College Football Week 8 – Winners and Losers

The Biggest Winner – Stanford Cardinal

The Cardinal needed help to be invited to the BCS title game and received it last week as Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma and Michigan State beat Wisconsin.  Stanford still needs help to overcome Oklahoma State in the rankings but they made two huge leaps over the weekend.  Clemson and Boise State are still ahead of them in the BCS rankings but victories against USC this week and at home to #7 Oregon should be enough to propel them above each team.   Stanford once again defeated their opponent by 25 points or more for the tenth straight time.

Clemson Tigers – Clemson didn’t receive one vote in the AP preseason rankings to start the season but now sit 8-0 and fifth in the BCS rankings.  Dabo Swinney is the coach of the year at this stage of the season.  The Tigers hope to showcase their talents and gain more votes in the polls playing Georgia Tech on national TV Saturday night.

Houston Cougars – The Cougars improve their record to 7-0 for the season as they rack up 63 points against Marshall.  The Cougars potent offense hasn’t scored below 35 points this year.  Houston’s game at Tulsa to end the season should tell if this team will go undefeated during the regular season.

The Biggest Loser – Oklahoma Sooners

No one could have predicted the Sooners would lose at home as a 28 point favorite against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were licking their wounds after losing two straight games at home.  The Sooners were just waiting for the LSU-Alabama match-up to lock their BCS birth against the winner of that game.  The Sooners were looking past the Red Raiders. They definitely won’t forget the outcome for a long time in Norman.

Wisconsin Badgers – The Badgers got behind early, had to make a late fourth quarter comeback, and got kicked in the gut with a controversial Hail Mary pass to end their BCS title hopes.  We still think the Badgers will win the Big Ten but last weekend showed they’re vulnerable and not the dominant title contender we had seen six weeks into the season.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish – The Fighting Irish ended their BCS invitation hopes losing at home to USC over the weekend.   Turnovers killed the Irish once again giving up three in the game including a fumble at the USC one yard line that ended up a touchdown for USC to put the game out of reach.