In the end, Week 2 was a little more fun than expected with chaos outside of the top of the rankings. The top teams nary had a struggle with our top 8 teams in action winning by a combined 384-29. That was almost as easy as Notre Dame’s bye week. Elsewhere, across the country fans from Arizona State, Florida, and Kansas State won’t be happy with the results from Saturday.

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

RANK TEAM RECORD NEXT
1 Ohio State 2-0 vs. Ohio
2 LSU 2-0 vs. Florida
3 Miami 2-0 vs. USF
4 Florida State 2-0 BYE
5 Penn State 2-0 vs. Villanova
6 Georgia 2-0 at Tennessee
7 Texas 1-1 vs. UTEP
8 Notre Dame 0-1 vs. Texas A&M
9 Oregon (+1) 2-0 at Northwestern
10 Clemson (-1) 1-1 at Georgia Tech
11 South Carolina (+2) 2-0 vs. Vanderbilt
12 Tennessee (+2) 2-0 vs. Georgia
13 Oklahoma (NR) 2-0 at Temple
14 Alabama (+1) 1-1 vs. Wisconsin
15 Pittsburgh (+1) 2-0 at West Virginia
16 Illinois (+3) 2-0 vs. Western Michigan
17 Texas A&M 2-0 at Notre Dame
18 Louisville 2-0 BYE
19 USF (NR) 2-0 at Miami
20 Iowa State 3-0 at Arkansas State

Dropped Out:

#11 SMU
#12 Arizona State

Only 2 teams from our top 20 lost this past weekend and both now drop out of the rankings. Earlier on Saturday, the SMU-Baylor game went to double overtime with the Bears prevailing after being down at one point 38-24 in the 4th quarter. That’s a tough blow to SMU’s playoff chances and the Ponies were also outgained by 143 yards.

I almost added the Arizona State at Mississippi State game to the week’s picks but thought maybe it wouldn’t be that close. The Sun Devils fell behind 17-3 and couldn’t rally back to win. The 24-20 victory for the Bulldogs is the program’s best win in a good long while!

Top Games Recap:

Mike Gundy thought it was a good idea to talk some trash about Oregon ahead of their trip to Eugene. The Cowboys leave town holding a 69-3 loss, the worst of the Gundy era, while being outgained by over 400(!) yards.

Clemson scored 3 points in the first half against Troy and were being booed continuously by their home fans. The Tigers were able to come back and win 27-16, though.

Kansas State barely escaped last week against North Dakota. They were not so lucky with Army while getting limited to just 43(!!!) offensive snaps in a 24-21 loss to West Point.

We wondered if Illinois would be on upset alert and Duke did end up with more yards. However, the Blue Devils lost 4 fumbles and were -5 in turnovers overall while losing big 45-19 in Durham.

Another game we thought had some upset potential was USF a hefty 17.5 point underdogs going to visit Florida. In another blow to the Billy Napier tenure, the Gators allowed a field goal as time expired to lose 18-16 in the Swamp.

Michigan opened the 2nd half against Oklahoma with a 75-yard touchdown run. For their other snaps, the Wolverines averaged 3.8 yards per play and got beat relatively soundly by the Sooners 24-13 in Norman.

Interesting Games to Note:

Louisville 28-14 James Madison: This was a fun game for a while before Louisville took care of business.

Iowa State 16-13 Iowa: A perfectly fitting score of El Assico.

Ole Miss 30-23 Kentucky: A pretty fun back and forth game saw the visiting Rebels pick up the win.

Missouri 42-31 Kansas: The Jayhawks scored 21 points in the 1st quarter but the remainder of the game saw Missouri explode offensively.

Fresno State 36-27 Oregon State: Not a great start to the season for the Beavers who drop to 0-2 already.

Ohio 17-10 West Virginia: Rich Rod traveled to MACtion land and probably didn’t think the Mountaineers would come out with a loss.

Vanderbilt 44-20 Virginia Tech: The types of wins that Clark Lea needs and the type that Virginia Tech (now 0-2) cannot afford.

Michigan State 42-40 Boston College: A double overtime thriller in East Lansing!

UNLV 30-23 UCLA: The Bruins are 0-2 now after scoring just 3 points in the first half while visiting Las Vegas.

Opponent Recap:

Miami (2-0): No problems for the Canes as they beat Bethune-Cookman easily 45-3.

Texas A&M (2-0): 30 points in the first half saw the Aggies beat Utah State 44-22 but quarterback Marcel Reed left the game in the 3rd quarter after an awkward fall.

Purdue (2-0): Two whole wins this season for Purdue after they beat Southern Illinois 34-17.

Arkansas (2-0): The Hogs scored 28 points in the 1st quarter to cruise past Arkansas State 56-14.

Boise State (1-1): Back on track after losing last week, the Broncos blew out Eastern Washington 51-14.

NC State (2-0): After trailing for a while, NC State came back to beat Virginia 35-31 in Raleigh.

USC (2-0): The Trojans have scored 136 points through 2 games following a 59-20 win over Georgia Southern.

Boston College (1-1): Mentioned above, a tough overtime loss for the Eagles.

Navy (2-0): The Middies had a long weather delay this weekend and ended up beating UAB 38-24.

Pittsburgh (2-0): An easy 45-17 win over visiting Central Michigan for the Panthers.

Syracuse (1-1): It looked bad for a while, and ended in team sprints afterward, but Steve Angeli threw for 417 yards in an overtime 27-20 win over UConn inside the dome.

Stanford (0-2): The Cardinal lost 27-3 at BYU and through 2 games are averaging 3.4 yards per play, big yikes.