College Football HQ

College football heroes, zeroes for Week 8: Clemson trending up, Miami heading down

College football's good, bad, and ugly from the Week 8 slate of games on Saturday

James Parks

College football heroes, zeroes for Week 8: Clemson trending up, Miami heading down
College football heroes, zeroes for Week 8: Clemson trending up, Miami heading down /

Many of college football's top teams took this Saturday off, but there were still plenty of elite teams and impactful games on the docket for the Week 8 schedule. Here's your look at this weekend's winners and losers.

College football Week 8 heroes

LSU and Brian Kelly: It's been tough to get a line on what this team is, but wherever that line has been, it appears to be going in a generally upwards direction. As expected in Kelly's debut season, it's been an up and down affair. But now the Tigers are sitting at 6-2 after dropping the hammer on No. 7 Ole Miss behind another stellar effort from Jayden Daniels, who hit on 21 of 28 passes for 2 TDs and three additional scores on the ground for 121 yards running. When Daniels has space, this offense can move on anyone. Slowly but surely, this thing is coming together.

Clemson: It wasn't pretty, but the ACC favorites won their third game against a ranked conference opponent while moving to 8-0 on the season and taking sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division. But not without a fight: Syracuse's top 10 defense looked the part, forcing four turnovers, and scoring a 90-yard TD off a DJU fumble before Clemson mounted a serious second half comeback. That marks the second straight week this team played it close against an ACC team and now comes a trip to Notre Dame after the bye week, but so far Clemson is doing just about everything right as it fights for College Football Playoff attention.

Marvin Harrison, Jr.: Back in the preseason, Harrison was statistically the No. 5 wide receiver on Ohio State's roster in terms of catches and production. But with Jaxon Smith-Njigba sitting out much of this season with an injury, Harrison has had the chance to show off. And he certainly has, leading OSU's crazy-elite receiver room with 9 touchdown catches this season, and weekly bringing down catches that look like they belong in the NFL, not the Big Ten.

Iowa's defense: Coming in, the Hawkeyes boasted elite defensive numbers, rankings 7th in total production, 3rd nationally allowing 9.8 points per game, and 3rd surrendering 154 passing yards per game. And for the first half against Ohio State, the unit performed well against the Buckeyes' ferocious skill pieces, holding OSU to one touchdown in the first half and scoring its own TD on a forced fumble. But as tends to happen this season, Iowa's complete inability to move the ball finally wore its defense down and it ran out of gas after halftime as the Buckeyes outscored Iowa 28-0 after the break.

Oregon: The season opening debacle against Georgia is still on this record, but the Ducks responded to it about as well as a team can. Oregon has won six straight games, scoring at least 41 points each time out, is 4-0 in Pac-12 play, and have defeated two top-15 teams, including UCLA on Saturday. This defense has flourished under Dan Lanning's management, holding the Bruins to 16 points through three quarters. Bo Nix's 5 TD passes in the win are as many as Auburn has all season, and he's thrown 12 touchdowns to 1 pick since Week 1 while rushing for another 8 scores on over 8 ypc. Oregon is also getting aggressive with its strategy, like on this successful onside kick.

Tennessee's offense: Anyone predicting the Vols would slip into autopilot after beating Alabama with UT Martin on deck was proved very wrong on Saturday. Tennessee scored a program record 52 first-half points, breaking the school's previous record of 49 back in 2000. It was Princeton Fant who broke the mark with a perfect TD pass for Jalin Hyatt. College football's No. 1 total offense didn't miss a beat this week with Kentucky up next Saturday and Georgia after that.

College football Week 8 zeroes

John James Fisher: Known to you as Jimbo, and to Texas A&M fans as that guy getting $95 million to lose. Most recently, on the road to South Carolina in another anemic offensive outing. With the loss, A&M is 2-6 in its last 8 against FBS teams, 0-4 in its last four against unranked FBS teams, 7-11 in SEC road games (with 4 of those 7 wins in 2020 in empty stadiums), and has lost 5 of its last 6 SEC matchups. Just not what anyone was expecting after signing the "highest-rated recruiting class in modern history," according to 247Sports.Β 

Texas: The Longhorns just keep finding ways to lose, including today in a 41-34 game at Oklahoma State, the sixth loss for UT in the last eight of this series, and the fifth loss of the Steve Sarkisian era in which the team blew a double-digit second half lead. Texas was penalized 14 times, OSU none, and Quinn Ewers became the third quarterback since 2000 to throw the ball 49 times in a game and complete less than 20 of those attempts. Every time it seems Texas is about to take another important step forward, it gets knocked two steps back.

DJ Uiagalelei: The Clemson quarterback had made such important strides since last season's 9 TD, 10 INT debacle, and his efficient, steady play helped propel the Tigers to an undefeated record and two statement wins in the ACC. But against Syracuse in a battle for first place in the division, the quarterback regressed, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble that went the other way for a 90-yard TD. All of which resulted in Uiagalelei getting benched in favor of Cade Klubnik. But it's worth noting that DJU, despite not completely living up to his potential, has still put up a pretty good fight.

Iowa's offense: At this point, and at several points before now, you have to just wonder how Brian Ferentz still has a job. Your father being your boss helps, but the total offensive unit that came into Saturday ranking dead-last in college football in total production looked every bit that bad. Lack of coordination, no urgency, poor decisions, and a gaggle of turnovers all doomed this offense again, and there's no real progress in sight to build on.

Syracuse: This was the moment the Orange had to make a statement to the college football world that it belonged in the national conversation. And for the first half against Clemson, it did, taking a lead thanks to that brilliant defensive scoring play. But after the half, this team turned off. Sean Tucker, one of the ACC's most gifted running backs, was hardly used, and Syracuse's front protection was gradually worn down by Clemson's ferocious front seven.Β 

Miami: Mario Cristobal's honeymoon period at Miami ended some time ago, but this week found the Hurricanes losing a game in another humiliating way, dropping a 45-21 decision to Duke thanks to eight turnovers on Miami's part. Three of those were interceptions and five were lost fumbles, and Duke took advantage of them all.Β 

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.

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