College Football Week 8 Recap

Photo credit: cbssports.com

We are officially over halfway through College Football’s regular season and after a weekend off for Fall Break, I’m back to give you the latest on the biggest games and best players of the week.

Games of the week

(7)Penn State 28, (16)Michigan 21

In front of over 110,000 fans at Beaver Stadium’s “whiteout”, the Nittany Lions rolled to a 21-0 start before Michigan’s defense stiffened and got within a touchdown in the fourth quarter. A fourth and goal pass was dropped by Michigan’s Ronnie Bell, and Penn State survived to improve to 7-0. PSU’s offense was powered by a couple of strikes from Sean Clifford to KJ Hamler and another to Pat Friermuth.

Illinois 24, (6)Wisconsin 23

Wisconsin entered Champaign, Illinois as an overwhelming favorite before its visit to Ohio State in Week 9. They left with a loss to a 2-4 Fighting Illinois team that hadn’t beat a ranked Big 10 opponent since 2007. The Badgers saw a 23-14 lead with six minutes left in the game disappear with James McCourt’s field goal as time expired.

Best of the rest

Wisconsin wasn’t the only undefeated team to suffer its first loss as Boise State fell to BYU. Texas barely survived against Kansas, needing a last second field goal to win. Trevor Lawrence struggled early, but Clemson dominated Louisville.

Oregon picked up a big road win at Washington. Tua Tagovailoa exited Alabama’s win over Tennessee with a high ankle sprain and will miss one to two weeks.

Storyline of the week

Four-team race in the Big 12.

The Big 12 might be the most wide open conference in the country as Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor and Iowa State all have none or one conference loss. Perhaps the most intriguing of these teams is Baylor who sits at 7-0 and gets Oklahoma and Texas at home next month. 

Matt Rhule has done an outstanding job turning around a Baylor program that went 1-11 in 2017. Rhule is no stranger to rebuilding jobs, having taken Temple from irrelevance to a Conference Championship. 

My Top 10 teams after Week 8

1. Alabama(7-0)

Week 8 result: 35-13 win vs Tennessee

2. LSU(7-0)

Week 8 result: 36-13 win at Mississippi State

3. Clemson(7-0)

Week 8 result: 45-10 win at Louisville

4. Ohio State(7-0)

Week 8 result: 52-3 win at Northwestern

5. Oklahoma(7-0)

Week 8 result: 52-14 win vs West Virginia

6. Penn State(7-0)

Week 8 result: 28-21 win vs Michigan

7. Florida(7-1)

Week 8 result: 38-27 win at South Carolina

8. Auburn(6-1)

Week 8 result: 51-10 win at Arkansas

9. Oregon(6-1)

Week 8 result: 35-31 win at Washington

10. Georgia(6-1)

Week 8 result: 21-0 win vs Kentucky

Players of the week

Justin Herbert, Oregon quarterback

Herbert, a potential first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft, showed some glimpses of his potential in a gritty, come-from-behind win that keeps the Ducks playoff hopes alive. Herbert out dueled Washington’s Jacob Eason and with four passing touchdowns, helped Oregon claw back from a 10-point second half deficit.

Kenny Gainwell, Memphis running back

In the wide-open American Conference, Memphis beat down Tulane thanks to Gainwell’s stellar day: 104 yards on the ground, one rushing touchdown, 203 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. The redshirt freshman became the first player with 100 yards rushing and 200 receiving in a single game since 1997.

AJ Dillon/David Bailey, Boston College running backs

BC’s rushing attack led the way against NC State, racking up 429 yards(404 from Dillon and Bailey) and finding the end zone five times. NC State came into the game with the ACC’s No. 1 rushing defense, allowing 2.3 yards per carry before the Eagles shredded them.