College Football Week 8 Preview: Longhorns Look to Salvage Season

Welcome back college football fans! I hope you didn’t fly out of your seat last weekend.

In one of the most iconic fall Saturdays we’ve had in the last decade, five of the top seven AP rank teams fell and many in dramatic fashion. And the ones that did pull out victories did so by also playing a top 7 team (Ohio State) or getting bailed out by the ACC refs as they always do (Miami-Florida). These are the weekends that truly make you appreciate how wonderful, crazy, and unpredictable this sport can be and justify why we tune in religiously every Saturday. Because Saturdays like this can and do happen, usually when you least expect them.

While Week 8 might not have the prominent high-ranked matchups that Week 7 came with, as I stated prior you truly never know in this sport. We already had major upsets with ranked teams over unranked teams last week (see Auburn over Georgia and Florida over Texas). But why can’t we have more this week?

We’re now over the halfway point in the season and we’ve finally arrived at that time in the year: when fall slowly begins to fade into winter and sphincters clench and knuckles whiten throughout fandoms across the country as seasons hinge on a single snap. And there’s no sphincters clenched tighter right now than those of the Texas Longhorns.

I won’t mince words here: Texas‘s last two weeks can only be described as a complete and utter meltdown. As I’ll detail more in the Ole Miss and Texas weekly game preview, it seems that Texas has gone the way of Brett Venables’ Oklahoma team: a dominating defense Hamstrung by a self-flagellating offense. Will Muschamp has been keeping this team afloat since the start of the season while Steve Sarkisian’s protégé Arch Manning can only manage to complete five passes beyond the line of scrimmage against an unimpressive Florida defense. It truly is put up or shut up time for the Longhorns this weekend, and I just hope for their sake that whatever Steve Sarkisian is saying about Arch Manning “being edgy” is actually going to reinvigorate a lifeless corpse of an offense.

Regardless of if Texas can revive their season, we should still have an amazing Week 8 of college football. We’ve got the usual preview for you below. Hopefully Cheech and I can rebound off of our disastrous underdog picks last week. Let us know where you’ll be and what you’ll be watching on Saturday in the comments below.

Games of the Week

Indiana at Michigan

Indiana (6-1) heads to the Big House this Saturday after being one foot (literally) away from maintaining their perfect season and 22-game program win streak. Unlike last year’s Hoosiers, it’s already been proven that, yes, this team can bleed. So the question now is will IU make a habit of losing or quickly return to their winning ways? Well, like I said before last week, they’ll have to play and coach more aggressively to get the job done this week. Michigan (3-3) is going to want to play a style of football that Curt Cignetti and his staff may play right into the hands of. When this Wolverines team has been competitive this year, they’ve relied on their defense to carry the mail and their ground game to control the clock. In the first 3 quarters of Indiana’s last two contests, they’ve deployed a similar strategy with negative results. If the Hoosiers want to bounce back with a victory in Ann Arbor, they’ll need to come with an aggressive game plan like they’ve utilized in 4th quarters against Nebraska and Ohio State. They should not expect the Wolverines to roll over in this one as new starting QB Tommy Carr has injected life into this team and its fanbase (see fan edits of “Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car” by Billy Ocean). Michigan has a very good chance to win this game with a mediocre performance from Carr, especially if Indiana comes out passively and plays into their strengths. If Nick Marsh gets his foot down last week, I see an even more realistic path to a Wolverines win here, but I can’t see Curt Cignetti dropping 2 in a row as the Hoosiers will find a way, but it won’t be pretty.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Indiana 24 – Michigan 18

Cheech Jones: Indiana 27 – Michigan 13

BYU at UCF

Kalani Sitake’s squad is looking to avoid the letdown spot after last week’s program-defining victory over Notre Dame. Bear Bachmeier donned the Superman cape last week for BYU (6-0) cashing in on a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown. But is that sustainable for the Cougar offense? I don’t think so unless UCF has also disrespected the Bear’s family. BYU is still without running back LJ Martin, so it must be Bachmeier making everything happen himself if this offense is going to maintain the level of success they had against the Irish. Scott Frost’s UCF (3-3) squad is set up in prime position to pull the upset here coming off of a week of rest. The Knights have kept it close with the upper echelon of the Big 12 this year playing close games against both Oklahoma State and Houston. Quarterback Alonza Barnett still appears to be out for UCF, but Keyone Jenkins has put up stellar performances in his absence. This one projects to be a rock fight as UCF’s defense has gone vastly underrated this year and should give BYU’s hampered offense fits with the bounce house rocking. Points will be at a premium here, but I think the Cougars stay disciplined enough to avoid succumbing to the letdown spot and keep their undefeated season alive.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: BYU 17 – UCF 14

