College football got weird on Saturday in the best possible way. Notre Dame went down in a historic upset and contenders were on the brink from Tuscaloosa to Eugene, while some other programs — like Tennessee and Texas (shout out to the UTs) — made massive statements.

Week 2 is over, so you know how this works: Let’s run through College Football Overtime, highlighting everything you need to know from the week that was in college football.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY: TEXAS IS BUILT TO LAST

Nearly three years ago to the day, Texas found itself on the wrong side of a beatdown in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Razorbacks totaled 10 TFLs and three sacks while limiting the Longhorns to 3.4 yards per carry.

Steve Sarkisian’s first big game as the coach at Texas turned into a 40-21 dud.

Three years later, Texas went on the road to play No. 10 Michigan, the defending national champion and Big Ten bully. Texas rolled to a 31-12 win.

Michigan’s vaunted defensive line? It didn’t produce a sack. Michigan hadn’t allowed an opponent to reach the red zone last season until Week 7. Texas surgically reached the red zone on all five of its first-half possessions.

The Longhorns beat Michigan due to many factors. But their dominance inside, bullying the bully, is perhaps the biggest reason why. It’s also why it’s easy to be bullish on Texas in both the short and long terms.

Skill talent is obvious for Texas. It’s plentiful. The Longhorns have stacked difference-making wide receivers, running backs and obviously have the best quarterback room in the country.

What often gets lost is Texas’ riches in the trenches. For a long time offensive line play was a bugaboo for the ‘Horns. They haven’t had a first-round pick along the offensive line since 2002. That’s changed under Sarkisian and O-line coach Kyle Flood, who’ve combined to recruit seven four-star offensive linemen or better the past three cycles.

Left tackle Kelvin Banks will be a first-round pick next April if he decides to leave. Directly to his right are three players with a combined 81 starts, including fellow five-star recruit from the 2022 class DJ Campbell. The only player without any real proven success is right tackle Cameron Williams, who had some shaky moments early in the game. But Williams, a massive 6-foot-5, 335-pound bookend, is exactly the prototype of tackle who can hold up in the SEC.

Offensive line is just one position, but it’s emblematic of Texas’ roster as a whole. The Longhorns have always been talented. It was true under Charlie Strong. It was true Tom Herman. But what the Longhorns often lacked was the ability to lean on an opponent. The pure physicality to close out a game no matter the situation.

While it is critically important for Texas’ national title chances that it ranks fourth in the Team Talent Composite (the highest it ever has in the metric). It’s equally notable the Longhorns have the dudes in the trenches to highlight all of those fancy weapons at the high-profile positions. (Texas flipped four-star D-lineman Myron Charles from Florida State a few hours after the win.)

That group is a huge reason why the Longhorns will be in the thick of the national title race this year. Sarkisian’s success there is also why fans should be bullish on his ability to keep Texas relevant on the national stage for a long time.

REPORT CARD

A: Northern Illinois’ big win (and payday)

Northern Illinois pulled the biggest upset in MAC history with a 16-14 win over No. 5 Notre Dame? Better yet, the Huskies finessed the Irish into paying them $1.4 million, according to the South Bend Tribune, just for the privilege of handing the Irish a big ‘ole L.

Isn’t college football just the freaking best?

This doesn’t happen in other sports. Sacrificial lambs aren’t supposed to fight back. But here are the Huskies, a program that went 0-6 in 2020, pulling off the upset as a 28-point underdog. They’re the first team in MAC history to beat an AP Top 5 team.

This is also a good reminder to those following at home not to make too many assumptions based off Week 1.

Yes, Notre Dame had perhaps the biggest win of the week by going into College Station and beating the Aggies. It was so impressive that people were already, because of Notre Dame’s schedule, penciling them into the College Football Playoff.

But this is college football, a sport played by 18-to-22-year-olds. Weird stuff happens.

It happened in South Bend on Saturday. And Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock, with tears in his eyes postgame, distilled the magic of the sport rather succinctly.

“I know there’s a whole (bunch of) other things with the transfer portal, NIL,” Hammock said on NBC. “We still have a family and they believed in that family and doing things the right way. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”