Welcome to Week 2 and Welcome Back to the Campus Talks Newsletter

Just like that, college football is back and boy was it back with a bang. What an amazing week 1 we had to get us off and running. BUT FIRST, we had a major announcement taking us into the weekend. The College Football Playoff will be expanding to 12 teams starting in 2026.

And let's get this out of the way, if you're one of those people who think you're a college football purist or truther and think that expanding the playoff is a terrible thing - you have a giant dump in your pants and you must hate fun. Let me guess, you think we should go back to the BCS system too?

This is going to be electric. In my opinion, the more teams we can get involved with playing meaningful games and going all in for these games, the better. The model is going to include the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams. Rankings of the teams will continue to be determined by the CFP selection committee. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four with each receiving a first round by. Seeds five through twelve will play each other in the first round which is expected to happen the second or third weekend of December. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in bowl games on a rotating basis with the championship game held at a neutral site. Similar to the current four-team format.

If you live in the college football twitter world, you know this was heavily debated. My take is at this point it's Georgia and Alabama vs everybody. No one is even in their stratosphere right now, every season is theirs to lose. So we mine as well let new and different teams get their crack at them and see what happens. Alabama having to go up to Michigan to play Michigan? That could get wild.

Now, let's recap last week and look ahead to this weekend. (Editor's Note: If you can't play the videos from tweets directly in the email, click the Twitter Icon in the upper right hand corner and it will take you to the tweet on Twitter to play. Working to figure out how to have videos playable from tweets in email. Web version of the newsletter is fine.)

Week 1 Highlights

• Backyard Brawl: We didn't waste any time this week as West Virginia @ Pittsburgh started things off on Thursday and it was electric. The teams were going after each other, the crowd was chippy, and play was back and forth. Ultimately, Pitt won on a late pick six in the 4th quarter. Pitt 38 - WVU 31 (WVU +7.5 Covers)

• Defending Champs: Georgia, the defending champions from last year, picked back up right where they left off. Considered one of the premier matchups of the day, Georgia manhandled Oregon every which way. For Georgia, they showed why they won it all and why they will most likely be playing for the title again. The defense has no holes and Stetson Bennett looked unreal at QB, which many considered to be the weak link. Anyone who has to play them this year will not have fun (see below tweet.) Oregon on the other hand had about as worst of a game as they could've hoped. Long considered to be the top of the Pac 12, they looked like they didn't belong on the same field as an SEC powerhouse. This was a big hit to the Pac 12's CFP chances this year. Georgia 49 - Oregon 3 (Georgia covers -16)

• Baseball Score: Iowa and South Dakota State played probably the worst game of all time so it was worth talking about. There was ZERO touchdowns scored and Iowa had TWO SAFTIES. They also had more punts than first downs in this game. South Dakota State being the FCS school here gets a bit of a pass, but inexcusable for an Iowa team that made it to the B1G Ten Championship game last year. If this is how the Iowa offense is going to play, they're in for a long season. Iowa 7 - South Dakota State 3 (South Dakota State +10.5 covers)

• Sunday Night Football: Quick side note, I wish they had college football games all day on this first Sunday since the NFL doesn't start until the following week, but at least our lone Sunday game was a real treat. Florida State vs LSU. Two historic programs trying to climb their way back to the top. This was also Brian Kelly's first game with the reins for LSU. There is so much that could be discussed in this game, but let's recap the last two minutes and fifteen seconds. Down by one touchdown, LSU muffs a punt to give the ball back to FSU. FSU attempts to run the clock down, but fumbles it back to LSU at the 1 yard line with one minute and twenty seconds to go. LSU drives the 99 yards and scores a touchdown with literally no time left. Extra point to send it to overtime is blocked and the game is over. That's it, that's the recap.

Your New Top 25

Looking ahead to Week 2

• (1) Alabama (-20) @ Texas: This is a huge test for the "Texas is back" crowd. Depending how this game goes, it could shape a lot of things for Texas' future.

• (24) Tennessee (-6) @ (17) Pittsburgh: A big test for Pittsburgh to show they're still the real deal and to showcase that the ACC can hang with the SEC.

• Iowa State @ Iowa (-3.5): Nothing like a good ole, in state rivalry early in the season.

• (20) Kentucky @ (12) Florida (-6.5): Florida fresh off of an incredible win against Utah last week will look to maintain their momentum, while Kentucky attempts to solidify that they're a threat in the SEC.

• (10) USC (-8.5) @ Stanford: Another classic, early season rivalry matchup for two schools out to prove themselves. USC looks to build on their massive win to kick off the Lincoln Riley era.

• (9) Baylor @ (21) BYU (-3): A late night top 25 matchup for two schools looking to prove they deserve their ranking.

Sights from around the league

Thanks for checking out another week of Campus Talks! Let's have an amazing Week 2