Michigan and Notre Dame are far from ready for the playoffs, especially not on offense.

The two top-10 teams will collapse the AP Top 25 on Sunday after embarrassing losses. The No. 10 Wolverines were pummeled by No. 3 Texas in a 31-12 loss that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. And No. 5 Notre Dame followed up its 10-point win at Texas A&M in Week 1 with an embarrassing 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish entered the game as 28.5-point favorites.

Both teams are 1-1, largely due to their inability to pass the ball effectively. Michigan didn’t add a transfer following JJ McCarthy’s departure to the NFL and held a quarterback competition between Davis Warren and Alex Orji. After adding a transfer QB in Sam Hartman a season ago, Notre Dame went the transfer route again, signing Duke’s Riley Leonard for 2024. In addition to Leonard, Notre Dame re-hired former offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock from LSU, where he coordinated an offense that featured Heisman winner Jayden Daniels and 2023 first-round picks Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas.

Neither Warren, Orji nor Leonard has been an effective passer so far this season. Warren was named Michigan’s starter because Orji has seen limited playing time for the second straight season. After throwing for just 118 yards on 25 pass attempts against Fresno State, Warren wasn’t much better against the Longhorns. He was 22-of-33 passing for 204 yards, but many of those yards came after Texas led 31-6. A big reason for that deficit? Warren’s two interceptions.

Warren’s story is phenomenal. The senior was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 while in high school. He spent more than four months in the hospital for treatments and now starts games for the reigning national champions. You can’t question his desire or determination.

But you have to wonder about the performance of Michigan’s offense over the past two weeks. The Wolverines have scored just three touchdowns and 36 offensive points in the first two games of the season. Yes, Michigan lost a lot of its offense last season. Given the midseason change in Ann Arbor, it was realistic to expect some early growing pains when offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore took over as the team’s head coach.

It’s hard to find bright spots on the offense, though. Jim Harbaugh’s offense has relied on play-action passing plays behind a dogged run game. So far, Michigan has recorded 57 carries for 228 yards. Will teams load up even more to stop the run, knowing McCarthy is now in the NFL? Warren averaged 4.7 yards per pass against Fresno State and didn’t top that mark against Texas until the Longhorns knew the game was out of reach.

Leonard, meanwhile, hasn’t shown the traits that have some draft analysts believing he’s a possible first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s averaging just over five yards per pass attempt through the first two games of the season, and his second interception of the game on Saturday proved to be the game-changing moment.

With Notre Dame looking at a one-point lead with under six minutes left, Leonard threw this pass up the middle to a double-point safety.

Northern Illinois then rushed the field and shot the go-ahead field goal with 31 seconds left.

The expanded playoff isn’t out of reach for either team. Alabama made the playoffs last season after a Week 2 loss. Notre Dame has a schedule that features just two top-25 teams the rest of the season (through Saturday), and Michigan will have chances for big wins against USC, Oregon and Ohio State.

But the margin for error for both teams is virtually zero. We’re not ruling Notre Dame and Michigan out of the postseason, but we’re a lot more pessimistic than we were at the start of the season unless the passing offenses take a big step forward.

These are this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord: The Orange defeated No. 23 Georgia Tech 31-28 on Saturday thanks to a strong performance from the former Ohio State QB. McCord was 32-of-46 passing for 381 yards and four touchdowns. McCord threw his first two TDs to Trebor Pena before hitting Oronde Gadsden II for two more scores. His TD throw to Gadsden with 8:39 left proved to be the winning score as Syracuse ran out the clock after Tech cut the lead to three with 2:31 left.

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik: The Tigers bounced back from their Week 1 loss to Georgia with a vengeance. Klubnik completed 24 of 26 passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns in a 66-20 win over Appalachian State. The downfield passing attack that was nonexistent against the Bulldogs exploded against the Mountaineers as Bryant Wesco Jr. and Jake Briningstool each had at least 100 yards receiving while Phil Mafah had 10 carries for 118 yards, including an 83-yard TD run. Clemson scored 35 points in the first quarter and had 56 by the break.

