I always say that the worse a week looks on paper, the wilder it ends up becoming. If that’s true, brace yourself for just about the wildest week of all time. After a Week 1 that had three top-10 headline games and Bill Belichick’s not-so-hot debut, the biggest game of Week 2 is a Jordan Brand matchup between the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines and No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners. Nine AP top-10 teams are in action, but my SP+ ratings project them as favorites by a combined 360.3 points. Illinois-Duke might be the biggest game in Saturday’s noon ET window.
It’s an odd schedule, in other words. But in these parts, we love alternative programming. Michigan-OU will give us the Wolverines’ Bryce Underwood facing the most hostile environment of his young career. The Iowa-Iowa State winner will be a legit College Football Playoff contender. The same goes for the Kansas-Mizzou winner. (That’s right, the Border War — er, Border Showdown — is back!!) And after Boise State’s Week 1 defeat to USF, the wide-open battle for the Group of 5’s guaranteed CFP spot features a number of huge résumé-building opportunities in Week 2.
There’s probably no need to watch what the top teams are up to this week (though the Grambling-Ohio State halftime show should be amazing). But we’re going to entertain ourselves all the same. Here’s everything you need to know about Week 2.
All times Eastern.
Two big brands trying to look the part
No. 15 Michigan Wolverines at No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners (7:30 p.m., ABC)
It’s like a blind spot in college football’s lore: Michigan and Oklahoma rank first (1,013) and tied for fifth (951), respectively, in college football wins, but they’ve played each other only once. Nearly 50 years ago, in the 1976 Orange Bowl — the first time a Big Ten team was allowed to play in a bowl other than the Rose — Oklahoma won a 14-6 slog that, when paired with Ohio State’s loss in the Rose Bowl, earned the Sooners their fifth of seven national titles. Otherwise, these two iconic helmets have never crossed paths.
After down seasons in 2024, both programs expect improvement this fall. They should have excellent defenses again, but on offense Michigan signed all-world freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and a new coordinator (Chip Lindsey) while Oklahoma went with a full-on transplant, taking Washington State’s OC (Ben Arbuckle) and QB (John Mateer) and nearly a full lineup’s worth of transfers. Everyone looked as good as expected in easy Week 1 wins, but now the rubber meets the road.
Owen Field vs. a true freshman
The first time I attended an Oklahoma game in Norman, the home crowd forced a fumble. With OU nursing a narrow fourth-quarter lead over Missouri in 2007, Sooners fans made such shrill noise that (A) I had to grab on to the seatback in front of me because my equilibrium was failing, and (B) Mizzou’s Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin miscommunicated and botched an exchange, which Curtis Lofton recovered and took for a touchdown. What they call Sooner Magic might simply be eardrum-bursting shrillness. Regardless, it’s probably going to test Underwood quite a bit.
Underwood was perfectly solid for a true freshman starting in his first collegiate game. New Mexico did its best to confuse him, but he went 21-for-31 for 251 yards. He got help from an effective run game that produced a couple of 50-yard bursts from Justice Haynes and no negative plays.
There was one red flag, though: UNM pressured him seven times, and in those plays he took two sacks, completed just two passes and averaged 2.0 yards per dropback. OU is probably going to pressure him more than seven times. The Sooners ranked 13th nationally in sack rate last year and boast a bevy of pass rushers led by R Mason Thomas. The Sooners also ranked second in rushing success rate allowed, meaning there’s no guarantee that Underwood can lean on Haynes.
Underwood is “no average freshman,” but it’s common for even an awesome blue-chipper to flunk an early road test. Still, if he can avoid devastating mistakes in a deafening environment and the Michigan defense plays its part, the Wolverines could have a chance.
Big plays and rushing quarterbacks
If Week 1 was any indication, a repeat of the 14-6 scoreline from the first Michigan-Oklahoma game is conceivable. The biggest story of Week 1 to me was the complete disappearance of points. The use of safe, two-high coverage (with two high safeties patrolling and attempting to limit big plays) has increased. Combined with the fact that defenses have adapted well to tempo offenses through the years, this led to long, frequently scoreless drives and low point totals in Week 1. It’s as if the entire college football universe suddenly turned into Iowa.
How do you punish teams for two-high looks and force them to get aggressive? With ruthless efficiency. For the SEC in Week 1, that frequently meant running the QB. Auburn’s Jackson Arnold rushed for 151 non-sack yards against Baylor, while Georgia’s Gunner Stockton and Missouri’s Beau Pribula topped 70 yards and seven others topped 30.
Mateer didn’t need to run much against Illinois State. He completed seven passes of 20-plus yards against the Redbirds (the Sooners averaged just 1.5 such completions per game in 2024). Still, considering he had games of 212 and 127 non-sack rushing yards at Wazzu in 2024, plus six more games over 70 yards, we know he’ll probably run a lot when it matters.
