College football can be a fickle mistress. The season is in its infancy and we are already seeing some head-turning scorelines. Notre Dame came unstuck at home while Alabama, Oregon and Penn State all escaped embarassing and potentially playoff threatening losses. After Florida State's surprising losses to Boston College last week and Georgia Tech in Week 0, the Yellow Jackets came unstuck against a Syracuse team that is now 2-0.
Big wins for Texas, Ohio State Clemson, Nebraska and Tennessee were fun to watch. There will be twists and turns ahead, but this was another eventful week in college football.
Upsets
Northern Illinois 16, No.5 Notre Dame 14
The biggest shock in their school's history saw unranked Northern Illinois upset fifth-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. The Fighting Irish had come into the game as 28.5 point favourites and to add insult to damaging season loss, had paid the Huskies $1.4 million to play in South Bend too. In his third year as head coach, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has now lost home games to Marshall, a 3-9 Stanford team and Northern Illinois. A week ago they had beaten Texas A&M in College Station and looked like a playoff team. The sharks may start circling.
Notre Dame's defense, dominant against the Aggies a week ago, were worn down by Nothern Illinois, who took 11 plays to advance 31 yards to their game-winning field goal with 31 seconds left to play.
Huskies' running back Antaro Brown accounted for 225 total yards, 126 through the air on just two receptions with a touchdown and ran for a further 99 yards on 20 carries. Down six at half time, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love's 34-yard touchdown gave the home team a 14-13 lead, but quarterback Riley Leonard was picked off by Huskies safety Amariyun Knighten who returned the interception 33 yards to the halfway line with 5:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. The clock-sapping 31-yard set up Kanon Woodill for a 35-yard field goal with 35 seconds to go.
The drama hadn't finished. Notre Dame managed to move the ball downfield to give kicker Mitch Jeter a lengthy 62-yard field goal attempt to snatch the win, but Cade Haberman's block handed Northern Illinois, now 2-0, a famous victory.
Iowa State 20, No.21 Iowa 19
A 54-yard field goal from Iowa State kicker Kyle Konrardy gave the Cyclones a season-boosting upset win over No.21 Iowa, their second win over the Hawkeyes in three years.
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns as Iowa, who scored 40 points in their opening game win against Illinois State, struggled. Hawkeyes quarterback Cade McNamara threw for just 99 yards and was intercepted twice.
No.19 Kansas lost 23-17 to Illinois in Champaign, avenging last season's 34-23 loss and knocking the Jayhawks out of this week's AP Top 25 poll.
Close, but no cigar...
Sam Pittman's Arkansas looked like posting a big upset over No.16 Oklahoma State in their own backyard, but succumbed to 21 straight points from the Cowboys in Stillwater. Preseason Heisman contender Ollie Gordon II managed just 49 yards' rushing but scored the winning touchdown in overtime.
No.7 Oregon, yet to play a conference game since they moved to the Big Ten, looked out of sorts at times against Idaho in Week One, came up against another awkward Idaho-based team in Boise State and needed a last-minute field goal to beat the Broncos in Eugene, 37-34. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty ran in three touchdowns and 192 rushing yards, a week after running for 267 yards and six touchdowns in the Broncos' opener against Georgia Southern.
No.5 Alabama had a shaky encounter against South Florida early in the 2023 college football season. One year on, they held a slender 14-13 lead before scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter, coming away with a 42-16 win.
No.8 Penn State trailed 24-20 at home to a determined Bowling Green team before finding their form in the fourth quarter. No.17 Kansas State narrowly avoided an upset loss to Tulane, beating the Green Wave 34-27.
Looking good...
No.3 Texas 31, No.10 Michigan 12
Texas travelled to the home of the defending champions and despatched a rebuilding No.10 Michigan team with a quietly impressive confidence. Quinn Ewers looked composed, throwing for 246 yards and three touchdowns. Texas bullied Michigan in the trenches, significant when you consider strength of offensive and defensive lines was a key factor in three straight Big Ten championships and a national title for the Wolverines.
