Did Week 7 live up to the hype or what? Five of the top seven teams in the AP Poll lost! #1 Georgia, #2 Notre Dame, #5 Indiana, #6 Alabama, and #7 Texas all went down swinging! We had drama all over as UCLA stay undefeated, Kentucky remained hot, and the Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 with legitimate playoff hopes. Let’s take a look at my Top 25 Poll entering Week 8.

Ohio State went into the dungeon and slayed the dragon. The Buckeyes beat the defending Champion Hoosiers and handed Curt Cignetti his first home loss with Indiana; snapping a 22-game winning streak. Jeremiah Smith continued his Heisman run with an incredible 38-yard touchdown catch over two defenders to put the Buckeyes up 19-7 with 12:46 remaining. Ohio State could have lost, but Nick Marsh didn’t watch enough Antonio Brown growing up. Ohio State has a much-needed bye week before a stretch of USC, Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Michigan to end the regular season.

Man, did BYU versus Notre Dame live up to the hype! The game literally came down to the last play and controversial style that only the Irish could give us. Bear Bachmeier did it all. Bachmeier threw a touchdown, ran for two touchdowns, and caught a touchdown! The new Heisman candidate totaled 284 yards and four touchdowns as the Cougars didn’t miss their star running back LJ Martin. BYU’s defense forced CJ Carr into 49 pass attempts and made Notre Dame far more one-dimensional than they wanted to be.

Miami was pushed to the limit in a 2 OT win versus Florida State. Darian Mensah (354 yards, 3 TDs) tossed a beautiful fade to Malachi Toney (11 rec, 154 yards, 2 TDs) for the go-ahead score and then Miami drew up some trickery and had Toney throw the two-point conversion, which was successful. Javian Mallory caught fire int he second half and finished the game with 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Miami’s defense was a little rusty out of the bye week, but the offense ended with 583 yards and won the possession battle 37:20 to 22:40.

Ole Miss routed Missouri 31-3 and is looking like a well-oiled machine over the last two weeks. The Rebels came into the weekend allowing the most rushing yards in the SEC and held Jamal Roberts and Missouri to 39 yards. Kewan Lacy received a full workload and turned 16 carries into 122 rushing yards. Makhi Frazier aslo added 101 yards on the ground, while Trinidad Chambliss threw three scores. Ole Miss outgained Missouri 498-378 and converted nine out of 14 third downs. Next up is a road trip to face a desperate Texas Longhorns team. Mark your calendars!

I did not have Georgia losing to Auburn even remotely on my radar for this weekend, but the Tigers caught the Bulldogs slacking as Gunner Stockton turned the ball over three times, including a final mistake that gave Auburn the chance for the game-winning field goal. Georgia simply couldn’t overcome Stockton’s mistakes all afternoon nor stop Byrum Brown on the ground (150 pass yards, 115 rush yards). George goes into the bye week to stew on their loss before a neutral site with Florida, who just revitalized their season.

Texas Tech came out of the bye week and posted a season-high 53 points and recorded 502 yards on offense. Texas Tech scored 43 points in the first half scoring on seven-straight drives after fumbling on the opening drive. Whatever the Red Raiders did over the bye week worked and if they are superstitious at all; keep doing it.

Notre Dame could have had the ball on the one yard line and been so close to holding the #2 spot in the country, but the refs deemed the final play no pass interference and the rest is history. Notre Dame’s defense didn’t record a single sack and had two TFL on top of struggling to contain Bear Bachmeier. The Irish are still in a playoff spot as they enter the bye week, but Notre Dame will be in the same position as last year if they lost to Miami on Nov. 7.

Indiana could have been the No. 1 team in the country, but a toe tap was the difference. Josh Hoover delivered two big fourth quarter drives and Charlie Becker kept the Hoosiers alive over and over as he collected nine catches for 165 yards. Indiana’s defense picked off Julian Sayin twice, sacked him four times, and held the Buckeyes to 2.1 yards per carry. Indiana will be in for a dogfight as they visit the Big House next.

