Group of Five: 2017 college football Week 2 power rankings

Colorado State has already experienced the best of times and the worst of times for a Group of Five contender. Opening with a home game against Oregon State in Week 0, the Rams crushed the Beavers 59-27. Nick Stevens began to look like some sort of dark-horse Heisman contender, as he completed two-thirds of his passes for 334 yards and three scores against the Beavers secondary.

Then the Rams went south to Denver for the annual Rocky Mountain Showdown against state rival Colorado. Mike Bobo‘s team had a shot at winning a second straight game against a Pac-12 opponent. Instead, Stevens looked like a switch had been flipped. The veteran completed just over half his passes against the Buffaloes, his 304 yards largely meaningless after two interceptions ended drives.

Colorado State tumbled 17-3, and Colorado started its Pac-12 South title defense on a winning note. Honestly, though, it is hardly the worst loss in the world for Colorado State. If the confluence of Week 1 games by Pac-12 South teams is any indication, the Buffaloes will be right in the thick of that division race this year. Everything is still available for a still-skilled Rams squad.

They fall three spots, however, in large part because of the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature between their two games. Their Week 2 game against FCS Abilene Christian will only tell us so much about where Colorado State really stands, and then a trip to Tuscaloosa looms. If the Rams knocked off No. 1 Alabama, it would be the upset of the season and wipe away the stain of the Colorado loss completely.