Category: College Football

Points, points, points! That was the theme of Week 2 as we saw Florida State (77), Tennessee (72), Ohio State (70), Oregon (69), Nebraska (68), Utah (63), and Texas Tech (62) all score more than 60 this weekend.

In fact, 12 out of my top 25 teams on this list scored at least 40 points on Saturday as non-conference action inches closer to ending. Oh, and also upsets happened!

Florida went down to a smaller interstate rival, while Arizona State fumbled the bag to the bottom of the SEC. Oklahoma topped Michigan in one of the better games of the nightcap, and teams like Alabama and Texas who are coming off losses bounced back, while Clemson looked completely lost for a half.

My top 10 is shaken up slightly because teams like Clemson and Miami had to be taken out for different reasons, while Oregon and Miami continue to impress. There is plenty of movement in the teens compared to last week, and there’s new some faces in the back end of the poll that could continue their climb toward the top 10 like USF and Tennessee pending this weekend.

Let’s take a look at this week’s rankings and where each team lands! Be sure to check out DraftKings for all the latest game odds & team props for every matchup this week on the College Football schedule!

Vaughn Dalzell’s Week 3 Poll

1. Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0, 0-0)
Next Game: Saturday at 7 PM ET — Ohio at Ohio State (-32.5)
Last Game: 70-0 win vs Grambling

One of the most surprising yet unsurprising scores of the weekend was…

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No. 13 Florida Gators’s loss to South Florida on Saturday in Gainesville was one of the most stunning upsets early in the 2025 college football season, and it has put Florida coach Billy Napier firmly back on the hot seat. 

Even coming off a win over Boise State last week, few expected the Bulls to have enough for the Gators over 60 minutes in The Swamp; USF entered the game as 18.5-point underdogs. However, a week after Alex Golesh’s team shut down Boise’s offense, they did the same to DJ Lagway and the Gators, holding Florida to 16 points and pulling off the upset on a walk-off field goal to win 18-16. 

South Florida shocks No. 13 Florida on 20-yard walk-off FG as late penalties cost Gators

Cameron Salerno

How much is Billy Napier’s contract buyout at Florida?

That loss immediately sparked an angry reaction from the Florida fan base, with many wondering what the cost would be to get rid of Napier. Napier signed a seven-year, $51.8 million deal back in 2021 with a base salary that increases $100,000 every year. His salary for 2025 is $7.4 million, with another $22.8 million due to him over the next three seasons through January 2029. 

The Florida coach’s buyout is 85% of his current…

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No. 2 Penn State continued its nonconference stretch on Saturday with a 34-0 win over FIU that was comfortable but not convincing. The Nittany Lion offense was sluggish in the first half with only 10 points, but the defense more than picked up the slack by pitching a shutout and preventing the Panthers from making this game close. Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of how Penn State fared.

Quarterback: C

It certainly wasn’t Drew Allar’s cleanest performance on Saturday. The senior quarterback wasn’t as accurate as we’ve come to expect, especially in the first half. He underthrew a few deep passes, threw behind receivers on several plays and completely missed Nick Singleton on a swing pass on a third-and-7. His highlight of the first half was the touchdown pass to Khalil Dinkins, where he was flushed out of the pocket and put a nice touch on the ball to get it over the defender.

Allar and the offense as a whole looked better in the third quarter. Allar hit quick passes and used tempo well to move the ball downfield. His 42-yard touchdown pass to Devonte Ross was a pretty rainbow, and his Ross came through with a great catch. He finished the game with 200 yards and two touchdowns on 58% completion.

Running Backs: B+

Penn State ran the ball well against FIU, with Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton combining for 220 yards and two touchdowns on 29 total carries. Allen had the best play of the game late in the fourth quarter, showcasing his vision and balance by tightroping the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown. During the first half, the running backs were contained pretty well by FIU, but over time, they started getting bigger gains. You’d like to see the big plays come earlier, but overall not much to complain about.

Receivers and Tight Ends: B

Penn State worked a lot of short passes against the Panthers, but didn’t have…

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The Week 2 college football schedule begins on Friday with four games, and continues into a Saturday full of mostly intriguing non-conference matchups. Perhaps the biggest is a top-20 showdown between Michigan and Oklahoma that features big-name quarterbacks. Five-star freshman Bryce Underwood gets his first big test for the Wolverines, while highly-touted transfer John Mateer leads the Sooners. This will be just the second-ever meeting between the programs, with OU winning in their 1976 Orange Bowl matchup.

The latest Week 2 college football odds list the Sooners as 5.5-point favorites at home. Other Week 2 college football lines of note include Ole Miss (-9.5) vs. Kentucky, Iowa vs. Iowa State (-3.5), NC State vs. Virginia (+3) and Illinois vs. Duke (+2.5). Before locking in any Week 2 college football picks, be sure to see the top Week 2 college football expert picks, predictions and best bets from Thomas Casale.

A frequent guest on national radio and TV shows to discuss college sports, Casale has been sports betting — and winning — for more than 30 years. After going 3-2 so far this season, he’s on a 16-8 roll in his SportsLine best bets column that dates back to last season. Anybody who followed him could have been way up.

Now, he has turned his attention to the Week 2 college football odds and is sharing his top betting picks. If you parlay these college football betting picks, you could be looking at a return of around +600. Get his top college football picks at SportsLine, and new users can also target the DraftKings promo code, which offers $300 in bonus bets instantly plus over $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket:

Top Week 2 college football expert predictions

One of Casale’s top Week 2 college football picks: He is backing Kansas State (-17.5) to cover against…

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Week 2 of the college football season features just one matchup between ranked opponents, as No. 13 Michigan heads south to square off with No. 24 Oklahoma.

