The college football regular season is easily the most entertaining and chaotic of any sport and the first two weeks of the 2021 season haven’t been any different. Several hyped up preseason “contenders” have already slipped up while other teams have come out of nowhere and put the nation on notice. The great thing about college football is the urgency, college football is the only sport where one regular season loss can end your championship hopes.
Week 2 was a rough one for several blue blood programs who showed promise in their respective openers. Texas got humiliated by Arkansas on Saturday Night after an impressive win over ranked UL Lafayette. Not only does this loss dampen the Longhorns’ momentum and chances of being viewed as a serious threat, it also is a bad look for a team that could join the SEC as soon as next season. USC didn’t fare any better, losing at home to a Stanford team that was viewed as a PAC-12 bottom feeder. The Trojans evidently had seen enough and fired Head Coach Clay Helton just two games into his sixth full time season at the helm in LA. Certainly an interesting move to fire a coach this early in the season especially for a team that still has ambitions of winning the PAC-12 South.
My guess is that USC wanted to fire Helton after last year but decided that trying to find a new coach in a pandemic season that saw few top level candidates available wasn’t a good idea. Notre Dame may be 2-0 but look nowhere near a team that is capable of making a third playoff trip in four years after escaping an upset against Toledo. The first couple weeks of play have shifted the playoff outlook in a big way with two perennial playoff teams, Clemson and Ohio State already losing. This could be the year a Group of Five team gets in with Cincinnati having the opportunity to pick up big wins against Indiana and Notre Dame these next two weeks.
Clemson and Ohio State should get into the playoff should they run the table considering their losses were close losses to great teams early in the season. We entered the season with five powerhouse programs expected to be fighting over the four playoff spots but the door has been opened for non-traditional powers to spoil the party. Another week of action shook up my rankings and here’s how it panned out after the second week of action.
1.Alabama Crimson Tide(2-0) W vs Mercer 48-14
The Tide remain atop my rankings after an easy cupcake victory. Bama opens up SEC play with a big one at The Swamp against Florida this week.
2. Georgia Bulldogs(2-0) W vs UAB 56-7
Despite not having JT Daniels, the Dawgs didn’t miss a beat and remain the clear cut second best team in the nation. The defense has also yet to give up a
touchdown this season.
3. Oklahoma Sooners(2-0) W vs Western Carolina 76-0
The Sooners looked like the team we expected to see and won in dominating fashion against a weak opponent.
4. Iowa Hawkeyes(2-0) W vs Iowa State 27-17
The Hawkeyes are the only team in the nation with two ranked wins and are the biggest surprise so far in 2021. Iowa has benefited from turnovers which isn’t usually sustainable but nonetheless the Hawkeyes move into the top four.
5.Oregon Ducks(2-0) W vs Ohio State 35-28
Mario Cristobal built this team to physically impose its will on you and that’s exactly what it did vs the Buckeyes on Saturday. C.J Verdell ran all over the Buckeyes defense and Oregon is in position to make a playoff run for the first time since 2014.
6. Texas A&M Aggies(2-0) W vs Colorado 10-7
7. Cincinnati Bearcats(2-0) W vs Murray State 42-7
8. Clemson Tigers(1-1) W vs SC State 49-3
9. Ohio State Buckeyes(1-1) L vs Oregon 35-28
10. Florida Gators(2-0) W vs USF 42-20
11. Penn State Nittany Lions(2-0) W vs Ball State 44-13
12. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers(2-0) W vs Kansas 49-22
13. UCLA Bruins(2-0) Bye Week
14. Notre Dame Fighting Irish(2-0) W vs Toledo 32-29
15. Iowa State Cyclones(1-1) L vs Iowa 27-17
16. Wisconsin Badgers(1-1) W vs Eastern Michigan 34-7
17. Arizona State Sun Devils(2-0) W vs UNLV 37-10
18. Ole Miss Rebels(2-0) W vs Austin Peay 54-17
19. Virginia Tech Hokies(2-0) W vs Middle Tennessee State 35-14
20. TCU Horned Frogs(2-0) W vs Cal 34-32
21. Arkansas Razorbacks(2-0) W vs Texas 40-21
22. North Carolina Tar Heels(1-1) W vs Georgia State 59-17
23. Michigan Wolverines(2-0) W vs Washington 31-10
24. BYU Cougars(2-0) W vs Utah 26-17
25. Miami Hurricanes(1-1) W vs Appalachian State 25-23