College Football 2024: B/R’s Top 25 Rankings After Week 2

The marquee matchup in Week 2 of the 2024 college football season ended up being a lopsided 31-12 victory by the No. 3 Texas Longhorns over the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines, but as Saturday progressed fans were treated to no shortage of nail-biters and upsets.

Kyle McCord and Syracuse upset No. 23 Georgia Tech, while Iowa State came out on top against No. 21 Iowa to claim the Cy-Hawk Trophy.

However, the week’s biggest upset undoubtedly belonged to the Northern Illinois Huskies, who upended No. 5 Notre Dame in a 16-14 stunner where the Fighting Irish were 28-point favorites at home.

All of that meant there was plenty of shuffling to be done in this week’s Top 25 rankings.

This week’s panel included David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Joel Reuter and Brad Shepard. A first-place vote was worth 25 points, a second-place vote worth 24 points and so on.

B/R Top 25

1. Georgia

2t. Texas

2t. Ohio State

4. Ole Miss

5. Tennessee

6. Miami

7. Alabama

8. Penn State

9. Oregon

10. Missouri

11t. USC

11t. Utah

13. Oklahoma State

14. Kansas State

15. Oklahoma

16. Arizona

17. Louisville

18. Iowa State

19. Michigan

20. LSU

21. Nebraska

22t. Clemson

22t. Memphis

24. Boston College

25. Notre Dame

Georgia (57) and Ohio State (5) received all of the first-place votes in the preseason AP poll, and those two teams have looked the part of title threats in the early going this season, but it’s time to clear two more seats in the top-tier contenders conversation.

Texas picked up the biggest win any team has recorded this season with a dominant 31-12 victory over Michigan, forcing three turnovers on defense while Quinn Ewers threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns.

That came on the heels of a 52-0 shutout against Colorado State in Week 1, and while they were heavily favored in that game, it was still a better Week 1 opponent than many of the nation’s top teams played to kick off their season.

Meanwhile, Ole Miss and Heisman Trophy candidate Jaxson Dart put together another dominant performance against an inferior opponent, flexing their muscles like few other teams have managed to do early in the year.

After hanging a staggering 76 points on Furman in a shutout victory in Week 1, the Rebels nearly pitched a second straight shutout in a 52-3 victory over Middle Tennessee State. Dart accounted for two touchdowns, while running back Henry Parrish Jr. rushed for 165 yards and four touchdowns.

The Rebels don’t have to play Alabama during the regular season, and it’s looking more and more like they might roll into their Nov. 9 matchup against Georgia with an undefeated record based on their early dominance.

A lopsided loss in Week 2 of their title defense is not the start the Michigan Wolverines envisioned, even if they were underdogs on Saturday against a higher-ranked Texas Longhorns team.

And a loss to a team it paid $1.4 million to put on the schedule is definitely not what the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had in mind when they kicked off against the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday afternoon.

Yet here we are, with both teams already staring at a “1” in the loss column, and while there is a long list of concerns for both teams, it’s the quarterback situation that is front and center in both cases.

The Wolverines replaced JJ McCarthy under center with senior Davis Warren, who had recorded a grand total of 14 pass attempts entering the season after beginning his college career as a walk-on.

Meanwhile, after getting 2,689 yards and 24 touchdowns from Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman in 2023, the Fighting Irish again turned to a former ACC star in the transfer portal this offseason, adding former Duke starter Riley Leonard.

Here are the stats for those two quarterbacks through two games:

There might not be a full-blown quarterback controversy for either school just yet, but quarterback play can undoubtedly be pointed to as an early weakness.

One of the best games of Week 3 will be played on Friday night, when Arizona squares off against Kansas State in a matchup of new Big 12 rivals, and the winner will get a nice early boost to their College Football Playoff resume.

There are a pair of intriguing SEC matchups where the favorite is on the road with LSU at South Carolina and Georgia at Kentucky, and those are far from the only potential upset watch matchups on tap.

Alabama has to play a tough Big Ten road game at Camp Randall Stadium against Wisconsin, while Texas (vs. UTSA), Texas Tech (vs. North Texas) and Oklahoma (vs. Tulane) all face off against quality mid-major opponents.

After Iowa State pulled off an upset against Iowa, there are several more in-state rivalry games to watch in Week 3, with Oregon vs Oregon State, Utah vs. Utah State, Washington vs. Washington State and Colorado vs. Colorado State

Pivoting back to the SEC, Missouri (vs. Boston College) and Ole Miss (at Wake Forest) also have tricky non-conference matchups as they look to stay undefeated, and while there is no marquee matchup of Top 10 teams, it feels like a week ripe for potential upsets.