B/R's 2026 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 2

Welcome back, chaos. We're glad you're here.

Oklahoma State kicked off Week 2 in style, taking down No. 6 Oregon and providing the first shocking upset of the 2026 season. Also in the early window, Michigan bounced back from a horrible day to topple 11th-ranked Oklahoma.

As it turns out, that madness was merely the appetizer to a downright stunner in the featured game of Saturday's slate.

Texas fell behind top-ranked Ohio State in a hurry, but a furious fourth-quarter surge propelled the Longhorns to an incredible 24-23 victory. That comeback highlighted a fascinating day around college football.

This piece was updated throughout Saturday's action.

Western Michigan is a quality Group of Six team. It's important to remember that context when discussing Michigan's performance in Week 1.

At the same time, it was wholly embarrassing for the Wolverines to play so poorly. The offense looked horrible, and only a controversial replay decision gave U-M an opportunity to complete a miracle Hail Mary.

Given that performance, of course U-M was an underdog in Week 2. Oklahoma shut down Michigan's offense in last season's meeting, too.

So, naturally, the Wolverines knocked off OU 17-10.

Michigan still struggled to move the ball, gaining just 263 yards and scoring its winning touchdown after Jyaire Hill returned an interception to the six-yard line. This defense continues to carry the Maize and Blue.

But after such a terrible Week 1 showing, that's a massive win for Michigan.

Last season, Oregon laid a 69-3 smackdown on Oklahoma State while racking up 631 yards of offense and ceding only 211. About two weeks later, OSU fired longtime head coach Mike Gundy.

Oklahoma State—which was a 24-point underdog—stunned Oregon 39-31 this time around. Drew Mestemaker threw for 317 yards, rushed for 109 and totaled three touchdowns, including a gutsy rushing score in which he leapt over one Oregon defender and took a monster hit from another while airborne.

Incredibly, the Pokes became the first team in FBS history to snap a 10-plus game losing streak by beating a top-10 opponent.

Much of the national conversation will focus on how Oregon's rest-of-season outlook has changed, but Oklahoma State fully deserves its crown today.

How does Michigan, on the heels of nearly falling to a MAC team, outlast a borderline top-10 SEC team? How does Oklahoma State, following a 14-point loss at Tulsa, turn around and defeat a perceived national championship threat?

For good measure, how does Utah State fall to lower-division Idaho State last Saturday yet take No. 19 Washington to the brink in a 16-14 U-Dub win?

As a card-carrying member of Team Chaos, I love that college football does not make sense. Upsets fuel an essential part of the sport.

How in the world, though, are we supposed to predict that? You want educated analysis, and I—along with hundreds, thousands of others—spend a large number of hours watching, dissecting, reviewing and explaining these games.

But sometimes, this beautiful sport just doesn't make sense . It's the best.

When the final score is an 87-3 blowout—and that's not a typo—you're bound to see an impressive stat line or two. Generally, those players merit a golf clap while acknowledging the enormous gap in competition level.

However, we need to talk about Michael Scott's Dundie-worthy performance in James Madison's rout of FCS program Wagner.

A sophomore wideout, Scott made three catches for 45 yards. Oh, and he returned two punts for touchdowns—a couple of fun runs, you could say—and nearly took a kickoff to the house, returning it 92 yards before getting pushed out of bounds.

It's only Week 2. Because there aren't a ton of return touchdowns in a given season, though, Scott has legitimately put himself on the All-American radar.

That's a very quiet, very important takeaway from an otherwise forgettable game.

Michigan won! That was neat for the Big Ten.

Even beyond Oregon's jaw-dropping loss to Oklahoma State, though, the conference had a rather mediocre set of games in the daylight.

Washington needed to defend a Hail Mary as time expired to clip Utah State, escaping with a 16-14 victory. Minnesota had no answers for Kamario Taylor as visiting Mississippi State rolled to a 38-13 rout.

Purdue dropped a dramatic 38-36 double-overtime game at home to Wake Forest, and Illinois walked off its field with a 31-27 loss to Duke.

