No college football team likes to play on the road, including UCF. The Knights may have college football’s longest winning streak as well as have the self-proclaimed distinction of defending co-national champs. East Carolina gave the Knights all they could handle on the road, but Central Florida was able to hang on for a crucial road victory. Can this Central Florida team impress voters enough to approach the top-four in the coming weeks?
Did anyone see this coming? Ohio State suffered a devastating loss to Purdue on Saturday night in West Lafayette, ending the Buckeyes’ bid for a perfect season. Not only did the Buckeyes lose, but they were walloped by the Boilermakers, 49-20. Things spiraled out of control in the fourth quarter as the defense couldn’t stop Purdue’s offense. The Buckeyes will drop out of the top four and potentially below No. 10.
Lincoln Riley and Co. were fresh off a bye which followed a loss to Texas in the Red River Rivalry and the Sooners didn’t look to be suffering a devastating loss hangover against TCU in Week 8. In fact, they smothered TCU from start to finish, scoring at least 10 points in every quarter, leading to a 52-27 victory. Kyler Murray had four touchdowns passes and like many fans wanted to see, Kennedy Brooks broke out for 168 rushing yards. Oklahoma is looking good again — as if anyone is really shocked.
The Bulldogs got a much-needed bye week after losing to LSU in Week 7 and they will come back in Week 9 to face a red-hot No. 11 Florida team which is also fresh off its bye. Georgia may have a slight quarterback controversy, which is something to monitor, but it’ll be interesting to see how this team responds to its first adversity of the season.
When Texas lost to Maryland to begin the year, everyone just wrote the Longhorns off. Maryland wasn’t a good Big Ten team and the Longhorns were expected to be “back” but clearly weren’t, right? Wrong. Though Texas had a bye in Week 8, it is one of the hottest teams in the country and will be right there in the playoff discussion. Wins over Oklahoma, USC and TCU prove that the Longhorns are no longer pushovers.