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We’re pretty much halfway through the 2026 college football season, and man, this past weekend was a doozy. We saw the No. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 fall this weekend, and that was just in the top-10. No. 3 Miami was also taken to double overtime by unranked Florida State, so this week really shook things up and made the CFP race a whole lot more interesting.
As we enter Week 8, there’s a ton to talk about, so let’s take a look at some of the biggest CFB news of the day.
Kenny Dillingham has done a lot of good in Tempe, Arizona. He’s brought the Sun Devils to the CFP playoff, and even when he hasn’t, they’ve been a competitive football team. This year, though, things aren’t going too well.
ASU is off to a 3-3 start with losses to Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech by an average of 30.7 points per game. You can say they’re only losing to good teams, but a 30-point margin of defeat is absolutely horrible. Fans are fed up, but Dillingham brushed them off in his latest presser.
“I told my family the entire time, ‘You guys realize eventually this is going to turn,'” Dillingham said earlier this week. “It’s the nature of the coaching profession. You’ve just gotta be ready for it. When your highs are so high, your lows are gonna be so low. You can’t get upset or frustrated. Nobody cares what you did yesterday, they care what you do now. It doesn’t bother me.”
Dillingham is nowhere near the hot seat, but he’s got to find a way to turn it around next year, because if he doesn’t, his seat could start to get a bit warm.
When James Franklin was fired, the Penn State Nittany Lions hired Matt Campbell to be their next head coach, and one of the first things he did in the spring was land a commitment from four-star quarterback William Wood, who ranks in the 20s among quarterbacks in the country according to ESPN. But after five months committed to the Nittany Lions, Wood flipped his commitment to Boston College.
“Thank you to Coach Campbell and Penn State for their belief in me. I have zero doubt they will turn things around and deserve the fanbase’s patience,” Wood wrote. “For me, I have decided that it’s best to stay home and play for Coach Bill O’Brien and the Boston College Eagles.”
Wood plays high school football at Xaverian Brothers in Massachusetts, where he has been apart of the last three State Championships. The Eagles got a good one.
Missouri LB Nick Rodriguez never recorded more than 61 tackles in a season heading into this year, but through seven games, he’s already up to 77 on the year and is leading the nation in total tackles. Jared Lloyd and EJ Smith are close behind with 70 and 71, but Rodriguez stands alone on top.
Leaders in tackles after Week 7️⃣
It’s been an impressive start to the season for the junior linebacker, and he’s a big reason Missouri is ranked in the top-25 halfway through the season.
TCU edge rusher Koron Hayward had a pretty slow start to the season. He only played in three of TCU’s first five games and logged just 1.5 sacks, but this past Saturday he went off, recording three sacks in TCU’s 17-6 win over Baylor. Hayward consistently put Baylor behind the sticks and was a massive reason their defense was able to hold the Bears to six points.
After the game, Hayward was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career. A worthy honor for such a great performance.
Dabo Swinney has been widely criticized for his refusal to use the transfer portal. In today’s college football, you have to put some big bucks into the portal if you want to have any success, and Clemson has learned that the hard way over the past few seasons. However, in 2026, Swinney and Co. decided to change their philosophy. They still didn’t spend big in the portal, but they went out and signed 10 transfers to their 2026 roster. They were able to address a lot of different positions, but Swinney said they were really trying to get a veteran tackle.
“We tried on three or four. We felt like we wanted to get an older tackle.,” said Swinney. “We just didn’t get ’em. It wasn’t for a lack of effort”
Tait Reynolds has been sacked 16 times in six games, including six times against Miami the other week. Their line needs to be better, and getting a top OT in the portal certainly would’ve helped.
Kennesaw State officially joined the FBS just two years ago in 2024, and it’s been a bit of a roller coaster for them. Unlike JMU, who entered in 2022 and has won 8+ games every year, the Owls won two games in 2024, 10 games in 2025 and are now 1-5 in 2026. I will give them some credit because their last three loses have all be decided by three points or less, but still, they need to find a way to start stacking wins.
And what better way to get back on track than to beat a long-time rival? This week, the 5-1 Liberty Flames come to town, and they’ve had some electric matchups over the years, including last year’s 48-42 double-overtime game that helped send Kennesaw to the CUSA Championship Game.
Can the Owls get back on track? Or will Liberty keep rolling? We’ll find out later this week.
After a 27-17 victory over Florida A&M, the Jackson State Tigers have officially leapfrogged Morgan State for the No. 1 spot on the HBCU rankings.
After a 5-0 start to the season, Jackson State suffered their first loss of the year to Grambling two weeks ago, but bounced back this past week to beat the Rattlers while totaling 368 yards of offense ad forcing five turnovers in the win. JSU should be favored in all of their remaining games, so they have a real shot at finishing 10-1 and being the top-ranked HBCU at the end of the season.
This was a great week to be on a bye. With so many top-ranked teams losing, the Boise State Broncos, who came into the week as the 23rd-ranked team in the nation, jumped two spots to No. 21 in the AP Poll despite not playing a game. Missouri and Mississippi State were both ranked higher than Boise State this week, but after they both suffered losses, the Broncos leapfrogged both of them.
As it stands, Boise State would be the G6 representative in the CFP. The Broncos are 5-1 this season with their only loss coming in Week 1 to Oregon, and they still almost beat the Ducks. With no more ranked matchups on the schedule, Boise State should be able to run the table, win their conference championship and make the CFP. Key word there is should, because this year has been incredibly unpredictable.
Jesse Legree might be the best story in college football right now. The true freshman receiver wasn’t expected to do much this year, but through seven games, he has been the best receiver in the country. Legree currently ranks T-14th in receptions (46), 1st in yards (1,040), 1st in touchdowns (14) and 3rd in average yards per catch (22.6). He has recorded at least 100 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in every single game, and has three games with 150+ yards and five games with 2+ receiving touchdowns. He is taking the CFB world by storm this season.
After an eight-catch, 108-yard, two-touchdown performance this past week, Legree was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the seventh straight time. He has never played a week of college football where he wasn’t the Pac-12 FOTW, so I think it’s safe to say he’s a lock to win Freshman of the Year.
With conference realignments happening pretty much every year, the MAC is trying to increase their exit fee to detour their current members from leaving.
Last year, NIU left to join the Mountain West and was forced to pay a $2.5 million exit fee. That’s a good chunk of change for a program like NIU, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from moving on. Now, the MAC is looking to increase their exit fee to $10 million. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the MAC is trying to make sure they don’t lose any more members anytime soon.
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