Safe to say the Big Ten would like Ohio State to salvage the evening slate!

BYU entered the campaign as a front-runner in the Big 12, but opening its conference slate with Arizona was no gift. Last year, it took a couple of overtimes for BYU to emerge with a nerve-wracking win.

Fortunately for the Cougars, they finished off the Cats more comfortably this season. Bear Bachmeier totaled 254 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-17 triumph.

The outcome wasn't a surprise, given 15th-ranked BYU's status as the favorite. The result doesn't alter the Big 12 discussion, either—but that's exactly the point. BYU prevented Arizona from throwing an early wrench into the league race.

For the Cougs, maintaining the status quo was the goal. Mission accomplished.

When the College Football Playoff rankings are unveiled, updated and eventually finalized, will Memphis be ruing this moment?

Perhaps a few losses are on the horizon for the Tigers. Two or three months from today, one setback in mid-September might not be the important storyline. Maybe they'll have an 8-4 record anyway.

Or, well, this could be a decisive factor for the CFP selection committee.

Memphis began the campaign with a win at UNLV—a presumed front-runner in the Mountain West—and traveled to Boise State in Week 2. Win on the blue turf, and the Tigers would be the most impressive Group of Six team early on. Remember, the highest-ranked G6 program will be included in the Playoff.

After halftime, though, Memphis saw a 20-17 lead become a 24-20 deficit. Boise soon pulled ahead 31-20 and ultimately won 38-20.

Memphis is not finished. There's time to recover.

But that was a big opportunity squandered in one disappointing half.

Through 30 minutes, the story had a completely different tone.

On the opening snap of the clash with top-ranked Ohio State, Texas lost a fumble. On the Longhorns' second drive, a potential 50-yard completion from Arch Manning to Cam Coleman turned into a freaky interception.

Fast-forward to halftime, and Texas trailed 20-3 as a stunned crowd wondered if the school could metaphorically fire Steve Sarkisian into the sun.

Again. Ohio State was going to beat the Horns again . It happened in the CFP two years ago, then to kick off the 2025 campaign as well.

Somehow, the story changed in the fourth quarter.

Manning hit Ryan Wingo for a short touchdown. The defense forced a three-and-out before Hollywood Smothers ran in a score. Ohio State's miserable missed-clutch-field-goal problem made another untimely appearance, and Texas bullied its way down the field for a last-minute touchdown from Smothers and a 24-23 win.

Texas has a brutal schedule ahead, but the Longhorns locked up a tremendous victory for their résumé.

The opening half seemed like a masterclass. Ohio State dominated every phase of the game, building a commanding 17-point advantage at the break.

Jeremiah Smith was the best player on the field, shredding the Texas secondary with accurate passes from Julian Sayin. The defense pounced on a fumble, lucked into an interception and brilliantly forced a turnover on downs.

Everything was going right—until it all went horribly wrong.

You could point to conservative play-calling, yet another key opportunity wasted on special teams or a defense that couldn't handle Texas' physicality down the stretch. So many issues combined at the worst moment for OSU, and the Buckeyes blew a 17-point halftime lead for the first time in program history.

Day is 80-13 as Ohio State's full-time coach. He's taken the Bucks to the Playoff five times and won a national championship in 2024.

But his approval rating, after this disaster, will be sinking to an all-time low.

Between the returning players from a Big 12-winning team and an experienced group of transfers, Texas Tech opened 2026 as the obvious league favorite.

The good news is the Red Raiders are 2-0.

The bad news is they haven't been convincing in either win.

Last week, Texas Tech struggled to finish drives against FCS team Abilene Christian and meandered to a 33-10 victory. Saturday, the Red Raiders trailed Oregon State in the fourth quarter. They ended up with a 35-24 margin, but a garbage-time touchdown makes it appear more comfortable than it was.

Hey, wins are wins. While aesthetics matter, results are most important.

Texas Tech, however, is poised for a major jump in competition as 22nd-ranked Houston comes to town for a Friday night showdown in Week 3. It'll be a pivotal moment for the Red Raiders' perception this season.