College Football Rankings 2023: Week 2 Standings, Schedule and Predictions
The Texas Longhorns came close to knocking off the Alabama Crimson Tide last year.
Quinn Ewers and Co. may be in a better position to upset the perennial national championship contender on Saturday.
Part of the reasoning in favor of a Texas upset in Tuscaloosa has to do with Ewers' health.
The Texas quarterback was forced out of last year's clash in Austin with an injury. Hudson Card finished the game for the Longhorns and failed to finish off the upset bid.
Ewers holds the edge in experience over Jalen Milroe, who replaced No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, as Alabama's quarterback.
Milroe needs to at least match Ewers' production for Alabama to pick up an early statement win of its own.
Texas-Alabama is the marquee Week 2 matchup, but there are plenty of other important clashes on Saturday.
Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes will try to keep up their fantastic start in the first home game for the program's new head coach and a few ranked teams face tricky road tests.
Week 2 Schedule
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Saturday, September 9
All times ET.
Ball State at No. 1 Georgia (Noon, SEC Network)
Youngstown State at No. 5 Ohio State (Noon, BTN)
Delaware at No. 7 Penn State (Noon, Peacock)
No. 10 Notre Dame at NC State (Noon, ABC)
No. 12 Utah at Baylor (Noon, ESPN)
Troy at No. 15 Kansas State (Noon, FS1)
Nebraska at No. 22 Colorado (Noon, Fox)
Charleston Southern at No. 25 Clemson (2:15, ACC Network)
UNLV at No. 2 Michigan (3:30 p.m., CBS)
No. 20 Ole Miss at No. 24 Tulane (3:30 p.m., ESPN2)
No. 23 Texas A&M at Miami (3:30 p.m., ABC)
Tulsa at No. 8 Washington (5 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
Austin Peay at No. 9 Tennessee (5 p.m., ESPN+)
Appalachian State at No. 17 North Carolina (5:15, ACC Network)
SMU at No. 18 Oklahoma (6 p.m., ESPN+)
Lafayette at No. 21 Duke (6 p.m., ESPN+)
No. 11 Texas at No. 3 Alabama (7 p.m., ESPN)
No. 13 Oregon at Texas Tech (7 p.m., Fox)
Grambling at No. 14 LSU (7:30 p.m., ESPN+)
No. 19 Wisconsin at Washington State (7:30 p.m., ABC)
Southern Miss at No. 4 Florida State (8:30 p.m., ACC Network)
UC Davis at No. 16 Oregon State (9 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
Stanford at No. 6 USC (10:30 p.m., Fox)
Texas Upsets Alabama
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Texas was one quarter away from an upset win at home over Alabama in 2022.
The Longhorns could not keep Young under wraps in the fourth quarter, and that led to a 10-point final stanza for the Crimson Tide that finished with a game-winning field goal from Will Reichard.
The Longhorns luckily do not have to face Young again, and instead they will line up against Milroe, a talented quarterback in his own right but one who has not played in a game of this stature yet.
Milroe produced five total touchdowns in Alabama's Week 1 win over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, but he will find it much more difficult to reach the end zone on Saturday.
Texas held the Rice Owls to 10 points in its opener and it did not give up a touchdown in the first three quarters.
Both defenses will be tested more than they were in Week 1, but Alabama could have more trouble containing its opposing quarterback.
Ewers is the more experienced of the two signal-callers and he has a star wide receiver in Xavier Worthy to work with.
Texas does not have a dominant running back, like Bijan Robinson last season, but it still packs a punch in the rushing game to complement the Ewers-Worthy connection.
The Longhorns will not run away with the victory, but they proved last year they can compete in a close game with Alabama, and they should finish the job behind Ewers in 2023.
A win of that stature would boost Texas close to the top five in the AP Top 25
Colorado Continues High Scoring Play
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Colorado turned in one of the most electric performances of Week 1.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw for 510 yards and four scores in the upset road win over the TCU Horned Frogs.
The Buffaloes get to play at home in Week 2 as the favorite against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Colorado owns a significant advantage on offense with Sanders compared to Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims.
Sims excelled in the ground game with 91 rushing yards, but he threw three interceptions in a road loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Even an improved effort from Sims may not be enough for Matt Rhule's team to compete in Boulder against a Colorado offense that can put up 30-40 points with ease.
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At Least One Ranked Road Team Gets Upset
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A plethora of games could cause chaos on Saturday.
The Ole Miss Rebels, Texas A&M Aggies, Wisconsin Badgers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Utah Utes and Oregon Ducks all hit the road in Week 2.
There is a low likelihood that all of those teams come away from tough road tests with victories.
Utah and Oregon may feel the safest about their prospects in Week 2. Utah visits a Baylor Bears team that lost starting quarterback Blake Shapen to an injury. Oregon faces a Texas Tech Red Raiders side that fell on the road to the Wyoming Cowboys last week.
Notre Dame may feel safe on the road at the NC State Wolfpack, an opponent that quarterback Sam Hartman knows well from his time in the ACC with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Ole Miss could be in trouble in New Orleans against the Tulane Green Wave, who many see as the best Group of Five team.
Wisconsin is in a tough spot against the Washington State Cougars in Luke Fickell's first true road game as head coach.
At least one of those six teams will probably go down, and because this is college football, there could be multiple upsets of Top 25 teams in Week 2.
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