Week 2 in Review: Everything you need to know about a wild weekend of college football

DENVER — With neither the Pac-12 or the Mountain West deciding to compete this fall, it’s going to be an extremely odd college football season in the Mile High City. 

Instead of watching the Rams and Buffs square off in the first on-campus edition of the Rocky Mountain Showdown since 2009, local college football fans had to settle for a mediocre game between BYU and Navy last weekend. Instead of games versus Fresno State and Oregon State this weekend, CU and CSU fans had to watch the ACC, Big-12 and Sun Belt among others, while their teams sat at home on the couch just like you or me. 

Quite honestly, this situation sucks. But if we are living by the wisdom of Forrest Gump, sometimes life hands you a gnarly piece of chocolate, and you’ve just gotta do what you can to choke that sucker down. (Or something like that). 

That’s what we are attempting to do here, simply make the best of an unfortunate situation. While everyone would obviously prefer to be taking in game day action in person, there is still plenty of intriguing college football to be watched across the country, and we plan to keep you up to date with all of it. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Week 2. 

Spreads & Results 

Miami (-15.5) vs. UAB | O/U 55.0 | Final: 31-14 (Miami) 

Kansas State (-10.5) vs. Arkansas State | O/U 54.5 | Final: 35-31 (Arkansas State)

Iowa State (-12) vs. Louisiana Lafayette | O/U 57.0 | Final: 31-14 (LA-Lafayette)

North Carolina (-23) vs. Syracuse | O/U 66.5 | Final: 31-6 (UNC)

Appalachian State (-17) vs. Charlotte | O/U 59.0 | Final: 35-20 (Appalachian State)

West Virginia (-40.5) vs. Eastern Kentucky | O/U 55.5 | Final: 56-10 (WVU)

Army (-21) vs. Louisiana-Monroe | O/U 54.5 | Final: 37-7 (Army)

Notre Dame (-20.5) vs. Duke | O/U 54.5 | Final: 27-13 (Notre Dame) 

Florida State (-13) vs. Georgia Tech | O/U 52.5: Final: 16-13 (Georgia Tech)

Texas State (-9) vs. UTSA | O/U 57.5 | Final: 51-48 OT (UTSA)

Georgia Southern (-34) vs. Campbell | O/U 59.5 | Final: 27-26 (GA Southern)

Pittsburgh (-27.5) vs. Austin Peay | O/U 49.0 | Final: 55-0 (Pitt)

South Florida (-20.5) vs. Citadel | O/U 56.5 | Final: 27-6 (USF)

Oklahoma (-42.5) vs. Missouri State | O/U 66.5 | Final: 48-0 (OU)

South Alabama vs. Tulane (-9) | O/U 52.0 | Final: Final: 27-24 (Tulane)

Wake Forest vs. Clemson (-33) | O/U 60.0 | Final: 37-13 (Clemson)

Louisville (-12) vs. Western Kentucky | O/U 58.0 | Final: 35-21 (Louisville) 

Texas Tech (-39.5) vs. Houston Baptist | O/U 74.5 | Final: 35-33 (Texas Tech)

Texas (-43) vs. UTEP | O/U 58.5 | Final: 59-3 (Texas)

Kansas (-6.5) vs. Coastal Carolina | O/U 56.5 | Final: 38-23 (Coastal Carolina)

** Spreads via DraftKings Sportsbook 

Headlines 

The FUN Belt is back

Nobody had a more surprising showing than the Sun Belt Conference this weekend. The league went 5-2 overall and managed to secure three road upset wins over Big-12 opponents in the process. Not bad for a couple of mid-majors, huh? If Texas State had not missed a potential game-winning extra point with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter and then a 20-yard field goal attempt to take the lead in double overtime, the FUN Belt would have finished nearly perfect at 6-1. But it definitely still ended up being a really solid showing for the conference as a whole. 

The Big-12… are you there?

Starting with No. 23 Iowa State losing to Louisiana by 17 at home and ending with Coastal Carolina taking down Kansas for the second straight season, the Big-12 looked extremely weak in Week 2 action. In total, three different members were upset in their home stadiums, and after entering the game as 39.5 favorites versus Houston Baptist, the Red Raiders were extremely fortunate to have escaped with a 35-33 win themselves. Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia all took care of business against teams they were heavily favored to beat. But a 4-3 weekend is not much to celebrate for a league that has much to gain without the Big Ten or Pac-12 currently competing. 

ACC lives to fight another day

Unlike the other major conferences, the ACC had a couple of league games take place. In general, it was a relatively quiet weekend overall as the favorites went 4-1. If there were any surprises, it’s that we did not expect Florida State to choke once again — which of course, they did. But more importantly for the ACC, Notre Dame and Clemson both still have extremely manageable paths to the playoff after winning deceptively tough games against Duke and Wake Forest, respectively.  

 

CFB Playoff Implications 

For a second consecutive season Iowa State started the year ranked only to underwhelm in their opener. In 2019, ISU needed overtime to take down Northern Iowa at home. This time, the Cyclones were unable to sneak out with a ‘W’ though. ISU lost to a talented Louisiana-Lafayette squad — one that will likely crack the top 25 this season — so it’s not as if ISU should just throw in the towel. But it feels like the Cyclones manage to lose two or three winnable games like this every single season. And with potentially less competition to the CFB Playoff in 2020, teams from power conferences cannot afford to be dropping buy games against G5 opponents. 

Oklahoma rattles off points 

Oklahoma entered the weekend at No. 5 in the AP Poll and definitely looked like a contender in a 48-0 win over Missouri State Saturday night. Sure, the level of competition needs to be taken into consideration. But the Sooners led 31-0 after just 15 minutes. Not to mention Spencer Rattler (QB) moved the football with ease as the former five star prospect finished 14-of-17 for 290 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions before being pulled at halftime.

Notre Dame survives Duke 

Notre Dame is temporarily in the ACC — which on paper, might actually be an easier path to the CFB Playoff than they have had to deal with as an independent in recent years. The big question for the Fighting Irish is whether or not the consistency will be there this season. The Irish have enough talent to go all the way, especially if the SEC ends up cannibalizing itself to a point where two ACC teams are able to finish in the top 4. If they want to play for a title, though, Saturday’s test versus Duke will not be their last close call. 

 

Most Interesting Games 

1. Texas State vs. UTSA 
2. Georgia Southern vs. Campbell 
3. South Alabama vs. Tulane                                                                                      

 

Show Me The Money! 

• Favorites covered the spread in exactly 50 percent of games. (10-of-20) 
• The under hit in 70 percent of games (14-of-20) 
• Worst Beat: Campbell had a chance to secure its first-ever FBS victory but failed to complete the 2-point conversion after scoring what could have been the game-tying touchdown with just seconds to go. The Fighting Camels were 34 point underdogs going in.