π SEC or Big Ten? Week 2 could set early CFP narratives β SkimNews
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- Big Ten vs SEC debate plays out across three Week 2 matchups: No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas (ABC, 7:30 p.m.), No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan (Fox, noon), and Mississippi State at Minnesota (CBS, 3:30 p.m.), with SP+ projecting a 64% chance the SEC wins at least two of three.
- Ohio State and Texas combined for six of the top-15 players in the preseason CFB Player Rank, including WR Jeremiah Smith (No. 1) for Ohio State and QB Arch Manning (No. 13) for Texas, both of whom looked sharp in comfortable Week 1 wins.
- Texas will face five more current SP+ top-15 teams after the Ohio State game, as the Longhorns' strength of schedule ranks second behind Arkansas, with Oklahoma's SOS checking in fourth and Ohio State's at 12th.
- Michigan dropped 12 spots in the AP poll to fall out of the top 25 after an unconvincing 1-0 win over Western Michigan, with QB Bryce Underwood looking "lost" for most of 55 minutes and head coach Kyle Whittingham saying, "It's not something that's infinite."
- SEC depth shows up in the SP+ schedule rankings, with the conference holding 10 of the 11 hardest full-season schedules and a median SOS ranking of 9.5, contrasted with the Big Ten's top-heavy profile led by Michigan at sixth.
- Memphis travels to Boise State (USA, 6 p.m.) in a pivotal Group of 6 matchup that could serve as an obvious CFP tiebreaker, with the two programs combining for nine ranked finishes and 12 seasons of double-digit wins in the 12-year CFP era.
Why it matters: Week 2 doubles as a three-game conference referendum, and the stakes skew against the SEC: despite holding 10 of the 11 toughest SP+ schedules, the league enters having produced no genuinely elite team for two years, while the Big Ten has won the past three CFP titles with three different programs. Even a 1-1 Texas start could prove damaging given five more top-15 opponents await the Longhorns.
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