Army: The Black Knights had no problem with Florida Atlantic. Army won 24-7, as it ran 58 times for 405 yards. FAU was powerless to stop Army’s rushing attack, also allowing a 44-yard TD pass on Bryson Daily’s only completion of the day.

The real highlight, however, came from backup punter Matthew Rhodes. Watch his wheels on this 23-yard fake punt TD.

Tennessee: The No. 14 Volunteers ran away with No. 24 NC State. Tennessee won 51-10, rushing for 249 yards against the Wolfpack. Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava threw two interceptions, but Dylan Sampson rushed 20 times for 132 yards and two TDs while Tennessee’s defense didn’t let NC State’s offense do much. The Wolfpack had just 141 total yards and were a miserable 3-of-12 on third down.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks were dominant on defense in a 31-6 drubbing of Kentucky in the first SEC game of the season. Kentucky quarterbacks Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt were just 6 of 17 for 44 yards while South Carolina recorded five sacks and forced two turnovers. It was a huge win for South Carolina and coach Shane Beamer as the team hopes to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season in 2023.

Louisiana-Monroe coach Bryant Vincent: The Warhawks pulled off a huge 32-6 win over UAB. With the loss, UAB is now 3-9 against FBS opponents during the tenure of former NFL coach Trent Dilfer. Dilfer was hired for the 2023 season after Vincent spent 2022 as the team’s interim coach when he was promoted following Bill Clark’s retirement. Instead of keeping Vincent after a 7-6 season, UAB went with Dilfer. On Saturday, Vincent got a little revenge.

Losers

Cincinnati: Things were looking good for the Bearcats in the third quarter of their game against Pitt. Cincy held a 27-6 lead and appeared to be headed for an easy win. Instead, Pitt scored 22 unanswered points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to steal a 28-27 victory. Pitt’s winning points came with 17 seconds left on a 35-yard field goal by Ben Sauls as Cincinnati’s final four possessions ended in three-pointers and a last-ditch fumble as time expired.

Chestnut brown: The Tigers’ offense is far from finished in Hugh Freeze’s second season. Cal went down to Auburn and claimed a 21-14 victory on Saturday after forcing five Auburn turnovers. The Tigers fumbled once and QB Payton Thorne threw four interceptions. His last two interceptions came on Auburn’s final two drives of the game after the Tigers cut Cal’s lead to seven with 6:06 remaining. With a schedule that includes Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri and Alabama, a win over Cal would have been a big step toward bowl qualification. Instead, Auburn needs at least three wins in the SEC to reach the postseason.

Arkansas: You were so, so close, Razorbacks. Arkansas led Oklahoma State 21-7 in the first half before outscoring the Hogs 24-10 in the second half in a 39-31 double-overtime win over OSU. OSU’s first score came on a pick-six and Arkansas fumbled twice in the second half. Those turnovers led to 10 points by the Cowboys as they slowly crept back into the game. It’s a bad loss for the Razorbacks, but there’s still reason for optimism. Oklahoma State is a Big 12 title contender, and Bobby Petrino’s offense works. Arkansas racked up 648 yards of total offense after scoring 10 TDs on 10 possessions in Week 1.

SMU: The Mustangs were a potential sleeper pick in their first year of ACC play. They are now 2-1 after an ugly 18-15 loss at home to BYU on Friday night and have a QB controversy in the making. Preston Stone started the game but was benched after throwing four passes for four yards. He was replaced by Kevin Jennings and he wasn’t much better. Jennings finished the game 15 of 32 for 140 yards and an interception. SMU has played two games against FBS opponents so far and hasn’t looked great in either one. In any case, the Mustangs are off next week before playing TCU.

State Kent: It’s been a rough couple of years for the Golden Flashes. Kent State fell to 1-13 in Kenni Burns’ tenure with a 23-17 loss to FCS St. Francis (PA) on Saturday. The Red Flash entered their Week 2 game following an 18-10 loss to Dayton in Week 1 and made a quarterback switch to redshirt freshman Jeff Hoenstine. He completed 11 of his 22 passes for 195 yards and St. Frances rushed for over 200 yards on the Kent State defense.