In the week leading up to the game, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, …. and quarterback John Mateer shared their impressions on Michigan and what they expect in the showdown with the Wolverines.

Here’s what each had to say:

Head Coach Brent Venables

Opening statement — “Good afternoon. We’ve got a great opportunity this week with Michigan coming into town. It’s gonna be a really cool matchup — two incredible programs that represent all the excellence in college football for a long, long time. Gonna be really exciting from an environment standpoint. Game day will be here, that’s cool. Some of the best talent in the country will also be on campus from a recruiting standpoint. And for our football team, most importantly, it’ll be an opportunity for us to match up with what’s been the last several years one of the best teams in college football. Michigan returns 51 lettermen. A very experienced football team. A team two years removed from winning the national championship. A team that’s 31-5 in their last 36 conference games in the Big Ten conference.

“They’ve had a tremendous amount of success for a long time and certainly this is a roster that they have, it’s elite. They’re really good in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They have elite playmakers. The quarterback looks to be mature beyond his years with his decision making and certainly his skill set. He’s got a very live arm, very athletic. And a defense that for the last several years has been one of the gold standards in college football for playing great defense. It’s gonna be a great, physical matchup and a great litmus test to where we’re at. I know our…

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Bill Belichick promised to bring an NFL mindset to running the North Carolina football program, and that apparently includes trying to wall off all outsiders — even NFL scouts. 

According to reports by ESPN’s Kalyn Kaher and 3&Out’s John Middlekauff, North Carolina banned Patriots scouts from having access to the program and has an extremely strict policy for scouts from the other 31 NFL teams. 

“[UNC general manager Michael] Lombardi and Tar Heels pro liason Frantzy Jourdain informed the Patriots that they would be banned from UNC the day before one of their scouts was scheduled to visit in August, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN.”

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz confirmed the banning of Patriots scouts by Belichick. 

Belichick’s disdain towards the Patriots’ organization after his acrimonious departure from the organization more than a year ago seemingly hasn’t lessened since taking the UNC job, and it appears he’s taking that out on them in whatever way he can in his new role. Per Kaher, scouts from other teams are limited to watching just three sessions of UNC practice, rather than the full practice period, and are not allowed to speak with coaches or staffers beyond Jourdain. 

None of this is surprising given what we know about Belichick and how he runs an organization, but the problem is, you do your players a disservice by limiting access to NFL scouting personnel. Preventing an NFL team’s scouts from seeing your players only hurts your players’ chances of making it at the next level, while limiting all scouts access makes it difficult for them to…

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For the first time since taking over the Colorado football program, Deion Sanders lost a home opener when the Buffaloes fell 27-20 to Georgia Tech.

Like several other programs in Week 1, the Buffaloes had the misfortune of starting off against a high-profile Power Four nonconference opponent instead of easing in with a cupcake matchup. That luxury is reserved for Week 2, when they host Delaware, a program making its FBS debut this season as part of Conference USA.

Then again, maybe this won’t be the pushover many expect. The Blue Hens have won at least eight games in each of the last three seasons. Colorado fans should also remember that it barely edged North Dakota State, an FCS program, in last year’s home opener — and that was with Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter on the field. Those guys are off to the NFL this year.

So who are Sanders’ playmakers for the Buffaloes this season? That’s the question he has to answer quickly. If there’s a game to sort it out, or to work through any other lingering issues, this is the one. Big 12 play begins the following week against Houston.

Kaidon Salter splits time with Julian Lewis against Delaware

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

As soon as Shedeur Sanders declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, the number one question at Colorado became simple: Who’s starting at quarterback this season? After all, this was Sanders’ son, not to mention one of the best quarterbacks in the country last year. He wasn’t going to be easily replaceable.

In Colorado’s Week 1 loss to Georgia Tech, the more experienced of the two new signal-callers — transfer Kaidon Salter and freshman Julian Lewis — earned the starting nod.

Salter didn’t play poorly, but the offense clearly wasn’t moving with the same rhythm. He finished 17-of-28 passing for 159 yards and one touchdown, while adding 64 yards and…

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An athlete at the University of Kentucky was arrested for allegedly hiding a dead infant in her closet to conceal a birth, according to the Lexington Police Department. The baby was found wrapped in a towel and placed inside a trash bag, police said.

Laken Snelling, 21, was arrested Sunday and charged with abusing a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Court documents indicate Snelling has posted a $100,000 bond and is now on house arrest without an ankle monitor at her parents’ home in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Snelling appeared in court Tuesday, per NBC News.

Police investigated a residence near Kentucky’s campus last week following a disturbing call, according to arrest documents obtained by LEX18. 

The citation indicates Snelling “admitted to giving birth” during an interview with officers. Snelling reportedly “admitted to concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel.”

Snelling is a member of Kentucky’s “STUNT” team, which is part of the university’s athletic program. The Fayette County Coroner’s Office is investigating the infant’s cause of death, per NBC News.

In her most recent TikTok post from June, Snelling used an emoji of a woman holding a baby under a list of “goals” that included marriage and a home.

The University of Kentucky only acknowledged to LEX18 that Snelling was “a member of the STUNT team for the last three seasons,” directing all other questions to Lexington Police.

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