In Week 1 of the college football season, we overreacted. In Week 2, we got a second data point for lots of teams, units and players. Some of those ran counter to what we thought we knew a week ago, and some served as confirmation. After an absolutely dynamite Saturday, let's talk about what we learned, relearned and un-learned.
Jump to a section:
Pac-12 is playing for keeps
Florida State still looks like CFP team
Three-team race in Big Ten East
Georgia can't keep sleepwalking
Miami might indeed be back
Who won the Heisman this week?
10 favorite games of the weekend
Texas is worthy of the hype
No. 11 Texas 34, No. 3 Alabama 24
As I wrote Friday, we've quickly grown accustomed to Texas playing its butt off against top teams. The Longhorns had played six top-10 opponents over the past four seasons, and every single game had been decided by one score. But they had won only one of them, and it was against a team that turned out not to be top-10 worthy (Oklahoma State in 2020). That they once again brought their A-game Saturday night in Tuscaloosa was no surprise.
Said A-game, however, was good enough to hand Alabama its worst home loss since 2004. That ... might have been surprising. Just a little.
Texas' 34-24 win over Bama was a stunner, both for viscerally obvious "Texas beat Alabama! By double digits!" reasons and for how easy the Longhorns made this appear, how poised they remained every time it looked like the Crimson Tide were about to come back.
After an early interception helped to drive a 13-3 Texas lead, Bama scored the next 13 points and took its first lead of the game with a gorgeous 49-yard pass from Jalen Milroe to Jermaine Burton. This felt like a turning point... for about five minutes. Texas started the fourth quarter with a 50-yard Quinn Ewers-to-Ja'Tavion Sanders pass and a 6-yard Ewers-to-Adonai Mitchell score. Then Jerrin Thompson picked off Milroe and returned the ball to Bama's 5. Jonathon Brooks scored, and in four snaps, Texas had scored two touchdowns and gone from down 3 to up 11.
OK, fine, but this was still Bama. The Tide quickly drove 75 yards for a touchdown to get back to within 3, and a holding penalty immediately put Texas behind the chains. Bryant-Denny Stadium was loud, and the comeback was officially on... until Jordan Whittington took a short pass for a 31-yard gain on second-and-15, and Ewers floated a 39-yard touchdown to a wide-open Mitchell. Bama went three-and-out, and Texas proceeded to kill the game, Bama-style, moving the chains three times, all on the ground, and eating up the game's final 7:14. They imposed their will. On Bama. In Tuscaloosa. According to ESPN Stats & Information, this was the first time in Nick Saban's 223 games at Alabama that the Tide have been outgained, lost the turnover battle, allowed more sacks, committed more penalties and had worse average starting field position than their opponent.
Alabama loses games. It happens. The Tide have won six national titles under Saban but did so unbeaten only twice. But when they lose, it's either to a soon-to-be national champion (2021 Georgia, 2019 LSU, 2018 Clemson, 2016 Clemson, 2014 Ohio State) or in a "stuff happens" kind of situation. You know, last-second road losses to good teams (2022 Tennessee, 2022 LSU, 2021 Texas A&M) or some sort of nonsense involving either the Iron Bowl (2019 Auburn, 2017 Auburn, 2013 Auburn) or Hugh Freeze (2015 Ole Miss, 2014 Ole Miss).
It doesn't happen with them giving up three touchdowns and 176 yards in the fourth quarter. It doesn't happen with them failing to stop an opponent that is running directly at them. And it doesn't happen with their quarterback getting spectacularly outplayed.
Quinn Ewers: 24-for-38, 349 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks, 89.4 QBR, 10.8 adjusted net yards per attempt (ANY/A)*
Jalen Milroe: 14-for-27, 255 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 5 sacks, 65.7 QBR, 5.4 ANY/A
* ANY/A: a passing average that includes sacks and sack yardage and applies a 20-yard bonus for touchdowns and a 45-yard penalty for interceptions. It basically gives us what we think we're getting from the passer rating formula.
