Everything You Need to Know After Week 2 of College Football: Winners and Losers

College football’s week two slate came and went, and it certainly delivered. From an all-time battle of blue bloods in Tuscaloosa to the continued dominance of the PAC-12, it’s time to recap it all.

Winners

Texas (beat No. 3 Alabama 34-24 on the road, moved up to No. 4 in the AP poll)

Celebrate, Longhorn fans. Y’all are on top of the college football world (for now). Texas picked up the most impressive win of the season so far, beating No. 3 Alabama on the road, and looked comfortable doing it. Texas is in the top 4 of the AP poll for the first time since 2009, the year they lost to Alabama in the National Championship. The Horns have 10 more to go, including the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma and a trip to Fort Worth against TCU, but this looks like a New Year’s Six and maybe even a Playoff team as of now.

The team is loaded with talent and Steve Sarkisian seems to be getting the most out of it. Defensively, the Longhorns are fantastic. The line, linebackers and secondary are loaded with four and five-star talent and held Alabama to 24 points, forced two turnovers and sacked QB Jalen Milroe five times. Their linebacking corps of Jaylan Ford, Anthony Hill Jr. and David Gbenda might just be the best in the country. The offense is loaded as well. Quinn Ewers and his three-headed monster of a receiving corps (Xavier Worthy, Ja’Tavion Sanders and Adonai Mitchell) are rich with experience and talent. Texas might just be back.

https://twitter.com/TexasFootball/status/1700714784813875349

Coach Prime and Colorado (Beat Nebraska to move to 2-0 and No. 18 in the AP poll)

People love the Buffs, and they should. The buzz in Boulder, the ever-present cameras, special guests in the locker room (shout out Peggy) and the viral videos featuring the Ying Yang Twins’ music are so fun to watch. But some don’t realize how damn good of a coach Deion Sanders really is. Behind the glitz and glamor of the 2-0 start, the Buffaloes are a masterfully drilled squad. Sanders is an old-school coach. He demands respect, hard work and effort and will hold all of his guys accountable. And he wins football games.

Jackson State had gone under .500 in six straight seasons before Sanders showed up. In three years, he led the Tigers to a 27-6 record, winning the SWAC twice. He led them to two Celebration Bowls (a huge honor for HBCUs), out-recruited FBS schools and sent multiple guys to the NFL. When he arrived at Colorado, he took over a one-win team. He brought in 86 new players and has the Buffs ranked and hosting ESPN’s College Gameday. Between his fame, recruiting ability and winning percentage, “Coach Prime” may soon have a legitimate case for the best head coach in all of college football.

https://twitter.com/CUBuffsFootball/status/1700606019502735467

PAC-12 (combined 21-4 record, 8 of 12 teams are ranked)

For the first time in what feels like forever, the SEC is not king. The PAC-12 has that title. The quarterbacks immediately draw your eye when you look at the conference. Caleb Williams, Michael Penix and Shedeur Sanders might be the three best quarterbacks in the entire country.

Simply put, the conference just wins. Its teams are 21-4 in the young season. Seventy-five percent of its teams are ranked. Outside of conference play Colorado has upset ranked TCU, Oregon beat Texas Tech, Utah beat Florida, Washington pounded Boise State and Washington State upset ranked Wisconsin. These teams are for real, and the PAC-12 is on track to have a Playoff participant for the first time since 2016-17 (Washington). If only this incredible conference wasn’t crumbling in under a year… *sigh*.

Losers

Texas A&M

Outside of an Orange Bowl victory and a No. 4 ranking in 2020, the Jimbo Fisher era has not gone well in College Station. The Aggies and their massively talented roster went down to Miami this weekend and gave up 48 points to the Hurricanes. Texas A&M finally hired an offensive play-caller this offseason in Bobby Petrino, and he’s put points up. Unfortunately, the defense, which has carried the good Aggies’ teams in recent history, seems to have taken a step back. Since reeling in the best recruiting class in the history of college football, Texas A&M has posted a mind-blowing 6-8 record. Fortunately for the Ags, conference play hasn’t started and the entire SEC West looks flawed, but this was certainly a disappointing week for Aggie fans.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders have lost back-to-back heartbreakers and are 0-2 for the first time since 1990. The reason this is so disappointing is that Texas Tech was finally supposed to be good this year. Picked 4th in the preseason Big 12 poll, Tech was projected to finish behind only reigning champs Kansas State and mammoths Texas and Oklahoma. Losing Tyree Wilson might have hurt them more than we thought, as Tech has given up 73 points, recorded three sacks and forced just 1 turnover in two games. After getting upset by Wyoming and failing to pull one against Oregon, the Red Raiders have made their own job a lot harder for the rest of the season.

.@brandon_dorlus pressures and @Bassa_21 takes it to the house!!#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/astNRlv9Ac

— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) September 10, 2023

SEC

It just isn’t as good as it should be. The SEC has been the crown jewel of the Power Five for years, but it seems to have lost its juice. The ACC has looked very strong against SEC opposition, the PAC-12 has the best teams in the country thus far, and Texas and Florida State have taken down top SEC West dogs Alabama and LSU, respectively. Here’s a list of the SEC’s early losses:

• Alabama: upset by then No. 11 Texas, 34-24
• LSU: upset by then No. 8 Florida State, 45-24
• Texas A&M: beaten by then unranked Miami, 48-33
• Florida: beaten by then No. 14 Utah, 24-11
• South Carolina: beaten by then No. 21 North Carolina, 31-17
• Vanderbilt: beaten by Wake Forest, 36-20

Bonus: something fun you probably missed on Saturday

Offensive lineman Cooper Mumford picked up a fumbled handoff, rolled to his left and floated a touchdown pass to a receiver to put his team up 7-0 early. Division II Colorado Mesa would end up beating Division I opponent San Diego this weekend, 28-21. The bizarre touchdown not only was the difference in the game but will probably be the highlight of Mumford’s football career. An awesome play that you certainly don’t see every day.