The Texas Longhorns have a thing for huge top-10 wins in Week 2 of the season. A year ago, Quinn Ewers & Co. went to Tuscaloosa and knocked off the then-No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide. That game helped get the Longhorns into last season’s College Football Playoff. A year later, Texas went to Ann Arbor and knocked off the reigning champion Michigan Wolverines.
Texas dominated Saturday’s game against the No. 10 Wolverines. Ewers threw for three touchdowns and Texas ran for 143 yards against a stout Michigan defense. The Wolverines couldn’t do much on offense. They were limited to 80 yards rushing and committed three turnovers.
The most shocking result came with the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish getting upset at home by the Northern Illinois Huskies. Notre Dame was a 28.5-point favorite going into the game. Prior to Saturday, the Irish were 51-1 when favored by 25 or more points. The Huskies held the Irish under 300 yards of total offense and picked off Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard twice. Leonard’s final pick gave NIU the ball back with under five minutes to play before Kanon Woodill won the game with a 35-yard field goal.
The rest of the top 15 in the AP poll experienced a mix of more blowouts and tighter-than-expected results. Alabama faced another stiff test from the South Florida Bulls, and the Oklahoma Sooners had to hold on against the Houston Cougars after quarterback Jackson Arnold struggled most of the game. Elsewhere, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Ole Miss Rebels, Missouri Tigers and Miami Hurricanes cruised to big wins.
Here are our experts’ top 12 College Football Playoff picks (Power 4 conference champions get the top four seeds):
Andrea Adelson: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. Ole Miss 8. USC 9. 10. Alabama 11. Kansas State 12. Northern Illinois
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Alabama 7. Ole Miss 8. USC 9. Oregon 10. Missouri 11. Penn State 12. Boise State
Bill Connelly: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Penn State 9. Missouri 10. Tennessee 11. USC 12. UNLV
David Hale: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. USC 9. Oregon 10. Clemson 11. Penn State 12. Memphis
Eli Lederman: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Oregon 7. Ole Miss 8. Penn State 9. Alabama 10. Tennessee 11. Missouri 12. Boise State
Chris Low: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. Ole Miss 8. Alabama 9. USC 10. Missouri 11. Penn State 12. UNLV
Harry Lyles Jr.: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. Alabama 8. USC 9. Penn State 10. Missouri 11. Kansas State 12. UNLV
Max Olson: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Iowa State 5. Texas 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Penn State 9. Oregon 10. Tennessee 11. Utah 12. Boise State
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. Ole Miss 8. Alabama 9. Penn State 10. USC 11. Kansas State 12. Memphis
Mark Schlabach: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Ole Miss 7. Tennessee 8. Penn State 9. Oregon 10. Missouri 11. Kansas State 12. Memphis
Jake Trotter: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. Ole Miss 8. Alabama 9. Oregon 10. Penn State 11. USC 12. Boise State
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Tennessee 7. USC 8. Ole Miss 9. Oregon 10. Kansas State 11. Missouri 12. Memphis
Dave Wilson: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Utah 5. Texas 6. Ole Miss 7. Tennessee 8. Penn State 9. Alabama 10. USC 11. Kansas State 12. Memphis