A college football season only a week old has already had its signature moment.

Appalachian State’s stunning upset of Michigan set the sport on its collective ear on the season’s opening Saturday. The loss so dominated the headlines that scant little attention was paid to Notre Dame’s embarrassing effort against Georgia Tech.

This Saturday, both programs can earn a measure of redemption — which will also be a theme for the ACC. The nation’s most disappointing conference a year ago sends a pair of its top teams to face powers from the SEC and Big 12.

OREGON (1–0) at MICHIGAN (0–1)
3:30 p.m., ABC

What looked like a road bump in the Wolverines’ non-conference schedule now looms as a defining test of Michigan’s character after its debacle against Appalachian State.

In Oregon, Michigan will be facing another team that runs the spread-option offense that it had so much trouble defending against the Division I-AA Mountaineers. Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon ran for 141 yards in a season-opening win over Houston and has to be licking his chops at the thought of facing a Michigan defense that looked completely clueless in defending the spread.

What will be the state of Michigan’s psyche? Coach Lloyd Carr, likely still secure despite the calls for his head this week, faces one of his toughest motivational tasks — how to convince his devastated team it still has something to play for.

Despite tumbling from fifth in the preseason polls to unranked, Michigan is still a solid favorite in this contest. The Wolverines’ running game should have little trouble with Oregon’s porous rush defense. That will put quarterback Chad Henne into advantageous down-and-distance situations, where the Michigan coaches have to hope that he will make better decisions than he did a week ago.

A win here and Michigan will be slightly less of a laughingstock, with further chances to improve its reputation against Notre Dame and Penn State the next two weeks. A loss will turn up the heat on Carr to unimaginable levels.

NOTRE DAME (0–1) at No. 14 PENN STATE (1–0)
6 p.m., ESPN

After Michigan’s opening-week pratfall, Penn State suddenly looks like it might be the class of the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions’ 59–0 destruction of Florida International was expected, but the play of quarterback Anthony Morelli, who threw for a career-high 295 yards and three touchdowns, was a pleasant surprise. Morelli’s inconsistency hampered Penn State last season, but if he has finally arrived as a passer, the Lions will be a threat to win every game.

Notre Dame didn’t appear to be much of a threat in any aspect of the game during a 33–3 home loss t o Georgia Tech. It was the worst season-opening defeat in program history, and gave Irish fans little reason for optimism. Coach Charlie Weis tried all three of his quarterbacks and has announced that true freshman Jimmy Clausen will get the start at Happy Valley. Clausen was a much-heralded recruit, but his talent won’t matter if Notre Dame can’t protect him and can’t run the ball — two things it failed miserably at last week.

Weis isn’t yet under the kind of pressure his predecessor, Tyrone Willingham, faced in his third (and final) season in South Bend. But a few more lopsided losses will have Notre Dame fans wondering exactly why Weis was granted a 10-year contract extension seven games into his career.

Miami (1–0) at No. 6 Oklahoma (1–0)
Noon, ABC

The big question for the Sooners entering the season was at quarterback, because Bob Stoops’s team is loaded just about everywhere else. Making his first start, redshirt freshman Sam Bradford provided as much of an answer as is possible against an opponent like North Texas, passing for 363 yards and three touchdowns in a 79–10 thrashing.

Miami’s defense poses a far more significant challenge. Even as the program as a whole has struggled in recent seasons, the Hurrcanes’ defense has remained stout, and that won’t change with the former defensive coordinator, Randy Shannon, now the head coach. End Calais Campbell is among the nation’s best defensive lineman, and could cause headaches for Bradford and running back DeMarco Murray, who scored five touchdowns a week ago.

If Miami is to pull the upset, it will have to get more production from quarterback Kirby Freeman and the offense. Freeman completed just nine of 21 throws for 81 yards in a win over Marshall last week. Miami will attempt to control the clock with running backs Javarris James and Graig Cooper, but Freeman will have to pose some threat, even against Oklahoma’s elite secondary, for Miami to be effective.

No. 9 VIRGINIA TECH (1–0) at No. 2 LSU (1–0)
9:15 p.m., ESPN

Perhaps the premier matchup of the entire nonconference season takes place Saturday Night in Baton Rouge as LSU hosts Virginia Tech in a game that should be dominated by two outstanding defenses. The Hokies survived their season opener, a sluggish 17–7 win over East Carolina played amid emotional ceremonies honoring the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre. They will have to play much better to have a chance against LSU, even though the Tigers weren’t nearly as sharp as a 45–0 win over Mississippi State in their opener would suggest.

Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon must avoid turnovers against an LSU defense that is as fast and talented as any in the country. The Tigers’ defensive line is too good to allow running back Brandon Ore to have a big day, so this game is likely to fall squarely on Glennon’s shoulders.

With that kind of defense, LSU’s offense doesn’t need to carry the load. Fifth-year senior Matt Flynn is a steady leader at quarterback whose task is similar to Glennon’s: Take care of the ball and let the defense dominate.

Mr. Levine is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.