Michigan has fought tooth and nail to ensure that coach Sherrone Moore stays as unsullied as possible through multiple NCAA investigations into everything from recruiting violations to an advanced scouting scheme orchestrated by a former recruiting staffer. The 15th-ranked Wolverines imposed a weak, two-game suspension for Moore in 2025, but they were careful to ensure that Moore was available for Michigan’s first two contests — including its seismic Week 2 clash against Oklahoma, Moore’s alma mater.
The university has poured significant time and resources into Moore, but he has yet to show that he’s actually worth it. Michigan fell 24-13 to No. 15 Oklahoma Saturday, and the game wasn’t even as close as the final score may indicate.
The Sooners dominated in almost every phase and thoroughly outclassed Michigan, a recurring theme of Moore’s tenure. In fact, the loss to Oklahoma was a perfect microcosm of the issues that have plagued Moore’s Michigan teams.
Sherrone Moore details Michigan’s loss to Oklahoma, Bryce Underwood’s first road start: ‘We got to be better’
Brad Crawford
Poor clock management, questionable in-game decisions and an offense that lacks in any sort of creativity. Michigan spent unprecedented resources to land quarterback Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2025, who won the Wolverines’ starting job as a true freshman.
Moore refused to turn him lose against Oklahoma. That’s a fair, early game strategy as he gets acclimated to his first road start in a tough environment, but there’s no benefit to playing conservative when the game got late and Michigan faced a big deficit.
Moore cannot cruise off of his success as Michigan’s offensive coordinator, and his one win against Ohio State, forever. The pressure is on for him to show that Michigan’s investment is actually worth it.
Billy Napier is all out of chances
Florida’s administration has consistently stood behind Napier, no matter how low his program fell or how hot his seat got. But the Gators hit rock bottom in Saturday’s 18-16 loss to South Florida, and any goodwill that Napier built during an offseason filled with hype evaporated entirely.
There’s no saving it now. Week 2’s result is, frankly, unacceptable — especially given how it played out. The Gators have nothing but absolute coaching ineptitude to thank for their loss.
Florida gained possession up 16-15 with 2:52 left in the fourth quarter. South Florida had just two timeouts and the 2-minute timeout to stop the clock. Conventional wisdom should have led Florida to running the ball at least three times, forcing the Bulls to use their last two timeouts and chewing the clock in the process.
Wisdom escaped Napier Saturday night. Instead, he dialed up two passing plays, both of which were dropped. That effectively gave USF two free timeouts.
Florida wasn’t done handing USF the game. On USF’s game-winning drive, it benefitted from two consecutive defensive penalties that gave it 28 yards of field position. Defensive lineman Brendan Bett was ejected after spitting on a USF player. Little moments like that hint at a coach’s lack of control over his program.
It’s hard to see a turnaround this year. Florida now has to play four straight top-20 opponents to open SEC play,and eight of its remaining opponents are currently ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Napier probably won’t make it far enough to see all those games.
Nico Iamaleava transferring was blessing in disguise for Vols
Many were quick to write Tennessee off when it lost incumbent starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the transfer portal right after spring practice ended. The Vols had to scramble to find a replacement and ended up swapping quarterbacks with UCLA by landing former Appalachian State star Joey Aguilar, who spent his spring in Los Angeles.
Even then, it was easy to write off Tennessee’s offense. Aguilar had less than four months to learn the playbook, establish chemistry with his wide receivers and jell with the team before the 2025 season began.
Two weeks into that season and it’s becoming apparent that Iamaleava’s departure was a gift for the Vols. He was largely ineffective as a starting quarterback at Tennessee. Yes, the Vols won 10 games in 2024 and made their first College Football Playoff appearance in program history, but Iamaleava was hardly the reason why.
His performance, at times, justified a potential benching. But Tennessee spent way too much on him out of high school to just easily cast him off. He solved that problem by leaving of his own volition.
By scrambling to land Aguilar, Tennessee seriously upgraded its offensive potential. Through two starts, Aguilar has thrown for 535 yards and five touchdowns. Tennessee scored 72 points in its Week 2 win against ETSU, which is a modern program record.
The Vols are humming and Iamaleava is becoming a distant memory.
Mike Gundy is done
Mike Gundy’s tenure has been filled with highs and lows. That’s going to happen when you’ve been married to a program for 21 seasons. Even in those low years, though, Oklahoma State was at least pushing for bowl eligibility.
Now it seems like the Cowboys would be lucky to beat an FBS team. Their 69-3 loss to Oregon in Week 2 — the program’s worst defeat since Oklahoma became a state in 1907 — brought some reality to Stillwater: Gundy’s time is nearing an end.
Oklahoma State is nowhere near the perennial Big 12 contender it was just a few years ago. The program has fallen off a cliff and there’s no sign of land to stop the precipitous drop.
The Cowboys have lost by a combined score of 121-3 against their last two FBS opponents. Their 10-game losing streak against FBS programs is the worst among Power Four schools and the worst streak in program history.
Gundy put Oklahoma State back on the map and made it, for a time at least, a modern force to be reckoned with. Now the Cowboys may be forced to make a move before he buries the team.
Luke Altmyer belongs in Heisman conversation
Want some value? Go lay some money on Luke Altmyer’s Heisman Trophy future, which currently sits at +25000 on FanDuel Sportsbook. For reference, that’s worse than Duke quarterback Darian Mensah (+15000), who he soundly out-dueled while leading the Fighting Illini to a huge 45-19 nonconference road win against the Blue Devils.
Altmyer torched Duke to the tune of 296 yards and three touchdowns through the air. He has over half as many touchdowns passing (6) as he does incompletions (11) through two games, and he’s averaging over 13 yards per completion.
Though he hasn’t had to much yet this season, Altmyer is also a capable runner, which offers him another avenue to stack stats. If he continues to play at a high level and Illinois reaches its College Football Playoff goal, there’s no doubt he’ll get an invite to New York City in December.
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