Alabama's losses just don't happen the way this one happened.
Milroe was one of the sources of my overreactions last week. I wrote that in both stature and game, he looked like the early-Bama version of Jalen Hurts, showing both speed and strength in the run game and uncorking some gorgeous deep passes. But I also noted that Texas was going to force him to show a more complete game. He didn't have to throw hardly any tricky or intermediate passes in Week 1 against Middle Tennessee State, and the Longhorns were good enough to test him there. The two interceptions and five sacks tell us the test was harder than Milroe could handle. His potential remains obvious, but there are holes in his development, and when it comes to the national title race -- generally the only thing that matters in an Alabama season -- the safety net is now gone. Either Milroe improves, or he and Bama are out of it soon.
Now comes the second part of the "Is Texas Back?" test: playing like that against everyone else. In just over a year as Longhorns starter, Ewers has produced a QBR over 85 against four teams: Alabama (2023), Alabama (2022), Oklahoma (2022) and Big 12 champion Kansas State (2022). Texas won three of those games and probably would have beaten Bama last year, too, had Ewers not gotten hurt. And in the three games against Alabama and Oklahoma, he completed seven of 12 passes thrown 20 or more yards downfield.
Against everyone else, he has completed five of 43 such passes. And despite those three great games, he finished last season 53rd in QBR because his other starts weren't anywhere near as impressive. (Neither were his occasionally drops-prone receivers.) Two weeks after they nearly beat Bama last year, the Longhorns lost to Texas Tech. The week before they beat Kansas State, they lost to Oklahoma State.
In 2021, Texas lost by a combined 16 points against No. 6 Oklahoma and the eventual Big 12 champion (Baylor) and runner-up (Oklahoma State). They also lost to Iowa State by 23 and to a 2-10 Kansas team at home.
In 2020, they lost a 53-45 thriller against Oklahoma... the week after losing to an eventual 6-4 TCU team.
In 2019, they lost to two eventual playoff teams (LSU and Oklahoma) by seven points each and destroyed an 11-win Utah. They also lost to 5-7 TCU and 7-6 Iowa State.
You get the idea. In their long road back toward the top 10 (or better), the Horns have had trouble both closing the deal against awesome teams and actually bringing it, week in and week out, against everyone else. They've now recorded their first victory over an AP top-three team since Oklahoma in 2008 and their first true road win over such a team since their famous 15-14 win over Arkansas in 1969.
The importance of this win cannot be overstated. But to take advantage of it, the Longhorns have to play at that same level, or close to it, in every other game, starting with Saturday's visit from Texas Tech conqueror Wyoming. In college football, your reward for winning big games is playing in more and more big games until all of them are, by definition, huge. Keep bringing it, Horns.
The Pac-12 is playing for keeps
It feels weird talking about it, and it feels weird not talking about it. The specter of conference realignment looms overhead at all times out West thanks to the developments of August. We are all painfully aware that after this season USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will join the Big Ten; Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will join the Big 12; Cal and Stanford will join the ACC (All Coasts Conference); and Oregon State and Washington State will be left to either join the Mountain West or attempt to piece together a new Pac-12 via either a MWC merger or some other sort of finagling.
The knowledge of this is unceasing, the black cloud omnipresent, which is annoying when you notice just how damn fun and awesome the Pac-12 has been so far this year. We knew about Caleb Williams and USC, Michael Penix Jr. and Washington and Bo Nix and Oregon. We knew that Utah might again serve as a quality rock-bashing alternative to the all-offense and no-defense heavyweights. We knew Oregon State had sleeper potential, we knew UCLA could be awfully fun again if it figured out its quarterback situation, and while we had no idea how good Colorado might or might not be, we knew Deion Sanders' Buffaloes would be must-watch all the same. If most or all of these teams played to their potential, and others such as Washington State or Arizona or Cal overachieved a bit, the final iteration of the Pac-12 -- damn it, I mentioned it again -- had massive upside, more than the conference has had in years.
