College Football Rankings Week 8: Utah Wins Big, Michigan State Makes Statement

College football rankings for Week 8 are going to shift with so many ranked teams losing. The Week 8 college football rankings should reward No. 6 LSU for beating No. 8 Florida, Undefeated and unranked Memphis for beating No. 13 Ole Miss, and No. 7 Michigan State for knocking off No. 12 Michigan. The Alabama win over Texas A&M was also huge, as it should get the Crimson Tide back inside the top 10 despite having a loss already.

One school that is about to get punished is Boise State, as the school was ranked No. 21 before heading out on the road to play Utah State. A 52-26 loss is not going to be forgiven by the voters, likely dictating that Boise State enters Week 8 unranked again. No. 20 Northwestern also lost in a bad way, falling 40-10 to No. 17 Iowa. While Northwestern will likely be unranked now, 7-0 Iowa should move up a tick in the latest rankings. Losses by Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Michigan, and Florida even give the Iowa Hawkeyes an outside shot to get ranked in the top 10.

There is going to be a lot of debate among the writers and coaches before the Week 8 college football rankings come out. In the last AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll, six schools received at least one first place vote each. That included No. 9 Texas A&M in the AP Top 25 and No. 7 Utah in the Coaches Poll. It also showcased the differing opinions of both groups, as after No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Baylor, and No. 3 TCU, the rest of the top 16 teams were completely shuffled up. They didn’t agree again until No. 17 Iowa and No. 18 UCLA. With Iowa improving to 7-0, it will be very interesting to see where the school winds up in Week 8 rankings.

Ohio State beat Penn State, Baylor beat West Virginia, and TCU beat Iowa State. This likely predicts that the top three teams will remain the same in the Week 8 AP Top 25 as well as the Coaches Poll. No. 4 Utah beat Arizona State 34-18, confirming to the writers that had given the team 16 first-place votes that the team belongs near the top. It might be tough for Utah to move up in the Week 8 Coaches Poll, though, as all the teams above them also won this week. That includes Michigan State beating Michigan, LSU beating Florida, and Clemson beating Boston College.

Florida and Texas A&M will fall out of the AP top 10, with No. 12 Michigan and No. 13 Ole Miss also in for a dip. Undefeated Oklahoma State (6-0), undefeated Iowa (7-0), and Oklahoma (5-1) could see bumps in the poll. Memphis, which improved to 6-0 by beating Ole Miss, will join the AP Top 25 for the first time this season. The Tigers were already at No. 22 in the Coaches Poll, but should pass Northwestern, Boise State, and UCLA in the latest vote.

There aren’t a lot of big games coming up in Week 8 of the college football schedule, but certainly some trap games for higher ranked schools. Those games include Washington vs. Stanford, Utah vs. USC, Texas A&M vs. Ole Miss, and Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma. The California vs. UCLA game on Thursday, October 22, and the Clemson vs. Miami game on Friday, October 23 will also have big impacts on upcoming polls. It’s hard not to look ahead at Notre Dame vs. Temple, Florida vs. Georgia, and Washington State vs. Stanford in Week 9 though.

The four schools predicted to make the College Football Playoff will likely remain Ohio State, Baylor, TCU, and Utah, unless the big wins LSU and Michigan State just put up give those schools a boost in the polls. The Week 8 college football rankings will officially get released on Sunday, October 18, setting the stage for which schools have a big advantage for the rest of the regular season.

[Image Source: Gene Sweeney Jr, David Purdy, and Wesley Hitt / Getty Images]