With Andrew Rice posting this week’s edition of Around The Big Ten, I have decided to take it a step further and create a new series, going around the world of college football to bring readers the biggest storylines, upsets, and non-Big Ten games of the week. Although Week 1 was filled with marquee matchups, Week 2 did not disappoint, with multiple upsets highlighting what was supposed to be a quieter
slate of games.
Top Teams Cruise To Blowout Victories (Well, Most Of Them)
After the first week of action saw multiple top-ten teams square off against each other, they had a chance to catch their breath with a much easier non-conference opponent in Week 2. In addition to the Big Ten powers cruising to dominant victories, the SEC saw third-ranked LSU take down Louisiana Tech 23-7 and #19 Alabama bounce back with a 73-0 statement win against ULM. #15 Tennessee blew past East Tennessee State 72-17, while #16 Texas A&M knocked off Utah State 44-22.
Fifth-ranked Miami followed up its victory over Notre Dame with a dominant 45-3 win over FCS Bethune-Cookman, which had suffered a 42-9 loss to FIU the week prior. Sixth-ranked Georgia may have sleepwalked through their game against FCS Austin Peay, as the Bulldogs only won 28-6, although the Governors took down Middle Tennessee State 34-14 the week before.
Meanwhile, seventh-ranked Texas bounced back from its loss to the Buckeyes by dispatching San Jose State 38-7. Arch Manning had 295 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception after his poor start to the season in Columbus. Eighth-ranked Notre Dame had the week off, with another big game against Texas A&M on the docket, while Florida State followed up its emphatic win over Alabama by blowing out East Texas A&M 77-3.
#11 South Carolina handled business against South Carolina State 38-10, but Clemson had a much tougher time with Troy, falling behind 16-3 at halftime before scoring 24 unanswered points to get a 27-16 win over the Trojans. Despite their struggles, Clemson fell just four spots and sits right behind their SEC in-state rivals with the twelfth spot in the AP Rankings.
Early Conference Games and Exciting Power Four Matchups
The SEC scheduled an early conference game between Ole Miss and Kentucky, a rematch of last year’s stunning upset victory that saw the Wildcats take down the sixth-ranked Rebels in Oxford. This year, the teams met in Lexington, and Ole Miss got its revenge on the road. Kentucky played a close game, trailing 17-13 at halftime before falling 30-23 to the Rebels at home. This comes one week after Kentucky bested MAC frontrunners Toledo 24-16 in a game where Kentucky was the team on upset alert.
In a strange scheduling quirk, Virginia and NC State met in Raleigh in a non-conference game. Despite both teams being ACC members, they were only scheduled to meet once between 2025 and 2030 due to the ACC’s expansion to 17 teams. The two schools scheduled a home-and-home series on their own, which would not count in the conference standings. The Wolfpack rallied back from a 24-14 halftime deficit by scoring 21 points in the third quarter, and held on for a 35-31 win over the Cavaliers.
One of the top Power Four games without a Big Ten team being involved was an in-state showdown between Baylor and then 17th-ranked SMU, who made the CFP and finished as ACC runner-ups last season. Baylor came back from multiple ten-point deficits, including trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, to force overtime. Once there, SMU was unable to score a touchdown and missed a field goal, giving the Bears a chance to win the game on their terms, which they did on a 27-yard field goal from Connor Hawkins. The Mustangs fell to 1-1, while Baylor bounced back after a 38-24 loss against the Auburn Tigers.
Kansas and #25 Missouri met in a renewed installment of the Border War, a series that had not been played since Mizzou left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2011. After the Jayhawks got off to a dominant 2-0 start behind Jalon Daniels, Kansas got off to a 21-6 lead at Faurot Field before the Tigers tied the game 21-21 at halftime. However, Missouri continued to rally, coming back from down 31-28 to score the game’s final 14 points and earn a 42-31 win over a quality opponent.
Former Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula had 334 passing yards and three touchdowns, while Mizzou running back Jamal Roberts ran for 143 yards and a late rushing touchdown that put the game on ice. The Tigers had nearly 600 yards of total offense to 226 total yards for the Jayhawks. But the biggest difference came in rushing yards, with Missouri gaining 261 yards while Kansas mustered just 28 rushing yards (yes, you read that correctly).
Jalon Daniels finished with 223 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, but was shut down on the ground, with 10 carries for 17 yards and a score. DeShawn Hanika caught both of Daniels’ touchdown passes, going for 74 yards on six catches, but the running backs struggled mightily. Daniel Hishaw Jr. had just eleven yards on six carries, while Leshon Williams had three carries for zero yards.
Finally, Virginia Tech hosted Vanderbilt on Saturday evening in an intriguing game for both programs. The Hokies looked to shake off last week’s loss to South Carolina while the Commodores looked to get their first signature win of 2025 after stunning #1 Alabama last season. After Virginia Tech scored the game’s first ten points and led 20-10 at the half, Vanderbilt scored 34 unanswered points in the second half to embarrass Brent Pry’s program by a final score of 44-20.
For Vanderbilt, the win signaled continued growth and progress under head coach Clark Lea and quarterback Diego Pavia, who has made headlines for his confidence and backed it up with his play on the football field. For Virginia Tech, the early-season and nonconference struggles have continued in 2025, with the program having lost to Vanderbilt and Rutgers twice, in addition to falling to Purdue, Marshall, West Virginia, and Old Dominion in recent years. Although several of those games have at least been close, this one was decidedly not.
