College football’s Week 2 slate already has the feel of a pressure cooker, with the No. 1 spot in the next AP poll hanging in the balance and several heavyweight matchups carrying real weight against the spread.
The biggest one is Ohio State’s trip to Texas, a rematch of last season’s opener and the kind of game that can reshape the top of the rankings in a hurry. The Buckeyes are trying to stay on top, but they’re walking into a road test that doesn’t leave much room for error.
Texas has already shown it can make life uncomfortable for Jeremiah Smith. In two career meetings, the Longhorns held him to under 50 combined yards, even if this Texas secondary is now built mostly from new pieces. Ohio State will still look to make Smith its primary weapon as it tries to get an early edge and stretch the field.
On the other side, Arch Manning could end up being the swing factor. Last August, he was a green quarterback facing a very strong Buckeye defense.
Now he comes in with a year of sharper play, wins over several ranked SEC teams, and a receiving group loaded with blue-chip talent. He’s also operating behind a modified offensive line.
Texas wins 24-21
Another major Big Ten-SEC showdown lands in Ann Arbor, where newly unranked Michigan hosts Oklahoma. The Wolverines are coming off a wild, controversial last-second win, but the bigger concern is still the offense. They had real trouble running the ball, and if Western Michigan could make that a problem, Oklahoma’s front seven looks more than capable of turning up the heat.
That could leave Michigan leaning too much on Bryce Underwood, and that’s a dangerous place to be against a defense like this. Oklahoma’s offense had ugly blocking and rushing numbers a year ago, but the Sooners have made some small changes that mattered against UTEP, helping protect quarterback John Mateer and opening up the run game.
Michigan’s front tacklers are no joke, but Oklahoma still gets the edge. Oklahoma wins 27-13
BYU also gets a favorable read in its rematch with Arizona. These teams played a double-overtime thriller last season, and that result helped push the Cougars into Big 12 contention.
This time, BYU brings back about eight starters from a defense that looks sturdy, especially in the secondary, where the tackling should be good enough to challenge Arizona’s vertical passing game. BYU wins 28-20
There’s also Alabama’s visit to Kentucky, where the Wildcats shouldn’t be judged too harshly for a dominant opening win over Youngstown State in Will Stein’s first game as head coach. Still, Kentucky’s defense completely shut down a good mobile quarterback, and that matters here because it’s the same kind of test they’ll face against Keelon Russell, the Alabama five-star who led the Tide in rushing last week.
DeBoer’s offense may have trouble getting its ground game moving against Kentucky’s front seven, but Alabama still comes out on top. Alabama wins 24-20
In Other News...
Eddy Pierre-Louis Sparked An Awkward Oklahoma Viral Mystery In Ann Arbor
A routine close-up of Eddy Pierre-Louis during Oklahomas trip to Michigan turned into one of the stranger talking points of the day, after television cameras caught a visible brown mark on the back of the offensive linemans pants. The image quickly made its way across social media, where fans did what fans do and tried to figure out how it got there, even as the game itself kept moving and Pierre-Louis kept playing without any obvious issue.
It was the kind of offbeat sideline moment that can hijack attention away from the football, especially in a big neutral-site atmosphere like Michigan Stadium. Oklahoma had other viral material from the day too, including a ball boy who refused to hand over a loose football during a scrum, but Pierre-Louiss mystery mark became the detail people kept zooming in on long after the snap count had moved on. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Suddenly Has A John Mateer Concern It Cant Ignore
John Mateers return should have given Oklahoma a steadier hand at quarterback, but the early stretch of the season has instead left the Sooners trying to answer bigger questions about the offense. Against Michigan, Mateer never settled in, finishing with an erratic passing day and an interception that fed into a loss, and it only added to the unease that has followed him since coming back from hand surgery.
Oklahoma can point to a rebuilding offensive line and a play-calling structure that has not always made life easy on its quarterback, but the timing of the concern is the real problem. The Sooners are moving toward a run of games against highly ranked opponents, and if Mateers accuracy issues linger, the offense may have a hard time matching the level Oklahoma needs in those matchups. [Read more 🡒]
How Much Has Really Changed For OU Since That Michigan Loss
The Michigan loss at the start of the 2025 season now reads a lot differently for Oklahoma than it did in the moment. The Sooners used the rest of the year to show real progress, finishing 10-3 and punching their ticket to the College Football Playoff, with standout wins over Tennessee and Alabama helping reshape the conversation around where the program stood by seasons end.
For Oklahoma, the bigger question entering 2026 is not whether the season changed things, but how much of that change will stick. The Wolverines are also moving forward with Bryce Underwood settling in as a first-year starter, which only adds to the backdrop for a rematch of sorts in the college football conversation, even if both programs still have unfinished business to sort out. [Read more 🡒]