Utah allowed a season-high 24 points back-to-back weeks, and was involved in a sweat at Colorado, but escaped with a 27-24 win. The Utes started off strong with a 13-0 halftime lead, but the Buffaloes came out a different team in the second. Utah had the ball for 37 minutes, but narrowly edged Colorado in almost all categories. Utah will play its first ranked matchup of the season when they host Houston on Saturday. It could be a rock fight.

Kentucky has been rolling and is all over a sudden becoming more than a dark horse to make the playoff. The Wildcats have strung together five-straight wins and have two top 10 wins in that span. Kentucky will host Vanderbilt, then after a bye week face a rough four-game stretch to end the season of Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, and Louisville. Odds are Kentucky doesn’t make the playoff because of that four-game span, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

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Bob Chesney and UCLA kept the dream season alive with a 17-7 win over Wisconsin without their starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava who suffered a season-ending injury last week. The Bruins already had their bye week prior to beating Oregon, so UCLA will play eight-straight games to end the season (already played two). I question if the physicality of the Big Ten with a backup quarterback and no breaks will catch up to UCLA, but as long as the defense is holding opponents to 214 yards and 13 first downs, it may not matter.

LSU had the liberty of playing Mississippi State without Kamario Taylor and Fluff Bothwell, which resulted in the Bulldogs being shutout in Death Valley. LSU’s defense held Mississippi State to 121 passing yards, 4.7 yards per completion, and the Tigers grabbed three sacks, and seven TFL. Sam Leavitt had himself a day with four touchdown passes and 289 yards on 31-of-38 (81.6%). LSU goes to Auburn, then hosts Alabama and Texas back-to-back weeks before ending the year at Tennessee and Arkansas. If Lane Kiffin finagles a playoff berth with that schedule, he deserves every penny.

Tennessee’s defense was one of the standout units across the country on Saturday. The Vols shut down everything Alabama wanted to do, holding them to 201 yards, 12 first downs, 2-of-13 on third downs, 54 rushing yards, and four turnovers! Tennessee didn’t let Keelon Russell breathe with five sacks and 10 TFL. DeSean Bishop kept his heater going with 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries. Bishop had more rushing yards (159) than Alabama had passing yards (147). Tennessee goes to South Carolina next before they enjoy a bye week.

Tough times in Tuscaloosa. Alabama was vulnerable and Tennessee took advantage stunning the Tide and giving Alabama two-straight losses. Keelon Russell had a season-low 147 passing yards, a season-high two interceptions, and the offense managed 54 rushing yards. It was an all-around stinker from Alabama and for a third year in a row, Tennessee ran all over the Tide for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Alabama will be in a look-ahead spot next week. They host an underwhelming Texas A&M team Saturday before going to LSU the following week. The loser of LSU versus Alabama will be out of the playoff race.

Boise State is coming off a bye week and will face three-straight teams with a .500 record or worse. The Broncos earned a hard-fought 38-31 win at Fresno State last time and have to continue to keep chugging along to keep pace with James Madison (7-0 record).

After playing seven-straight games, USC earned themselves a bye week in the California weather. Let’s hope they used it well. The Trojans head to Wisconsin out of the break, then host Ohio State followed by a road trip to Indiana. That’s a lot of air miles and three physical defenses that can rip the life out of your season.

Tramell Jones Jr. struggled in the first quarter, but after tossing a touchdown to end the first half, he and the Gators offense didn’t look back. Florida outgained Texas 313-272 in yards, held the Longhorns to 99 rushing yards and 2-of-13 on third downs. Florida had the ball for over 38 minutes and played keep away once Jadan Baugh got going (25 carries, 91 yards, 1 TD). Florida’s season all of a sudden has life again, but after the bye week, the Gators will face Georgia in Atlanta. So, it’s more like the Gators’ season is on life support.

That’s two-straight losses to unranked teams; Texas has to be the biggest loser of the weekend. The chatter of replacing Arch Manning is picking up and the coaching decisions in that game put heat on Steve Sarkisian as Texas went from being No. 1 in the country to possibly missing the playoffs in two weeks. The offense looks broken and the defense can only do so much if they’re not getting sacks (1 vs Florida). Texas hosts Ole Miss next and that will be a deathblow for the Longhorns season if they lose.

