Has Texas established itself among CFB’s elite? Joel Klatt’s Week 2 takeaways

College Football

Published Sep. 10, 2024 9:50 a.m. ET

How about that for a Saturday? I love college football.

It looked like we were going to have a dull slate of games after Texas‘ rout of Michigan — at least compared to the opening weekend — but it turned out to be an incredible day. A 28-point favorite, No. 5 Notre Dame, was upset by Northern Illinois. No. 7 Oregon withstood a tough battle from Boise State at home. No. 4 Alabama was only leading by a point late in its eventual win over USF. No. 8 Penn State trailed at halftime before beating Bowling Green. No. 15 Oklahoma narrowly defeated Houston. No. 21 Iowa blew a 13-point lead at halftime against Iowa State in a rivalry game. Finally, No. 25 Clemson bounced back in a major way, as the Tigers’ offense scored 56 first-half points in a win over Appalachian State.

College football is so unpredictable. We’re reminded of so many different truths, including the fact that weeks like this happen every year. Every year, we (mostly I) think about teams in such a definitive way at the start of the season and after Week 1, we go back and say, “I was definitely right or wrong” about certain teams.

Right after we try to make definitive conclusions again, Week 2 always brings us something different. It happens every year. Just last year, Miami hammered a ranked Texas A&M team in Week 2, and we thought the Hurricanes were going to be for real. Oregon needed a last-second field goal against Texas Tech. Utah needed a last-minute touchdown in a comeback win over Baylor, who went 3-9. In 2022, top-10 ranked Texas A&M and Notre Dame each lost at home to non-power conference schools in Week 2.

We shouldn’t be surprised by all this happening in Week 2. Yet, we forget that this sport is made up of players aged 18-22. They’re still kids, and it might’ve been easier for us to understand that when they weren’t making money or transferring and didn’t have agents. Now, the expectation is that they’re not. We expect them to be professional because of the money, but it’s more difficult than ever for these 18-to-22-year-old kids to be focused and concentrate on their play on the field. They have to deal with name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, social media and agents in their ears.

We also forget that teams have to develop. The constant movement of the transfer portal makes it more difficult to build team chemistry. There’s all the individual distractions each player has now, too. I think that lowers the floor for teams moving forward.

So, not only do weekends like these happen early in the year each season, but we should expect more of these sorts of Saturdays moving forward. Some teams might also get complacent based on certain results, and the next week you find yourself losing to Northern Illinois at home.

Maybe we shouldn’t be so definitive, but this is the world that we live in with college football right now. As we were reminded of what Week 2 can bring, let me share some of my takeaways from the weekend.

Texas established itself as one of the three elite teams

At the end of each Saturday, I post my top 10 rankings in college football on social media. This week it looked a bit different: I had three teams ranked at No. 1.

That’s how good Texas was on Saturday. I had Georgia ranked 1a, Ohio State ranked 1b and Texas ranked 1c. I believe those three teams are head and shoulders above everyone else.

The Longhorns walked out of the Big House on Saturday with a 31-12 win. But as I called that game, it felt like Texas had won 42-6. It wasn’t really close. There was a point in the game when I looked at the stat monitor booth (I forget exactly when, but it was probably sometime in the second quarter) and it showed that Texas had 42 offensive snaps to Michigan’s 15. I was like, “Yeah, the game’s over.”)

No. 3 Texas Longhorns vs. No. 10 Michigan Wolverines Highlights

That was right around the time that Michigan had a couple of turnovers and Texas scored off those mistakes to really take it over. I never got the sense that Michigan had an offense that was capable of playing from behind to win the game.

There were three things I was impressed by during Texas’ performance on Saturday. QB Quinn Ewers was excellent. The guy can play. He makes really quick decisions in the pocket, but I was most impressed by his footwork. He was elusive in the pocket. There were a couple of third-down plays in the first quarter where Ewers got himself loose, which created explosive plays for Texas down the field. He completed 24 of 36 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns. It felt like Ewers could’ve thrown for more than that, but Texas played a bit more conservatively because it had the game in the bag. He’s my favorite for the Heisman Trophy at the moment.

Secondly, Texas’ offensive line was great and will be a problem for everyone it faces. It was tough, big, physical, and it’s experienced. It didn’t bat an eye at some of the exotic looks that Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale threw at it on third down. It did a great job in protection and maybe even a better job in the run game. The game plan was so elite for Ewers and that offensive line. The Longhorns played on the perimeter when Wolverines defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant (who I believe are their two best players) were in the game, but attacked the interior when they were on the sideline. Steve Sarkisian’s plan was to fatigue Michigan, and it worked.

Quinn Ewers hits Gunnar Helm on a 21-yard touchdown pass vs. Michigan

Lastly, Texas’ secondary looked really improved from last season. I’m not sure if its secondary is great because Michigan wasn’t much of a threat in the passing game, but it was certainly better. I love safety Andrew Mukuba, who transferred from Clemson. He was athletic and all over the field. Jahdae Barron and Malik Muhammad were terrific at corner.

Texas is for real, and it has the ingredients to be a national championship team.

Michigan’s floor was lowered

There are two ways to look at Michigan after Saturday’s game. You can look at the Wolverines and say, “Well, they lost 18 starters and Texas might be the best team in the country, so it was just a bad day at the office.” Michigan typically starts slow, and it never has to play a team as good as Texas. It always has to develop, get better week-in and week out, and it can feel like it’ll be better in November than it does now.

