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College football games this week: USC-Notre Dame, Alabama-Tennessee headline

By Sean Watterson

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly looks on in the second half against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly looks on in the second half against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports /
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Week 8 is light on marquee matchups, but it does offer programs that have stumbled a chance to pull off upsets.

This is the first week, outside of “Week 0” that we haven’t had two ranked teams square up on the gridiron. That is one incredible run of high-stakes games, insofar as early-season rankings matter. Still, if there were a theme this week, it would be teams that have fallen from grace getting a shot at redemption.

College football schedule Week 8

Wednesday, October 20

  • No. 14 Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State — 7:30 p.m. ET — ESPN 2

Thursday, October 21

  • Tulane at No. 21 SMU — 7:30 p.m. ET — ESPN

Saturday, October 23

  • No. 2 Cincinnati at Navy — 12 p.m. ET — ESPN2
  • No. 3 Oklahoma at Kansas — 12 p.m. ET — ESPN
  • Northwestern at No. 6 Michigan — 12 p.m. ET — FOX
  • Illinois at No. 7 Penn State — 12 p.m. ET — ABC
  • No. 16 Wake Forest at Army — 12 p.m. ET — CBSSN
  • Wisconsin at No. 25 Purdue — 3 p.m. ET — BTN
  • No. 8 Oklahoma State at Iowa State — 3:30 p.m. ET — FOX
  • LSU at No. 12 Ole Miss — 3:30 p.m. ET — CBS
  • Clemson at No. 23 Pittsburgh — 3:30 p.m. ET — ESPN
  • Tennessee at No. 4 Alabama — 7 p.m. ET — ESPN
  • No. 22 San Diego State at Air Force — 7 p.m. ET — CBSSN
  • No. 24 UTSA at Louisiana Tech — 7 p.m. ET
  • No. 5 Ohio State at Indiana — 7:30 p.m. ET — ABC
  • USC at No. 13 Notre Dame — 7:30 p.m. ET — NBC
  • South Carolina at No. 17 Texas A&M  — 7:30 p.m. ET — SECN
  • No. 18 NC State at Miami — 7:30 p.m. ET — ESPN2

This week we have seven teams that started the year ranked facing off against ranked opponents. Most of those teams — LSU, USC, Miami, and Indiana — are too far gone to make noise in a New Year’s Six kind of way. But for Iowa State, Clemson, and Wisconsin all have a shot at their conference. Their quests for a shot can really pick up steam this week.

In addition to the redemption narrative, we get to see exactly how LSU responds to the news of Ed Orgeron’s impending departure. Will the Bayou Bengals pull off another upset? It’ll be interesting to see.

Next. College football power rankings: Top 30 programs of all-time. dark

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