Alex McPherson kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired to knock off the #1 Georgia Bulldogs to give us some miraculous history. The #1 team in the AP Poll last back to back weeks for the first time since 1990. Auburn’s defense had three takeaways and Byrum Brown had his signature game and moment with 265 total yards and two touchdowns, including a five-yard rushing score to go up by 10 at Georgia. Auburn hosts LSU, then goes to Ole Miss over the next two weeks. Oklahoma beat Georgia last week, then lost at Kentucky. Let’s see what Auburn does after beating #1.

The first half of Houston and Oklahoma State was a snooze compared to the second half. Houston gave up 29 points in the second half to Oklahoma State, but held onto a 35-32 win. Connor Weigman slung the rock, and that’s an understatement. Weigman finished with a career-high five touchdown passes and 343 yards on 24-of-33 (72.7%). Houston ended up with 505 yards of offense to Oklahoma State’s 499. That shootout style likely won’t work on the road at Utah next week in a game that could put Houston in the long shot playoff conversation.

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Wake Forest just rumbled their way across the country and routed Cal 41-7. Wake Forest outgained Cal 509-266 in yardage, averaged 11.1 yards per pass, and 6.1 yards per carry. The Demon Deacons scored a touchdown on five of their first six drives, including 96 and 99-yard drives. After the bye week, Wake Forest has consecutive home games against Virginia and Merrimack. We’ll see if the bye week slows this team’s momentum down or not.

Austin Simmons’ revenge game in Oxford dint go so well as Missouri was held to three points. Jamal Roberts and Missouri had 39 rushing yards after he went back-to-back games with 200-plus rushing yards. Missouri has now lost 18 out of 20 games with Eli Drinkwitz when the Tigers are a road underdog. Missouri will be a road underdog one more time this year; and that’s at Georgia on Nov. 14.

Iowa is coming off a bye week as they get ready to face Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Northwestern over the next three weeks. I hope the Hawkeyes took the time to recover because the offensive and defensive lines are in for some brutal games. The Hawkeyes beat Washington in their last outing and will have an interesting decision at quarterback with Hank Brown or Jeremy Hecklinski moving forward.

Just when you thought Oklahoma State was turning the corner, they give up 505 yards of offense and 35 points in a road loss at Houston. The Cowboys have scored at least 32 points in five-straight games and averaged 42.6 points per game since losing to Tulsa 24-10, but the offense couldn’t muster them out of this shootout. Oklahoma State has one ranked team on their remaining schedule (Texas Tech), but not before they go on the road in two of the next three games.

Holy moly! Was that close? Nebraska almost got the best of Oregon in Eugene, but Dylan Raiola wasn’t having any of that. Raiola led a comeback drive against his former team after being benched in favor of Brock Thomas who ended with 54 yards and one interception on 9-of-20 (45.5%). Raiola finished with 59 yards on 11-of-18 in the fourth quarter and the game-winning touchdown. It was one of the ugliest games in quarters one through three that you will see, but the fourth quarter sure was fun.

New to the Top 25

Auburn snapped Georgia’s 53-game winning steak against unranked opponents and Byrum Brown reminded the nation again why he was one of the most hyped quarterbacks over the summer.

Aaron Philo was starting to drag the offense down and just when Jadan Baugh was going cold, Tramell Jones Jr came along to save the day. Florida has a long road ahead of them, but they are in a much better spot entering the bye week Sunday than they were a week ago.

Out of the Top 25

Well, if there’s no Kamario Taylor, I simply cannot get behind the Bulldogs as a top 25 team. The defense has also given up at least 31 points in three of the last four games.

After beating the #1 team in the country, Oklahoma lost at home to the #15 team in the nation. While they shouldn’t be docked too much for that, the Sooners may just be a fringe top 20-40 team any given week. John Mateer threw three interceptions and Oklahoma turned the ball over four times, was sacked five times, and ran for 2.5 yards per carry.

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