5 Most Overrated College Football Things From Week 2: Notre Dame and Nebraska Rankings, SMU

There was one massive upset, an unsurprising Texas win over Michigan, and a whole lot of games that didn't exactly stir the pot. But it was still a fascinating Week 2 of the 2024 college football season.

From the Notre Dame ranking after losing to Northern Illinois, to Nebraska love because of who it played, to SMU vs the better teams, here are five overrated things from this past weekend.

5 Overrated Things From Week 2

- CFN Week 3 Rankings 1-134
- Bowl Projections: Week 3
- Heisman Trophy Rankings: Week 3

5. Notre Dame's Ranking

I promised myself I wouldn't whine about the painful inconsistencies in the polls this year - if you're not going to get them right, then why do them? So until the College Football Playoff rankings, yes, this will be the one time I whine about them, and only because this one is too egregious.

Are Notre Dame is better at college football than Northern Illinois? I think so, but that's my opinion. If only there was a way to prove that I'm wrong, like, if they actually played against each other ...

Notre Dame is 18th in the AP Poll and 19th in the Coaches Poll.

Northern Illinois is now 2-0 after just beating Notre Dame in South Bend, and it's 25th in the AP poll and 30th in the Coaches Poll.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, but in the final College Football Playoff rankings last season, the only reason the committee could justify leaving out Florida State was because Alabama beat Georgia and had to be in, and Texas beat Bama at Bama, so it had to be in.

Head-to-head mattered at the highest of levels, and it should apply to the MAC, too.

4. SMU vs Power 4 (formerly 5) teams

SMU was coming off a massive 11-3 season with an American Athletic Conference championship, it moved to the ACC, and it was the darling of the investment class that set the season win total - depending on your brand of betting house - at around 7.5.

It beat Nevada and Houston Christian to start the season, and then dropped the home opener against BYU from the Big 12.

With that loss, the program has lost its last four games against at-the-time Power Five - now Power Four - conference teams.

SMU beat TCU in 2019 and 2021. The previous regular season victory over an at-the-time Power Five program was against Washington State in 2010.

How many more games against Power Four teams are there this season for SMU?

All of them.

3. Nebraska rolling Colorado

No, Nebraska probably isn't overrated. But at the moment, we still might not know, and why?

Because Colorado might be one of those teams that makes everyone look good.

Nebraska is a whole lot better, but again, it might be literally overrated at 23rd in the AP Poll and 24th in the Coaches Poll all because of a win over the Buffaloes.

The Huskers get Northern Iowa next, and then Illinois, at Purdue, Rutgers, at Indiana. They should go on a roll before getting blasted at Ohio State, but again, this is about Colorado.

The Buffs haven’t fixed the problems. They’re 127th in the nation in time of possession, dead last in rushing, 120th in turnover margin, 118th in tackles for loss allowed, and 118th in first downs allowed.

But because it’s Colorado it gets all the hype, everyone watches, everyone thinks the opponent looks great, and …

Let’s see what 1-1 Colorado State does this week against the Buffs.

2. College Football Week 1

EVERYONE overhypes Week 1 games.

It’s the start of the season, we’re all desperate for college football, and everyone forms their full-season opinions based on one performance with no preseason warmup time and without being in mid-season shape.

From the lens of the post-Week 2 games, here are the five biggest Week 1 wins that might have been a mirage. The winning team might not be as good as we thought, or as bad, as we thought they were …

5. South Carolina 23, Old Dominion 19
4. Oklahoma 51, Temple 3
3. Arizona 61, New Mexico 39
2. Michigan State 16, Florida Atlantic 10
1. Notre Dame 23, Texas A&M 13

And there’s a flip side to that.

1. College Football Week 2

Now comes the overreaction. There’s a letdown after Week 1, the other team has film to go off of, the winning team believes the hype, or whatever reason might come up, some teams just don’t get up for Week 2 like they did for the start of the year.

Here were the five biggest Week 2 losses that might have been a mirage - the losing teams probably aren’t as bad as everyone thinks they are. So to overrate the losers ...

5. FIU 52, Central Michigan 16
4. Virginia Tech 31, Marshall 14
3. Arizona State 30, Mississippi State 23
2. Texas 31, Michigan 12
1. Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14

- CFN Week 3 Rankings 1-134
- Bowl Projections: Week 3
- Heisman Trophy Rankings: Week 3