Top 25: Winners, Losers and ‘Weirdos’ from Week 8

The college football Top 25 is entrenched in the regular season. With the top teams holding firm throughout the year, it was only a matter of time before some turbulence came about.

The eighth week of college football’s regular season did just that, providing fans with entertaining games, big wins and shocking upsets over the weekend.

Here’s who won, who lost and who’s weird in the Top 25 after Week 8:

Winner: No. 13 Utah Utes

Chills.

Relive every moment of the 34-32 victory over USC ✌️ pic.twitter.com/M8rHCgtx6h

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 24, 2023

Utah already entered its matchup against Southern California ahead of the Trojans in the rankings. However, a win would likely boost the Utes even higher and open a lane for a PAC-12 Championship berth.

Both teams came out ready to scorch earth, combining for eight touchdowns. Utah would pull through, kicking the game-winning field goal as time expired. The win jumped Utah from No. 14 to 13 in this week’s poll and pulled USC out of first place in the PAC-12.

Loser: No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State finds the end zone with under 30 seconds to go@PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/DcuMZBRyGS

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 21, 2023

It’s hard to call a team losers after a loss to the No. 3 team in the country and a national championship contender. But that’s probably how the Penn State Nittany Lions feel after falling to the Ohio State Buckeyes 20-12 Saturday. The Nittany Lions had built the most momentum in many seasons by heading into the game undefeated. With Ohio State serving as the most formidable and respected opponent on its schedule, Penn State needed a win to support any argument for a college football playoff spot.

Penn State didn’t get that win. But the fashion in which Penn State lost makes it even worse. The final score disguises that Penn State was down 20-6 until the closing moments. The offense was unimpressive and the defense was mostly unresisting to OSU’s offensive efforts. There’s a lot of season to be played, but PSU’s lofty goals just took a harsh reality check.

“Weirdo”: No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels

https://twitter.com/VirginiaSports/status/1716545024924500466

Let’s get weird.

North Carolina is a fine football team. It certainly isn’t a championship contender, but the roster is talented and looked to at least cause trouble in the ACC. It took on unranked (and STILL unranked) Virginia this weekend, which was 1-5 and 0-2 in the ACC to this point. The Cavaliers struck first and the Tar Heels barely held a 17-14 lead at half. They’ll pull it together though, right?

Wrong.

Instead, UNC let the Cavs hang around all game, eventually going up by three with a few minutes left and opening itself up for a possible game-winning score. UVA did just that and took the upset win. UNC dropped seven spots in the Top 25, out of the top-10 and completely spinning out of momentum for the time being. Luckily a double feature of Georgia Tech and Campbell is there to get the team on track, but after this weekend, who knows?