A week ago, the college football world celebrated Notre Dame’s away win at Texas A&M as one of the toughest of the weekend and christened the Irish as one of the favorites to reach the College Football Playoffs given the remaining schedule.

So, about this schedule…

Week 2 brought us a few Saturday hangovers, none worse than Notre Dame’s home loss to Northern Illinois. Phew! Penn State was a bit woozy, too. The Nittany Lions trailed Bowling Green for most of the game before pulling out a seven-point win.

That wasn’t the case for the Irish, who lost another puzzling game under Marcus Freeman. Remember the losses to Stanford and Marshall in his first year and last year’s loss at Louisville? The loss to UNI may be the worst of all.

For the MAC Huskies, it is their first top 10 win in school history and puts them in our own top 10!

What else happened in week 2?

Let’s start with Texas, which marched into Ann Arbor and beat Michigan in one of the most dominant and impressive performances of the year. Pitt and Oklahoma State fought back from double-digit deficits to pull off wins over Cincinnati and Arkansas, respectively. And Kansas State needed a controversial offensive pass interference call to get past Tulane.

Did you see what happened at Jordan-Hare Stadium? Cal – yes, Cal of the ACC – traveled across the country to Auburn and won 21-14. The SEC is 5-6 so far against other power leagues in the nonconference slate.

We also scored two last-second field goals to win in Iowa City (Iowa State vs. Iowa) and College Park (Michigan State vs. Maryland).

Enough said. Let’s get to the top 10!

A reminder about our rankings: we don’t take pre-season polls or past season results into account. What happened in the past is, well, the past. It’s about who you beat and how you beat them!

Ohio State, which played teams like Western Michigan and Akron, isn’t included in our poll. Nor is Ole Miss, which started with Furman and Middle Tennessee. This system typically rewards teams with tougher opponents early in the season, but it also makes for an unusual group in the first few weeks.

1. Georgia Bulldogs

This week: Beat Tennessee Tech 48-3

Next week: in Kentucky

Trevor Etienne made his debut for Georgia after a suspension in the season opener, rushing for 78 yards on just five carries, including a 45-yard run, the highlight of UGA’s win over the FCS Eagles. Even Carson Beck’s backup, Gunner Stockton, stepped up, completing 10 of 12 passes for 90 yards. The Bulldogs remain our top team with this neutral-site win over Clemson in Week 1.

2. Texas Longhorns

This week: 31:12 against Michigan

Next week: against UTSA

If the hype surrounding this Texas team and QB Quinn Ewers wasn’t already high enough, it is now. The Longhorns overran Michigan and exposed the Wolverines’ offensive ineptitude once again. Sherrone Moore has big things to fix in Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, Steve Sarkisian appears to have a championship-caliber team led by a projected first-round QB. Ewers scored three touchdowns and 246 yards in the Big House.

3. Miami Hurricanes

This week: 56-9 against Florida A&M

Next week: against Ball State

The Hurricanes simply steamrolled the FCS Rattlers. The season-opening win in Florida may not seem like a big win at the end of the season, but it’s enough to keep the Canes in our top 5. Have you seen their schedule? You should take a look. Miami may not play a ranked team until October 19th in Louisville, which could be their toughest test of the regular season, too.

4. USC Trojan

This week: 48-0 against Utah State

Next week: Bye

No hangover for the Trojans after their Week 1 win over LSU. The new-look defense has looked incredibly good through the first two weeks of the season and that bodes well for the future Big Ten slate that includes Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska. Miller Moss and his numerous receivers are dangerous, but on Saturday Lincoln Riley showed the Trojans can run just as well.

5. Volunteers from Tennessee

This week: Beat NC State 51-10

Next week: against Kent State

Under offensive-minded coach Josh Heupel, the Vols’ offense gets a lot of attention, but how is the defense doing in this game? DC Tim Banks’ unit held the Wolfpack to 143 yards, forced three turnovers and had three sacks. The unit was responsible for a key play just before halftime. With NC State inside the UT 20 and needing a touchdown to tie the game, Tennessee DB Will Brooks intercepted a Grayson McCall pass and returned it for an 85-yard touchdown and a 14-point lead.

6. Penn State Nittany Lions

This week: Beat Bowling Green 34-27

Next week: Bye

James Franklin told reporters last week that the country doesn’t talk enough about the Nittany Lions’ defense. Well, now it will – and not in a good way. Penn State trailed the MAC Falcons for most of the game and PSU’s defense allowed nearly 400 yards. Bowling Green converted seven of 13 third downs! Franklin’s group remains in our top 10 with the road win at West Virginia, but a few more performances like Saturday’s will send them out the door.

7. North Carolina Tar Heels

This week: Beat Charlotte 38-20

Next week: against NC Central

In their first game without quarterback Max Johnson, the Tar Heels relied on their tailback duo of Davion Gause and Omarion Hampton, who ran for 269 yards against Charlotte. UNC’s season-opening win at Minnesota wasn’t pretty, but it was a road win in a conference, and those are rare this early in the season.

8. Northern Illinois Huskies

This week: Beat Notre Dame 16-14

Next week: against Buffalo

Credit must go to UNI defensive coordinator Nick Benedetto and his Huskies defense. They held the Irish to just three third-down calls and 286 total yards. Coach Thomas Hammock is free of any hot seat hype after his win, which was certainly emotional. Hammock grew up just around the corner in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

9. Hurricanes in the state of Iowa

This week: Beat Iowa 20-19

Next week: Bye

The Cyclones trailed 19-7 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter before scoring a touchdown and Kyle Konrardy making 46- and 54-yard field goals, the latter with 9 seconds left, to win this annual rivalry game for only the second time in nine years. ISU QB Rocco Becht and WR Jaylin Noel connected five times for 133 yards, and Matt Campbell’s defense smothered Iowa in the second half (three consecutive three-and-outs in a crucial stretch of the third quarter).

10. Vanderbilt Commodores

This week: Beat Alcorn State 55-0

Next week: at Georgia State

The Commodores are in our top 10 for the second straight year, thanks in large part to their Week 1 win over Virginia Tech. Clark Lea’s team has a good chance to break the 3-0 mark next week before traveling to Missouri to open SEC play on Sept. 21. How good would a 3-0 start be? Well, the team has only won that many games in a full season once in the last four years.

Eliminated: Notre Dame (3), Georgia Tech (6), Colorado (8), Alabama (9), TCU (10)