College Football: Week 8 Review

 Five Headlines of Week 8

1. 9 OT "Thriller"- Illinois finally completes the upset in a test of wills against #7 Penn State college football's first-ever nine overtime game.
2. Shocker in the Mountains- Field goal as time expires propels Appalachian State to a win over #14 Coastal Carolina to end their bid for a perfect season, a berth in the College Football Playoff.
3. Cyclones Wrangle the Cowboys- Brock Purdy leads the charge as Iowa State earns a huge win over division rival #8 Oklahoma State, 24-21.
4. New Kings of the ACC?- #16 Wake Forest wins a wild shoot-out with Army, while #23 Pittsburgh handles business against Clemson to position themselves at the top of their divisions.
5. #2 and #3 Survive Close Tests- #2 Cincinnati and #3 Oklahoma escape with road wins against unranked opponents Navy and Kansas, respectively.

College Gameday's Game of the Week- #10 Oregon 34, UCLA 31 (Los Angeles, CA)

Early on, it felt like UCLA was going to put a hurting on #10 Oregon, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Then, the momentum swung back in Oregon's favor in the second quarter when they scored two touchdowns of their own to tie it. UCLA would go into the half with a 17-14 lead with a late field goal, but the second half started all Ducks. Oregon took just three minutes to drive down the field and take the lead in the third, then added another touchdown just a few minutes later, taking a 27-17 lead after missing the extra point on the second touchdown of the quarter. The Ducks would score again early in the fourth quarter to make it 34-17, but the Bruins tried mounting a comeback and they came really close. They scored two touchdowns just 4:01 apart to make it a three-point game and forced an interception in the end zone, needing just a drive down the field with 3:00 to go to force overtime or win the game. They made their way into Oregon territory, but an interception would seal their fate and the Ducks escaped with the win and kept their dreams alive of fighting for a spot in the playoff.

My Game of the Week- Illinois 20, #7 Penn State 18 (9 OT) (University Park, PA)

Let's get one thing straight, this was an ugly game. The distinction of "Game of the Week" is given to this game because of the historic implications and how much it upset me that neither team could score. Regulation is hardly worth even mentioning since it was 10-10 and no one could really do anything. This game will be remembered for just how insane the overtimes lasted. Neither team could score during the semi-normal parts of the overtime, opting to kick two field goals each in the first two overtimes to make it 16-16 going into the third overtime. From there it was a bunch of dropped passes, poorly designed plays, and a bunch of switching sides of the field. To be serious for a second, I hope Illinois QB Artur Sitkowski is okay. He took a nasty fall and I swear he broke his wrist in the fourth overtime after he landed awkwardly, so I hope he recovers soon and it isn't anything too serious. The teams would continue to swap unsuccessful two-point conversion attempts until Illinois finally broke through and scored in the first attempt of the eighth overtime, only to be tied again by Penn State to force the ninth overtime. Penn State's attempt failed, Illinois' connected, and Illinois escaped with an upset victory. I have no problems with the overtime format, but please stop switching sides of the field. I know it's supposed to help give each team a choice and negate some home-field advantage, but it takes up so much time. Just stick to one side and call it a day. This was an ugly game that didn't really deserve a winner, but at least it provided an upset for me to talk about.

Teams of the Week

1. #6 Michigan- With a date in East Lansing next week, it'd have been easy for Michigan to look ahead, but they played sound defense and throttled Northwestern to remain unbeaten to set up a battle of the undefeateds next week against Michigan State.
2. Iowa State- This is the Iowa State I've been waiting to see since their loss to Iowa earlier in the year. Brock Purdy played great and they knocked off a top ten team in the process.
3. Wisconsin- The Badgers had a tough schedule to open the season with three losses to ranked opponents, but now they still have a chance to win the Big Ten West with games remaining against Iowa and Minnesota.
4. #23 Pittsburgh- Kenny Pickett continues to be a monster and he has Pitt in the driver's seat in the wide-open ACC Coastal after their win over Clemson, with no conference losses while everyone else in the division has two or more.
5. Miami- Just when it looked like Miami was dead, back-up QB Tyler Van Dyke throws for four touchdowns and the Hurricanes knock off #18 NC State at home.

Most Disappointing Teams of the Week

1. #7 Penn State- The Nittany Lions, much like Michigan, have a huge game next week against Ohio State, but the magic of that game has been deflated after a poor offensive showing in a loss of Illinois at home.
2. #14 Coastal Carolina- Boone, NC is not an easy place to play, but when you're America's Darlings, the expectation is you beat everyone, and unfortunately, things didn't go Coastal's way on Wednesday night. 
3. #8 Oklahoma State- The road to the Big 12 Championship got a bit rockier after the offense dried up and couldn't put up points against Iowa State.
4. #25 Purdue- It didn't take long for the feeling of elation after beating Iowa to come to a screeching halt with a loss to a Wisconsin team that was frankly better than them from the jump.
5. Clemson- This would've been the perfect time to prove the Tigers weren't dead yet, but the offense struggled to move the ball and it reaffirmed exactly what we thought Clemson was.

My Top 25 Going into Week 9 (Not the Official AP Top 25)

1. Georgia (7-0, BYE)
2. Michigan (7-0, W 33-7 Northwestern)
3. Cincinnati (7-0, W 27-20 Navy)
4. Oklahoma (8-0, W 35-23 Kansas)
5. Alabama (7-1, W 52-24 Tennessee) 
6. Ohio State (6-1, W 54-7 Indiana)
7. Michigan State (7-0, BYE)
8. Ole Miss (6-1, W 31-17 LSU)
9. Oregon (6-1, W 34-31 UCLA)
10. Notre Dame (6-1, W 31-16 USC)
11. Iowa (6-1, BYE)
12. Wake Forest (7-0, W 70-56 Army)
13. Kentucky (6-1, BYE)
14. Baylor (6-1, BYE)
15. Oklahoma State (6-1, L 24-21 Iowa State)
16. Texas A&M (6-2, W 44-14 South Carolina)
17. Coastal Carolina (6-1, L 30-27 Appalachian State)
18. San Diego State (7-0, W 20-14 Air Force)
19. UTSA (8-0, W 45-16 Louisiana Tech)
20. Auburn (5-2, BYE)
21. Pittsburgh (6-1, W 27-17 Clemson)
22. SMU (7-0, W 55-26 Tulane)
23. NC State (5-2, L 31-30 Miami)
24. Iowa State (5-2, W 24-21 #8 Oklahoma State)
25. Penn State (5-2, L 20-18 (9 OT) Illinois)

Week 9 Games to Watch

1. #6 Michigan v. # 8 Michigan State
2. #10 Ole Miss v. #18 Auburn
3. #19 SMU v. Houston
4. North Carolina v. #11 Notre Dame
5. #20 Penn State v. #5 Ohio State