Another week of college football action is behind us.

But what a week it was.

It began with Miami throttling Florida A&M last Thursday night, but the Saturday slate was tremendous, including the big Texas comeback against Ohio State.

Let’s try and sum up just a slice of the week by looking at three teams trending up, and three teams trending down.

Early last week, Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker vowed on social media that Week 2 would be “different” for the Cowboys.

That seemed an unwise prediction, as the Pokes were listless in a loss to Tulsa and now faced a matchup with preseason No. 2 Oregon in their home opener. But while that prediction might have seemed unwise to those of us on the outside, looking back it makes perfect sense.

More on that in a moment.

Oklahoma State controlled Oregon in a 39-31 win, and that scoreline does not do the Cowboys’ win justice. 14 of those points for Oregon came off fluke turnovers, and the Cowboys outgained the Ducks 554 to 281. As for Mestemaker, he threw for 317 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and added a dramatic scoring run in the win.

After the victory — which snapped a 21-game losing streak against FBS opponents — Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris said that the coaching staff “challenged” the players in what was not a “pleasant” week:

“We challenged (our players) this week in a really tough way and tough manner and we had some meetings that weren’t very pleasant in here. And they had to listen to how bad they were after hearing how good they were for such a long time. To see them practice this last week, the intensity, the focus, the effort they had … for them to have that moment, for me as a coach, that’s what’s rewarding for me.”

Maybe Tulsa is just very, very good?

But the Cowboys certainly lived up to the hype after the win, and received 36 votes in the AP Top 25 that was released on Sunday.

Maybe we should have seen this coming.

That was the case made by Alex Kirshner on Sunday. Yes, the reason for the Ducks’ high preseason ranking came down to the players that returned, as Oregon saw potential NFL Draft hopefuls, leading with Dante Moore, opt for another year in Eugene.

But as Kirshner notes, the departures were significant. Not on the roster, but on the sideline:

I’d argue that this loss has been in the works since last November, when other programs weighed in on Oregon’s success by hiring away Lanning’s top lieutenants. Oregon lost offensive coordinator Will Stein to Kentucky and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi to Cal, replacing them with international promotions Drew Mehringer and Chris Hampton, respectively.

That staffing turnover then met the unfortunate timing of Oregon’s nonconference schedule. The Ducks almost got bitten at home against Boise State last week, surviving 34-27 after getting a second scare from the Broncos in three seasons. Then came Oklahoma State, an easy opponent on paper, but only if you weren’t paying much attention to the college football offseason. The better way to look at Oklahoma State was as a talented offense that happened to have moved into the shell of a terrible program. The Cowboys hired Morris from North Texas, whose offense finished No. 1 in SP+ last season. Morris brought quarterback Drew Mestemaker, record-setting running back Caleb Hawkins, receiver Wyatt Young, and several members of his offensive staff with him. Oklahoma State had not shown much in its opening loss to Tulsa, but the ingredients for an ambush were sitting there.

Of course, that is little solace to Oregon, who cratered outside the top 20 in the AP Top 25 released Sunday, checking in at 21. But the Oregon team we saw on Saturday (and frankly the one we saw against Boise State a week ago) looks like a team that needs to turn things around in a hurry.

In this column a week ago, one of the biggest bits of pushback from readers came at the omission of Michigan in the “Trending Down” category.

There was certainly a case to be made for putting the Wolverines in that category. A narrow win over Western Michigan despite being heavy favorites — and needing a controversial second crack at a Hail Mary to pull it off — were all the bits of evidence you needed to make that case.

(The fact that I did not make that case probably speaks to my blind spots as a lawyer, but that is a conversation for another time).

But as far as redemption stories go, it was a big one from Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines. After facing a week of questions about his future under center for Michigan, Underwood threw for 111 yards and ran for 87 more (along with a touchdown) as the Wolverines knocked off then-No. 11 Oklahoma by a final score of 17-10.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes for us to win,” said Underwood after the game.

It has not been conventional, but the Wolverines are 2-0, ahead of 1-1 Ohio State in the Big Ten. And with a tuneup on tap against UTEP before Michigan’s Big Ten schedule begins, the trend is in their favor.

Ahead of Week 0, I wrote that the UNLV-Memphis game was the biggest of the slate, as it was a battle of teams hoping to win conference titles, and perhaps secure a playoff berth.

Memphis is now 2-1 after losing to Boise State on Saturday.

As for the Rebels …

While UNLV bounced back from that Week 0 loss with a 21-6 victory over Hawaii, the Rebels were throttled 44-76on Saturday night by North Texas. You know, the team that lost Eric Morris, Drew Mestemaker, and a ton of its roster to Oklahoma State when the coach left for Stillwater?

Head coach Dan Mullen put the blame squarely on his shoulders. “When you have bad football, that’s bad coaching,” said the UNLV coach after the loss.

Things get much tougher from here for the Rebels. After a game against Akron to close out September, the Rebels open October with games against California, North Dakota State, and Air Force.

Much has been said and written about Ryan Day and the Ohio State coaching staff, as the Buckeyes gave away a 23-3 lead Saturday night in a 24-23 loss to the Longhorns.

I know, because I wrote one of those pieces.

But what has been somewhat lost in the coverage of this game was the comeback from Arch Manning and the Longhorns. Yes, had Ohio State handled the final 15 minutes differently, they could have closed out that game with an impressive win on the road.

However, we should give full credit to the Longhorns for the comeback. Texas scored touchdowns on all three of their fourth-quarter possessions, with Manning stepping up and making the big throws when it counted. Hollywood Smothers earned the tough yards on the ground when he needed to, along with fellow running back Raleek Brown, and the Longhorns defense got the stops they needed to over the final 15 minutes to keep Texas in striking distance.

The Longhorns moved to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday with the win, and will get a final non-conference game against UTSA this weekend before their SEC slog begins.

And perhaps the importance of this comeback can be told through what you were reading along with me on social media as the Buckeyes built a 23-3 lead. It felt as if a blowout loss at home would be a deathblow to Texas’ title hopes, even with the 12-team field. The Longhorns were being written off in real-time, as the barbs about Manning’s decision-making streamed down various social media timelines.

But over the final 15 minutes, the Longhorns changed the conversation.

Honestly, I’m not sure trending down does this situation justice.

Two weeks ago, Rutgers lost to Massachusetts in a game where the Scarlet Knights were anywhere from 28.5-point favorites to 29.5-point favorites. The win snapped a 16-game losing streak for the Minutemen, as well as a 23-game losing streak against FBS competition.

Then Rutgers made the trip to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College in the “Red Bandana Game,” played in honor of Boston College lacrosse player Welles Crowther, who lost his life on 9/11 after guiding more than a dozen people to safety at the World Trade Center.

Boston College entered Friday night’s game 0-1, and coming off a 2-10 record a season ago.

Final score: Boston College 28, Rutgers 21.

There is little doubt that the Scarlet Knights are the worst power conference team in the FBS right now, and making matters worse, they welcome Big Ten foe USC to New Jersey next week. The Scarlet Knights then get a winnable game against Howard, before the defending national champions come to town.