35 contestants survived week 1. Five contestants entered the competition a week late to bring the alive survivor pool to 39 entering the weekend. Two of the newcomers fell to the pits of the losers' pool and they were joined by two of last week's holdovers.
Two contestants needed Purdue's defense to hold Wake Forest short of the line to gain on 4th and 15 in double overtime. That's not a situation you want to be betting on. LordFerentzofHouseKinnick and Whipples were eliminated due to their poor decision to trust the Boilermakers in a game against a P4 team (reminder that Purdue's most recent P4 win came against Indiana in 2023).
They were joined by newcomer Sasser who managed to miss both their week 2 pick and their catchup pick when the Illini and Gophers tripped over their non-conference matchups. MV rounds out the four eliminations of week 2. MV saw enough from rutger against UMass to roll the dice on them in week 2 against a theoretically better opponent.
Four players also failed to understand the rules of the competition. I'll prompt them in the comments, but I've been forced to make the following judgment rulings. Feel free to appeal in the comments if you are affected.
dlrhawks: You selected both MSU and Nebraska for week 2. You had already taken your week 1-4 extra pick in week 1 and only needed to select one team. Both Sparty and the children of the corn won, so I'm not going to eliminate you. I assume you would want to save Nebraska for later over MSU but if you feel differently let me know.
hoeger: You selected both MSU and wisconsin for week 2. You had already taken your week 1-4 extra pick in week 1 and only needed to select one team. Both Sparty and the trashpandas won, so I'm not going to eliminate you, but you need to tell me which team you would have picked. I'm assuming MSU unless you tell me otherwise.
MNW: Dear leader also decided to pick two teams in week 2 after picking two teams in week 1. MNW was in the losers' pool already and selected both Michigan and The Ohio State. The Buckeyes actually lost, but Michigan won so I'm considering MNW eliminated. The Wildcat didn't really want to be in the losers' pool any longer anyway.
thumpasaurus: You said "Sparty yes" last week. As I've already clarified with you, this meant you were picking Sparty to win. Unfortunately you trusted rutger in week 1, so you shouldn't have been picking a team to win but a team to lose. You are still alive in the losers' pool thanks to my rule allowing contestants to miss up to one week in weeks 1-3 so long as they make it up by the following week. Pick two Big Ten losers this week to continue.
To everyone else, no new contestants at this point in the season. You'll have to wait until next season. I'll be listing the teams everyone has picked, number of FCS games potentially left (you don't have to use all of them), and number of picks I need from each user this week. Any future failures to follow the rules will result in elimination. You've been warned.
The Rules
I'm not typing all of that out again. Click the week 0/week 1 article and read all the way through.
BoilerUp89
BoilerUp89
Survivor's Pool
70 total players participated this season. We are down to 36 after week 2. Six legends, thirty cowards.
Legends*
| FCS Picks Left | Picks this week | Teams Picked | |
| ExiledinVT | 3 | 1 | MD, MSU, UNL |
| JayMPSU | 3 | 1 | MSU, Wash, UCLA |
| meangene86 | 3 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU |
| RockyMtnBlue | 3 | 1 | MSU, UNL, PSU |
| scarlet_pimpernal_hand | 3 | 1 | MD, PSU, UCLA |
| tech01 | 3 | 1 | MSU, UNL, Wash |
*for now. If they pick a win over a FCS they join the cowards.
Cowards
There's been a popular trend among the cowards. We've survived by not taking rutger but 20 of us have taken the other three teams least trusted entering this season.
| FCS Picks Left | Picks this week | Teams Picked | |
| AlmaOtter | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Atinat | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Badgersrox | 1 | 1 | MD, Purdue, USC |
| Biff | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Boilermaker5 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| BoilerUp89 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| BoilerUp89's nephew | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Bridgeport | 0 | 1 | MD, Purdue, wiscon |
| cericjo | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| DeadRead | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| dlrhawks | 1 | 1 | MD, Purdue AND MSU/UNL |
| hoeger | 1 or 2 | 1 | MD, UNL AND MSU/wiscon |
| Hoosiers47 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| HoustonBoiler | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| HuskersFirst | 2 | 1 or 2 | MD, Purdue |
| LTW_O_MI | 2 | 1 or 2 | MSU, Purdue |
| Mlurker19 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Nothsa | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| NU06er | 2 | 1 or 2 | MSU, Purdue |
| OhioOtter | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| redbear | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| riclang | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Rubber_Duck | 2 | 1 or 2 | MSU, Purdue |
| SeeJayBee | 1 | 1 | NW, Purdue, wiscon |
| SkyBlueH20 | 2 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| Tralfaz | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, wisc |
| Wacker Era Survivor | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| wesd2005 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| winless | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
| ziowa9 | 1 | 1 | MD, MSU, Purdue |
Week 3 picks made previously: NU06er (Minnesota) & multiple week pick planned for week 4, Wacker Era Survivor (PSU), LTW_O_MI (UCLA & Minnesota). Any of these may be changed up until kickoff.
