College Football Week 2 Takeaways: Oh No, Notre Dame

Texas solidified its spot as a national-title contender while the hot seats for Arkansas’s Sam Pittman and Baylor’s Dave Aranda got even warmer.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman during Saturday’s game. / Michael Clubb / USA TODAY NETWORK

The No. 3 Texas Longhorns walked into The Big House and blew out the defending national champion No. 10 Michigan Wolverines in the most-anticipated game of the day.

While the Longhorns look like they’re every bit the national-title contender that many expected entering the season, the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish embarrassed themselves at home in a 16–14 loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies after coming in a four-touchdown favorite.

Here’s what we learned from Week 2 of the 2024 college football season.

1. Texas solidified its status as a serious national-title contender

Texas entered Ann Arbor, Mich., as a 7.5-point road favorite per FanDuel against Michigan and left absolutely no doubt in a dominant 31–12 victory.

Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers completed 24-of-36 pass attempts for 246 yards and three touchdowns, while the running game did just enough to keep Michigan’s talented defense off-balance all game long.

On the other side of the ball, Texas forced three Michigan turnovers, including a fumble and two Davis Warren interceptions as the Wolverines offense struggled to get much of anything going for the second week in a row.

Texas cemented its status as a serious national-title contender, while Michigan appears primed to take a step back, following the departure of Jim Harbaugh and several key players off last season’s national championship team.

2. Northern Illinois’s shocking upset of Notre Dame adds to Marcus Freeman’s growing list of incompetent performances

First things first. Congratulations to Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock and Huskies for going into South Bend, playing stout defense and grinding out an improbable 16–14 win over the Irish. This was the first win over a top-10 team in the 57-year history of the Northern Illinois football program, and it earned every bit of it.

But goodness, Notre Dame. 

That was an awful, awful showing one week removed from a thrilling 23–13 victory against the then-No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies in College Station, Texas. Notre Dame’s Week 1 victory, one that appeared to set the Irish on a clear, straightforward path to the College Football Playoff, was entirely undone by a pitiful home performance.

Unfortunately for Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, the head-scratching home performances have become a bit of a trend since taking over in 2022. Saturday marked the third time in the last three seasons Notre Dame has lost outright at home as a multi-score favorite. 

2022 vs. the Marshall Thundering Herd: ND (-20.5 per FanDuel) loses 26–21

2022 vs. Stanford Cardinal: ND (-16 per FanDuel) loses 16–14

Saturday vs. Northern Illinois: ND (-28 per FanDuel) loses 16–14

Freeman has elevated Notre Dame’s recruiting since taking over and has won his share of big games. However, disappointing performances like Saturday’s (which makes Notre Dame’s CFP path complicated, at best) have overshadowed the victories in his 28 games as the frontman of the Irish football program.

Expectations at Notre Dame are extraordinarily high, and Freeman certainly didn’t do himself any favors with the latest home catastrophe.

3. Arkansas’s Sam Pittman and Baylor’s Dave Aranda solidified their respective places on the pre-fired coaching list 

Speaking of coaching, the Arkansas Razorbacks’ Sam Pittman and Baylor Bears’ Dave Aranda entered 2024 with two of the hottest seats in college football. Neither will come away from Saturday feeling any better about their future outlook at their respective programs.

Arkansas led 21–7 at halftime, but endured a comedy of second-half errors, including a muffed punt, a missed field goal, a turnover on downs, a litany of defensive issues, a careless sack in overtime to knock themselves out of field-goal range and a personal foul penalty to give the Oklahoma State Cowboys a fresh set of downs on third-and-long in double overtime. 

The Cowboys scored on that double-overtime drive that was extended thanks to the personal foul penalty to take the lead for good in the 39–31 win.

Brutal for Pittman.

Pittman and the Razorbacks blew a halftime lead and lost to Oklahoma State. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

As for Baylor, the offense looked incredibly suspect on the road at Rice-Eccles Stadium against the No. 11 Utah Utes. The Bears managed just 223 total yards of offense and went 4-for-16 on third down in a largely noncompetitive 23–12 loss.

The Week 2 test for the Bears was a great chance for Aranda to prove his program was heading in the right direction in 2024. But after looking well-overmatched in their first conference game of the season, there’s no indication Baylor is any closer to contending in the Big 12, which is not what the program’s leadership is looking for in Year 5 of Aranda’s tenure.

4. No. 14 Tennessee’s blowout win over No. 24 NC State shows Vols have what it takes as SEC sleeper

Tennessee Volunteers star freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed 16-of-23 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 65 yards and a score on the ground as the Volunteers rolled over the NC State Wolfpack in Charlotte on Saturday night. 

NC State had no answer for Tennessee’s explosive offensive attack, as the Volunteers were also buoyed by a 20-carry, 132-yard, two-touchdown performance by starting running back Dylan Sampson.

But for as explosive as Tennessee looks offensively under head coach Josh Heupel, what was even more impressive was the Volunteers defense, which held the Wolfpack to just 143 yards of total offense and a 3-for-12 mark on third down.

Tennessee’s offense can score with anybody in the country, but if the defense turns in more performances like the one Saturday night, watch out.

Iamaleava scored three total touchdowns against the Wolfpack. / Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

5. Colorado’s offensive line remains overmatched against power-conference competition

The Colorado Buffaloes simply could not block the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ defensive front in Saturday night’s rivalry showdown in Lincoln, Neb.

The outcome of the game, as a result, was not surprising in Nebraska’s 28–10 win. 

Much like in head coach Deion Sanders’s first season in Boulder, Colo., the Buffaloes look totally incapable of running the football and protecting star quarterback Shedeur Sanders against power-conference competition, which will certainly make for another long season for the program in its return to the Big 12.

Colorado’s offensive line surrendered six sacks, and the Buffaloes’ leading rusher was Dallan Hayden, who carried the ball five times for 32 yards. Give credit where credit is due to Nebraska’s feisty defense, but it’s clear the Buffs still have plenty of issues to iron out offensively outside of Sanders and All-American Travis Hunter.

Nebraska running back Rahmir Johnson catches a pass against Colorado. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Extra Points

• The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide, as a near-five touchdown favorite per FanDuel, led South Florida, 14–13, heading into the fourth quarter. After Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe hit wide receiver Kobe Prentice with 10:04 to play for a 16-yard touchdown pass to make it 21–13, the South Florida Bulls marched right up the field, but questionably settled for a 22-yard field goal with 6:45 to play. From there, Alabama exploded offensively, scoring 21 straight points to make the game look a lot less competitive than it was. Alabama leaves Week 2 with a 42–16 win, but has plenty of questions to answer offensively after consistency issues plagued the unit for much of the night.

• The No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners did everything in their power to lose at home to a Houston Cougars team that many expect to be the worst team in the Big 12. Not exactly an encouraging performance by the offense, which mustered only 249 yards and 16 points. A late-game safety by the defense clinched the 16–12 victory and ended any hopes for Houston but not an encouraging Game 2 of 2024 for Brent Venables & Co. 

• The Illinois Fighting Illini’s home upset of the No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks, 23–17, marked the first 2–0 start for the Illini since the 2019 season. Illinois’s eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that concluded with a Kaden Feagin one-yard touchdown run with 9:34 to play proved decisive in the victory. The Illinois defense was the story, though, as the Illini forced four turnovers in the win against a potent Kansas offense.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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