"Week 8 Recap”
Written by Wendi
Well, four more top 10 teams went down over the weekend. It started Friday night when Louisville stormed into Miami and put on a defensive show and forced four Miami turnovers. Carson Beck looked like the Carson Beck we all remembered at Georgia. Louisville won 24-21. It was not on the picks but Arizona State hosted 7th ranked Texas Tech and the Red Raiders struggled offensively with only 276 total yards with their backup QB in. The Sun Devils had their starting QB back after he had been out with an injury. Sun Devils won and stormed the field (naturally) 26-22.
The matchup between 10th ranked LSU and 17th ranked Vanderbilt didn’t disappoint. Let’s see the history that was made win Vandy’s 31-24 win over LSU. First time they started a season 6-1 since 1950; beat LSU for the first time since 1990; only the 4th meeting since 1947 while both teams were ranked in the AP poll. And to add the cherry on top, Vandy is now bowl eligible which just use to be the season goal each year. Curious to see how Vandy does when Pavia leaves.
5th ranked Ole Miss had every opportunity to put this game away against 9th ranked Georgia. They were up two scores multiple times and could not finish. Georgia’s defense proved to be too much in the 4th quarter and made big stops on 3rd downs. Ole Miss and Georgia were scoring on every single drive up until Ole Miss went back-to-back drives in the 4th quarter. Dawgs won 43-35. Just curious but did anyone happen to pay attention to Kirby Smart’s hand gestures when calling time out or "clapping”?
I can’t figure Michigan out to save my life. One week, they fall flat, the next week they do good enough, then fall flat again, rinse and repeat. Michigan beat a very good Washington team at home 24-7. Michigan’s defense forced three interceptions in a matter of five passing attempts, (yeah, you read that right) which came in the second half of the game. Michigan is still suffering from a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball and will face an angry Michigan State team this weekend.
Georgia Tech remains undefeated after beating Duke 27-18 on Saturday and the Yellow Jackets are sitting at the 7th ranked position in the AP Poll. Duke had no problem moving the ball down field but could not finish drives. They had a missed field goal late in the game, turned the ball over on downs, and what is that saying "can’t keep kicking field goals while the other team is scoring touchdowns”?
Houston kicked a field goal as time expired to beat Arizona 31-28 in a thrilling game. Arizona has lost three of their last four games while Houston just became bowl eligible. It took 5 hours and 50 minutes to decide the Baylor vs TCU game (42-36 in TCU’s favor) due to a couple of weather delays. Baylor had a total of four turnovers which were costly in the game.
With a show of hands, who thinks Dabo Swiney will still be Clemson’s coach heading into next year? I think this will be his last year. He is not willing to bring in key personnel from the portal (I get why he doesn’t). Clemson was without starting QB Klubnik due to an ankle injury, so they had to rely on their backup QB Vizzina. He made some good throws, but it just wasn’t quite enough to stop the SMU Mustangs. The Tigers dropped their fourth loss of the season 24-35 and still have Duke, Florida State, Louisville, and South Carolina to face. Currently, they are 3-4 while SMU has not lost a conference game since November 2022.
If the game was held in Knoxville, I think the outcome of the Bama and Tennessee game may have been different. There will be no goal posts being carried to the river in Tuscaloosa this year. Sorry Vols fans. Alabama got its fourth straight win over a ranked opponent by beating Tennessee 37-20. After the loss to Florida State to start the season, Bama has been on fire. Can they keep it going?
Notre Dame kept their winning streak alive by beating their rival USC 34-24. I tell you what – that Jeremiyah Love kid is something special to watch. USC had their key running backs out due to injury, so their run game was grounded. Notre Dame’s defense came up big when needed to stop a 4th down conversion in the fourth quarter.
BYU still remains undefeated beating Utah 24-21 in the Holy War. Utah was able to drive the ball down field but failed to convert three fourth down conversions in BYU territory. Utah now has two losses and will host Colorado this week and BYU travels to Ames to face Iowa State.
On to the Pick’ems…
Sam’s big gap has closed to only 7 points. Sean has swooped in after having a huge week (Sam, not so much). Can Sean keep pace and jump into the top spot if Sam has another bad week?
Chris rebounded from being absent last week to nailing 36 points. Its not bad but it wasn’t great. Good thing for him is that even though he lost out on a potential 55 points last week, he is still 6 points above last place.
That’s not a good look for Evelyn if you think about it. She had another disastrous week finishing second to last this week. Mike M and David are trying to get out of the "bottom tier” of the group and we will see if they can maintain to gain on first place or fall back down. David had a stellar week but couldn’t move up in the rankings.
Noah had his first "40+” game. The only people who have not scored over 40 yet is Chris and Mike M. This is your week! Kim, Adam, Mike H, and I waiting on the top 2 to come tumbling down so we can move up. After this week, I really need to have a good week. Even though I am in 4th, I’m still down 28 points from first place.
Mike H and Kim are 35 points from the top. Rick, Cindy and Marc need to start making some moves before it gets too late in the competition to catch up. They have a lot of ground to gain but all it takes is a couple of good weeks. Easier said than done, right?
Most points for the week: David and Sean tied for first with 48 points which means this week’s prize will be $20 unless there is another tie.
Least points for the week: Yes, that would be me with only 28 points. The bad part is, I felt confident in my picks. Guess not.
Best pick of the week: Rick & Chris picking SMU over Clemson. To be fair, most of us probably didn’t know Clemson’s starting QB was not going to be playing.
Worst pick of the week: Let’s just say me losing out on my 7,8,9 points. UGH!
Letters to the Editor:
Do you anticipate any big upsets in week 9?
You may think I’m crazy but keep an eye on the UCLA and Indiana game…
Is Vandy gonna make it to the Playoffs?
<checks Vandy’s schedule> They have 1 loss right now (to Bama) and have 3 currently ranked teams on their schedule to still play (Missouri, Texas and Tennessee) and Auburn and Kentucky. If they win out, yes. If they don’t, then no.
How can Ole Miss fans tell Kiffin to focus more on football game plays then pre-game yoga?
Just admit it, you admire his new physique. I get it. He’s hot in a dorky kind of way.
Notre Dame is back!!!
Ugh, just stop!
What are your thoughts on this year’s Alabama/Auburn game?
I think it will be a fight until the 4th quarter honestly. It will be played in Auburn. Bama wins it by one score!
FSU started out with a bang by stomping Alabama…what the heck has happened to them?
Difficult to answer but they have the talent as shown against Bama in week 1. I think it is a culture thing within the program and something is off in the locker room.
Here are the rankings after Week 8:
Sam – 302 points
Sean – 295 points
Adam – 284 points
Wendi – 274 points
Mike H – 267 points
Kim – 267 points
Rick – 265 points
Cindie – 264 points
Marc – 243 points
Noah – 243 points
David – 240 points
Mike M – 225 points
Chris – 225 points
Evelyn – 219 points
83 points separate first and last place!