Cheech Jones: BYU 24 – UCF 17

Ole Miss at Texas

Where do I even begin with the Texas Longhorns’ (4-2) jaw-dropping losses two weeks in a row to two unranked SEC foes? You can pretty much rule out any possibility of going to Atlanta at this point, and a College Football Playoff berth is on the precipice of vaporization for the former number one ranked team. Is it fair to call them a slightly better version of Oklahoma (even though they lost the Red River Shootout)? The similarities between the Longhorns and Sooners have become starkly apparent over the last two weeks. Two teams that rely heavily on their defense to keep them in games and whose offense can lose them games by committing dumbfounding and catastrophic turnovers (see last weekend). I can’t believe I’m even saying this for a $50 million roster with offensive pieces like Cam Coleman, Ryan Wingo, Hollywood Smothers, etc., but Texas’s formula for beating Ole Miss on Saturday is to run the ball, play field position, and limit offensive possessions for the Rebels. While this Texas defense is dynamite, putting the ball in Trinidad Chambliss’s hands too many times will certainly get you burned eventually. Ole Miss is surging right now: allowing 10 points on average to SEC opponents in their last two games, including limiting a prolific Missouri offense to just 3 points last Saturday. I feel like I have to ride the tide with each of these teams, and that’s leading me to forecasting an Ole Miss victory and by double digits. I don’t know how Steve Sarkisian realistically keeps his job if he drops this one.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Ole Miss 31 – Texas 21

Cheech Jones: Texas 31 – Ole Miss 30

USC at Wisconsin

Wisconsin (4-2) returns home to Camp Randall Stadium after traveling out to Pasadena and only putting up seven points against the vaunted UCLA Bruins defense. Fortunately for them, USC’s defense is nowhere near the caliber of what they saw last weekend. Colton Joseph continues to navigate the Badger offense with precision as he leads the team both in passing and rushing. I expect him to have a stellar game this Saturday against USC’s porous defense. The Trojans (6-1) are visiting Madison fresh off of a bye week, so they should be rested and raring to go for this contest. They’ve had an elite balanced offense so far this year as their freshman pass catchers, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, Trent Mosley, and tight end Mark Bowman have given quarterback Jayden Maiava plenty of open targets to distribute the ball. King Miller and Waymond Jordan have formed a bruising duo on the ground that keeps defenses honest against the run. Ultimately, I think the difference here will be Wisconsin’s defense. Stud linebackers Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa will bottle up USC’s rushing attack and allow more numbers to be dropped in the coverage to defend Jayden Maiava through the air. I’m going to believe in Luke Fickell one more time here and hope I don’t get burned.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Wisconsin 27 – USC 24

Cheech Jones: USC 31 – Wisconsin 17

Houston at Utah

College Gameday stays in the Beehive State this week as Willie Fritz’s Houston Cougars bound to Salt Lake City off of an electrifying win over Oklahoma State last Saturday that recalled fond memories of the old Big 12 for many. These teams have had two different paths through the conference so far this year as Houston has had to deal with the likes of Texas Tech, UCF, and the aforementioned Cowboys while Utah has had a cupcake walk with Iowa State, Kansas, and Colorado. The Utes have won most of those games by double digits, but they only squeaked out at a 3 point win last week over the lowly Buffaloes at Folsom Field. Personally, I think that the Utes truly are frauds as they’ve yet to face any stiff competition or adversity. Even though Utah is notoriously good at home, especially at night in Rice-Eccles Stadium, I think that Houston will be better on both sides of the ball in this matchup. The battle-tested Cougars triumph in Salt Lake City Saturday and blaze a path towards the Big 12 championship game with a signature road win.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Houston 28 – Utah 27

Cheech Jones: Utah 31 – Houston 28

David’s Underdog of the Week

Western Michigan 20 – Toledo 15

The Broncos are undefeated in the MAC so far on their quest to defend their conference crown. They’ve shown they can do it on the road as well, scoring wins against both Buffalo and the in-state rival Chippewas last weekend. The Rockets, on the other hand, have proved vastly underwhelming so far this year. They’ve fallen at home to that same Buffalo squad and have only beaten the bottoms of the conference in Ball State and Eastern. Expect a slugfest in this one as the Western defense, QB Broc Lowry, and RB Jalen Buckley control the tempo and guide the Broncos to staying unbeaten in conference play.

Cheech’s Underdog of the Week

Tennessee 27 – South Carolina 20

There is a high possibility that this is a total trap line, but I’ve gotta take the Vols coming off a statement 26–10 win over Alabama. It’s clear that the Jim Knowles experience has worked so far as the Volunteers’ defense is allowing just 14.7 points per game, ranking ninth in the nation. DeSean Bishop has been a workhorse in the backfield, already piling up 837 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. I think the Volunteers’ stout defense and their ability to control the line of scrimmage will help them pick up a gritty win in a hostile road environment.