Two weeks in, college football Week 2 takeaways are finally worth something, because we have enough tape to separate a team that is good from a team that got a home opener against a body-bag opponent. Not much. But something.
Here is what I actually believe after Saturday, and what I am still holding loosely.
What happened to Clemson's quarterback?
The biggest football consequence of the weekend came out of Clemson. The reporting says quarterback Christopher Vizzina hurt his elbow Saturday and is considered week-to-week, with freshman Tait Reynolds expected to take the first snap in Week 3 against North Carolina.
Week-to-week is the most honest phrase in the sport and the least useful. It means the staff does not know either. What it does mean is that a freshman is now running a Clemson offense in an ACC game, and the entire October plan bends around how fast he stops thinking and starts playing.
I am not writing that program off. From the Almanac: Ohio State won the 2014 national title with third-string quarterback Cardale Jones starting the last three games of the year. One beat of wonder for that, then back to business, because for every Cardale there are ten Septembers where the backup quarterback is exactly what the depth chart said he was.
Is Ohio State still a playoff team at 1-1?
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 6 and sitting on a 1-1 record heading into Week 3 against Kent State. Those two facts are going to argue with each other on television all week.
They are also both defensible. Rankings this early are a measure of roster, not resume, and Ohio State's roster did not change over the weekend. What changed is the margin for error, which in a 12-team playoff era is wider than the panic suggests and narrower than the Buckeyes would like.
Meanwhile the week's best petty moment belonged to Texas, whose stunning comeback got immediately converted into a post aimed at Columbus. I have no notes. Trolling your rival on a Saturday night is one of the last free pleasures in this sport, and it aged about four hours before the rest of us got to it.
Where the CFP contenders stand after two weeks
Here is the Week 3 landscape from the teams on my desk this morning:
| Team | Record | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M | 2-0 | No. 9 |
| Ohio State | 1-1 | No. 6 |
| Kentucky | 1-1 | unranked |
| San Jose State | 2-1 | unranked |
| Toledo | 1-1 | unranked |
| Temple | 1-1 | unranked |
| Fresno State | 1-1 | unranked |
Texas A&M at 2-0 and ranked ninth gets Kentucky in SEC play in Week 3, which is the first real read on whether the Aggies are a contender or a team with a friendly first two weeks. Kentucky at 1-1 is the exact kind of opponent that tells you something: physical enough to test you, not good enough to excuse you.
And the FPI rankings came out with the usual controversy attached, which happens every single year when a computer looks at a team's roster and schedule and reaches a conclusion the human eye finds insulting. The computer is usually early. It is also occasionally just wrong, and September is when it is wrongest, because it has two data points and a preseason opinion it has not let go of yet.
What comes next
Week 3 gives us the first honest slate. Texas A&M and Kentucky is a real SEC measuring stick. Ohio State gets a reset against Kent State and a chance to look like the sixth-best team in the country instead of a 1-1 argument. Clemson finds out what it has in a freshman.
And the conference season opens on a short week, with Syracuse at Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
What I am watching next: Clemson's practice reports, because if Vizzina's elbow turns from week-to-week into month-to-month, the ACC race changes shape in a hurry. That is the number that matters for the Tigers. Not the rankings. The reps.