CFB Week 2 Winners and Losers

Loser: #6 Oregon (1-1) Loss 31-39 to Oklahoma State (1-1)

Last year, Oregon won this matchup 69-3 in Eugene, Oregon. It ultimately led to the end of Oklahoma State's head coach Mike Gundy tenure after 21 seasons. This same Oklahoma State team then brought in pretty much a whole new team, and got upset by Tulsa last week. They featured in this very column last week as losers. It already felt like this season was lost for the team from Stillwater and a 0-2 start with two deflating losses felt inevitable.

Until it wasn't.

The Cowboys surged to a 17-7 lead and then held off the Ducks' second half comeback attempt to win 39-31. QB Drew Mestemaker looked much better this week throwing for 317 yards on 26/43 passing attempts with 2 TDs and 2 INTs. The offense as a whole moved the ball 554 yards, almost double what Oregon produced.

Dante Moore, a Heisman favorite and projected 1st round NFL draft pick, put forth one of his worst performances in his career. He started 5 for 15 and then only finished 14 for 29 on passing attempts, throwing for 191 yards and 2 TDs. Oregon only held the ball for 23 minutes, had just 12 first downs to Oklahoma State's 25, and failed to convert all three of their fourth down attempts.

Oregon barely survived Boise State last week, which dropped them from #2 to #6 in the AP poll. Now add in a loss to the Cowboys and this has been the worst start to a season for a Dan Lanning led team.

Oh and their next FBS game is in two week at the LA Memorial Coliseum against #14 USC. A loss there and Oregon's playoff hopes could already be destroyed before the calendar even flips to October.

Winner: Virginia Tech (2-0) Win 44-21 over Old Dominion (1-1)

The Monarchs have given the Hokies a lot of issues over the past decade, including last year's 45-26 victory that ultimately led to then Head Coach now Defensive Coordinator Brent Pry's firing. Now under James Franklin, Virginia Tech easily took care of business 44-21, including a 34-6 lead at halftime.

Ethan Grunkemeyer, the starting QB who followed head coach James Franklin from Penn State, completed 31 of 42 pass attempts for 327 yards and 2 TDs. Easily the best performance of his young career so far.

The schedule has been friendly so far, VMI and Old Dominion are teams a school like Virginia Tech should be handling with ease. It's still hard to say what the Hokies record will be after the Commonwealth Clash, but after 2 games in Blacksburg, the feeling of hope may be coming back at Lane Stadium.

Loser: #11 Oklahoma (1-1) Loss 10-17 to Michigan (2-0) cough

Michigan laid about as much of an egg as possible last week and a poor officiating call is the only reason the Wolverines were 1-0 coming into this week. And while the offense still looks really bad, the defense made John Mateer and Oklahoma look pitiful.

This game wasn't more so that Michigan looks improved over their last week performance against Western Michigan, it was how Oklahoma just looked like a shell of the 2025 playoff team.

John Mateer went just 17 of 33 for 189 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. The explosive Sooner offense did not exist and simply could not move the ball like they have in previous games and going just 3 for 13 on third down, and committing two turnovers to Michigan's zero are the reason why Oklahoma needs to be near perfect from here on out. They begin SEC play with a trip to Athens, Georgia to take on the Bulldogs and then the Red River Shootout against archrival Texas.

Winner: Mississippi State (2-0) Win 38-13 over Minnesota (1-1)

Mississippi State hasn't had a lot to cheer for since former Head Coach Mike Leach passed away shortly after the 2022 season. Their record is just 13-25, they were fortunate to make a bowl game last season due to a lack of 6-6. The strides made so far in year 3 of the Jeff Lebby era, has early promise of their first winning season since Leach's final season in 2022.

The Bulldogs had a 28-6 lead at halftime over Minnesota and cruised to a 38-13 win against a tricky Golden Gopher squad under P.J. Fleck who knows how to get the most out of his teams.

The schedule is daunting, with their next six games against South Carolina (In Columbia, South Carolina), #23 Missouri, #12 Alabama, #8 LSU (In Baton Rouge, Louisiana), #11 Oklahoma, #4 Texas (In Austin, Texas). That doesn't even include their Egg Bowl finale against their arch rival Ole Miss. Getting to 6-6 is going to be enough of a difficult challenge once again. But at least for one moment, Mississippi State fans can smile about how their season has started.

Loser: Kansas (1-1) Loss 21-38 to #23 Missouri (2-0)

The Jayhawks were always going to be underdogs against Missouri but with all they hype they tried to put on this former Big 12 rivalry with some Civil War propaganda, they truly were no where close to the Tigers.

A blocked field goal returned 88 yards for a touchdown halfway through the second quarter gave Kansas the first points of the game and a bunch of quick exchange touchdowns between the rivals left the game tied at 14 at the half.

After that, Missouri put their foot down to the pedal and was able to walk away comfortable winners over the Jayhawks in the newly renovated David Booth Memorial Stadium.

Normally I wouldn't have put the Jayhawks in the loser position if they didn't go through all the Civil War videos to try and position themselves as the good guys. In the end it ended up being a bunch of squawking, and a slightly humiliating loss in The Border War.

