Week 2 already has the feel of a swing weekend in college football, with several teams walking into matchups that could get sideways fast.
Last week delivered the kind of chaos fans expect once the season gets rolling: UMass stunned Rutgers, Boise State pushed Oregon to the edge, and Michigan survived Western Michigan on a controversial Hail Mary. On top of that, Tarleton State, Idaho State, and The Citadel all pulled off FCS-FBS upsets, a type of result that keeps getting harder to find as the resource gap across the sport keeps growing.
Now the attention turns to six programs sitting in the upset zone.
Texas A&M opened with a shutout win over Missouri State, a clean response after a disappointing finish to the 2025 season. But Arizona State brings a much sharper challenge to College Station.
The Sun Devils are two seasons removed from a College Football Playoff appearance, and Kenny Dillingham has already shown he can beat good teams, going 6-7 against ranked opponents overall and 6-2 against top-25 teams since 2024. He also guided Arizona State to a 26-22 upset over No.
7 Texas Tech last year.
The Aggies are still favored by 14.5 points, but Arizona State has a quarterback who can change the temperature of a game quickly. Cutter Boley was excellent in Week 1, hitting 21 of 27 passes for 387 yards and six touchdowns. Texas A&M may have some issues up front, though Kyle Field should be loud, and Marcel Reed was steady in the opener.
Alabama heads into a different kind of pressure spot, starting its third different quarterback in as many years with former five-star prospect Keelon Russell. In his debut, Russell completed 18 of 30 passes for 256 yards and also ran for 86 yards and a touchdown. He flashed, but he also didn’t get much help from his receivers.
Beating East Carolina to start the season is one thing. Going on the road to Kentucky for conference play is another. The Crimson Tide have only seven returning starters, and Russell has never had to be the guy in a road environment during his college career.
Kentucky has its own new face under center. Transfer Kenny Minchey threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Youngstown State, and first-year head coach Will Stein is about to get his first real test.
Kalen DeBoer is also carrying the kind of noise that comes with the Alabama job. Four of his eight losses with the Crimson Tide have come against unranked teams, including a 31-17 road loss to Florida State early in 2025.
Illinois is a little under a touchdown favorite at home against Duke, the reigning ACC champion. Both teams won in Week 1, though neither result was especially clean. Illinois beat UAB 42-23, while Duke handled Tulane 17-3.
The matchup looks different than it did in 2025, when Illinois rolled past Duke. This time, the quarterback battle matters more, with Duke’s Walker Eget and Illinois’s Katin Houser both trying to tilt a non-conference game in their team’s favor. Manny Diaz has also gone 8-4 on the road in his two seasons with the Blue Devils.
Boise State came painfully close to being the story of last Saturday before Oregon escaped with the win. The Broncos pushed the Ducks to the brink, but Oregon found another gear in the second half and finished the job with an explosive touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Now Boise State has to reset fast, because Memphis is coming in looking to make its own noise. The Tigers are 2-0 under Charles Huff and already own a road upset of UNLV in Week 0. They may not match Boise State in raw talent, but Huff has Memphis playing with grit and intensity.
Iowa’s defense did exactly what Iowa’s defense does in a 40-0 win over Northern Illinois, and then some. The Hawkeyes scored on their first three possessions and held the Huskies to 120 total yards. Next comes Iowa State, and that one carries real upset energy too.
The Cyclones are 1-0 under first-year head coach Jimmy Rogers, who arrived from Washington State after Matt Campbell left for Penn State. Rogers had already proven himself at South Dakota State, where he won an FCS national championship in his first season as a head coach in 2023.
Iowa may look better on paper, but Iowa State has won three of the last four meetings, and the Cyclones upset No. 21 Iowa in Iowa City in 2024.
Iowa’s offense also comes in with some uncertainty, since the program plans to play both Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski.
Northern Illinois rounds out the list as the underdog in its home opener against FCS Illinois State. Yes, technically that’s the sort of setup some people might argue about, but an FBS team losing to an FCS opponent is an upset either way.
The Huskies have been through a lot since Charles Huff left for Southern Miss after the 2024 season. Northern Illinois dropped nine of its final 11 games in 2025 and finished 3-9.
Head coach Thomas Hammock then left for the NFL, and the program is now on its third different leader in as many seasons, with Rob Harley serving in an interim role. Harley’s first game ended in a shutout loss to Iowa.
Illinois State comes in at 2-0, with wins over St. Francis, 76-0, and Western Illinois, 41-10. Northern Illinois has a lot of moving pieces to sort through, and it may need quarterback Taron Dickens to elevate the offense to keep the Redbirds in check.
A few other FCS-FBS spots worth keeping an eye on this weekend: Montana State-Nevada, Wofford-Kent State, and Stony Brook-Ball State.
In Other News...
Illinois Just Lost A Major Guard Target Now What For The Backcourt
Illinois had been working to get into the mix for NaVorro Bowman Jr. as part of its 2027 recruiting class, but that pursuit ended with the five-star guard picking UConn. For a program trying to keep its future backcourt stocked, losing a target of that caliber is the sort of miss that forces a quick reset, especially with the market for elite guards always moving early and fast.
There are still paths for the Illini to keep building around the perimeter. King Gibson remains on the board after including Illinois in his top 10, even if he has not lined up a visit to Champaign, and the staff can keep looking at both the transfer portal and internal development. Ethan Brown is one of the in-house names to watch as Illinois sorts out how it wants to shape its guard room for the years ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois Had A New WR Scare Fans Couldn't Ignore Against Duke
Brayden Trimble gave Illinois an uneasy moment in the first half against Duke when the wide receiver came up injured and limped toward the injury tent. With no official update before halftime, there was plenty of reason for concern as the Illini tried to sort out whether one of their passing-game options had been lost for the rest of the afternoon.
Trimble did ease those fears after the break, returning to the field in the second half and rejoining the offense. He went on to catch several passes, a reassuring sign that the issue was minor and that Illinois did not have to spend the rest of the game adjusting without him. [Read more 🡒]
Illinois May Be Getting A Needed Receiver Back At The Right Time
Illinois could be inching toward a boost at a position group that could use one. Wide receiver Jayshon Platt is reportedly making progress after a soft-tissue injury suffered in the preseason, and Bret Bielema said the transfer addition is improving even if the timetable for his return remains unclear.
Platt arrived from Florida Atlantic with a track record that made him an intriguing piece for the offense, and his absence has left Illinois waiting to see how he fits in a live game setting. With the season moving along, any receiver who can help stretch the field and add another reliable target becomes even more valuable, which is why his recovery bears watching closely. [Read more 🡒]