Guess what: This conference is absolutely crushing it right now.
USC never had to leave third gear while pummeling the Mountain West's San Jose State and Nevada by a combined 122-42, but we got a taste of what fifth gear might look like Saturday night. Granted, it was against an unfortunate conference-mate in Stanford, but the Trojans looked spectacular in going up 14-0 in six minutes and 35-0 in 20 before cruising 56-10.
Williams was almost perfect (19-for-21 for 285 yards and three scores), freshman Zachariah Branch scored on a long punt return, and perhaps most importantly, the defense did its job with aplomb, making 10 tackles for loss and forcing seven punts and two turnovers (plus a turnover on downs) in the Cardinal's first 11 possessions. The run defense still looks a little vulnerable, but Stanford passers went just 10-for-25 for 140 yards with an interception and two sacks. Despite having a merely top-50 defense, USC is up to sixth in SP+. The ceiling is looking awfully high.
Washington and Oregon have done their part. The Huskies blew out Boise State and Tulsa by a combined 99-29. Penix already has 859 passing yards and eight touchdowns, and UW should be comfortably favored at future conference-mate -- ugh, sorry! -- Michigan State in Week 3. The offense ranks second in SP+ behind only USC, and the defense might be steadier. Oregon, meanwhile, faced one of the tougher nonconference situations of the Pac-12's season, a night game in Lubbock, and weathered a wild one, beating Texas Tech 38-30. The Ducks are third in offensive SP+, and assuming no surprises against Hawai'i in Week 3, they're cruising toward a massive Week 4 game with Colorado.
Colorado! After making national headlines all offseason, then starting the campaign with Week 1's biggest result, an upset of defending national runner-up TCU, Deion Sanders' Buffaloes found the going rougher Saturday. For a while, anyway. The offense was stifled by a stingy Nebraska defense, gaining just 136 yards in 33 snaps in the first half, but a solid defensive effort, combined with some self-destruction by the Nebraska offense, handed them an early lead. And up just 13-7 midway through the third quarter, they went on a 23-0 run and cruised 36-14. "College GameDay" is on its way to Boulder, and assuming the Buffs roll past rival Colorado State, they'll get Oregon (in Eugene) and USC (in Boulder) in the biggest pair of games the school has seen since, what, 2001?
Utah won its second power-conference game in a row without injured star quarterback Cam Rising. It was ugly, and the ending was spectacular (we'll come back to that later), but the Utes beat Baylor 20-13 and are 2-0. Meanwhile, Chip Kelly handed the reins of the UCLA offense to blue-chip freshman Dante Moore against a San Diego State team that has ranked in the defensive SP+ top 40 for six straight years. He thrived, throwing for 290 yards and three scores, with help from 175 rushing yards from T.J. Harden and Carson Steele. Listed as 13-point favorites, the Bruins nearly doubled that, winning 35-10. The Saturday night games didn't go as well for the conference, but still, California, the Pac-12's eighth-best team (per SP+), failed to beat Auburn only because of a trio of missed field goals, and Arizona, its ninth-best, lost to Mississippi State because of a fourth-down conversion that came up about a centimeter short.
There's just so much to like about this conference right now, and I haven't even mentioned the Beavs and Cougs yet.
I know there are plenty of Oregon State and Wazzu fans out there who really don't care about the sympathies of a writer who works for a company that has had a role in realignment's churn. I get it. But I grew up in a Division II college town (Weatherford, Oklahoma, which I guess was technically an NAIA town until the late 1990s). I went to a school with a middleweight -- and occasionally light heavyweight! -- football program (Missouri), one for which geography, markets and other factors played a positive (lucky?) role in determining its realignment home.
