Takeaways from Week 2 of College Football: Oh no, Notre Dame

The Texas Longhorns (number 3) entered the Big House and swept the defending national champions (number 10), the Michigan Wolverines, in the most highly anticipated game of the day.

Although the Longhorns look like the national title contender many expected at the start of the season, the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish embarrassed themselves at home with a 16-14 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies despite entering the game as four-touchdown favorites.

Here’s what we learned from Week 2 of the 2024 college football season.

According to FanDuel, Texas was the favorite going into its away game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a 7.5-point lead and left absolutely no doubt with a dominant 31-12 victory.

Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers completed 24 of 36 passing attempts for 246 yards and three touchdowns, and his running game was just enough to keep Michigan’s talented defense off balance all game long.

On the other hand, Texas forced three turnovers from Michigan, including a fumble and two interceptions by Davis Warren, while the Wolverines’ offense struggled to get anything done for the second week in a row.

Texas cemented its status as a serious national title contender, while Michigan appears ready to take a step back following the departure of Jim Harbaugh and several key players from last year’s national championship team.

First things first. Congratulations to Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock and the Huskies for going to South Bend, playing strong defense and eking out an improbable 16-14 victory over the Irish. This was the first win over a top-10 team in the 57-year history of the Northern Illinois football program, and they richly earned it.

But my goodness, Notre Dame.

It was a terrible, terrible performance, coming one week after a thrilling 23-13 win over the then No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies in College Station, Texas. Notre Dame’s Week 1 victory, which seemed to give the Irish a clear, straight path to the College Football Playoff, was completely undone by a pathetic home performance.

Unfortunately for Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, the puzzling home performances have become something of a trend since he took over in 2022. On Saturday, Notre Dame lost at home for the third time in the last three seasons, despite being the favorite by several points.

2022 against the Marshall Thundering Herd: ND (-20.5 according to FanDuel) loses 26–21

2022 against Stanford Cardinal: ND (-16 according to FanDuel) loses 16–14

Saturday against Northern Illinois: ND (-28 according to FanDuel) loses 16–14

Freeman has improved Notre Dame’s recruiting since taking over and won his share of big games, but disappointing performances like Saturday’s (which complicate Notre Dame’s path to the CFP at best) have overshadowed the victories in his 28 games fronting the Irish football program.

Expectations at Notre Dame are extraordinarily high, and Freeman certainly did himself no favors with the recent home disaster.

Speaking of coaches, Sam Pittman of the Arkansas Razorbacks and Dave Aranda of the Baylor Bears have secured two of the most coveted spots in college football in 2024. Neither will return Saturday feeling better about their future prospects in their respective programs.

Arkansas led 21-7 at halftime, but endured a series of mistakes in the second half, including a botched punt, a missed field goal, a turnover on downs, a slew of defensive issues, a careless sack in overtime that put them out of field goal range, and a personal foul that gave the Oklahoma State Cowboys new downs on third-and-long in the second overtime.

The Cowboys scored in this double overtime, which was extended thanks to a personal foul, and took the lead for good with a 39-31 victory.

Brutal for Pittman.

As for Baylor, the offense looked incredibly questionable in the away game at Rice-Eccles Stadium against the No. 11 Utah Utes. The Bears managed just 223 yards of offense and hit 4 of 16 third down attempts in a largely uncompetitive 23-12 loss.

The Week 2 test for the Bears was a great chance for Aranda to prove his program is headed in the right direction in 2024. But after looking significantly undermatched in the first conference game of the season, there are no signs that Baylor has moved any closer to a Big 12 spot, nor is that what program leadership expects for the fifth year of Aranda’s tenure.

Tennessee Volunteers star quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed 16 of 23 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 65 yards and a touchdown on the ground as the Volunteers rolled over the NC State Wolfpack in Charlotte on Saturday night.

NC State had no answer to Tennessee’s explosive attack, as the Volunteers also benefited from the performance of their starting running back Dylan Sampson with 20 carries, 132 yards and two touchdowns.

But as explosive as Tennessee appears on offense under head coach Josh Heupel, the Volunteers’ defense was even more impressive, limiting the Wolfpack to just 143 yards on offense and 3 of 12 third down attempts.

Tennessee’s offense can compete with anyone in the country, but if the defense continues to perform like it did on Saturday night, caution will be needed.

The Colorado Buffaloes were simply unable to block the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ defense in Saturday night’s rivalry duel in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The outcome of the game was therefore not surprising: Nebraska won 28-10.

Much like head coach Deion Sanders’ first season in Boulder, Colorado, the Buffaloes seem completely incapable of running the football and protecting star quarterback Shedeur Sanders against competition from a strong conference, which will surely set up another long season for the team in its return to the Big 12.

Colorado’s offensive line had six sacks and the Buffaloes’ best runner was Dallan Hayden, who carried the ball five times for 32 yards. You have to give Nebraska’s tough defense credit where credit is due, but it’s clear that the Buffaloes still have plenty of issues to solve on offense even outside of Sanders and All-American Travis Hunter.

The game odds are updated regularly and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and needs help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.