack. Tennessee ran for nearly 250 yards with Dylan Sampson accounting for 132 of those. The defense held NC State under 150 yards and forced three turnovers, including a game-changing 85-yard pick-six when the Wolfpack were driving to potentially tie the game at 10 in the second quarter.

The redshirt freshman quarterback has a lot of talent and should improve throughout the year, but it’s the pieces around him that suddenly have me thinking this could be a playoff team.

Loser: Is it time for a Marcus Freeman conversation?

Where to even start?

I’m not sure that the significance of Saturday’s loss for the Fighting Irish has totally sunk in yet. They were four touchdown favorites playing at home against a MAC team that entered the game 0-14 all-time against top-10 opponents. Now, thanks to an implosion the likes of which we haven’t seen in a while, that record is 1-14.

How quickly the narrative can change in college football. A week ago, Notre Dame was about to sleepwalk to a 12-0 season and CFP berth. Now, even winning out may not do the trick with a blemish this bad on the resume. And while he seems to be liked in South Bend and is certainly well-respected nationally, it all ultimately falls on Marcus Freeman’s shoulders.

Say what you will about Brian Kelly — both his tenure at Notre Dame and what he’s managed (and hasn’t managed) to accomplish at LSU since leaving — but he didn’t lose games like this. The Irish were on a 42-game win streak against unranked opponents before Kelly’s departure.

In two seasons and change under Freeman, they’ve lost four such games already, including home losses as 20+ point favorites against Stanford, Marshall and, now, NIU. Freeman has a solid 20-9 record, but his teams continue to be hamstrung by losses like this.

And while it may be premature, it seems he may have missed on his portal quarterback this season. Riley Leonard was a bit unproven as a passer at Duke, and he hasn’t done much to ease those concerns with his new team as he threw for just 163 yards and two interceptions in this game.

I don’t think Freeman is under any real pressure right now, but we could be one more bad loss away from that changing.

Quick Hitters – Winners

Syracuse: The Orange already had a lot of momentum off the field with new head coach Fran Brown, and now they’ve got some on it after taking down a ranked Georgia Tech team to begin ACC play. While things didn’t work out at Ohio State, Kyle McCord seems to really elevate this team.

Iowa State: This year’s iteration of El Assico proved to be fairly exciting — relatively speaking, at least. The Cyclones overcame a pair of two-score deficits and put up 361 yards on Iowa’s elite defense before hitting a game-winning field goal to clinch back-to-back victories in Iowa City.

South Carolina: A cautionary tale in overreacting to Week 1, South Carolina had much more success on the road against Kentucky offensively than it did in its opener against Old Dominion, somehow. It’s still hard to tell where this team stands in the SEC — it will be easier after it plays LSU on Saturday — but it’s clearly not at the very bottom, which is where it looked like it could be before the Week 2 win.

Michigan State: Jonathan Smith has quite the rebuilding project in East Lansing, but perhaps things are a bit ahead of schedule. Maryland is not an upper-echelon Big Ten team, but it’s a solid team that, in theory, shouldn’t have had any issues with the Spartans at home. Instead, Smith’s team claimed a marquee early road win.

FCS Upsets: We didn’t see any true FCS upsets in Weeks 0 or 1 (Montana State was a two-touchdown favorite. It doesn’t count, sorry, I don’t make the rules.), but we saw a few in Week 2. After giving Oregon a game, Idaho beat Wyoming in Laramie in a contest it frankly should have probably been favored in, while Southern Utah and St. Francis (PA) upset UTEP and Kent State, respectively.

Texas State: The Bobcats were a major surprise team in Year 1 under GJ Kinne last fall, and they looked like a legitimate contender in the Sun Belt after blasting UTSA, a team some thought would contend for the G5 playoff spot, 49-10.

Florida QB DJ Lagway: It may have come against Samford, but the five-star true freshman dazzled in his starting debut while Graham Mertz was out with a concussion. He threw for 456 yards — a freshman record for the Gators — and made things quite interesting for Billy Napier ahead of a crucial home game against Texas A&M in Week 3.

UL Monroe: The Warhawks are comprised of former UAB interim coach Bryant Vincent, who was passed over for the full-time gig, much of his former staff and several transfers from the Blazers as well. You can bet that the 32-6 win over UAB on Saturday was more than a little bit personal.

Nebraska: Dylan Raiola looks like he could be a truly special player, and the defense stole the show in a convincing win over Colorado. This team should be poised to take a leap this year.

Clemson: Many had the Tigers on upset alert against Appalachian State. Instead, quarterback Cade Klubnik threw for more than 350 yards and scored seven total touchdowns in a 66-20 win.

Washington State: The Cougars find themselves in a rough spot in the sport, but they got some catharsis by taking down a power conference team in blowout fashion as they beat Texas Tech 37-16.

Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo: You can’t run for 262 yards single-handedly against an SEC defense — even a bad one — without getting some recognition in this column.

Northern Illinois: If you still don’t quite grasp how much this win meant for the Huskies program, let head coach and former Northern Illinois running back Thomas Hammock explain it himself.

Quick Hitters – Losers

Arkansas: Can you explain to me how you outgain an opponent 648-385 and lose? Because I still don’t get it. Anyway, that’s the question the Hogs are grappling with after squandering a 14-point first-half lead against a ranked opponent on the road.

Cincinnati: I was fully prepared to do this about Pittsburgh and Pat Narduzzi, but then the Bearcats blew a 27-6 fourth-quarter lead against the Panthers, so they get the loser treatment instead. This is a tough scene for Scott Satterfield in Year 2.

Auburn: Let’s check in on Hugh Freeze’s decision to invest in practically every position on the field outside of the quarterback spot. Oh, Payton Thorne threw four picks in a home loss to Cal? I see…

Kentucky: South Carolina has been lights out defensively through two weeks, but that doesn’t justify six points and less than 200 yards of offense at home. This doesn’t look like a high-ceiling Kentucky team for Mark Stoops.

Alabama: Final scores can’t get much more deceiving than the Tide’s “42-16” win over South Florida. Make no mistake, this was a 14-13 game in the fourth quarter, and three touchdowns in the final six minutes to make the score look nice and pretty won’t save you from the questions that has raised.

Kansas: Illinois is a tougher place to play than it gets credit for, but it’s hard not to be disappointed with a loss in which the Jayhawks scored just 17 points and Jalon Daniels threw three interceptions.

Colorado: How much longer must we do this? This team just ain’t that good. Shedeur Sanders was sacked six times, and it doesn’t seem like all that much has changed since last season.

Oregon: I’m not fully ready to sell my Oregon stock, but I am absolutely concerned right now. The Ducks have now looked sluggish in back-to-back weeks and barely squeaked past Boise State on Saturday night. There’s a lot to work on if this team is going to truly contend for the Big Ten.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Texas takes down the defending champs, Notre Dame stunned at home: Winners and losers from Week 2 of the college football season