I have long believed that the bigger the tent major college football provides, the healthier the sport will be. I am appalled by the lack of leadership and the lack of vision this sport has shown, allowing conferences and panicked school presidents to make moves that could end up being detrimental to the sport itself (and definitely detrimental to the big tent). I had an emotional attachment to schools such as Oregon State and Washington State long before they got screwed over -- despite actually housing sturdy middleweight-at-worst football programs at the moment -- by the whims of others. And it felt absolutely fantastic watching Washington State, in front of a spectacularly intense home crowd, lay a thumping on Wisconsin 31-22. The Cougs are 2-0 and up to 45th in SP+, and they might need only an upset or two to insert themselves into this wild Pac-12 title race.
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) September 10, 2023
Oregon State, on the other hand, is already there. UC Davis entered the week ranked a robust fourth in FCS SP+ -- much better than quite a few of the FCS teams that either beat FBS opponents or nearly did Saturday -- but the Beavers were up 28-0 on the Aggies just 18 minutes in and pulled away for an easy 55-7 win. They started the year 33rd in SP+, but now they're up to 17th, and they're projected favorites in their next eight games. Two of the three toughest opponents in that stretch, Utah and UCLA, both have to come to Corvallis.
The Pac-12 is in a special place this year, and either or both of the most easy-to-root-for programs in the Power 5 this year are in position to maybe have a special season. The West is defining the season, and I hope it continues, dark clouds be damned.
Florida State still looks like a CFP team
No. 4 Florida State 66, Southern Miss 13
If Texas needs some notes on how to follow up a huge win with an anti-letdown, maybe consult with Mike Norvell. His Seminoles could have been forgiven if they had started slowly Saturday evening against Southern Miss. They were coming off a resounding Sunday night statement win over LSU, after all. But they had no interest in giving the Golden Eagles even a moment's hope.
FSU scored three minutes in and put up points in nine of the first 11 possessions of a businesslike 66-13 win. The passing game wasn't particularly sharp -- Jordan Travis was just 15-for-29 for 175 yards -- but it couldn't have mattered less because the Seminoles rushed for 306 yards and held USM's Billy Wiles to 11-for-34 passing with an interception and two sacks. I'm still not completely convinced about the Seminoles' run defense, but it's hard not to be convinced by FSU as a whole right now.
We've got a three-team race in the Big Ten East
No. 7 Penn State 63, Delaware 7
I'm not going to pretend I'm actually worried about either Michigan or Ohio State just yet. In four games against relative cupcakes (East Carolina and UNLV for Michigan, Indiana and Youngstown State for the Buckeyes), these highly ranked rivals have outscored their opponents by an average of 31-5. Neither has won a game by fewer than 20 points, and they still rank second (OSU) and third (UM) in SP+.
Granted, the 31-point scoring average isn't very much for teams that averaged 51.5 points per game in nonconference play last year. And granted, they've underachieved against SP+ projections in all four games, by an average of 12 points per game. The Michigan offense ranks a shocking 76th in rushing success rate, and the Ohio State offense ranks an even more shocking 114th in third-down conversion rate (7-for-23). These are not problems we tend to see from the Wolverines and Buckeyes, even if we won't officially know they're problems until either plays in a close game.
Still, this section is not about their struggles, even if they're giving me the twinkling of concern. Instead, it's about a third Big Ten East team that has given us almost nothing but reasons for optimism thus far. Penn State is up to fourth in SP+, having comfortably disposed of West Virginia in Week 1 and having beaten Delaware by 24.1 points more than projected in Week 2. Drew Allar has completed 78% of his passes with 4 touchdowns, no interceptions and only 1 sack. The dynamic running back duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen has combined for 305 rushing and receiving yards and five touchdowns. The defense ranks 14th in success rate allowed (third against the pass) and 10th in third-down conversion rate allowed.
