Time to examine this week’s autopsy report in football.

Last week, the morgue was suspiciously quiet. This week, somebody apparently left the door unlocked.

The No. 1 team in the country blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead. A top-six team favored by more than three touchdowns lost to a program that had not beaten an FBS opponent in nearly two years. Another top-11 team walked into Ann Arbor as the favorite and scored 10 points.

And the NFL joined the party with a nine-and-a-half-point favorite getting beaten by double digits.

Grab the gloves. We have work to do.

College Football

No. 1 Ohio State: No. 4 Texas 24, Ohio State 23

AP ranking: No. 1 Ohio State
Opponent: No. 4 Texas
Result: Texas 24, Ohio State 23
Betting context: Ohio State was a slight favorite in the late market
Opponent status: Ranked No. 4

This was not an upset in the traditional talent-gap sense. Texas entered fourth in the AP poll, playing at home in Austin, and was perfectly capable of beating Ohio State.

It was how Ohio State lost that earns the Buckeyes the first slab in this week’s examination.

Ohio State led 23-3 entering the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes had forced two Texas turnovers, Julian Sayin had repeatedly found Jeremiah Smith, and Texas had spent three quarters looking incapable of generating enough offense to threaten the defending national champions.

Then the cause of death became failure to finish.

Arch Manning completed 11 of his final 15 passes and directed three fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Texas cut the deficit to 23-10, then 23-17, and suddenly Ohio State needed one more scoring possession to put the game away. Connor Hawkins had the opportunity, but his 45-yard field goal attempt missed with 4:16 remaining.

Texas drove 73 yards in 12 plays. Hollywood Smothers punched in the winning touchdown from one yard with 25 seconds left. Sayin’s final desperation pass was intercepted.

The most painful part for Ohio State is that its stars largely delivered. Sayin threw for 278 yards, while Smith caught eight passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. But the Buckeyes produced only a field goal after halftime and completely stopped applying pressure offensively once Texas found life.

The Longhorns’ 20-point fourth-quarter comeback was the largest ever against an AP No. 1 team.

Cause of death: Premature celebration.

Ohio State did not get beaten for four quarters. It got beaten for one.

Unfortunately, it was the one they count last.

No. 6 Oregon: Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31

AP ranking: No. 6 Oregon
Opponent: Oklahoma State
Result: Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31
Closing spread: Oregon -23.5
Opponent status: Unranked

Now this is why the autopsy report exists.

Oregon entered Stillwater as a 23.5-point favorite against an Oklahoma State program that had lost 12 consecutive games and had not defeated an FBS opponent in 21 games.

The Cowboys had also lost to Tulsa the previous week.

Then they hung 39 on Oregon.

Drew Mestemaker authored the upset with 317 passing yards, two touchdown passes and another 109 yards rushing, including a 10-yard fourth-quarter touchdown. Oklahoma State piled up 554 yards while holding Oregon to only 281. That is not a fluky turnover-fest in which a giant trips over its own shoelaces. Oklahoma State essentially doubled Oregon’s offensive production.

The strangest part was Oregon’s defense keeping the game respectable on the scoreboard. The Ducks scored two defensive touchdowns, meaning the offense was even less productive than the 31 points suggest. Dante Moore threw for 191 yards and two scores, but Oregon never established the kind of offensive control expected from a national-title contender against a team coming off a 1-11 season.

One year earlier, Oregon had beaten Oklahoma State 69-3.

Twelve months later, Oklahoma State fans were ripping down the goalpost and depositing it in Theta Pond.

There are upsets created by turnovers, special teams weirdness or one quarterback playing out of his mind.

This was more disturbing.

Oklahoma State was simply better.

Cause of death: Massive internal bleeding.

Getting upset as a 23.5-point favorite is bad.

Getting outgained 554-281 while doing it requires a much larger Y-incision.

No. 11 Oklahoma: Michigan 17, Oklahoma 10

AP ranking: No. 11 Oklahoma
Opponent: Michigan
Result: Michigan 17, Oklahoma 10
Closing spread: Oklahoma -5.5
Opponent status: Unranked

Michigan spent the previous week needing a controversial restoration of one second and a Hail Mary to escape Western Michigan.

The voters responded by throwing the Wolverines out of the AP Top 25.

Oklahoma apparently interpreted that as evidence Michigan had forgotten how to play football.

It had not.

The Sooners entered the Big House as a 5.5-point road favorite, a number that had climbed dramatically after Michigan’s Week 1 disaster. Instead, Michigan’s defense turned the afternoon into a street fight and dragged Oklahoma into exactly the kind of game the Wolverines could win.

