Winners and Losers from Week 8 of College Football
Week 8 of the college football season didn't have many battles between ranked teams, and two of the three we did get were lopsided. No. 1 Alabama pulled away from No. 6 Texas A&M, and No. 21 Auburn eviscerated No. 17 Arkansas. Even No. 25 LSU made things uninteresting against No. 23 Ole Miss, turning a 21-21 halftime draw into a 38-21 victory.
Of course, the biggest loser of the week was No. 2 Ohio State, which suffered a 24-21 loss at Penn State and is now on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff picture.
No. 11 Houston also took a major blow, apparently giving up on the season with a disappointing loss at previously 2-4 SMU. It would be a surprise if Houston is ranked on Sunday afternoon.
But the team performances were nothing compared to some of the ridiculous individual stat lines posted this weekend. LSU's Leonard Fournette ran for 284 yards on just 16 carries and was only the third- or fourth-most impressive running back of the day. Meanwhile, Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes II had an entire month's worth of passing yards in one game.
Read on for the rest of the Week 8 winners and losers.
Winner: David Moa, Boise State
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Brett Rypien has a long way to go to catch up to Kellen Moore on Boise State's all-time leaderboard, but the sophomore quarterback has been magnificent in guiding the Broncos to a 7-0 start.
That brilliance was on display again Thursday night as he threw for 448 yards and five touchdowns in the 28-27 win over BYU.
Wait a minute. Five touchdowns and only 28 points? How does that work?
Oh, that's right. He threw two of them to BYU in the form of second-quarter pick-sixes, helping make this game way closer than it should have been. The Broncos outgained the Cougars by 255 yards, but they committed a total of five turnovers without forcing any. Of BYU's 27 points, 24 came off turnovers.
Thanks in large part to all those giveaways, BYU had a chance to win the game with a 44-yard field-goal attempt in the final seconds.
Boise State nose tackle David Moa had other ideas.
Moa blocked the kick that would have buried the Broncos' dream of competing in a New Year's Six bowl game. He blocked it so well, in fact, the ball went 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage before BYU recovered it, giving the Cougars one final shot at a Hail Mary. But after BYU beat Boise State on a last-minute Hail Mary play last year, the football gods did not permit a similar miracle.
That should be the final major challenge for the Broncos until the Mountain West Conference title game, as they don't face San Diego State during the regular season. Then again, the last time we started looking ahead more than a month for an undefeated team, Houston's perfect season crashed and burned at the hands of Navy.
In other news, poor BYU. The Cougars are now 4-4 and have lost those four games by a combined margin of eight points. A failed two-point conversion here and a missed field goal or back-breaking interception there are the only things standing between BYU and perfection. Instead, it still has work left to do just to become eligible for the Poinsettia Bowl.
Loser: Oregon's "Defense"
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After the 70-21 shellacking the Oregon Ducks took from Washington in Week 6, they had 13 days to prepare for Friday night's game against California.
Instead, they used that time to accumulate rust, falling behind 21-0 within the first 20 minutes. Their offense eventually showed up in a big way, as Justin Herbert threw for six touchdowns, and they clawed all the way back to briefly take a 35-34 lead in the fourth quarter.
But no matter how many times the Ducks change their uniform colors, this defense is just plain awful.
California ran 118 plays and didn't have a single one go for more than 23 yards in the game, yet the Golden Bears accumulated 636 yards of total offense. Davis Webb threw the ball 61 times for five touchdowns without an interception. He was only sacked once. Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad each rushed for at least 148 yards while averaging 5.5 yards or more per attempt.
Though there weren't any haymakers, California won the fight with jab after jab, eventually sealing the 52-49 win with an interception in the second overtime.
As a result, the Ducks are now 2-5 overall with an 0-4 record in Pac-12 play.
That's shockingly unfamiliar territory for this team, which hadn't suffered more than four losses in a season since going 7-6 in 2006. It's the first time the Ducks have opened conference play with four consecutive losses since 1996. And with plenty of challenges remaining on the schedule, let's also note Oregon hasn't lost more than six games in a season since 1991.
There's still time to turn things around to become bowl-eligible, but the Ducks have now allowed at least 35 points in five consecutive losses and haven't forced a turnover since Sept. 24.
