5 most costly losses from Week 2 of the college football season

We are only two weeks into the 2024 college football season, and we have already seen some teams' promising seasons go to the wayside. While some ranked teams falling on Saturday did not come as a surprise, others stumbling may have raised some alarm bells. All in all, not all losses are created equally. Only one team has a chance of winning all of its games this season anyway in the new format.

With toe about to meet leather on the NFL gridiron, we were once again reminded that the college game offers so much variance because these are kids. When else do you put your full faith in 18-to-23-year-olds in any other facets of life? It is the beauty of the greatest sport on the planet. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, you will see a Notre Dame losing at home to a Northern Illinois.

So what I am going to do today is rank the five most costly losses of the Week 2 college football slate. All were varying degrees of bad, but some can be made up for later in the season. Again, you can still make the expanded College Football Playoff with multiple losses on the season now. While we don't know what the line of demarcation is at this time, going 10-2 in a Power Two league is probably fine.

Let's start with a team who lost to its in-state rival in non-conference play by a single point, baby!

5. Iowa Hawkeyes losing to Iowa State Cyclones, 20-19

It may have only been a one-point defeat their biggest in-state rival, but losing CyHawk was still not a good look for Kirk Ferentz's Iowa Hawkeyes. This has been a rivalry that Iowa has dominated over the last decade or so. Matt Campbell's Iowa State Cyclones rarely seem to get the best of their biggest in-state rival during their early-season meetings. Now the Clones are setting pretty at 2-0 on the year.

Besides the fact it was at home, Iowa losing 20-19 to Iowa State signifies that nothing is ever really going to change offensively at Iowa as long as Kirk Ferentz is the Hawkeyes head coach. Tim Lester may be better equipped to run an offense than his son Brian. Then again, isn't Campbell a defensive-minded head coach? Why does his team always seem to have a better quarterback in these games?

Cade McNamara threw for only 99 yards on Saturday. 99 yards! It also seems as though Ferentz wants to win as many games at Iowa despite his team's passing game. The shame in it all is no team in the Big Ten is hurt more by the league doing away with divisions than the Hawkeyes. No more empty-calorie nonsense Big Ten West championship banners will be hung! Will Iowa even get to eight wins?

Iowa could still make some noise in the Big Ten, but losing to Iowa State in the non-conference hurts.

4. Kansas Jayhawks losing to Illinois Fighting Illini, 23-17

We could see this one coming from a mile away. Apparently, letting Andy Kotelnicki walk to Penn State was the worst thing Lance Leipold could have done for himself at Kansas. His Jayhawks looked pedestrian at best in Week 1 vs. Lindenwood. Starting quarterback Jalon Daniels looks like a shell of himself after injuries. These contributing factors ultimately cost them vs. the Illinois Fighting Illini bad.

Illinois may have a finite ceiling as a program, but the Illini seem to have the perfect head coach for them in Bret Bielema. His offenses are limited to some degree, but they win with defense and heart. To win on the road at Kansas when Kansas is still thought of in high-regard is huge for the Illini's start to the season. You have to wonder if Leipold made a mistake by staying at Kansas for another year.

The 23-17 win for the Illini could be huge for them down the stretch as a giant killer of sorts. What this does is pretty much remove any notion of KU getting to Arlington this season. The Jayhawks were on a list of six or seven teams I felt totally confident that could play for a Big 12 Championship. Now I am starting to wonder if they are actually one of the four worst teams in the entire league going forward.

Losing Illini may not be the worst thing in the world, but we really overvalued Kansas' stock this year.

3. North Carolina State Wolfpack losing to Tennessee Volunteers, 51-10

Where we you while we were getting high on this painfully mediocre ACC team for some reason? One of the offseason winners of the Definitely, Maybe may have been better suited for a Paul Finch Satin Kimono fitting. I had a feeling that the Tennessee Volunteers might earhole the North Carolina State Wolfpack, but man, I did not see this coming. Grayson McCall should have stayed in the Group of Five.

I honestly feel bad for Dave Doeren and his team. On paper, the Wolfpack should still contend for the ACC crown, but in reality, this may only be a 7-5 team. The moment was too big for McCall, as he was eaten alive by the much-improved Tennessee defense. With how poorly the ACC has been outside of Miami thus far, I cannot see a way where anyone makes the playoff out of that league besides the AQ.

Last week saw the Wolfpack play with their food vs. the Western Carolina Catamounts. They may have been guilty of the proverbial look-ahead game with the Vols, but that performance in Charlotte was pathetic. The offseason hype train for this team was out of control. Tennessee may be an elite team for all we know, but McCall should not have look so inexperienced than one Nico Iamaleava.

A 51-10 neutral-site loss in your home state probably crosses NC State off as a playoff contender.

2. Michigan Wolverines losing to Texas Longhorns, 31-12

There is good, there is bad, there is ugly, and then there is this performance by the Michigan Wolverines vs. the Texas Longhorns. Yes, the defending national champions took a dog leash, put it around their neck, got on all fours and begged for Texas to take them outside. It was a complete and utter evisceration on Big Noon Saturday for the Michigan faithful. This team is not repeating in 2024.

To be totally honest, the final score of 31-12 suggests that the game was closer than it was. It was not... What we saw on Saturday was a team on rapid decline. This was the worst loss Michigan experienced since getting clobbered in the 2021 Orange Bowl to Georgia as part of the College Football Playoff. Outside of a few defensive stops, there was very little this team got right vs. Texas.

In fairness, Texas was going to do this to most teams this year anyway, as the Longhorns are a real national title contender. However, Michigan backed up a flat performance vs. Fresno State with a rancid one vs. Texas. I don't even want to know how bad it could get for the Wolverines in conference play this year. This is still probably a bowl team, but I think they have no shot at making the playoff.

This year's Michigan team is now in the same tier as the likes of Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish losing to Northern Illinois Huskies, 16-14

Is this the biggest upset of the year or the worst loss of the year? Either way, it is not a good look at all for Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He has an innate ability to mail it in vs. lesser opponents when his team should be a massive favorite. Give Thomas Hammock's Northern Illinois Huskies for being ready to play because that is not what we saw out of Notre Dame in this awful loss.

Through the first two weeks of the season, Notre Dame's offense has looked listless under Mike Denbrock. He refuses to run the ball with Riley Leonard, who is absolutely not going to be a first-round pick anymore. It has resulted in Notre Dame going from a playoff lock, to pretty much out of it entirely with a terrible 16-14 defeat at the hands of NIU. This loss feels like two for the Irish already.

It was so bad that I had to put Freeman on the hot seat because what the hell, man? Notre Dame is simply too talented to lose a game like this at home. You wonder what this could mean for the Golden Domers the rest of the way. See, with a loss like this, any game on the schedule is now up for grabs. I had the Irish going 12-0 and earning the No. 5 seed in the expanded playoff. I am such an idiot, guys.

The only thing dumber than me thinking this team was a contender is how much they paid NIU to lose.