After a wild week of near-upsets, exciting matchups and a shakeup in the rankings, most fans were expecting a calmer demeanor around week eight. While it was not jam-packed as its predecessor, week eight still provided the exhilarating action and cinematic drama that fans have come to expect from the 2024-2025 season.
Hurricanes run track meet in Louisville
The “U” is officially back. Heading into their match with the 4-2 Louisville Cardinals, the Hurricanes had survived all of its previous challenges and had marked Saturday’s game as a match against a “true” opponent. Quarterback Cam Ward headed into the game as a Heisman contender and, considering the ever-changing landscape of the season, may have left the contest as the favorite.
In a game with nearly 1,000 yards of offense, Miami left a rowdy environment with an impressive victory that showcased its high-powered offense and ability to secure games in crunch time. Although Louisville’s defense was able to scrounge up a forced fumble and three sacks, it seemed as if the Cardinals secondary had no answer for the air raid that Ward and the Hurricanes offense unleashed to the tune of 319 passing yards with two receivers having 100-yard games in a 52-45 shootout victory. Senior wideout Xavier Restrepo led Miami in receiving yards against L’ville and set the record for the most games with 100 receiving yards in Hurricane history.
Miami’s next five games to end the year are all against unranked teams, and should the team finish undefeated, the “U” could have a chance to compete for a title for the first time in 22 years.
Alabama leaves Tennessee in worse shape than it entered
Much has been said (and criticized) about Alabama in the post-Nick Saban era. If coach Kalen DeBoer hadn’t been received well by Tide fans before this season, he isn’t helping his case this month.
After a loss to unranked Vanderbilt and a narrow win against unranked South Carolina, Alabama needed to assert itself among the Southeast Conference pack against longtime rival No.11 Tennessee. The Volunteers found themselves in an identical situation, with a loss to unranked Arkansas and an unconvincing win against unranked Florida in the last two weeks.
Although it wasn’t pretty, Tennessee showed guts after laying an egg in the first half, rallying for 24 points in the second half. The Vols would defend their home field and hold on to their playoff aspirations, in a 24-17 victory.
Illinois keeps season of dreams alive
The theme of the season for the Fighting Illini has been celebration. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate in Champaign after already matching their win total from a season ago in week seven, and the party continued when the Wolverines came to Illinois Memorial Stadium, which celebrated its 100th year of operation Saturday.
Dawning their 1920s throwback jerseys, the Illini defense was the star of the show against Michigan. Wolverines’ quarterback Jack Tuttle was unable to get anything going, going 20-for-32 for a light 208 passing yards and one interception. The Michigan offense has struggled all year long after losing key pieces to the NFL Draft this spring, and the Illini defense, led by junior linebacker Gabe Jacas, battered the Wolverines with five sacks and seven tackles for loss in a 21-7 victory.
The Illini will be on the road for their biggest challenge yet heading to Autzen Stadium for a date with the No.1 ranked Oregon Ducks.
Georgia gets out of the dog house in Austin
The Bulldogs were in good standing with the AP Poll heading into Saturday’s night game with the No. 1 Texas Longhorns, but had to have felt unaccomplished after losing to Alabama earlier this fall. UGA coach Kirby Smart said the team “came to eat” after leaving Texas Memorial Stadium with the win, and eat they did.
Georgia’s first three offensive drives resulted in two picks and a punt, but it ultimately didn’t matter as the Longhorns fumbled twice, threw a pick and punted five times before they scored their first touchdown all while Georgia ran to a 23-0 lead. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers continued to struggle coming off his oblique injury, who scraped by to get 211 passing yards and was sacked five times in a rough 30-15 loss where he was replaced by legacy quarterback Arch Manning.
Both of the SEC contenders have similar trajectories heading into early November, with both the Dawgs and Steers facing two ranked teams and three unranked teams. Both of these teams could make the CFP with their respective losses, but would need to win out should they lose the SEC championship.
Cyclones survive upset bid from new Big 12 foe
Similarly to Illinois, one of the more exciting storylines this season has been the meteoric rise of the Iowa State Cyclones. After upsetting in-state rival Iowa in early September, the Cyclones have gone undefeated to start the season and looked to match their win total from a season ago against Central Florida.
The Knights, however, would not go down so easily. Against a Cyclones defense that only allows 170 rushing yards per game, the Knights would dash for a whooping 362 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Down 21-14 at halftime, the Cyclones would rally behind sophomore quarterback Rocco Becht, who would lead ISU on four different scoring drives (one passing and two rushing downs all by Becht and a field goal) in the second half. The Cyclones would hold on to its three point lead with 30 seconds left, and remain undefeated in a season that sees Iowa State as the front runners of the Big 12, winning 38-35.
Deep cuts and what’s next
For the first time since the last AP Poll of the 2013 season, the Vanderbilt Commodores find themselves ranked within the top 25 teams in all of college football. QB Diego Pavia is the captain of the miracle season on Broadway St., totaling 1,861 yards of offense and a combined 14 touchdowns in seven starts.
In a week with five ranked head-to-head games, week nine’s headliner appears to be a battle between SEC rivals No.8 LSU and No.14 Texas A&M. The Tigers and Aggies have both gone undefeated since losing in week one, and the winner of this nighttime showdown could assume the role of conference king.
If week seven was the dark side of college football, week eight was the light; up-and-coming teams kept their hopes alive, and long standing powerhouses were toppled.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at gwellman@kent.edu or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.
