5 College Football Takeaways: Kansas State Problems, Big 12 Expansion Ideas, and Oklahoma's Key Win

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@Pete Fiutak

5. Week 2 Should Have Had the Big Games, Not Week 1

Week 2 turned out to be a blast, highlighted by USF’s thriller over Florida.

Iowa vs Iowa State was good, Mississippi State’s stunner over Arizona State was great, and Michigan State vs Boston College was a whale of a double-overtime battle.

But there was only one game between ranked teams - Michigan vs Oklahoma, and it was fine. Nothing legendary, but okay.

All of the Week 2 games should’ve been in Week 1, and those Week 1 powerhouse showdowns should’ve been played last weekend.

Alabama desperately needed to get a live scrimmage in before facing Florida State. Texas needed one, Clemson and North Carolina could still use more work, and overall, it would’ve been better for the season and the game if everyone had a weekend to work all the kinks out.

And that goes double for the quarterbacks, because now …

4. Arch Manning, Ty Simpson, and Julian Sayin Are Ready

Imagine how much better Arch Manning might have been against Ohio State if he and Texas had played San Jose State first.

The accuracy is still a bit concerning, but he threw for 295 yards and four scores with a pick, and ran for a touchdown, in the 38-7 win.

Imagine how much better Ty Simpson and Alabama would’ve been if they started the season with ULM instead of Florida State.

Simpson was off against the Seminoles - the timing was nowhere near down. In the 73-0 win over ULM, he hit all 17 of his throws for 226 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for a score.

Ohio State didn’t turn Julian Sayin loose against Texas. It would’ve been far less stressful if he got the Grambling game to deal with first, instead of the Longhorns. On Saturday against the Tigers, he completed 18-of-19 passes for 306 yards with an interception.

3. Big 12 Conference Realignment: Go Get UNLV and USF Already

Big 12, what are you waiting for?

USF was always a great get for expansion and realignment. The Tampa market, a natural I-4 rivalry for UCF, massive enrollment, and now, after the blowout win over Boise State and the shocker at Florida, the football program appears to be ready to go to the CFP as a Group of Five champion.

Meanwhile, UNLV should’ve been a Big 12 program last year. It doesn’t want the Pac-12, it wants the bigger money from the power conference, and it has what everyone seems to want - Las Vegas.

Media days are held there, lots of tournaments, and conference championships are a given. And now, there appears to be staying power with the football program, with Dan Mullen starting 3-0 after a win over UCLA.

2. Is 2025 Kansas State the New 2024 Florida State?

Losing that Ireland game is a killer. 

Win it, and it becomes rocket fuel - look at how well Iowa State is playing. Lose, and ..

Florida State was coming off a heartbreaking 2024 finish, wasn’t bad in the opener against Georgia Tech, lost late 24-21, and its heart was left in Dublin.

The team played like it was being forced to watch Wednesday while going to the dentist over the last 11 games in a 2-10 season.

Maybe it’s the travel, or maybe it’s the rhythm being thrown off, or maybe it's the idea that the hopes and dreams of the season are squished before Week 1.

At 1-2, Kansas State - preseason No. 17 in the AP Poll, and 20 in the Coaches Poll - has no mojo whatsoever. Since the loss to the Cyclones, it needed everything to get by North Dakota, lost to a meh Army team, and now has to go on the road to deal with Arizona.

No, Kansas State doesn’t appear to be as awful as last year’s FSU was, but if it loses in Tucson for a 1-3 start, uh oh. 

Instead of the 2024 Seminoles, the Wildcats would start to look more like last year's Utah, or Oklahoma State, or Arizona - a preseason Big 12 favorite that couldn't get it going.

Blame Ireland.

1. Oklahoma vs Texas is Now Even Bigger

At least when it comes to the makeup of the College Football Playoff, all thanks to the Oklahoma win over Michigan.  

For all the talk about how the playoff committee will pay attention to the strength of schedules and use various other metrics - as opposed to, say, watching all the games and making their own judgments - it’ll still come down to which power conference teams won ten or more games.

That’s the benchmark for what the top 12 would’ve been since the start of the CFP era, at least for the at-large teams.

That means Oklahoma vs Texas on October 11th has gone from being a fun rivalry date to among the most important games left on the slate to round out the 12-team tournament.

That's because the Sooners got the win they absolutely had to have against Michigan.

Had it lost, the playoff dream would’ve been kaput, with Auburn, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri, and LSU still to go, along with Texas.

If the Sooners are really playoff-good, and if they beat Texas, they should be able to go 5-2 against the rest of the killer slate and slide in at 10-2.

Lose to the Longhorns, and no way they’re getting through that gauntlet without two more losses.

Texas already lost to Ohio State, and it still has to go to Georgia. There are other landmines, like Texas A&M, Florida, and now, making the trip to Mississippi State is scary.

Lose to Oklahoma, and all it will take is one more blip to likely be 9-3 and become the outside-looking-in Alabama or South Carolina of last year.