The other category is deep concern. You can look at Saturday’s game and feel Michigan’s not in any position to dominate on offense like it has the last three seasons, that nobody at wide receiver can emerge as a No. 1 threat (it has that in tight end Colston Loveland, but he’s had multiple drops and a fumble this season) and that quarterback Davis Warren looked rattled on third downs. Defensively, it was very clear that it lacked depth because its play took a major hit when Graham and Grant weren’t in the game.

I fall into the second category. There is some deep concern for Michigan. While there are some elements of truth in the first category and that this is a developing team, all the issues it had on Saturday are going to have to be overcome if it wants to have a strong season.

No. 3 Texas shines in dominant 31-12 win over No. 10 Michigan

Entering the year, I thought that Michigan’s floor was 9-3 due to its culture, defense and ability to develop. Texas was always going to be a difficult game for Michigan, so it would’ve been an upset if the Wolverines found a way to win. But with the way Saturday’s game played out, I think their floor is now 7-5. It doesn’t take a great opponent to be that Michigan team — one that doesn’t play by its blueprint. If it doesn’t play by its blueprint, it’s going to be in more one-score games, allowing a bounce or two to dictate the final result of some games.

This doesn’t mean Michigan still can’t win 10 games. But I’m concerned because the Wolverines have USC in a couple of weeks before taking on Oregon and Ohio State in November. Just looking at those three games, it feels like 8-4 is on the table for Michigan. But if it doesn’t play by the blueprint in any other of the seven games, it could lose.

Colorado looks like the exact same team from last year

Colorado fell to Nebraska, 28-10, and it might have been another game where the score wasn’t as close as the game indicated. This Colorado team looks maddeningly boring on offense with an offensive line that really struggles in protection. In fact, the offensive line play is the elephant in the room that its head coach has to address.

Colorado has to figure out a better way to protect the quarterback. I thought the offensive line would be better this season, but it’s not any better. QB Shedeur Sanders doesn’t even have a second at times to read the defense. There were times when he held the ball, but it was not often. He was constantly under duress, with Colorado allowing seven sacks.

Nebraska blows out Colorado in 28-10 win

Overall, Colorado’s not entirely the same team. Its defense plays harder and better than it did a year ago. It didn’t allow any second-half points for the second straight game, giving itself a chance to win.

The offensive plan is just so uninspiring and unsustainable. When you watch the best offenses, they usually put defenses in conflict before the snap and after the snap. Many of the great offensive coaches (Lincoln Riley, Kalen DeBoer, Steve Sarkisian, Ryan Day) have a lot of movement pre-snap to make the defense work. Post-snap, the conflict has to arrive in whether the play is a run or a pass, causing defenses to pick their coverage with certain players.

I don’t feel Colorado does that. Its offense is very static and uninspired, with very little creativity in the run game. All of that puts your quarterback on a tee. Everyone knows what protections are coming. There’s no run-action pass, play-action pass, half rolls in the pocket, full rolls in the pocket, getting the quarterback outside the pocket or easy throws.

Colorado’s offense has to change. I think offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur knows that.

Nebraska looks legitimate and might be back

It was incredibly cool to see the environment at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. That fan base has been begging for something real for about two decades. That fan base is one of the best in college football, sticking with the program as it sold out its 398th straight home game.

Now those fans have something to be proud of. Everything I thought about this team in the preseason came to fruition over the first two weeks. Nebraska is going to be an issue for many teams. QB Dylan Raiola is very talented and doesn’t look like a true freshman quarterback. His arm talent has been great, and he didn’t look rattled at any point Saturday. I’ve argued that he just needs to be a net positive for Nebraska, but he’s been more than that so far.

Matt Rhule explains how Nebraska will grow and learn through failure

Nebraska’s defense looks for real. I had a feeling it would be a legitimate top unit coming into this season. Now, all Nebraska needs to do is win the games it should win. We’ve seen prior Nebraska teams fail in game situations against teams that they shouldn’t be losing against. It lost five one-score games last year because of constant turnover issues.

Notre Dame probably has no margin for error

Firstly, congratulations to coach Thomas Hammock and Northern Illinois. They’ll never forget this moment and that they were the center of the college football universe for a Saturday. A very cool moment.

As for Notre Dame, maybe Texas A&M wasn’t that good. We’ve seen teams play well against Texas A&M early over the last few years who didn’t turn out to be too great. A&M is the ointment, and we either overrated the Aggies or the Irish drank the rat poison from their Week 1 win. Everyone, including myself, put Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff because of that win. It might’ve thought it could put the golden domes on, go out on the field and just simply beat Northern Illinois.

Now, the team that we thought had a foot in the CFP because of its schedule is firmly outside of it due to that very same schedule. Notre Dame has nothing left to outside the committee with, outside a game against USC. Maybe Florida State improves and is better than what it’s been in the first two weeks of the season. But, as of now, there isn’t a game on Notre Dame’s schedule that will impress the committee.

Notre Dame went from a team that was firmly in the CFP to being erased from the 12-team picture. If it plays like that, it certainly will get beat again. If it goes 10-2, it will certainly lose any argument to be in the playoff with any 10-2 team from the Big Ten or the SEC following Saturday’s loss.

Notre Dame will likely have to win every game the rest of the season. Many people said that the 12-team playoff would ruin the regular season, but now the Fighting Irish will likely have to go undefeated the rest of the way to be included in it.

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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