Losers' Pool
Eight contestants declined to participate in week 2 after being subjected to rutger in week 1. Per the preseason rules you are welcome to participate in week 3 but need to make two picks if you are doing so. Same goes for thumpasaurus.
Meanwhile ten contestants thought Michigan would lose to Oklahoma. They were mistaken. We salute the following leaders in leaving the competition: Broated Nutcrackle, Hachigi2, IronMonkee, RunzaBall, and vaudvillain. We also acknowledge the exit of the following cowards: DtownK, glassjawed, IUinVA, IWasSayingBooUrns, and MNW. Better luck next year.
| Picks this week | Teams Picked | ||
| COWARD | 87RAS | 1 | Illinois, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | ajcusterIU | 1 | OSU, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | BoilerUp81 | 1 or 2 | OSU, rutger |
| COWARD | MiddleWestAverage | 1 | OSU, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | MNBornAndBred | 1 | Minn, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | MV | 1 | MSU, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | TheDuluthPerspective | 1 | OSU, Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | WarlockOfWestwood | 1 | OSU, Purdue, rutger |
| LEGEND | allthegoodnamesrgone | 1 or 2 | OSU, rutger |
| LEGEND | BradNortmansActingCoach | 1 | MSU, OSU, rutger |
| LEGEND | LordFerentzofHouseKinnick | 1 or 2 | MSU, Purdue |
| LEGEND | Sasser | 1 or 2 | Illinois, Minn |
| LEGEND | Transient Buckeye | 1 | UNL, OSU, rutger |
| LEGEND | waw | 1 | MSU, OSU, rutger |
| LEGEND | Whipples | 1 | MSU, UNL, Purdue |
| COWARD | Boilerup86 | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | KindOf | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | KrazyKarl | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | Louis Street | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | Mochila03 | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | Northsiders16 | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | RutgersRealm | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| COWARD | thumpasaurus | 2 | Purdue, rutger |
| LEGEND | NUDave | 2 | rutger, USC |
Week 3 Games
All times ET
Friday, September 18
Portland State Vikings (FCS) at Oregon Ducks, 10:30 PM
Saturday, September 19
Kent State Golden Flashes at The Ohio State Buckeyes, Noon
Buffalo Bulls at Penn State Nittany Lions, Noon
Akron Zips at Minnesota Golden Gophers, Noon
Eastern Michigan Emus Eagles at wisconsin Badgers, 12:30 PM
Southern Illinois Salukis (FCS) at Illinois Fighting Illini, 2 PM
USC Trojans at rutger Scarlet Knights, 3:30 PM
UTEP Miners at Michigan Wolverines, 3:30 PM
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Indiana Hoosiers, 4 PM
Northern Iowa Panthers (FCS) at Iowa Hawkeyes, 4 PM
North Dakota Hawks (FCS) at Nebraska Cornhuskers, 7:15 PM
Eastern Washington Eagles (FCS) at Washington Huskies, 7:30 PM
MSU Spartans at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 7:30 PM
Colorado Buffaloes at Northwestern Wildcats, 7:30 PM
Virginia Tech Hokies at Maryland Terrapins, 7:30 PM
Purdue Boilermakers at UCLA Bruins, 11 PM
BoilerUp89's pick for week 3: With this slate, I'm between Minnesota and wisconsin as I want to save my last FCS pick for a rainy day. Week 3 is too early for me to plan out the rest of the season, but just a glance at their future schedules tells me Minnesota is the better play here. I'll take the Gophers as I think this is their last win that should be a layup.
Good luck everyone. As always, please let me know of any mistakes in the comments.
