This second “official” week of the year was looking rather dismal as far as matchups were concerned. The top-10 schools were all playing rollovers (who knew Phoenix University fielded a team?), and there was only one game played between ranked opponents. That said, there were some close and entertaining games and a smattering of upsets; it was just a matter of fortune to be watching.

All of the top-10 teams won their expected contests, although one school fell four positions due to a less-than-impressive victory. With all these imbalanced contests taking place, the interesting points were something that needed to be filtered through to find, but there was still some fun to be had.

Oklahoma 24 – Michigan 13

In the lone contest of ranked teams, it was a story of two quarterbacks. Michigan paid out a fortune for Bryce Underwood, who severely underperformed with only 9 completions and no touchdowns. For much of the game he was flushed and had many erratic throws. On the other side Sooner QB John Mateer looked more impressive, playing his way into Heisman talk as he passed for 270 yards with a scoring toss, and ran in two additional TDs with 74 rushing yards.

Mississippi State – 24 – Arizona State 20

The Sun Devils appear to exist only to defy prognosticators. While completely overlooked ahead of last season, they were division champs and went deep in the playoffs. Highly ranked this year, they proved the experts wrong again, as they fell to one of the weakest SEC schools. The Bulldogs ruled the first half with a 17-3 lead, but Arizona State was wholly insistent on its ground game. Two running backs gained over 100 yards, while passing generated only 82 in the air. Blake Shapen had a strong game with 279 yards passing and three touchdowns, the last being a 58-yard strike with 30 seconds remaining. It was shocking enough for the  

South Florida 18 – Florida 16

Just when you think UF might be on the comeback trail, they go ahead and lay an egg in The Swamp. (That is biologically accurate.) The USF Bulls drove for a few hours to act as imprudent guests, and they find themselves in the top-25 after beating a ranked team for the second week in a row. Coach Billy Napier has a job at risk as his Gators shot themselves in the foot in the closing minutes with poor offense, penalties, and bad play-calling. USF had its chance after Florida passed the ball and took little time off the clock, then helped the Bulls on the closing drive with two major penalties leading to the winning kick as time ran out. The Gators have one of the toughest schedules coming up, so this will prove to be a dismal season.

Baylor 48 – SMU 45 (2OT)

This was a Texas shootout. Sawyer Robinson threw for 440 yards and four touchdowns as the Bears upset #17 SMU in Dallas. Kevin Jennings was strong for the Mustangs as well, with 295 in the air and three scoring strikes, but the SMU defense could not hold up. Baylor made two touchdown drives in the final five minutes to force overtime, where a missed field goal proved to be the difference.

Here is the Week-2 AP poll. ASU, UF, SMU, and dropped off, while Auburn, USF, and Missouri entered the list. (1st place Votes)

1. Ohio State (57)

2. Penn State (5)

3. LSU (2)

4. Oregon (1)

5. Miami

6. Georgia

7. Texas

8. Notre Dame

9. Illinois

10. Florida State

11. South Carolina

12. Clemson

13. Oklahoma

14. Iowa State

15. Tennessee

16. Texas A&M

17. Ole Miss

18. USF

19. Alabama

20. Utah

21. Texas Tech

22. Indiana

23. Michigan

24. Auburn

25. Missouri

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