Upsets Of The Week
This article would not be complete without talking about the week’s biggest upsets, and Week 2 had three particular upsets that had the college football world buzzing.
The first one should not be too much of a surprise for Rutgers fans, as the Ohio Bobcats followed their 34-31 loss in Piscataway by upending the West Virginia Mountaineers in Athens. Ohio outgained WVU by 179 yards and dominated on the ground in particular, with 110 more rushing yards than the Mountaineers could muster. Parker Navarro went 22-31 for 247 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions, while leading both teams in rushing with 87 yards on 18 carries.
Chase Hendricks caught 8 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, and the Bobcats answered West Virginia’s first-quarter touchdown with 17 unanswered points before the Mountaineers added on a late field goal. It would not be enough, as Ohio defeated West Virginia 17-10 in front of their home fans. After Ohio’s strong performances against Rutgers and West Virginia, it will be intriguing to see how well the Bobcats can hold up against #1 Ohio State (-32.5) in Columbus on Saturday night.
Speaking of in-state showdowns, the South Florida Bulls earned themselves the #18 ranking in the AP poll by taking down the former #13 Florida Gators in Gainesville. The game started as a defensive battle, with the teams trading field goals and the Gators leading 9-6 at the half. USF quarterback Byrum Brown threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Keshaun Singleton while the Bulls added a safety to give them a 15-9 lead into the fourth quarter, but Florida answered back with a touchdown drive of their own to go up 16-15.
It appeared that midnight had arrived for South Florida when Nico Gramatica missed a 58-yard field goal and gave the Gators the ball back near midfield with 2:52 remaining, but Florida failed to pick up a first down and took just 20 seconds off the clock before giving the ball back to the Bulls.
Two costly penalties by Florida’s defense helped South Florida march down the field and set up a chip-shot field goal for Gramatica, who redeemed himself and buried the game-winner to the chagrin of most fans in The Swamp. Florida fell out of the AP Top 25, while South Florida earned its first appearance in the rankings since 2018 after its second-straight victory over a ranked opponent. This performance has made South Florida my National Star Of The Week.
The third major upset of the day came in Starkville, when Mississippi State took down former #12 Arizona State under the lights in SEC territory. Last year, the Bulldogs finished last in the SEC and went 2-10, including a 41-17 loss to Toledo, while Arizona State won the Big 12 and nearly pulled off an upset win over Texas in the College Football Playoff. However, the Sun Devils only beat Mississippi State by seven points last year in Arizona, which ended up foreshadowing this year’s return game.
MSU jumped out to a shocking 17-0 lead before Jesus Gomez hit a long field goal to get ASU on the board at halftime. Despite a furious comeback in the second half that saw Arizona State get a 20-17 lead late in the fourth quarter, Bulldogs quarterback Blake Shapen hit Brennen Thompson for a 58-yard touchdown with just 30 seconds left.
Safety Hunter Washington sealed the game by intercepting Sam Leavitt on the ensuing desperation drive to the sound of cheers and cowbells, as is Mississippi State tradition. Blake Shapen threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, while Thompson had six receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the stunning victory.
Top National Week 3 Matchups
Week 3 brings the final heavy week of nonconference games, mixed in with some early conference games across many leagues. In the Big Ten, #4 Oregon (-27.5) will head to Evanston to battle Northwestern, which will be the Big Noon Kickoff game of the week. In the same timeslot, Wisconsin will battle #19 Alabama (-20.5) in Tuscaloosa for another showdown between the Big Ten and the SEC.
Over in the ACC, #12 Clemson (-9.5) will battle Georgia Tech in a duel of conference heavyweights. Clemson will look to establish itself as the ACC frontrunners, while the Yellow Jackets will look to prove that they have taken the next step this season. The Tigers have gotten off to a slow start, falling to LSU before needing a second-half rally to get past Troy.
An under-the-radar showdown between Oklahoma (-24.5) and Temple will take place at Lincoln Financial Field, with former Rutgers quarterback Evan Simon and the 2-0 Owls looking to stun the Sooners (-24.5) after their win over Michigan. South Florida will look to continue their upset streak when it heads to Miami to take on the #5 Hurricanes at 4:30 PM in a game that has become significantly more interesting following the Bulls’ upset of the Gators.
The SEC will dive deep into conference play, with the first big showdown of the year coming at 3:30 PM between #6 Georgia and #15 Tennessee. Arkansas will take on #17 Ole Miss (-9.5) in the evening slot, alongside Florida visiting #3 LSU (-9.5) and #11 South Carolina (-5.5) hosting Vanderbilt in their SEC openers. #8 Notre Dame (-6.5) will also host #16 Texas A&M after their first bye week, with the Fighting Irish having defeated the Aggies in College Station to begin last season.
Rutgers (2-0) will play its final nonconference game of the season against Norfolk State (1-1), with Michael Vick’s program coming from behind to take down DII Virginia State 34-31 in overtime. Kickoff is set for 3:30 PM at SHI Stadium, with Andrew and me providing live coverage for On The Banks. The game will be broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network with radio coverage on WFAN and WRSU-FM.
To support me and my work, please follow @arnavcsarkar on X!
