Fox News Digital Sports' college football winners and losers: Week 2
The second full week of the 2024 college football season is in the books, and the good teams began to separate themselves from the pack.
No. 1 Georgia handled business at home against Tennessee Tech, 48-3. Ohio State took care of Western Michigan, 56-0, but dropped in The Associated Press rankings Sunday. Texas’ defeat of Michigan, 31-12, catapulted it to No. 2 in the nation.
College football fans have a ton to look forward to, but it begs the question: Who were some of the winners and losers of the week?
Let’s break it down.
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Tennessee Volunteers: After beating No. 24 N.C. State Saturday in Charlotte, we are now talking about the Vols' defense. For all the love Josh Heupel and his offense get with Nico Iamaleava running the show at quarterback, it's the Tennessee defense that has made significant gains over the past few years. Allowing the Wolfpack only 141 total yards of offense, this defense could be a force in 2024. The Vols moved to No. 7 in the new AP poll with a huge game coming in two weeks against Oklahoma after a warmup against Kent State.
Nebraska Cornhuskers: It's clear the Nebraska fan base is all-in with Matt Rhule and quarterback Dylan Raiola. Beating Colorado is one thing, but the "black shirts" on defense destroyed any hope Shedeur Sanders had of winning this game in the first half. Even though it was not a "marquee" win in terms of rankings, this turned out to be a massive night for a football program moving in the right direction. The Cornhuskers have their quarterback of the future and delivered a knockout blow to any momentum for Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.
South Carolina Gamecocks: For all the chatter last week about Shane Beamer after a close win over Old Dominion, the Gamecocks went into Lexington and destroyed Kentucky. The defense held both of the Wildcats’ quarterbacks to just 44 yards on the night, and the Gamecocks are 2-0 after picking up a nice SEC win.
Kyle Monangai: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights running back showed why he’s a dark horse candidate to win the Heisman Trophy this season. He had 208 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns as Rutgers dumped Akron, 49-17. He has 373 rushing yards and four touchdowns in three games for Rutgers.
Northern Illinois: Northern Illinois pulled off a big upset of Notre Dame over the weekend, 16-14. The Huskies had to come up big at the end of the game to ensure Notre Dame had no chance of sneaking its late field goal attempt through the uprights. To make matters even better for the Huskies, Notre Dame reportedly paid $1.4 million to Northern Illinois to travel to South Bend and beat them. Talk about a win-win.
Jim Harbaugh: The Los Angeles Chargers head coach picked up the first win of his tenure with his new NFL team. He won the weekend because he didn’t have to stand through the Longhorns’ walloping of the Wolverines. Harbaugh won’t likely have to face any sanctions either after the NCAA gave a notice of allegations to Michigan last month.
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Auburn Tigers: Last week in the SEC, it was Florida and Billy Napier taking the brunt of the jokes after being embarrassed by Miami. This week, it was the Auburn Tigers, who lost to the California Golden Bears at home in a game Hugh Freeze's offense looked abysmal due, in part, to QB Payton Thorne. Thorne threw four interceptions, and the offense also fumbled once in an ugly performance from a team that was propped up heading into the 2024 season as improved. The Tigers still have to play Missouri, Georgia and Alabama, so this would've been a nice win toward bowl eligibility. Nope, they blew it.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish: After beating Texas A&M in College Station, there was hope it would be a springboard toward the college football playoff, but losing to a team that had never beaten a top-10 squad heading into this past weekend was an epic failure for Riley Leonard and head coach Marcus Freeman. All of that goodwill they received last week with a win against an SEC opponent is now gone, and the CFP committee will hold this against the Irish at the end of the season if they are in contention.
Iowa Hawkeyes: The hatred between Iowa and Iowa State was on full display Saturday when they squared off in an early season rivalry game. As the clock ticked down, Kyle Konrardy hit a 54-yard field goal to win the game for the Cyclones. For the Hawkeyes, quarterback Cade McNamara didn’t help his team, which was also head coach Kirk Ferentz's first game of the season after being suspended in week one for recruiting violations tied to McNamara. Go figure. Cade threw two interceptions and for only 99 yards in the loss, which is right on par for Iowa.
Colorado Buffaloes: For all the talk Colorado has done over the last year and a half, there have not been many wins to show for it. The latest loss came in a blowout Saturday night against Nebraska, 28-10. Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw a brutal pick six and didn’t hang around long enough to watch the rest of his teammates in garbage time. Colorado barely got by North Dakota State to start the season and appears to have a very long season ahead.
The Fox News Digital Sports college football winners and losers were compiled by the Fox News Digital Sports staff and the OutKick.com staff.