Winner: Louisville in the First Half
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Had Louisville and North Carolina State played in Week 7, it might have been a massive upset. For the first time this season, the Cardinals struggled offensively in a 24-14 home win over Duke. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack were a shanked field goal away from shocking Clemson, ultimately losing in overtime 24-17.
Based on Louisville's pithy display of offense and NC State's dominant display of defense, you might have thought it would be a low-scoring affair when they got together Saturday afternoon.
You would have been extremely wrong.
Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson was back to his Heisman form in the first half, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another while amassing 359 total yards. He now has 34 touchdowns on the season, including at least one in the air and at least one on the ground in each of his seven games.
It was more than just Louisville's offense, though. The Cardinals were firing on all cylinders in all three areas, intercepting three passes and blocking a punt in the process of carrying a 44-0 lead into the intermission. NC State barely amassed more total yards in the first half (47) than the number of points it allowed.
The Cardinals took their foot off the gas in the second half in cruising to the 54-13 win, but this was a much-needed statement victory right before the big SEC showdown between Alabama and Texas A&M. After blowing out the team that nearly upset Clemson, Louisville should be No. 1 among the one-loss teams in Sunday's polls.
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Loser: Unnecessary Hands in Northwestern's Secondary
4 of 16Out of nowhere, Northwestern has become an offensive juggernaut.
The Wildcats averaged 16.3 points per game in September, including an embarrassing 9-7 loss to Illinois State. But it has been a tale of two months in Evanston, Illinois, as Northwestern has averaged 38.7 points in three consecutive wins over Iowa, Michigan State and Indiana, improving to 4-3 on the season with Saturday's 24-14 victory over the Hoosiers.
Quarterback Clayton Thorson was the star of the game, throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover. However, it was Northwestern defensive backs Montre Hartage and Kyle Queiro who made the plays of the game—and in Queiro's case, one of the best plays of the year.
Already leading 21-3 just moments into the second quarter, Hartage made an incredible one-handed interception, plucking the ball right off wide receiver Luke Timian's chest as the Hoosiers went for the home run play.
But that was nothing compared to the play Queiro made.
Playing with a club on his left hand due to an injury suffered in the second week of the season, Queiro is just about the last person you would expect to make an interception. Yet, he channeled his inner Odell Beckham Jr., rising up for a fully extended, one-handed grab to end an Indiana drive midway through the fourth quarter.
After the play, Queiro stood up and raised his club to the sky as if to say, "Look, Ma, one hand."
Winners: Logan Woodside and Cody Thompson, Toledo
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Despite entering the week with a 5-1 record and the country's third-most prolific offense, Toledo has gone almost entirely unnoticed on a national level. The Rockets did not receive a single vote in either the AP or coaches poll.
And if people aren't paying attention to the team, they haven't noticed the incredible play of its quarterback, either.
According to cfbstats.com, Toledo's Logan Woodside ranked second in the nation in QB rating after six games. He trailed Washington's Jake Browning by less than a point in that category, but it was a two-horse race with both of those guys more than 23 points ahead of third place. Woodside was averaging 335.5 yards per game with 24 touchdowns against just four interceptions.
Now, how's this for ridiculous? Woodside threw for 264 yards and four touchdowns without an interception in Saturday's 31-17 win over Central Michigan, yet according to his ESPN.com game log, it was his worst individual-game QB rating of the season.
Per usual, Woodside had a ton of help from his primary wide receiver, Cody Thompson.
Thompson entered the game with five touchdowns and nearly twice as many receiving yards as any other Rocket, and the Chippewas had no answer for him. Thompson finished with seven receptions for 122 yards and all four of Woodside's touchdowns.
If you love mid-week #MACtion, get ready to see a lot of Woodside-to-Thompson connections over the course of the next month. Toledo faces Ohio on Thursday before three consecutive Wednesday night tilts.
Loser: Texas Longhorns
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After jumping out to a 21-7 lead in the first half, Kansas State did everything in its power to let Texas back in the game.
On the Wildcats' first drive of the second half, they fumbled the ball into the end zone to conclude a 65-yard march. Two drives later, they ran nearly six minutes off the clock before throwing an interception to set the Longhorns up in plus territory. On the following drive, they fumbled at midfield.
In case you lost count, that's three turnovers in the span of four possessions. Surely Texas was able to score some points on those subsequent drives, right?
Nope.
The Longhorns turned the ball over on downs in Kansas State territory on two of those possessions and on the other somehow managed to turn 1st-and-goal from the 10 into a missed 35-yard field goal without committing a penalty.
