College Football Week 2 Takeaways: Welcome Back to the Hot Seat, Billy Napier

Week 2 of the college football slate, though light on ranked-on-ranked matchups, certainly did not disappoint.

No. 18 Oklahoma took down No. 15 Michigan in the game of the day. But the story of the day was in Gainesville, where unranked South Florida knocked off No. 13 Florida in a stunner at The Swamp.

Here are the key takeaways from the second weekend of college football, which featured several notable storylines coming out of the action.

Welcome Back to the Hot Seat, Billy Napier

Florida won five of its final seven games in 2024 to earn head coach Billy Napier some much-needed goodwill with emerging quarterback DJ Lagway heading into the 2025 season.

Unfortunately for Napier, all of that goodwill was undone on Saturday when the Gators were upset by unranked South Florida in The Swamp, 18-16.

Florida was outgained by South Florida 391-355 and committed 11 penalties for 103 yards. None of those penalties were more consequential than the one committed by Gators defensive lineman Brendan Bett, who spit in the face of Bulls offensive lineman Cole Skinner on the final drive of the game, right in front of an official.

Bett was ejected, South Florida gained 15 free yards, and kicker Nico Gramatica would later convert on a chip shot 20-yard field goal to capture the victory for the Bulls.

Florida has now lost to at least one unranked opponent in each of Napier's four seasons at the helm (2022 - Vanderbilt, 2023 - Kentucky, Arkansas, 2024 - Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Saturday - South Florida).

Napier is 20-20 through 40 games at Florida, which is simply not good enough.

Speaking of Hot Seats, Hello to Virginia Tech's Brent Pry

Virginia Tech welcomed Vanderbilt to town on Saturday night at Lane Stadium, looking to avenge a season opening loss to the Commodores in Nashville a year ago.

Things started out positively for Virginia Tech. The Hokies took a 20-10 lead into halftime thanks to turning two first half Vanderbilt turnovers into 14 points.

But things flipped tremendously in the second half. Vanderbilt strung together an 11-play, 75-yard drive to start the third quarter, which concluded in a touchdown. It was the first of five Commodores scoring drives after halftime. Vanderbilt's only drive that didn't end in a touchdown after half? The final kneel downs.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech - after putting together four first half scoring drives (two touchdowns, two field goals), managed three punts, a fumble, and a turnover on downs on its five second half offensive possessions.

The Hokies were outgained by Vanderbilt 307-21 in the second half while being outscored 34-0 after halftime.

Virginia Tech has not won a non-conference home game against a power conference opponent since Nebraska in 2009, and hasn't won a non-conference game against a power conference opponent in general since 2018, when Tech beat West Virginia in a neutral site contest at FedEx Field.

After a disappointing 6-7 record in 2023, Hokies head coach Brent Pry is off to an 0-2 start in '24. In 39 games in Blacksburg, he is 16-23.

Much like an ugly 2019 home loss to Duke did in former head coach Justin Fuente, Saturday's embarrassing second half felt like a nail in the coffin for Pry's tenure in Blacksburg.

Other Hot Seat Notes:

Second-year UCLA coach Deshaun Foster is off to an 0-2 start in 2025 after the Bruins fell 30-23 to UNLV on Saturday. They haven't led at any point this season.

Baylor's Dave Aranda picked up a significant non-conference win on Saturday as the Bears beat No. 17 SMU 48-45 on the road in double overtime. Baylor has given up 86 points through two games - which is an issue for any team, but especially when your team is coached by a former ace defensive coordinator like Aranda.

Oklahoma's Brent Venables got off the schneid with a huge 24-13 home win against No. 15 Michigan on Saturday night. Venables's defense made Wolverines freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood uncomfortable all night, and it appears Washington State transfer QB John Mateer and the Sooners are a match made in heaven.

Don't Cross Oregon's Dan Lanning. Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy Learned That the Hard Way

No. 6 Oregon entered Saturday afternoon's non-conference tilt against Oklahoma State as a 28.5-point favorite, so a blowout win by the Ducks was largely anticipated (at least in Vegas).