As with Michigan and Ohio State, the Nittany Lions have faced only partial tests. But PSU has overachieved in the same way the Wolverines and Buckeyes have underachieved, and it's up to fourth in SP+. The battle for the division and conference titles -- and, in theory, one or two CFP bids -- is getting quite a bit more interesting.
Georgia is going to sleepwalk into trouble at some point
No. 1 Georgia 45, Ball State 3
If I'm not yet (officially) worried about Michigan and Ohio State, then I'm definitely not there with Georgia. The Bulldogs, two-time defending national champs, haven't yet had to shift out of even second gear while feasting on UT Martin and Ball State by a combined 93-10. New starting quarterback Carson Beck is completing 72% of his passes with a solid ANY/A average of 9.7, and the Dawgs are averaging 7.2 yards per play and allowing 3.8.
As with Michigan and Ohio State, however, they've actually underachieved against SP+ projections in each game (by a combined 16.5 points -- 10.1 on offense and 6.4 on defense). They've also taken their sweet time getting rolling. In their first four drives against UTM, they went punt-touchdown-punt-punt. In their first two against Ball State, they missed a field goal and punted. In the first halves of these games, they have begun 10 possessions in their own territory but have driven for touchdowns on only three of them.
They had far too much talent, speed and strength for UTM and Ball State, just like they will for most of the opponents on their regular-season schedule. But if you get too used to easing your way into a given game, it can end up costing you against an opponent that starts out on fire and has enough talent to milk a potential lead. South Carolina will likely come out throwing haymakers in Week 3, and both chaos agent Hugh Freeze and chaos school Auburn await in Week 5. Georgia is a projected favorite of at least 11 points in each of its next eight games, so the margin for error is high. But showing a little bit of urgency before they actually need to would be a plus.
Miami... might actually be back?
One of the fun things about X (formerly Twitter) -- and yes, there are fun things about it -- is interacting with a scarred fan base and trying to convince them that their team is good. I got to do that with Michigan a couple of years ago, when the eventual Big Ten-winning team started out on fire but its fans were attempting to hold off on optimism as long as possible. After Miami's 35-point romp over Miami (Ohio) last week, I found myself doing it again. One of my Week 1 overreactions was about how good that win looked; Miami fans' general response: "Shut your [expletive] mouth."
I'm guessing they're a little more open to the thought of their team being awesome now. Granted, Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes are only up to 21st in SP+ -- 15 spots higher than they were in the preseason -- but they made one hell of a statement of resilience Saturday afternoon against another team looking for improvement. Texas A&M raced to a 17-7 lead just 17 minutes into their battle at Hard Rock Stadium, thanks in part to two Miami three-and-outs and a muffed punt. But The U ripped off a 24-3 run in the second and third quarters, and when A&M cut the lead to one score twice down the stretch, the Canes responded with aplomb both times. Tyler Van Dyke's 64-yard bomb to Jacolby George with 2:36 left officially closed the door.
There are still some rough edges to smooth out. The offense is falling into a few too many third-and-longs and ranks 87th in red zone touchdown rate. The aggressive defense is allowing some big gainers here and there. There's nothing saying Miami is anywhere close to Florida State's level yet, or even Clemson's. But at 21st in SP+, the Canes are now projected favorites in every game besides the Nov. 11 trip to Tallahassee. This is looking more and more like a lovely rebound season after last year's dismal 5-7 campaign.
Iowa points watch
Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz needs the Hawkeyes to score at least 325 points this year (25 per game, including a bowl) to reach his full incentive bonus. Incredibly, this includes defensive and special teams touchdowns.
Following Saturday's 20-13 win over Iowa State, they have scored 44 points, with one defensive touchdown, through two games. They need to average 25.5 points the rest of the way to win the Drive to 325. Next up: by far the weakest defense left on the schedule in Western Michigan.
Who won the Heisman this week?
I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc.). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?
