College Football Picks Week 8: Predictions for Top 25 Games on Upcoming Schedule
The Pac-12 hierarchy will be sorted out in Week 8.
Two of the three all-Top 25 matchups feature Pac-12 programs, with No. 12 Oregon facing No. 25 Washington and No. 17 Arizona State heading to No. 13 Utah.
Saturday's victors could earn the upper hand in their respective divisions, and if Oregon and Utah win, the conference could sneak its way back into the College Football Playoff discussion with some help.
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In other all-ranked matchup, No. 7 Penn State has a chance to bury No. 16 Michigan in the Big Ten East while keeping pace with No. 4 Ohio State.
Week 8 College Football Schedule
All Times ET. Predictions in bold.
Friday, October 18
No. 4 Ohio State at Northwestern (8:30 p.m., FS1)
Saturday, October 19
No. 3 Clemson at Louisville (Noon, ABC)
West Virginia at No. 5 Oklahoma (Noon, Fox)
No. 6 Wisconsin at Illinois (Noon, BTN)
No. 9 Florida at South Carolina (Noon, ESPN)
No. 11 Auburn at Arkansas (Noon, SEC Network)
Purdue at No. 23 Iowa (Noon, ESPN2)
No. 2 LSU at Mississippi State (3:30 p.m., CBS)
No. 12 Oregon at No. 25 Washington (3:30 p.m., ABC)
Temple at No. 19 SMU (3:30 p.m., ESPN2)
No. 20 Minnesota at Rutgers (3:30 p.m., BTN)
Tulsa at No. 21 Cincinnati (3:30 p.m., ESPNU)
UL Monroe at No. 24 Appalachian State (3:30 p.m., ESPN+)
No. 18 Baylor at Oklahoma State (4 p.m., Fox)
No. 22 Missouri at Vanderbilt (4 p.m., SEC Network)
Kentucky at No. 10 Georgia (6 p.m., ESPN)
No. 17 Arizona State at No. 13 Utah (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
Kansas at No. 15 Texas (7 p.m., Longhorn Network)
No. 16 Michigan at No. 7 Penn State (7:30 p.m., ABC)
Tennessee at No. 1 Alabama (9 p.m., ESPN)
No. 14 Boise State at BYU (10:15 p.m., ESPN2)
Predictions
Oregon 26, Washington 12
In preseason, Oregon and Washington were viewed as two of the Pac-12's best College Football Playoff hopes.
The Ducks enter Saturday in a better playoff position, as their lone loss is to No. 11 Auburn, while the Huskies already have a pair of conference defeats.
While Justin Herbert receives a lot of buzz due to his NFL potential, the Ducks defense has been phenomenal since Week 1.
Oregon held its last five opponents to single digits, and it is the only program outside the Big Ten to rank in the top five in scoring defense. The Ducks also rank eighth in yards conceded per contest at 267.7. Linebackers Troy Dye and Isaac Slade-Matautia lead the team in tackles, and nine players have an interception.
The secondary could wreak havoc on Jacob Eason, who has been sacked nine times and intercepted on three occurrences. In his last three contests, the transfer from Georgia has three touchdowns and one pick. To beat the Ducks, he needs to produce at a higher volume.
Running backs Sean McGrew and Salvon Ahmed combined for 201 yards and three scores in the Week 7 win over Arizona, but they face an Oregon defense that gives up 107.5 rushing yards per game.
The run defense and Herbert's efficiency could make the difference at Husky Stadium.
In his last two games, the senior quarterback picked up 475 passing yards and three touchdowns while only being sacked twice. If Oregon keeps its signal-caller clean, he could spread the ball around to Jaylon Reed, Jacob Breeland and Co.
Juwan Johnson, a transfer from Penn State, could be Oregon's X-factor. He is coming off a two-catch debut and had five receptions for 61 yards against Ohio State in 2018, the lone ranked foe he faced last season.
An Oregon victory puts it on the fast track for the Pac-12 Championship Game with a two-game advantage in the loss column and head-to-head wins over Stanford and Washington.
From that point, the Ducks could win out and land somewhere in the Top 10 while the SEC and Big Ten programs eliminate each other.
Utah 31, Arizona State 13
Saturday could be the most meaningful game in Herm Edwards' tenure at Arizona State.
The second-year head coach is 4-2 against ranked foes and could move closer to a Pac-12 South title with a victory over Utah.
However, that may be hard to come by with the Utes playing terrific defense in three of their last four games.
Kyle Whittingham's team held Washington State, Oregon State and Idaho State to 20 points, and it received an offensive boost with Zack Moss' return last weekend. The running back earned his third triple-digit performance of 2019 versus Oregon State and racked up 128 yards on 18 carries in last year's 38-20 loss to the Sun Devils.
The one-two punch of Moss and quarterback Tyler Huntley could be too much to handle. The senior quarterback has 1,393 passing yards, nine touchdowns, zero interceptions and has been sacked four times.
If their offensive line can clear space for both playmakers, the Utes could knock the Sun Devils out of divisional title contention.
Arizona State possesses offensive weapons of its own, but quarterback Jayden Daniels experienced a dip in production on the road.
The freshman's two passing totals under 200 yards occurred at California and Michigan State. In those games, the offense relied on running back Eno Benjamin, but Utah has the second-best FBS run defense, which concedes 52.8 yards per game and 2.4 yards per attempt.
If the Utes defense eliminates Benjamin and flusters Daniels, Utah could remain at the top of the Pac-12 South.
Utah's ideal weekend features a win along with an Arizona victory over USC. In that scenario, the Utes would need to win out, with a triumph over the Wildcats securing the division crown.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.
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