Winner: #12 Alabama (2-0) Wins 45-17 over Kentucky (1-1)

The Crimson Tide and the Wildcats started the game by trading pick sixes. Then Kentucky was able to keep Alabama in check for the rest of the half, leading 17-13 at halftime and leading until Alabama took the lead with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Then the Tide got rolling and was able to turn a hostile environment into a calm fourth quarter victory that sees the team get to 2-0 with a revenge match against Florida State in Tuscaloosa next week.

Loser: The fans rooting for the Akron OC For A Day Winner.

Akron made major news for their contest they held for their season ticket holders. Enter for a shot to become the Offensive Coordinator for the first drive of the game against Robert Morris. Marty Whims found out on his 46th birthday that he was one of the 10 finalists and then a week later found out he was the winner.

Whims spent Friday scripting the plays with Akron HC Joe Moorhead and then got to appear on College Gameday and get advice from Nick Saban.

It was very easy to root for Whims and his plays were actually working quite well as they quickly got to the Robert Morris 39 yard line before a false start. The next play was a tragic ending for the drive as receiver Marcel Williams fumbled the ball away and ended Whims time as an OC.

The drive had early promise and nothing would have been cooler than seeing the Zips score a touchdown on that drive. Akron did go on to win the game 45-10.

Winner: #4 Texas (2-0) Win 24-23 over #1 Ohio State (1-1)

This game for the first three quarters looked as a repeat of last year's showdown in Columbus, where the Longhorns couldn't do a single thing offensively, then the fourth quarter happened. The Buckeyes led 23-3 after three quarters and looked well on their way to the first major statement win of the season. However, Arch Manning and Texas had other plans by getting three touchdowns on drives of 91, 72, and 73 yards.

The final of those came after a missed Ohio State field goal by kicker Connor Hawkins enabled Texas to keep it within one score and ultimately score the game winning touchdown with just 25 seconds left in the game.

The Longhorns will play UTSA next week before traveling to #18 Tennessee before the Red River Shootout against an Oklahoma team suddenly trending downward.

Loser: #1 Ohio State (1-1) Loss 23-24 to #4 Texas (2-0)

There is no nice way to put this, Ohio State choked this game away at every opportunity.

It wasn't as if Ohio State was absolutely running away with the game from a statistics perspective, but they were doing enough to make it 20-3 at halftime. But after their only scoring drive of the second half, a 43 yard field goal drive, the Buckeyes only had drives of 1 yard, 6 yards, a 48 yard drive that ended in a missed field goal, and a -5 yard drive as time expired that ended with an interception no where close to the end zone.

The schedule is quite manageable for the next 4 games before a showdown against the reigning National Champion Indiana Hoosiers on October 17th. But man, this one is absolutely going to sting for awhile.

Winner: Boise State (1-1) Win over Memphis 38-20 (2-1)

Boise State came extremely close to upsetting then #2 Oregon last week, falling just short 27-34 against the Ducks. The Broncos then had to follow that game up with who was likely dubbed their biggest challenger to be the Group of 6 Playoff representative in the Memphis Tigers, who just had a big win over UNLV in week 0 on the road.

The Tigers came out flying and took a 17-3 lead halfway through the second quarter. Boise State wouldn't look back at that point. The Broncos would outscore Memphis 35-3 the rest of the way, including pitching a second half shutout to keep the path for the Group of 6 bid at Albertsons Stadium.

Boise State still needs to hold off Western Michigan, who they play on September 26th, James Madison, South Florida, and maybe even North Dakota State, but they have a very clear path to be back in the CFP.

Loser: Conference USA

One conference has already played its way out of any CFP hopes.

FIU's win over Buffalo is the first, and only, win over fellow a FBS team that C-USA has through the first two weeks of the season.

Liberty barely survived an embarrassing FCS loss to winless Gardner-Webb with a last second TD drive.

Jacksonville State, Middle Tennessee,Sam Houston, and New Mexico State all took close losses to Ohio, Marshall,Tulsa, and Hawaii respectively.

To be 0-4 against the Power 4 schools isn't shocking, but to be 1-10 against the other Group of 6 conferences, is already season ending for the conference.

Winner: (#4 FCS) Illinois State and (#1 FCS) Montana State

This week's winners and losers conclude with another two FCS over FBS upsets. This time, it is the defending national championship participants getting the job done.

Illinois State (#4 FCS) who ended North Dakota State's FCS tenure with an upset in the second round of the FCS playoffs last year in their run to the title game, traveled to take on new Mountain West member Northern Illinois and with a late 75 yard TD drive then an ensuing interception lead the Redbirds to getting a huge win in their quest to get the job done this season.

Montana State (#1 FCS), the reigning FCS National Champions, went to Reno, Nevada and shut down the Wolfpack by forcing 4 turnovers while committing none of their own. It was a bit of a sloppy game from the Bobcats, who had 13 penalties for 125 yards, but this game shows that Montana State is ready to take over the title of being an FCS powerhouse and fill the void left behind by North Dakota State's FBS move.