Tyler Van Dyke connects for 64-yard TD pass
Here is this week's Heisman top 10:
1. Tyler Van Dyke, Miami (21-for-30 for 374 yards and five touchdowns against Texas A&M)
2. Quinn Ewers, Texas (24-for-38 for 349 yards and three touchdowns against Alabama)
3. Caleb Williams, USC (19-for-21 for 281 yards and three touchdowns, plus a rushing TD, against Stanford)
4. Michael Penix Jr., Washington (28-for-38 for 409 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception against Tulsa)
5. Gage Larvadain, Miami (Ohio) (eight catches for 273 yards and three touchdowns against UMass)
6. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State (seven catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns against Youngstown State)
7. Ron Stone Jr., Washington State (4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles against Wisconsin)
8. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan (22-for-25 for 278 yards and two touchdowns, plus 38 rushing yards, against UNLV)
9. Omarion Hampton, North Carolina (26 carries for 234 yards and three touchdowns, plus 10 receiving yards, against Appalachian State)
10. Bo Nix, Oregon (32-for-44 for 359 yards and two touchdowns, plus 46 rushing yards, against Texas Tech)
It's hard to top "completing a number of deep balls and handing Alabama its worst home loss since 2004," as Ewers did Saturday evening, but Tyler Van Dyke forced my hand. It's not just that he was excellent against an A&M defense I was pretty convinced could be top-five worthy this season. (I am no longer convinced of that.) It's that he went from good to otherworldly in the second and fourth quarters. In those two stanzas, he went 14-for-18 for 292 yards and four touchdowns, and Miami outscored the Aggies 31-14. What a performance.
A moment of respect, by the way, for Gage Larvadain. The Southeastern Louisiana transfer scored three touchdowns against UMass, and one went for 99 yards.
99 YARD TD🔥 @brettgabbert to @g1baller again for the score!#RiseUpRedhawks | 🎓🏆 pic.twitter.com/jefdkZCPSg
— Miami Football (@MiamiOHFootball) September 10, 2023
Honorable mention:
• JT Daniels, Rice (28-for-42 for 401 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception against Houston)
• Spencer Rattler, South Carolina (25-for-27 for 345 yards and three touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown, against Furman)
• Anthony Colandrea, Virginia (20-for-26 for 377 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception against James Madison)
• Xavier Weaver, Colorado (10 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown against Nebraska)
• Darius Taylor, Minnesota (33 carries for 193 yards and a touchdown, plus 13 receiving yards, against Eastern Michigan)
Through two weeks, here's how the point totals have shaken out.
14 points: Penix, Williams
10 points: Van Dyke, Travis Hunter (Colorado)
9 points: Ewers, Shedeur Sanders (Colorado)
8 points: Jordan Travis (Florida State)
6 points: Larvadain
5 points: Harrison, Jaydn Ott (California)
It's fair to assume that until or unless Travis forces his way into the conversation, this race is quite possibly boiling down to Caleb Williams vs. (insert another amazing Pac-12 quarterback here). Right now, I give Penix the slight nod over Sanders, but Nix lurks in the distance.
My 10 favorite games of the weekend
It was mighty difficult to whittle this down to 10 games. Somehow the list doesn't include a pair of overtime games (Mississippi State-Arizona and Fresno State-Eastern Washington) and delightful finishes such as Old Dominion-Louisiana or UCF-Boise State. Saturday was really, really fun.
1. No. 13 Oregon 38, Texas Tech 30. All we ask for from a Texas Tech home game against a highly ranked foe is absolute Saturday evening nonsense. That's what we got from this one. Oregon landed some early haymakers, Tech established control in the middle of the fight, Oregon scored 10 points in four minutes to take a 28-27 lead early in the fourth quarter, fell behind once again, then scored another 10 points in the last 70 seconds, thanks in part to a Jeffrey Bassa pick-six. The Ducks officially survived thanks to an intercepted Hail Mary as time expired.