Oklahoma was shut out in the first half and finished just 3-for-13 on third down. Michigan consistently disrupted drives, with John Henry Daley producing three tackles for loss while the Wolverines prevented the Sooners from establishing sustained offensive rhythm.

The irony is that Michigan hardly played clean football itself. The Wolverines committed 11 penalties, continuing an ugly early-season trend, but Oklahoma could not capitalize.

For Michigan, it was an enormous rehabilitation job. One week after looking like one of the country’s most overrated teams, the Wolverines beat a ranked opponent while holding it to 10 points. Bryce Underwood and the offense did not need to become spectacular. They simply needed to avoid the catastrophic mistakes that nearly sank Michigan against Western Michigan.

Oklahoma arrived 1-0 after a 51-0 demolition of UTEP.

Turns out Michigan’s defense was slightly less accommodating.

Cause of death: Third-down asphyxiation.

Three conversions on 13 attempts is a difficult way to survive a road game.

NFL

The NFL portion of the autopsy report only admits teams that closed as underdogs of 3.5 points or more and won outright.

That eliminates several Week 1 winners that might feel like upsets. The Giants beat Dallas but closed around +3. The Jets won at Tennessee but were only +1.5. Minnesota actually closed as a slight favorite over Green Bay, and Las Vegas was favored over Miami.

Two teams meet our threshold.

Arizona Cardinals (+9.5): Cardinals 26, Chargers 14

Closing spread: Los Angeles Chargers -9.5
Result: Arizona 26, Los Angeles 14

We begin with the largest outright NFL upset of Week 1.

Arizona entered Los Angeles as a 9.5-point underdog, carrying a nine-game losing streak from 2025 and beginning a new era under Mike LaFleur.

The Cardinals left with a 12-point win.

Arizona did not play a spotless game. The Cardinals accumulated 111 penalty yards and missed a field goal. Those are normally excellent ingredients for losing as a double-digit underdog.

Instead, Los Angeles provided an even more toxic recipe.

Arizona entered the fourth quarter leading 16-14, then Simi Fehoko came through the middle and blocked a Chargers punt deep in Los Angeles territory. That became the first crack in the dam. Arizona’s defense followed with two major fourth-quarter stops while the offense did enough to stretch the margin to 26-14.

Jacob Brissett threw for 277 yards and a touchdown, with Trey McBride catching nine passes for 95 yards and a score. The Cardinals also got enough from rookie Jeremiyah Love, who forced six missed tackles on only 11 carries.

More importantly, Arizona won in all three phases. The blocked punt was the defining special-teams play, the defense repeatedly turned away Justin Herbert and the Chargers in the fourth quarter, and the offense avoided giving Los Angeles the short fields Arizona’s penalties threatened to create.

LaFleur became the first non-interim Cardinals coach to win his debut since Don Coryell in 1973.

Cause of death: Multi-organ failure.

When a 9.5-point favorite gets beaten on offense, defense and special teams, there is not much mystery left for the coroner.

San Francisco 49ers (+3.5): 49ers 27, Rams 7

Closing spread: Los Angeles Rams -3.5
Result: San Francisco 27, Los Angeles 7

The NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia produced the week’s other qualifying underdog winner, and this one was not particularly subtle either.

Los Angeles closed as a 3.5-point favorite in Melbourne. San Francisco responded by winning by 20.

The 49ers rushed for 174 yards on 30 carries, with their offensive line controlling the game and allowing San Francisco to lean on both Christian McCaffrey and rookie Kaelon Black. Brock Purdy completed 25 of 34 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns, overcoming an early interception.

The Rams briefly led 7-3.

Then San Francisco scored the game’s final 24 points.

The decisive sequence came near the end of the third quarter. The 49ers stuffed Los Angeles on fourth-and-goal, then responded with a 99-yard touchdown drive capped by Purdy finding Deebo Samuel. A potential Rams touchdown became a two-score deficit, and Los Angeles never recovered.

Matthew Stafford was held to 155 passing yards before being replaced late, and the Rams converted only 2-of-9 third downs. That is especially jarring considering Los Angeles entered the season with one of the league’s most respected offenses.

There was also an intriguing logistical subplot. San Francisco traveled to Australia well in advance and practiced locally. The Rams arrived roughly 28 hours before kickoff.

By the second half, one team certainly looked more comfortable in Melbourne.

Cause of death: Jet lag with blunt-force trauma.

The Rams flew halfway around the planet to discover the 49ers had brought their running game through customs.

And with that, Week 2’s college football and Week 1’s NFL examinations are complete.

Five bodies. Two top-six college teams. Two NFL favorites. One goalpost in a pond.

Now that is a proper autopsy report.