Longhorns freshman Ryan Wingo showed some impressive flashes again, including a 55-yard scamper that took him to touching distance of the Wolverines' goal line.
Michigan look like a team in transition and in need of consistent play at quarterback. Neither Davis Warren or Alex Orji look like the long-term answer under center for the defending national champions.
No. 14 Tennessee 51, No.24 North Carolina State 10
Tennessee look good this season. The Volunteers put fifty-one points on a No.24 ranked North Carolina State team in Knoxville. Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton have led the Tennessee offense in recent years. In freshman Nico Iamaleava, they could well have one of the best signal callers in the SEC running their offense this season. The 6'6" quarterback has injected energy and excitement, and plays behind a monstrous offensive line.
Iamaleava completed 16 of 23 passes for 211 yards and two touchdown passes, with an additional touchdown and 65 yards on the ground. Tennessee's defense was equally impressive, limiting Wolfpack quarterback Grayson McCall to just 104 yards' passing and North Carolina State to just 39 yards' rushing. Tennessee's head coach outlined the expectation for his defense:
"The standard at Tennessee is to be elite on defense. This is the home of Reggie White, Al Wilson and Eric Berry." - Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.
Clemson 66, Appalachian State 20
Appalachian State, so often college football's giant killers after signature wins over Texas A&M and Michigan, were no match for a Clemson team who looked anaemic in Week One, and a totally different proposition this week. The Tigers looked like a team let off the leash, leading 35-0 in the first quarter. Quarterback Cade Klubnik looks like he could just live up to his much hyped potential. He accounted for seven touchdowns, passing for five and running in two. Klubnik completed 92% of his passes for 378 yards in three quarter.
Clemson, downbeat after a chastening loss to Georgia, could potentially go on an ACC championship-challenging run. If they manage to win every game left on their schedule. They play North Carolina State this weekend, who have come off a hiding in Tennessee, and their toughest remaining regular season opponent on paper is Louisville. Don't rule them out of the playoff just yet.
No.2 Ohio State 56, Western Michigan 0
No.2 Ohio State were untroubled in their demolition of Western Michigan in Columbus. Bigger tests lie in wait but Chip Kelly's offense is clicking. Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson ran in two touchdowns each and freshman reeiver Jeremiah Smith, a week on from a two-touchdown debut, added another in a 119-yard performance.
The Buckeyes racked up 683 yards, and held Western Michigan to just 99 yards. Quarterback Will Howard, having thrown for 292 yards, was rested late in the game, enabling Alabama transfer Julian Sayin to come on and throw his first touchdown pass in college football, a 55-yard effort to Bennett Christian.
Ohio State has a bye week and then hosts Marshall in Week 4.
Nebraska 28, Colorado 10
Despite their attacking prowess, Colorado's frail offensive line and lack of running game may prove costly this season. This could also affect their talented quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown, all while under relentless pressure. He missed the last four minutes of the game having taken a blow to the head. The Buffaloes registered just 16 rushing yards.
Sanders was sacked five times by the Cornhuskers, four of them in a first half that Nebraska dominated, cruising to a 28-0 halftime lead. His opposite number, the impressive freshman Dylan Raiola, completed 23 of 30 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. This was a cathartic win for Nebraska, who had lost to Colorado in last year's Week 2 fixture in Boulder.
Across The Pond College Football
In this week's episode, I talk to one of 'The College Chaps' podcast hosts, George Somerville, who also writes the column, "It's Only SEC (But I Like It!)" for The Touchdown. George talks about his affinity for and specialist focus on the SEC, arguably college football's toughest and most prestigious conference.
He shares his experience of starting the UK's first college football focused podcast, and building it to a point where the SEC Commissioner has been a guest and is a regular listener. We talk about some Week 2 highlights, favourite traditions and finish with some quick fire predictions for the rest of the season.
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