That miss turned out to be the difference in the game, as Kansas State emerged from its disastrous second half with a 24-21 victory.
It was a huge win for the Wildcats, which improved to 4-3 with games remaining against Iowa State and Kansas that should get them bowl-eligible. But it was just the latest blow in what has become a comedy of errors for the Longhorns. They have lost four of their last five games and haven't even faced Baylor, West Virginia or TCU yet.
Good thing the season opener against Notre Dame was played when it was. No one would watch that game if it was being played tomorrow.
Winner: Jeffrey Wilson, North Texas
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Not surprisingly, passing yards were at a premium between North Texas and Army.
The two schools had combined to average 286.2 passing yards and 1.5 touchdowns through their first six games. They weren't even able to hurdle that low bar as Mason Fine and Ahmad Bradshaw went for 212 yards through the air with one touchdown and five interceptions—including two by North Texas' Eric Jenkins, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
Army did have 302 rushing yards as a team, but it was an individual running back for the Mean Green who stole the show in the second half.
Jeffrey Wilson had just two carries for seven yards in the first half, but he exploded for 153 yards and three touchdowns after the intermission, pacing the Mean Green to a 35-18 victory. He now has 12 touchdowns on the season and has been the biggest catalyst for positive change for a team that was downright terrible last season.
North Texas suffered 11 losses in 2015, including a 66-7 butt-whupping at the hands of Portland State that led to Dan McCarney's termination as head coach. As a team, the Mean Green scored just 19 offensive touchdowns.
Thanks in large part to Wilson, they're already at 23 TDs this year and are sitting at 4-3 overall. There's still much work to be done to become bowl-eligible, but it's borderline-unbelievable they're even this close.
Loser: Stanford's Offense...Yet Again
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Once upon a time in late September, Stanford had one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy and was in the driver's seat for a trip to the College Football Playoff.
Unknowingly, the Cardinal were behind the wheel of a vehicle that was about to get a flat tire and a blown transmission.
After losing at home to Colorado 10-5, Stanford is now 1-3 in its last four games and has averaged just 11.0 points per game during that stretch. That includes the meaningless touchdown the Cardinal scored on the final play of the 42-16 loss to Washington State, the defensive TD scored against Notre Dame and the intentional safety Colorado took with seconds remaining.
As far as conventional offense and points are concerned, there's little to be found here.
A good chunk of those struggles can be attributed to an undisclosed injury to RB/WR/KR/PR Christian McCaffrey. He barely played in the loss to Washington State and did not dress last week against Notre Dame. But he was out there against Colorado and only accounted for 118 total yards—compared to an average of 185 in Stanford's first three games.
Though it was a disappointing McCaffrey performance, he was the only guy on the team who did anything against the Buffaloes. Ryan Burns threw for just 170 yards with three interceptions. Aside from McCaffrey, the Cardinal had one rushing yard.
As Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated tweeted after the game, "That offense is all sorts of broken."
Winner: Alabama's N.O.T.s Streak
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The bathrooms were broken at Bryant-Denny Stadium for the biggest game of the weekend, but one thing that didn't break in No. 1 Alabama's 33-14 win over No. 6 Texas A&M was its absurd streak of consecutive games with non-offensive touchdowns (N.O.T.s).
This one looked like it was over early. The Crimson Tide scored on their first three possessions, while the Aggies showed virtually no signs of life until their fifth. Yet, somehow, A&M took a 14-13 lead early in the third quarter as Trevor Knight strung together excellent drives with both his legs and his arm.
That's when Jonathan Allen and company said, "No more!"
Over the course of the Aggies' next three drives, they ran 13 plays for six yards and had a fumbled exchange on a handoff Allen returned 30 yards for a score. All of a sudden, that one-point lead had turned into an insurmountable 19-point deficit.
Back-breaking defensive touchdowns are hardly a new phenomenon for the Crimson Tide, though. Dating back to last year's College Football Playoff semifinal win over Michigan State, Alabama has scored either a defensive or special teams touchdown in 10 consecutive games.
During that streak, there have been five fumble recoveries, four interceptions, four punts and one kickoff returned for a score.
It's hard enough to stop the Tide from running the ball down your throat without also spotting them points when their offense isn't on the field. If anyone is going to end Alabama's winning streak this year, putting an end to that N.O.T.s streak is a must.
