Week 2 handed college football one of its defining early moments of the season, and it came in Columbus and Austin. No. 4 Texas erased a 20-3 halftime deficit to stun top-ranked Ohio State 24-23, giving the Longhorns their first win over an AP No. 1 team since 2008.
That was the headline, but it wasn’t the only shakeup. No.
6 Oregon went down at Oklahoma State, No. 11 Oklahoma fell at Michigan, and Iowa squeezed out another tense finish in the Cy-Hawk rivalry.
Elsewhere, the ranked teams mostly did what ranked teams are supposed to do, piling up lopsided wins across the board.
Here’s how the Week 2 Top 25 played out:
No. 1 Ohio State 23, No. 4 Texas 24
No. 2 Georgia 70, Western Kentucky 20
No. 3 Notre Dame 52, Rice 0
No. 5 Indiana 55, Howard 0
No. 6 Oregon 31, Oklahoma State 39
No. 7 Miami 77, Florida A&M 7
No. 8 LSU 45, Louisiana Tech 14
No. 9 Ole Miss 41, Charlotte 9
No. 10 Texas A&M 48, Arizona State 20
No. 11 Oklahoma 10, Michigan 17
No. 12 Alabama 45, Kentucky 17
No. 13 Texas Tech 35, Oregon State 24
No. 14 USC 49, Louisiana 30
No. 15 BYU 28, Arizona 17
No. 16 Penn State 27, Temple 9
No. 17 SMU 56, UC Davis 10
No. 18 Tennessee 45, Georgia Tech 24
No. 19 Washington 16, Utah State 14
No. 20 Utah 43, Arkansas 10
No. 21 Iowa 16, Iowa State 13
No. 22 Houston 77, Southern University 6
No. 23 Missouri 38, Kansas 21
No. 24 Louisville 59, Villanova 13
No. 25 Virginia 59, Norfolk State 3
There were also a few individual storylines tucked inside the results. LSU’s Sam Leavitt was intercepted three times by Louisiana Tech, though it didn’t stop the Tigers from winning comfortably, 45-14.
And around the country, the weekend produced plenty to chew on: Ohio State and Texas delivered the early-game of-the-year candidate, Michigan’s win over Oklahoma came after a week of scrutiny, and Oregon’s loss at Oklahoma State raised fresh questions about the Ducks. Texas A&M survived its first test against Arizona State, while Iowa again needed a late field goal to finish off Iowa State.
In Other News...
Ohio State Has A Bigger Texas Concern Beyond Jeremiah Smith
Jeremiah Smith was the one Ohio State player who looked ready for the stage against Texas, and the grading reflected it. The freshman kept finding room when the Buckeyes needed it most, turning in the kind of performance that made him the clear focal point of the passing game while the rest of the offense struggled to keep pace.
The concern for Ohio State is what happened once Texas adjusted to him. Smith drew the defensive attention that comes with being the obvious threat, and the Buckeyes did not have enough complementary production elsewhere to make that shift pay off. If this offense is going to live up to the expectations around it, the answers have to come from more than one receiver. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Let One Slip Away In Brutal Collapse Against Texas
Ohio State had the kind of opener that can linger for a while, building a 20-point cushion on Texas before watching the game turn into a long second-half grind. The Buckeyes looked in control early against the Longhorns, but Steve Sarkisians group kept chipping away and eventually flipped the matchup into one of the more jarring results of the weekend.
Texas rally mattered not just because it beat No. 1 Ohio State, but because it did it with the sort of poise and resilience Sarkisian said was shaped by a lesson from Pete Carroll. For the Buckeyes, the loss leaves a brutal reminder that a big lead against a top opponent is only as safe as the next series, and for Texas it was a breakthrough comeback that will follow the team for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Texas Loss Just Sparked A New Respect Debate
Ohio States season-opening trip to Texas ended in a one-point defeat, but the reaction in the AP poll was far less severe than some might have expected. The Buckeyes slid only one spot to No. 3 on the ballot, a move that reflected how closely the game was played and how much respect remains for both programs after a matchup between teams viewed as among the nations best.
The bigger point behind the ballot was consistency, with the ranking change calibrated against how other top teams looked in Week 1. A narrow road loss to a top-ranked opponent did not carry the same weight as shakier performances elsewhere, which is why the Buckeyes stayed near the top instead of tumbling further down the poll. [Read more 🡒]