Just when we think we know something in college football, a new week of action comes around to rewrite everything. It's still very early in the 2025 season, but we thought we learned a lot from Week 1. Some of that information turned out to be not so reliable.
Sure, Ohio State, Miami and Florida State followed up their big Week 1 wins with comfortable victories over outmatched opponents. But not everyone got out so easy, while some came out smelling even sweeter.
Tennessee's win over Syracuse looks a bit worse
Tennessee made a statement in their first win without Nico Iamaleava. Joey Aguilar led the Vols to a 45-26 victory. Tennessee moved up two spots in the AP poll as a result.
It's not that we're discounting Tennessee's win. But what looked like a decent Power 4 victory has some of the shine taken off of it in Week 2. That's because Syracuse barely survived a meeting with the UConn Huskies.
Orange head coach Fran Brown was apparently disgusted with his team's efforts, despite pulling out a 27-20 win in overtime. He had them running sprints after the game
Syracuse football running sprints on the field after a mistake-filled 27-20 overtime win over UConn.
— Connor Pignatello (@c_pignatello) September 6, 2025
The Orange were down 17-6 midway through the 4th and also allowed a game-tying FG in the final seconds.
Never seen this before. This went on for a solid minute or two. pic.twitter.com/hI1ganjfR7
Syracuse isn't a great team. No one expects them to make waves this season in the ACC, but they should have been able to beat UConn at home without too much trouble and certainly in regulation.
Tennessee dismantled East Tennessee State in their Week 2 matchup. They didn't take a step back at all, to their credit. There's just reason to use a little more caution when looking ahead to next week's matchup with Georgia. There's still a whole lot we don't know about the Vols' level.
Auburn's win over Baylor looks even better
Auburn wasn't ranked in Week 2. They were receiving the second-most votes in the AP, but just on the outside looking in. That should change in Week 3. That's without even taking into account their 42-3 win over Ball State. A game the Tigers weren't involved in may have helped them even more.
In Week 1, Auburn battled Baylor to a 38-24 victory. It was a fairly impressive road victory to begin with. Now it looks even better thanks to Baylor's upset win over SMU.
The Bears toppled the Mustangs in Dallas, 48-45 in overtime. Quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw for 440 yards and four touchdowns, which helps lessen the impact of Auburn giving up the 419 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
The Tigers get another warm up game against South Alabama before heading to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners. That's followed by another two ranked matchups: at Texas A&M and home to Georgia. I'm not saying Auburn will pull off any upsets, but the Sooners and Aggies should be on alert.
LSU's win over Clemson lost a whole lot of shine
LSU one of three Top 10 teams to beat a higher-ranked opponent in Week 1. After losing five straight season openers, there was something especially cathartic about flipping the script and getting the win over No. 4 Clemson.
Garrett Nussmeier led the way on offense with 232 yards and a touchdown. The LSU defense held Clemson's Cade Klubnik to a 31.4 QBR while allowing just 31 yards rushing. It was everything you'd want from a marquee opening performance.
LSU couldn't control what came next. Clemson walked into a Week 2 matchup with Troy and looked like the Sun Belt team. The Trojans led 16-3 at the half. And that's with Troy not even playing particularly clean — they committed a turnover, missed a field goal and had their best corner ejected for targeting.
Clemson scored 24-unanswered points in the second half to win. They may have survived, but they impressed no one.
It doesn't help that LSU had their own letdown of sorts. They weren't ever in the kind of danger Clemson found themselves in, but these Tigers still had trouble with 36-point underdog Louisiana Tech.
LSU wins, but:
— Tiger Vibes (@Tiger__Vibes) September 7, 2025
Starters hurt.
Offense underwhelming.
Joe Sloan. pic.twitter.com/xutB7jdMxw
The LSU defense was stout at least. They allowed just 154 yards of offense and didn't give up a score until the fourth quarter. As for the LSU offense? Well, Louisiana Tech entered the game ranking 103rd in FEI defense. The Tigers still struggled to get into a rhythm. They managed just 10 points in the first half and two touchdowns in total. They settled for three field goals.
Both of these teams are undoubtedly better than they were in Week 2, but LSU looked a whole lot more formidable on Friday than by the end of Saturday.