But fuel was added to the fire earlier this week when Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy went out of his way to complain about Oregon's lofty football budget compared to his program.

"I think Oregon spent close to $40 million last year alone," Gundy said on his weekly radio show. "Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team. From a non-conference standpoint, there's coaches saying they should [play teams with similar budgets]."

Ducks head coach Dan Lanning caught wind of Gundy's comments leading up to the game, and didn't take too kindly to them.

"If you want to be a top 10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. We spend to win. Some people save to have an excuse for why they don't [win]," Lanning fired back.

Oregon won 69-3 against Oklahoma State on Saturday, and made sure to lay it on the Cowboys thick from the opening kickoff. Oregon led 20-0 after the first quarter, and took a 41-3 lead into halftime.

Was there extra motivation behind the 66-point win for Lanning's bunch?

"I told our team right before the game that it never requires extra motivation for an opportunity to go out and kick a--, but it never hurts when somebody pours gasoline on the fire," Lanning said postgame. "So I felt like these guys wanted the chance to go prove who they are."

Mission accomplished.

It's Time to Sound the Alarms on Clemson's Offense

There was optimism entering the season that Clemson was returning to form as an offense following a strong finish to the 2024 season that landed the Tigers an ACC title and College Football Playoff appearance.

But the 2025 season has been less than stellar by the offense in particular thus far.

Clemson's offense struggled mightily a week ago in a 17-10 home loss to LSU. The Tigers managed just 261 yards of total offense, but most chalked it up to facing a feisty LSU defense that could be one of the best in the sport.

Saturday was different. Clemson was nearly a five-touchdown favorite against visiting Troy, and only mustered three first half points and trailed the Trojans 16-3 at the break.

The Tigers gained control in the second half after forcing two interceptions and a turnover on downs defensively. The Tigers won 27-16, but managed just 316 yards of total offense.

In fairness, the offense is missing star wide receiver Antonio Williams, who missed Saturday's game after getting banged up against LSU. But the issues run much deeper than that, and the Tigers will need to figure it out fast with a road game against a good Georgia Tech team set for next Saturday.

Kansas State Does Not Look Like a Conference Title Contender in a Wide Open Big 12

Kansas State lost a Week Zero thriller in Ireland against Iowa State to open up the season. Since then, things have been a bit of a mess for the Wildcats, who on paper appeared to be as good of a bet as any to win a wide open Big 12 with starting quarterback Avery Johnson in tow.

But things didn't look particularly good in Week 1 following the Iowa State loss. After all, it took a late fourth quarter touchdown by the Wildcats to secure a victory against FCS North Dakota. This Saturday, Kansas State suffered its second loss of the season, 24-21, at the hands of Army - who lost to Tarleton State to open up their season.

Perhaps the Wildcats will turn things around. After all, the season is young. But in a conference that's there for the taking, Kansas State appears far from the team that they appeared to be on paper entering 2025.

Iowa's Offense Is Back! (And Not in a Good Way)

It's not that Iowa lost its rivalry game to Iowa State on Saturday in Ames, it's how they lost.

Things were supposed to be different in 2025. The Hawkeyes went to the portal and landed the commitment of quarterback Mark Gronowski from South Dakota State, where he won two FCS national championships and was awarded the Walter Payton Award in 2023 as the top offensive player in the FCS.

Gronowski threw for 10,311 yards and 93 touchdowns in four seasons at South Dakota State, so many expected the sixth-year senior to step in and be the answer under center for an Iowa offense that desparately needed it.

Instead, he's been no better under center than the recent iterations at quarterback for the Hawkeyes. Through two games, Gronowski has gone 21-of-39 passing for 127 yards and one touchdown to one interception.

The Hawkeyes as a whole managed just 214 yards of total offense on Saturday in the loss to the Cyclones.

Through two weeks, Gronowski doesn't appear to be a plug-and-play improvement under center, and points may be hard to come by once again for the Hawkeyes in 2025.