2. No. 17 North Carolina 40, Appalachian State 34 (2OT). App State might have sleep-walked through its opening-week win over Gardner-Webb, but damn, do the Mountaineers always have an extra gear for North Carolina. This game had eight lead changes, and if not for Omarion Hampton's 234 rushing yards and a late overtime stop, the Tar Heels would have fallen to 1-1.
3. Washington State 31, Wisconsin 22.
Jake Dickert gold.
— Alyssa Charlston (@Alyssacharlston) September 10, 2023
Asked what this upset over No. 19 Wisconsin means for Pullman: "Everything...we belong in the Power Five." pic.twitter.com/4AWIY4Rlka
4. No. 12 Utah 20, Baylor 13. Utah's Cam Rising-less offense was stuck in neutral for three quarters, but redshirt freshman Nate Johnson led a 15-play, eight-minute touchdown drive to tie the game with 1:59 left. After Sawyer Robertson threw an ill-advised interception, Utah scored the winning touchdown, whether it wanted to or not, with 17 seconds left.
Jaylon Glover tries to run the clock out for Utah, only to get pushed in at the goal line.
That almost wasn't enough. Baylor completed a 47-yard bomb with one second left, but an end zone lob fell incomplete. (Yes, I'm OK with the lack of a pass interference call on the final play.)
5. Rice 43, Houston 41 (2OT). We're fairly accustomed to an AAC team from Houston pulling off a solid win over a Big 12 team. But Big 12 addition Houston went from victor to victim, and in wild fashion, falling behind 28-0 in the second quarter, tying the game at 28-28 with 15 seconds left in regulation... and then losing anyway, via a failed 2-point conversion, in the second OT.
6. Akron 24, Morgan State 21. A week after upsetting Richmond, Morgan State nearly scored a historic FBS win. In fact, it looked like the Bears had made it happen when Jordan Toles picked off a pass with 1:08 left. All they had to do was run out the clock, but CJ Nunnally IV and Bryan McCoy wouldn't let that happen.
Bryan McCoy forces the fumble and takes it to the house for the winning Akron touchdown.
7. Central Michigan 45, New Hampshire 42. SP+ actually had New Hampshire favored in this one, and a pair of long Max Brosmer-to-Dylan Laube touchdowns for the Wildcats (Laube had 12 catches for 295 yards) looked like they were going to be enough to force overtime. But Tristan Mattson banged in a 47-yard field goal at the buzzer to give the Chippewas the "upset."
8. James Madison 36, Virginia 35. JMU was a 6-point favorite and led by 10 after one quarter, but UVA freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea led a 28-7 run, and the Cavaliers took control. Then the fourth quarter came, and JMU took over again. Jordan McCloud's 10-yard touchdown pass to Kaelon Black with 55 seconds left gave the Dukes the win.
9. Division II: No. 4 Grand Valley State 57, No. 20 Colorado State-Pueblo 49. After losing a heartbreaker to Colorado Mines last week, GVSU had to work extra hard to avoid an 0-2 start. The Lakers bolted to a 21-0 lead and led by 14 at half, but CSU-Pueblo tied it with a pick-six, then tied it again with a 9-yard touchdown pass on the final play of regulation. The ThunderWolves (!) sent the game to overtime with the PAT kick instead of going for two and the win. GVSU made them pay, scoring twice on one-play possessions and breaking up a fourth-down pass from their 4 on the final play.
10. FCS: No. 1 South Dakota State 20, No. 3 Montana State 16. The biggest game of the FCS weekend came in the Beef Bowl in Brookings, where defending national champion SDSU won a rock fight over 2022 runner-up Montana State. Two fourth-quarter field goals gave the Bobcats a 16-13 lead, but Mark Gronowski found Grahm Goering for a 40-yard gain, then Griffin Wilde for a 35-yard score to give the Jackrabbits the advantage. MSU drove inside the SDSU 40 with time running out, but couldn't complete a Hail Mary.