The Wildest Stats from the First 2 Weeks of College Football

We've had just a couple of weeks of the 2022 college football season, and they've given us incredible moments, including Appalachian State's beating then-No. 6 Texas A&M and Marshall's defeating then-No. 8 Notre Dame.

They've also given us impressive statistics. Streaks have been extended or broken, and records have been set.

Let's run through the wildest statistics from the season so far.

Marcus Freeman's 0-3 start is the worst for any head coach in Notre Dame history. The Fighting Irish were defeated by Ohio State in Week 1 and then shockingly upset in their home opener against Marshall, losing 26-21. The three games date back to last season, as ND fell to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Marshall's win marked the second time in program history it has knocked off a Top 10 opponent. The Herd's first was against No. 6 Kansas State in 2003.

The loss to Marshall marked the first to an unranked, non-Power Five team as a Top 10 team for the Fighting Irish since 1996 (Air Force). It also snapped Notre Dame's 42-game winning streak against unranked foes as a ranked team.

And the Irish's schedule doesn't get much easier. ND plays a 2-0 Cal team at home in Week 3, followed by a road trip to UNC and then a neutral-site game against No. 12 BYU in Las Vegas.

The Irish also have Clemson and USC on their schedule in November.

Unsurprisingly, Nebraska fired head coach Scott Frost on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the homestanding Cornhuskers lost 45-42 to the Sun Belt's Georgia Southern. The loss dropped Nebraska to 1-2, as Frost's team fell 31-28 against Northwestern in Week 0.

Perhaps the most embarrassing statistic to come out of the latest loss? Nebraska was 214-0 when it scored 35 points or more at Memorial Stadium. It also marked the second loss to a Sun Belt team under Frost, as NU lost to Troy in 2018 in his first game as head coach.

Following the Cornhuskers' 3-9 finish last season, Nebraska restructured Frost's contract. His buyout was set to be reduced by half—to $7.5 million—on Oct. 1. But Nebraska didn't want to wait any longer to move on. Also:

Frost, who was hired in December 2017 after leading UCF to a 19-7 mark over two seasons, finished with the second-worst record in program history. He went 16-31 over five seasons. Bill Jennings, the head coach from 1957 to '61, finished 15-34-1.

Week 2 was a wild one. Though the slate looked like it might be boring, it turned out to be thrilling. Here's a quick look at some of the upsets we saw, some of which we've mentioned:

• Appalachian State 17, No. 6 Texas A&M 14
  
• Marshall 26, No. 8 Notre Dame 21
• Washington State 17, No. 19 Wisconsin 14
• Georgia Southern 45, Nebraska 42

Notre Dame was a 20.5-point favorite. TAMU was an 18-point favorite. Wisconsin was a 17.5-point favorite. And Nebraska was favored by 23.5 points. With those losses, Week 2 marked the first time since 1978 that four teams favored by 17.5 points lost on the same day, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Other ranked teams that were favorites or slight underdogs lost Saturday, as well. No. 12 Florida fell to No. 20 Kentucky—we'll talk more about the Wildcats in a bit—and No. 25 Houston lost at Texas Tech in double overtime. No. 10 Baylor fell in two overtimes to No. 25 BYU. No. 17 Pitt lost in overtime against No. 24 Tennessee. Six Top 25 teams losing to nonconference opponents tied for the third-most on a single day since the Associated Press poll era began in 1936.

According to the Sun Belt, it is the first Group of Five conference with multiple victories over AP Top 10 opponents on the same day since 2003.

Kentucky went into Gainesville and dismantled then-No. 12 Florida 26-16 on Saturday night. The Wildcats have now won two consecutive games against the Gators for the first time since 1976 and '77.

Florida was shut out in the second half for the first time since 2017. Quarterback Anthony Richardson greatly regressed from his Week 1 performance against Utah, in which he accounted for 374 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns.

Against Kentucky, Richardson finished 14-of-35 for 143 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. He had just four yards on six carries. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that's the worst completion rate for a Gators quarterback since Treon Harris in 2015 against Georgia.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops also reached a big career milestone, becoming Kentucky's winningest head coach with 61 victories. He surpassed Bear Bryant, who won 60 games in Lexington from 1946 to '53.

The Mountaineers are having a thrilling season. In Week 1, App State came oh-so-close to upsetting North Carolina. In the fourth quarter alone, the Mountaineers scored 40 points and put up 338 yards, only to fall 63-61 thanks to a failed two-point conversion. The combined total of 62 fourth-quarter points in that game was just one shy of an FBS record for most points in any quarter.

