College football winners, losers in Week 2: Texas flexes muscles, Notre Dame can’t get out of its own way

College football didn’t produce many stunners to open the season, but Week 2 delivered some tremendous anxiety. The first AP top-five team of the season fell and five ranked teams fell overall. Even out of the teams that survived, elite programs like No. 4 Alabama and No. 8 Penn State were shockingly pushed to the wire. 

For that reason, the biggest winners of Week 2 were the programs that were able to make a statement. No. 3 Texas walked into the Big House and delivered No. 10 Michigan a knockout blow. No. 14 Tennessee dropped 50 points on No. 24 NC State. Iowa State was able to beat hated rival Iowa and set itself up for a special season. 

Here are some of the biggest winners and losers of college football’s Week 2, including a couple of potential at-large contenders for the College Football Playoff bolstering their cases with big wins. 

Winner: Texas

Whatever the metric is for Texas being back, we’ve officially hit it. The Longhorns traveled to No. 10 Michigan and put together one of the most dominant performances of the season. 

The offensive issues for Michigan weren’t a huge shock after quarterback Davis Warren’s miserable Week 1 performance against Fresno State. But Texas’ offense showed signs of being a truly complete unit behind quarterback Quinn Ewers. The junior threw three touchdowns and spread the wealth against a Michigan secondary that rates among the best in America. 

If this is the level that Texas can maintain heading forward, the Longhorns belong in the conversation with Georgia and Ohio State as serious national championship contenders. 

Loser: Notre Dame

Notre Dame just can’t get out of its own way under coach Marcus Freeman. Heading into Saturday, MAC teams were 0-51 all time against AP top five opponents. Lucky for them, No. 5 Notre Dame was happy to provide the first win. The Fighting Irish coughed up a pair of interceptions and failed to find nearly any offensive consistency as NIU nailed a field goal with 31 seconds remaining to shock Notre Dame. 

The Fighting Irish lost as a 14-point home favorite or better, the most in college football since 2022 for the third time under Freeman. However, the 28-point line was the biggest disaster by far, especially after landing a win over then-No. 20 Texas A&M to open the season. Freeman now moves to 20-9 as Notre Dame coach; Brian Kelly went 21-3 in his final two seasons. 

Winner: QB Kyle McCord, Syracuse

Syracuse coach Fran Brown joked that he should send Ohio State coach Ryan Day a bottle of champagne for letting him land McCord in the transfer portal. After two games, McCord looks like one of the biggest additions of the offseason. In his first two games as an Orange starter, McCord has thrown for 635 yards and eight touchdowns, including four scores in a 31-28 upset victory against No. 23 Georgia Tech. In Jeff Nixon’s offense, McCord looks calm and comfortable, a vast contrast to the panic he showed when at Ohio State. Sometimes all a player needs is a change of scenery. For McCord, the grass is vastly greener on the other side. 

Loser: Auburn

When Hugh Freeze decided to pass on a transfer quarterback, his hope was giving incumbent Payton Thorne some receiver help would help him take a step. In Week 1 against Alabama A&M, it seemed to work. Unfortunately, beating up on an FCS opponent was fool’s gold and the Tigers have made zero progress. 

Auburn lost 21-14 against a California team it beat on the road last season. While the offense was bad, the pass defense was disastrous, allowing Francisco Mendoza to hit on 20 of his first 22 passes to build a lead. At least last season the defense was decent. This time, Auburn has essentially nothing to hang its hat on. 

The Tigers have eight games remaining against teams ranked higher than Cal in the CBS Sports 134 rankings. If Week 2 was any indication, Auburn would be lucky to return to a bowl game.  

Winner: Iowa State

Since Matt Campbell took over, Iowa-Iowa State has had all the hallmarks of a serious rivalry — except the wins. The Cyclones were 1-7 against Iowa heading into the matchup, with the only previous win ironically coming during Campbell’s 4-8 campaign in 2022. The 20-19 stunner in Iowa City will be one remembered for much longer. 

Iowa State flipped a switch in the second half, overcoming a 13-0 halftime deficit by leaning on its star receivers and trusty kicker. A 75-yard touchdown from Jaylin Noel broke the game open and kicker Kyle Konrardy nailed a 54-yarder with six seconds remaining to win it. This is the kind of performance that can launch a truly special season in Ames if Campbell can lean on his playmakers for a full season. It doesn’t hurt the narrative that Iowa State was able to escape with a close-game victory, which has been a serious bugaboo for this program over the past several years. 

Loser: UAB coach Trent Dilfer

ULM coach Bryant Vincent was a longtime UAB assistant when he was named the program’s interim coach in 2022. After the season, he was passed over by former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who came to the job without any college coaching experience. Dilfer took over a UAB program coming off six straight winning seasons. After a 32-6 loss against Vincent’s Warhawks, Dilfer is now 3-9 against FBS opponents. 

UAB’s signature offense averaged 3.9 yards per play and 2.6 yards per carry against a team that allowed FCS Jackson State to drop 14 points in Week 1. The Warhawks obliterated UAB’s defense to the tune of 209 yards and two scores. It’s one thing to lose a nonconfence game badly. What’s worse is seeing what could have been. 

Winner: Clemson

Rumors of Clemson’s demise may have been a tad premature. The Tigers took all of their frustrations out on a poor Appalachian State team in a 66-20 victory that somehow wasn’t as close as the final score. The Tigers took a 42-0 lead before the Mountaineers even knew what hit them and quarterback Cade Klubnik had eight touchdowns in the first half. 

The Tigers still have plenty of talent on campus, but the story has to be the emergence of star freshman receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. The five-star recruit had three catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. He gives Clemson the kind of playmaker that it hasn’t had outside in years. If more freshmen can rise to the occasion, Dabo Swinney will have a new core to work around. 

Loser: SMU

The Mustangs committed an unbelievable amount of money to force their way into the ACC. Needless to say, losing to BYU 18-15 and not scoring a touchdown wasn’t the performance the Ponies hoped for in their first Power Four matchup. The offense was a complete mess, averaging 3.6 yards per play as coach Rhett Lashlee struggled to settle on a quarterback. On the game’s decisive drive, quarterback Kevin Jennings threw four straight incompletions. The Mustangs have some real soul searching to do after moving to 0-6 against power conference opponents under Lashlee. 

Winner: Tennessee

Beating No. 24 North Carolina State 51-10 was plenty impressive on its face. The Wolfpack are a legitimate ACC contender. What’s more impressive, though, is that the Volunteers did it on the back of serious defensive dominance, holding NC State to just 143 total yards and a shocking 1.4 yards per carry. Tennessee’s offense was solid, posting 460 yards and 6.9 yards per play. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava didn’t exactly need a breakout performance, throwing 23 passes and turning it over twice. However, the defense gives this program a floor that it simply hasn’t had under previous coaching staffs. 

Winner: Idaho

The Vandals had a serious chance to win against Oregon in Week 1, but there was no emotional letdown for the FCS contenders heading into a game against Wyoming. Idaho shocked the Cowboys 17-13 to pick up an FCS-over-FBS upset in consecutive seasons. Coach Jason Eck has done a tremendous job since he was in 2022, producing two deep runs into the FCS Playoffs. If the first two weeks are any indication, it could be a special season.