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Winners and Losers of Week Two

Felix Anudike
Felix Anudike (USA Today)

WINNERS

1. BIG 12: The conference is 4-0 versus the Pac-12 after the first two weeks of the season. Two of those wins were from BYU, over Utah and Arizona. Kansas State defeated Stanford in week one and TCU topped Cal in week two.

2. BOB BOWLSBY: He acted quickly and swiftly after losing his two top money-making institutions, Texas and Oklahoma, to the SEC. Soon after those programs made it official and accepted invites from Greg Sankey, Bob Bowlsby wasted no time with his Big 12 schools to add UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston.

3. FELIX ANUDIKE: After a star performance against Southern Illinois on Saturday, he was named the newcomer of the week by the Big 12. Felix Anudike recorded three sacks and forced two fumbles in being very impactful in holding off the Salukis for a 31-23 K-State victory.

4. JOE KLANDERMAN: Although they had some shaky moments here and there, in both contests, the defense has played lights out for the most part under the watch of Joe Klanderman. They nearly pitched a shut-out against Stanford and their second half play sealed the win in the home-opener.

5. BYU: Not only did the Cougars receive an invitation to join the Big 12 and accept it, they won the "Holy War" after years of falling in their rivalry to Utah. The crowd stormed the field after the significant victory for the program.

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Skylar Thompson
Skylar Thompson (Getty)

LOSERS

1. INJURY LUCK: Football is great. What isn't great is injuries and Skylar Thompson has had the worst luck in regards to them. He lost most of the 2020 season and the concern was that it was happening once again for the 2021 season after he was helped off the field in Manhattan on Saturday. Fortunately, the news doesn't appear as grim as it was feared. He's out indefinitely, per Chris Klieman, but it is not believed to be a season-ending injury.

2. NOTRE DAME: It hasn't been a great start to their season. They almost blew a lead to Florida State, who went on to lose to Jacksonville State, and narrowly escaped their home-opener against Toledo.

3. IOWA STATE: Not only did they lose once again to their in-state rival Iowa Hawkeyes, a team that Matt Campbell still hasn't defeated, they also had to bench starting quarterback Brock Purdy.

4. HUDSON CARD: There's an argument that the loser should be Steve Sarkisian. Hudson Card was fantastic versus Louisiana in Texas' season-opener but struggled in game two against Arkansas. Because of that, he was removed from the game and Casey Thompson has been announced as the starter for this week's contest.

5. WASHINGTON: They've began the season by losing to FCS program Montana and being smacked handily by Michigan.

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