IOWA FANS are still waiting for a little offense. (Bryon Houlgrave/The Register/USA TODAY NETWORK)

A couple of weeks ago, we were thrilled about the return of college football, highlighted by an entertaining—if you don’t own a foam corncob hat—game in Ireland between Nebraska and Northwestern.

Last week, we marveled at even more exciting moments. How could App State score 40 fourth-quarter points—and lose? How could Iowa score seven points on a field goal and two safeties—and win?

But now, in Week 2, harsh reality has set in: A college football season is a dramatic climb or descent that is filled with unknown joys and perils.

Alabama fans may be fretting about the implications of a Houdini-like 20-19 escape from Austin, where the Tide was supposed to run over Texas like an armadillo on U.S. 281. Even though he quickly returned to micro-coaching, Nick Saban’s initial joy at winning spoke volumes.

Nowhere is the craziness more rampant than in the Big Ten West, which is looking like it will be a chess match—without pawns.

The first king ejected from the castle is, not surprisingly, Scott Frost. He was 1-2 after that miserable 45-42 loss on Saturday to Georgia Southern, coached by Clay Helton. . . who was fired by USC a mere 362 days earlier.

Frost, 16-31 in four-plus seasons, is now packing with a $15 million buyout. If second-year Nebraska AD Trev Alberts had waited until Oct. 1, the buyout would have been $7.5 million.

Frost also is spared what could have been an ugly encounter this Saturday with Oklahoma. So. . . $15 million for not working and not facing the Sooners. Everyone should have consolation prizes like that.

Alberts said he owed it to the players and Husker fans to pull the trigger now, when there are nine games left.

Interim head coach Mickey Joseph, who was elevated from wide receivers coach, will have one huge advantage that Frost did not enjoy. The Cornhuskers no longer will be playing under the intense burden of trying to save their coach’s job.

Like Frost, Joseph played quarterback for Tom Osborne at Nebraska. Before returning to Lincoln this fall, he had been receivers coach at LSU for five years, the last two as assistant head coach.

If I were Alberts, I might have waited until Oct. 1 and taken the $7.5 million to set up a scholarship fund—unrelated to athletics—that would have benefitted hundreds of Nebraska students. Of course, with the Big Ten pumping television money the way that some nations pump oil money, $7.5 million is a drop in the bucket.

But that’s why I’m not an AD.

The Frost Demise, of course, was the most extreme example of what is likely to be a wild Big Ten West.

Other experts will tell you the Big Ten's Western Division impersonates a vacuum cleaner. I say this will make for a marvelous autumn.

Consider. . . Illinois, which thrashed Virginia on Saturday, is only one botched opportunity at Indiana from being 3-0. . . Purdue went toe-to-toe with Penn State. . . Minnesota smoked its first two cupcakes 100-10.

All three are better. Good enough to win a mediocre division? Time will tell.

That’s an open question because Northwestern, Iowa and Wisconsin, the only teams that have won the West in the eight seasons since the Big Ten scrapped the unloved Legends-and-Leaders division, are all looking flawed.

The Wildcats were punched in the face 31-23 by Duke and its first-year coach, Mike Elko, 45, who had been a stud defensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Notre Dame. Elko is not yet being mentioned as a candidate for jobs like, um, Nebraska. But if this keeps up. . .

The Wildcats were widely expected to struggle this fall. Their rousing win over Nebraska, courtesy of a gift onside kick, raised hopes for Northwestern this fall. That Cornhusker win doesn’t look as shiny now.

In other words. . . we’ll see about Northwestern.

And then there’s Iowa. Which has the most inoffensive offense imaginable for a team that’s supposed to have a good season.

With their 14 points in two games, the Hawkeyes are 131st in the nation in scoring—out of 131 teams. Take away the two safeties contributed by the defense, and you have 10 points in two games.

Iowa is also 131st in total offense (158 yards a game), 127th in rushing and 127th in passing.

This is a team that’s a threat to win its division? I don’t think so.

Seems like head coach Kirk Ferentz ought to encourage his son, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, to change professions. How about dentistry? He seems to have experience at pulling teeth.

And then there’s my alma mater, Wisconsin, which sleep-walked through a 17-14 loss to Washington State on Saturday, when it was shut out in the second half.

The Badgers’ offensive numbers are better than Iowa’s, but only mildly: 92nd in scoring (26 points a game) and 65th in total offense (420.5 yards), including 80th in passing despite having the highest rated quarterback recruit in school history.

Wisconsin’s numbers are inflated by a 38-0 romp against Illinois State. They’re likely to grow more on Saturday against New Mexico State before the Big Ten campaign starts at Ohio State.

Everybody’s focusing on that. I’m wondering about an October slate, which includes home games against Illinois and Purdue and trips to Northwestern and Michigan State.

If Wisconsin falters this fall, it will be the third straight disappointing season, if you include last year, when the Badgers were listless in a final loss at Minnesota that cost them the opportunity to lose to Ohio State in the conference championship game. Which I do.

If I were Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, I would cut Indiana coach Tom Allen’s Red Bull allotment in half. And send it to Wisconsin coach Paul Christ.

Bold Prediction: Minnesota, Purdue or Illinois will win the West.

Eastern Division Notes: All seven Eastern Division teams are a perfect 2-0. Some interesting matchups could change that on Saturday: Michigan State at Washington, Penn State at Auburn and SMU at Maryland. . . It sure is looking like young J.J. McCarthy will supplant Cade McNamara at QB for Michigan. All McNamara did was guide the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff last year. Can the nimble McCarthy guide them to a CFP win?