Michigan used two-high coverage 38% of the time in Week 1 — 19th most in the FBS — so I’m guessing Mateer’s legs will be frequently involved Saturday evening even though star running back transfer Jaydn Ott should be ready for a heavier load. A threat from Mateer will put pressure on Michigan’s linebackers, which could make the first-half absence of Jaishawn Barham a concern. Of course, Michigan’s defensive front, led by veteran Rayshaun Benny and transfers Tré Williams and Damon Payne, will test OU’s rebuilt offensive line in ways that ISU couldn’t.
Last week didn’t give us definitive answers to the offseason questions we had about the Wolverines or the Sooners. But one of them will be 2-0 and feeling awfully good about themselves Sunday morning.
Current line: OU -5.5 | SP+ projection: OU by 5.7 | FPI projection: OU by 0.9
Big tests for Big Ten hopefuls
Even without the ridiculous “multiple auto-bids in a college football invitational” idea, the Big Ten stands to get plenty of teams into a 12- or 16-team CFP moving forward. Anyone who can get to 10 wins or so is going to have a good shot.
Per SP+, Illinois has a 29% chance of reaching 10-2 or better, and if Bret Bielema’s Illini survive what amounts to a coin-toss game at Duke on Saturday, those odds will see a pretty solid boost. Iowa is at only 4%, but if the Hawkeyes beat their Cy-Hawk rivals — something they’ve done six straight times in Ames — their outlook will be rosier. Noon is Big Ten Time, and Saturday features a pair of awfully important noon contests.
Iowa Hawkeyes at No. 16 Iowa State Cyclones (noon, Fox)
Few teams have proved more through two games than Iowa State. The Cyclones outlasted Kansas State in a massively important Week 0 contest in Ireland, then returned home and mauled both jet lag and a solid South Dakota team last Saturday. They’re tackling well, defending the run effectively and forcing loads of turnovers. Basically, they’re doing the things Iowa typically does to win lots of games.
Iowa wasn’t tested much against Albany in Week 1; the Hawkeyes ran the ball at will — Terrell Washington Jr., Xavier Williams and Jaziun Patterson had 33 combined carries for 238 yards — and they neither asked for nor got much from new quarterback Mark Gronowski. The defense gave up a single, 68-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter but otherwise allowed 2.9 yards per play.
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A two-time FCS national champion at South Dakota State, Gronowski disclosed that he had some “anxiety and anxiousness” in his first FBS start, and he suffered some misfires while going 8-for-15 for just 44 yards. (He had 47 non-sack rushing yards, too, which was something.) He’ll have to get over that pretty quickly in Ames. And against ISU quarterback Rocco Becht, who was ever-so-slightly better Saturday (19-for-20 for 278 yards and three TDs), the Iowa defense will have to prove that it remains plug-and-play — Becht & Co. will test the Hawkeyes’ five new starters in the back seven.
Enough Big 12 teams looked awesome in Week 1 that the conference doesn’t have to think about settling for being a one-bid league just yet. Still, with a loss Saturday, ISU could focus on reaching the CFP with a conference title. Iowa probably won’t have that luxury; this one is therefore a bit more important for the road team. But considering the Hawkeyes’ recent record in Ames, that probably doesn’t scare them all that much.
Current line: ISU -3.5 | SP+ projection: ISU by 6.5 | FPI projection: ISU by 3.8
No. 11 Illinois Fighting Illini at Duke Blue Devils (noon, ESPN)
Since the start of 2024, 24 power-conference teams have won double-digit games. Illinois and Duke are among them. Granted, they’re a combined 11-2 in one-score finishes in that span, and that will likely be hard to maintain, but both entered 2025 feeling spry and ambitious, and both crafted easy Week 1 wins.
Well, it was eventually easy for Duke. The Blue Devils found themselves tied with Elon at halftime, thanks in part to a missed field goal and a fumble, before winning the second half by 28. Expensive new quarterback Darian Mensah had to stay in a bit longer than intended and took a pair of sacks, but he finished 27-for-34 for 389 yards and three TDs.
Coach Manny Diaz’s intentions were clear this offseason. The Blue Devils won nine games despite an inefficient, three-and-outs-heavy offense last season, so he spent big to land one of the best QBs in the portal. Play Diaz defense and get high-level QB play and you’re going to be awfully good.
Illinois has provided some proof of concept in that regard. Granted, the Illini defense is far more bend-don’t-break than Diaz’s aggressive units, and Luke Altmyer isn’t exactly a Heisman contender. But he has the best QBR of any Illinois quarterback for the past 20 years (min. 14 starts), and the Illini return about seven starters from a unit that ranked 26th in defensive SP+.
Everything played out as intended in a 45-3 win over Western Illinois. Altmyer went 17-for-21 (albeit with three sacks), while running backs Kaden Feagin, Aidan Laughery and Ca’Lil Valentine combined for 226 rushing yards and the defense allowed 3.0 yards per play. The sacks might be red flags for both QBs, but we’ll learn a lot about two intriguing teams in Durham. And one might actually lose a close game for once.
Current line: Illini -2.5 | SP+ projection: Illini by 2.9 | FPI projection: Duke by 0.1
