5 College Football Week 2 Takeaways: Texas, Ohio State, and Tennessee Are REALLY Good

It's only Week 2, but a few narratives took on a life of their own after this weekend.

Notre Dame was the big story, but Tennessee blasting NC State mattered. Texas rolled by Michigan - that mattered. Ohio State keeps on crushing. It's early, but things are starting to take shape.

All of that here are five takeaways from Week 2, starting with ...

5 Takeaways From Week 2

- CFN Week 3 Rankings 1-134
- Bowl Projections: Week 3
- Heisman Trophy Rankings: Week 3
- 5 Overrated Things from Week 2
- 5 Underrated Things from Week 2

5. South Carolina is good against ... Kentucky?

It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Believe me, college kids don’t know or care what your school’s football team did against another school’s football team two … five … 15 years ago. But sometimes one program is just a whole lot better than another.

For example, South Carolina is 2-19-1 all-time against LSU. It’s 3-13 against Alabama, and it’s a combined 28-82-5 against Florida and Georgia. But it’s 21-14-1 against Kentucky.

With the 31-6 loss to South Carolina on Saturday, UK has dropped three in a row against the Gamecock. Next up in SEC play for the Wildcats? Georgia and Ole Miss.

4. You can never, ever, ever, EVER lose if you’re a major college head coach

Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman went from being the biggest superstar in college football coaching after the win over Texas A&M, to being on the hot seat after the loss to Northern Illinois.

Lincoln Riley was all but fired by USC - at least according to the offseason hot-takers - four fingers pointed back at me on that one - and now he’s apparently a good coach again.

Dabo Swinney had lost his touch after the bad defeat to Georgia, and all is right with the world now after the offense cranked it up against Appalachian State.

Mike Norvell had a monster 2023 at Florida State, and now he’s 0-2.

Mark Stoops just saw his Kentucky team get whacked by South Carolina, Hugh Freeze’s Auburn team couldn’t give the ball to Cal’s defense fast enough, and Sam Pittman’s Arkansas team gave Oklahoma State everything it could handle in Stillwater, but lost in overtime.

Those guys on the other side are playing to win the game, too. Fan bases don’t want to hear it … EVER.

Just don’t lose, college football coaches. Or else.

3. Tennessee just obliterated a good NC State team

I’m not saying I know everything about this college football thing, but I’m no doorknob, either.

I thought NC State had a real shot to beat Tennessee, and WOW did that notion end in a hurry.

The Vols ran for almost six yards per carry on this always-tough NC State defense, the Wolfpack ground game couldn’t move at all, and it was a 51-10 Tennessee win that was every bit the blowout the final score made it out to be.

It wasn’t a perfect performance, but with Kent State up next week to use to tune up the finer points before facing Oklahoma on the road, the Vols are looking the part of something special.

2. Ohio State should be preparing for Georgia

This offseason I put the number that Ohio State would beat Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall by - the three non-conference games - at around 150-24.

There’s a week off before facing the Thundering Herd after the Buckeyes beat the Zips and now the Broncos 108 to 6.

That Buckeye date in Oregon isn’t looking so scary now, Penn State struggled against Bowling Green, Iowa lost to Iowa State, and Michigan got picked clean by Texas.

Now, the Ohio State schedule doesn’t look like a big deal. Maybe it loses a game. It’s not losing two. It will get to the Big Ten Championship, and it’ll win it and be the 1 or 2 seed, or be stunned in a loss and be 7ish seed in the CFP. Either way, this team has to prepare for one other team that matters this season.

Georgia.

Okay, maybe Texas, too, but really, the recon and deep dive research and scouting has to be done NOW for Georgia - and vice versa.

It’s four months away before these two likely meet - and again, Texas or someone else could throw a bit of a wrench into this - but the Buckeyes might be double-digit favorites against everyone the rest of the way.

It might be 12 games of tune-up time ahead. However …

1. Is Texas that good or is Michigan that meh?

The problem was how easy that looked and felt.

Michigan hung around for a bit, and it seemed like the defense would hold up, but Texas was too fast, too efficient, and too good overall. But does that really mean the Longhorns are that great, or does Michigan need more time, or both?

The Wolverine defense held up well enough. It allowed one big running play, and that was it. It bent but didn’t really break in the second half. Meanwhile, Wolverine QB Davis Warren was fine, but he’s not going to win this team games against elite teams.

The 22 carries weren’t enough - Donovan Edwards averaged over five yards per carry, and he only ran eight times? There’s work to do.

Texas will rip up UTSA and ULM before hosting Mississippi State, and then comes Oklahoma after a week off, and then comes Georgia.

Michigan still gets at trip to Washington, a suddenly hard looking dame at Illinois, Michigan State, and Oregon, and then there’s the uh-oh date at Ohio State. But pull off a win over USC in two weeks - Arkansas State comes to town on Saturday - and everything might seem back on track.

- CFN Week 3 Rankings 1-134
- Bowl Projections: Week 3
- Heisman Trophy Rankings: Week 3
- 5 Overrated Things from Week 2
- 5 Underrated Things from Week 2