Week 8 of the college football season didn’t see any big contenders fall. In fact, none of the top 14 teams in last week’s ratings lost. And the two best teams that lost all fell to better teams: last week’s #15 lost to last week’s #3 Penn State, #16 USC lost to #5 Notre Dame.
Let’s start with the most impressive wins of the week, which go to Notre Dame and Penn State. Beating a strong opponent helps, but both teams blew out top 20 opponents. And Iowa State — a school that hadn’t won more than 3 games since 2012 — continued their remarkable run. In week 6, the Cyclones shocked a great Oklahoma team to win 38-31 in Norman. The next week, Iowa State stomped on Kansas 45-0, the second largest margin of victory for Iowa State in a game in the last 15 years. Then, on Saturday, the Cyclones upset Texas Tech, 31-13. This marked the third straight game where Iowa State covered the point spread by more than 21 points!
The table below shows the SRS ratings from each game in week 8:
Oh, and if you’re looking for a Khalil Tate update, well, the Arizona QB had an underwhelming game by his standards, but a great game by anyone else’s. The Wildcats won in double overtime, 45-44 at Cal, with Tate completing 10 of 15 passes for 166 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT, and rushing 17 times for 137 yards and a TD. And there was this:
They just keep getting better. This 76-yard run from Khalil Tate is our longest play of the season.
Arizona 14
Cal 7
3:22 1st Quarter pic.twitter.com/h4irNBBL9V
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 22, 2017
With Iowa State’s upset win, the Cyclones have cracked the top 15 of the SRS, giving the Big 12 four teams in the top 15 but none higher than 10th. TCU, 11th in the SRS but 4th in the rankings, travels to Ames this Saturday in what should now be a monster game for the conference.
Below are the week 8 SRS ratings. As always thanks to Dr. Peter R. Wolfe for providing the weekly game logs. Below are the SRS ratings through 8 weeks:
Oh, and Penn State has climbed to #2 and is on Alabama’s heels. And this weekend is the huge showdown between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes that Ohio State fans have been circling on their calendars for months. Penn State’s home victory over OSU propelled the Nittany Lions to the B10 Championship and ruined the OSU season. This time around, the Buckeyes will be out for revenge.