Loser: Arkansas' Rush Defense
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In a word: yikes.
Arkansas entered the week with one of the country's worst run defenses. In three games against ranked SEC opponents (Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss), the Razorbacks had allowed 10 rushing touchdowns and an average of 260 yards per game.
Auburn nearly matched those numbers in 15 minutes.
The Tigers ran for 183 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter to jump out to a 21-0 lead, and they were just getting started. They would finish the game with 543 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in the 56-3 blowout.
No need to adjust your monitor.
You read those numbers correctly.
Kamryn Pettway led the way with 192 yards and two scores, but he was one of Auburn's least efficient rushers. Five different Tigers scored at least one touchdown and had a run of 27 or more yards. This was a systematic beatdown that should be reserved for a Top 10 team facing an FCS school, not a battle between two teams that were ranked in the AP Top 25.
Emphasis on "were" because there's no possible way Arkansas can still be ranked on Sunday, right? Wins over Ole Miss and TCU look nice, but Top 25 teams don't get slaughtered like that.
Lest you think things will get better anytime soon, the Razorbacks face Florida and LSU in their next two games. They do get next week off to try to regroup, but it's going to take more than an extra seven days of practice to patch all the holes in this defense.
(Good news for Memphis fans, though. The Tigers gave up 447 rushing yards in a loss to Navy and didn't qualify for worst rushing defense of the week.)
Winner: Joe Williams, Utah
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Less than six weeks ago, Utah's Joe Williams suddenly decided to retire from football.
"Knowing how my body's been these past couple [of] months, where I'm at mentally and physically, I'm not at the point where I can compete at the level I need to for the team and everybody," Williams told reporters. "I feel as though this is the right decision. I'm going to miss it, of course. These guys are my family, and [I] love these boys to death. But it's for the best interests."
But it didn't take long for the senior running back to get the itch to come back, returning last week for 179 yards and a touchdown in Utah's 19-14 win over Oregon State.
He was just getting warmed up.
Williams torched UCLA for 332 yards and four TDs, leading No. 19 Utah to a 52-45 win over the Bruins. He had touchdown runs of 43 yards, 55 yards and 64 yards to keep the Utes in the running for the Rose Bowl.
Last week's performance could be chalked up to the fact Oregon State has one of the country's worst rushing defenses. UCLA, on the other hand, entered the week slightly above-average, allowing just 146.3 rushing yards per game.
What's even more unusual about his story is he was relatively irrelevant when he retired. Through 12 career games at Utah, he was averaging just 46 yards per game, 4.4 yards per carry and only one touchdown for every four games. In one game, he doubled his career touchdown total, averaging 11.4 yards per carry.
Loser: Tom Herman, Houston
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Just 15 days ago, Tom Herman was sitting on top of the world.
Houston's head coach had a career record of 18-1. His team was in the middle of the conversation for the College Football Playoff. And many were already wondering whether the next steppingstone in his career would be at Texas, LSU, USC or (insert major-conference team whose head coach is a sitting duck).
As is often the case in this sport, though, it all went up in smoke in a hurry.
The Cougars lost to Navy two weeks ago and barely escaped with a home win over Tulsa last week before laying a giant egg against SMU.
The Mustangs entered the game with a 2-4 record and had not won a game in more than a month. They were blown out by Baylor, TCU and Temple. But they took the screws to Houston, scoring four touchdowns in the first half and neutralizing Greg Ward Jr. before he ever had a chance to get going.
Over the next few days and weeks, you'll undoubtedly hear a lot of people questioning just how good Herman is and whether he deserves that major promotion.
We had originally circled that Nov. 17 game against Louisville as the one that could determine whether the Cougars go to the College Football Playoff. Now, that might be the game that determines whether Herman gets a shot at a high-profile gig next year.
Winner: All the Offense in Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech
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If you like offense, it doesn't get much better than the 66-59 shootout between Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
Texas Tech's Jonathan Giles had 10 receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and he only had the fifth-most impressive stat line of the night.
No. 4 on that list was Oklahoma's wide receiver Dede Westbrook, who had 202 yards and two scores. Move over, Reggie Jackson, because Westbrook is the new Mr. October. He has 776 receiving yards and 10 scores this month alone.
The third-best individual performance of the night goes to the man who was throwing Westbrook the ball. Baker Mayfield was 27-of-36 for 545 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. Under normal circumstances, he would have been one of the biggest stars of the week, but he barely even stands out in this game.
Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes II is going to have a sore shoulder in the morning. He attempted 88 (!) passes for 734 yards (!!) and five touchdowns while also running for 85 yards and two scores.
But the No. 1 star has to come from the winning team, and Oklahoma's Joe Mixon fits the bill. With Samaje Perine sidelined by an injury, Oklahoma's sophomore running back ran for 263 yards and had another 114 yards through the air, accounting for five of Oklahoma's nine touchdowns.
The moral of the story is that points were bountiful.
Loser: Ohio State Buckeyes
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A second-half comeback against Wisconsin kept Ohio State's College Football Playoff hopes alive one week ago.
A second-half letdown against Penn State now makes the Buckeyes’ road a whole lot tougher.
They led 12-0 late in the first half and were up 21-7 after three quarters, but the Nittany Lions stormed back for a season-defining win with 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown with less than five minutes remaining.
Save for a Curtis Samuel 74-yard touchdown scamper, the Buckeyes had a challenging night on offense. They didn't turn the ball over and dominated the time of possession, but they only made it to paydirt twice. J.T. Barrett gave it everything he had, but poor blocking and untimely dropped passes kept the Buckeyes from breaking through.
Their season isn't doomed yet. With road wins over Oklahoma and Wisconsin already under their belt, they would have a good enough resume to rank in the CFP selection committee's Top Four if they pick up victories in home games against Nebraska and Michigan.
However, their safety net is officially gone with two major challenges remaining. Unless they get a lot of help from elsewhere, a second loss would leave them hoping for one of the other New Year's Six games.
Winner: Teams That Became Bowl-Eligible
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Bowl season is still nearly two months away, but several teams ensured they would be part of it with wins this week.
Troy got the party started Thursday night with a come-from-behind win against South Alabama, scoring the game-winning touchdown with just 80 seconds remaining. The Trojans improved to 6-1 with the win, and their only loss of the season was a 30-24 nail-biter at Clemson. Best of luck to whichever poor soul has to deal with this presumed Sun Belt champion in December.
One night later, San Diego State became the second Mountain West Conference team to punch its bowl ticket, joining Boise State in the postseason. The Aztecs annihilated San Jose State 42-3.
Five more teams got to six wins Saturday. We've already discussed Louisville, Colorado and Toledo elsewhere, but North Carolina and West Virginia also joined the club by comfortable margins. The Mountaineers smoked TCU 34-10 behind Skyler Howard's four passing touchdowns, while the Tar Heels ran away from Virginia for a 35-14 victory.
With those new additions, we're now at 20 bowl-eligible teams—one-quarter of the way to filling up those 80 slots.
On the flip side of that coin...
Loser: Teams That Became Bowl-Ineligible
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A number of fanbases have already started focusing their attention on the 2017 season, but three teams made it official this week that they won't be competing in any bowl games this year.
Massachusetts put up a valiant fight at South Carolina, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make things interesting. After 60 minutes, though, the Minutemen still trailed 34-28 and picked up their seventh loss of the season. Since joining the FBS ranks in 2012, Massachusetts is now 9-47 and hasn't even come close to going bowling.
Bowling Green, however, had won at least eight games in each of the past four seasons before falling to 1-7 with a 40-26 home loss to Miami (Ohio). The Falcons have yet to beat a FBS team this season and just barely held on for a 27-26 home win over North Dakota when the Fighting Hawks whiffed on their two-point conversion attempt with 13 seconds remaining.
And in the wee hours of the morning on the East Coast, Fresno State fell to 1-7 with a 38-20 loss at Utah State. Like Bowling Green, Fresno State's only win of the season came against a FCS school, but at least the Bulldogs comfortably took care of business in a 31-3 Week 2 win over Sacramento State. Worth noting if you ever feel the need to power rank the last-place teams in each conference.
Several other teams put themselves on the brink of elimination by picking up a sixth loss. Kansas, Rutgers, Kent State, San Jose State and Buffalo are now officially on our watch list, bracing themselves for the dreaded strikethrough.
One team that avoided the cross-out, though, was Rice. The 1-6 Owls finally got on the board with a 65-44 win over Prairie View A&M, ensuring no team will go winless this season. It sure would be something if they could win five more to become bowl-eligible, but we're not holding our breath to that end.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