Appalachian State made up for the loss on the road against Texas A&M on Saturday. The Mountaineers upset the Aggies 17-14 while outgaining Jimbo Fisher's team 315-186. It helped that they had 82 offensive snaps to Texas A&M's 38. The victory marked App State's first win over an AP Top 10 team since it moved to the FBS in 2014. The Mountaineers' second-highest-ranked opponent they beat was No. 14 Coastal Carolina last season.

Many people remember Appalachian State's 34-32 victory over Michigan in 2007. But that was when the Mountaineers were still an FCS team playing in the Southern Conference.

Alabama came dangerously close to losing on the road to Texas, needing a field goal with 10 seconds left to win 20-19. It was the first time Alabama played a nonconference road game since it beat Penn State in Happy Valley in 2011. In recent years, Alabama has played most of its challenging nonconference games at neutral sites.

With the victory, Alabama extended its nonconference regular-season winning streak to 54, which is the longest of its kind.

Clemson, meanwhile, has achieved an impressive winning streak against unranked opponents when it is ranked inside the AP Top Five. With the Tigers' wins against Georgia Tech in Week 1 and Furman in Week 2, Clemson has won 35 straight games against unranked teams as an AP Top Five team. Per ESPN Stats & Info, that's the longest active streak.

Clemson has seven unranked opponents remaining on its schedule, including next week's game against Louisiana Tech.

For the first time since 2016, Florida State has started 2-0. That was also the last time FSU finished with more than seven wins, and it was Jimbo Fisher's second-to-last year in Tallahassee.

The 'Noles beat Duquesne 47-7 in Week 0 and LSU in New Orleans 24-23 in Week 1. FSU had a bye during Week 2 before its ACC season begins on the road against Louisville on Friday night.

Kansas, unlike Florida State, has been the laughingstock of college football for the last decade-plus. The Jayhawks haven't had a winning season since going 8-5 in 2008. Kansas' highest win total since 2009 is three.

But this year, the Jayhawks look like a program that's in much better shape. Kansas opened the season with a 56-10 win over FCS program Tennessee Tech. Last week, the Jayhawks went to Morgantown and upset West Virginia, which was a 14-point favorite. The victory marked the first win for Kansas over WVU since 2013 and put the Jayhawks at 2-0 for the first time since 2011.

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold, who is in his second season, is off to a much stronger start than his predecessors:

The Jayhawks offense is much improved. Quarterback Jalon Daniels finished Saturday with 219 passing yards and three touchdowns and had another 85 yards on the ground.

Perhaps the most impressive thing is that the Jayhawks rank first in the nation in scoring offense. Kansas!

I'm not even mad, Iowa. I'm impressed.

Through two games, Iowa has scored just 14 points—with only one touchdown. Per the Action Network's Brett McMurphy, Iowa is the only team in the nation with more punts (16) than points.

The Hawkeyes scored a touchdown in their 10-7 loss to Iowa State on Saturday. In Week 1 against South Dakota State, the Hawkeyes won 7-3, but they didn't score a touchdown. No, they got seven points in the most Iowa way possible: a field goal and two safeties.

The Hawkeyes rank last in scoring offense, total offense and first downs. Iowa is also tied for last in 10-plus-yard plays with nine.

Don't sleep on the Fighting Illini defense, folks. Through three games, Illinois is 2-1, with much thanks to its stout defense.

The unit ranks 24th in total defense, 19th in scoring defense and 18th in opponents' third-down conversions, allowing teams to move the chains on just 23.4 percent of their attempts. Illinois has allowed just 32 points and ranks 23rd in defensive S&P+. Here's more from ESPN's Bill Connelly:

In Ryan Walters' first season as Bret Bielema's defensive coordinator at Illinois, the Fighting Illini leaped from 88th to 32nd in defensive SP+. They lost just enough at linebacker and in the secondary to make you wonder if they could avoid some regression in 2022.

To say the least, early returns are positive. Illinois ranks 10th in success rate allowed, 11th in three-and-outs forced per drive (42%) and 17th in points allowed per drive (0.8).

Defensive lineman Keith Randolph Jr. leads the unit with 17 tackles and four tackles for loss. Freshman linebacker Gabe Jacas is tied for 23rd nationally in sacks with two.

This Illinois defense might be good enough to make the Fighting Illini a dark horse in the Big Ten West.