It’s been 8 weeks of football across the country and this landscape is startlingly different than we are used to. Sure, there’s Mount Buckeye and over there you can see the SEC Plains spread far and wide. The Golden Dome gleams on the horizon.

But, when was the last time we saw views from Miami and Hoosierville in the same season, let alone right alongside each other at the forefront? (Weeks 13 and 14 of the 2020 season is the only other time before last season the two programs have both been ranked in the top 10 at the same time, never the top 5 (3))

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who thought the Trojan Horse had toppled the Trojans for good, but the Walls of Troy are still standing behind that dust cloud out west. And, speaking of the Wild West, the Red Raiders are back and kicking above their weight in the latest Clint Eastwood film out of Lubbock for the first time since 2008.

Let’s break it all down from the Preseason to week 8:

Preseason		Week 8
1	Texas	1	Ohio State (up 3)
2	Penn State	2	Miami (up 8)
3	Ohio State	3	Indiana (up 17)
4	Clemson	4	Texas A&M (up 15)
5	Georgia	5	Ole Miss (up 16)
6	Notre Dame	6	Alabama (up 2)
7	Oregon	7	Texas Tech (up 16)
8	Alabama	8	Oregon (down 1)
9	LSU	9	Georgia (down 4)
10	Miami	10	LSU (down 1)
11	ASU	11	Tennessee (up 13)
12	Illinois	12	Georgia Tech
13	South Carolina	13	Notre Dame (down 7)
14	Michigan	14	Oklahoma (up 4)
15	Florida	15	BYU
16	SMU	16	Missouri
17	KSU	17	Vanderbilt
18	Oklahoma	18	Virginia
19	Texas A&M	19	South Florida
20	Indiana	20	USC
21	Ole Miss	21	Texas (down 20)
22	ISU	22	Memphis
23	Texas Tech	23	Utah
24	Tennessee	24	Cincinnati
25	Boise State	25	Nebraska
NR	Georgia Tech	NR	Penn State
NR	BYU	NR	Clemson
NR	Missouri	NR	ASU
NR	Vanderbilt	NR	Illinois
NR	Virginia	NR	South Carolina
NR	South Florida	NR	Michigan
NR	USC	NR	Florida
NR	Memphis	NR	SMU
NR	Utah	NR	KSU
NR	Cincinnati	NR	ISU
NR	Nebraska	NR	Boise State

As you can see above, 22 (Hooyah!) teams have swapped in and out of the AP Poll. But that’s about par for the past 5 seasons. Since the 2021 preseason poll, 112 teams swapped out between preseason and week 8 including dropping a top 10 team ever year.

So, does this tell us anything or do the hype machines of the AP and CFB blue bloods just not actually know anything the rest of us don’t either? Probably not, but it is interesting.

Rise and Fall

The biggest riser, of course, has been Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers who started the year completely disrespected after making the CFP last year and finishing with an 11-2 record. Cignetti worked his Kurtis Rourke summoning magic again this offseason when he went out and lured Golden Bear Fernando Mendoza from Cal to Hoosierville. So far, it’s sure working for the third ranked Indiana team as he just led his Hoosiers into Eugene (one of the hardest venues in college sport to get a road victory) and beat the Ducks with hardnosed Big 10 football.

But Cignetti isn’t just relying on the offense to win. He’s assembled himself a defense who has smothered opponents left and right to the tune of the 4th best in points allowed (11.3) and yards allowed per game (229). Only OU and OSU also rank in the top 5 of both those categories. And the Hoosiers are the ONLY team in the top 8 in points allowed, yards allowed, points (44.8) and yards per game (502.8). That’s a balance that you only find in championship caliber teams.

The questions from those who called out ODU, Kennesaw and Larry Bird’s ISU as a cupcake schedule and weren’t satisfied with a 53 point win over the Illini, just saw Cignetti answer all other questions with road victories in back to back weeks over Iowa and Oregon. And with only the reeling Nittany Lions as their lone remaining FPI top 25 opponent, the Hoosier train could reach Indianapolis unblemished. Watch out blue bloods, there’s a football Norman Dale in Bloomington.

On the flip side, James Franklin is out and Penn State is in trouble. It started with a gritty, White-Out, just-couldn’t-close home loss to Oregon. Nothing shocking there. Franklin and Co. haven’t been able to win on the big stage. In 25 chances, the Nittany Lion conquered just 4 top 10 opponents. Only 1 of those was a fellow Big 10 member.

But, the alarm bells started ringing in the back of PSU’s Athletic Director Pat Kraft’s mind. And the fire was just building as Penn State went out west and lost as 24.5 point favorites in a half-filled Rose Bowl. Okay, it’s tough to travel out west. But the sprinklers couldn’t put out this one when the Nittany Lions returned to their den just to be cowed by the mighty Northwestern Wildcats.

After starting the season as the No. 2 team in the land, PSU will have a difficult time getting to bowl eligibility. They still go on the road to Iowa and OSU before hosting Cignetti’s Hoosiers. And then winnable games at MSU and Rutgers sandwich a tough home matchup against the Cornhuskers. 6 wins might be an achievement with an interim coach and a backup QB after senior Drew Allar took a tough hit that resulted in a season (and college career) ending injury.

Outside the Big 10’s Tectonic Plates

Away from the B1G, there have also been some compelling storylines as Arch Manning seemingly returned from the dead, Georgia Tech is the other face of the ACC just as we all thought, and the Group of 5 could be fun even without Michael Myers- I mean, Ashton Jeanty- in the backfield.

Arch led Texas to a resounding victory over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. Texas, despite losses at Ohio State and Florida, is back in the top 25 and still in the hunt for the SEC. That’s in large part due to their defense who has only allowed one opponent to surpass 15 points on them including an all around performance on Saturday against John Mateer’s OU Sooners. Maybe Mateer really just shouldn’t have been out there, not because of his injury directly but because of being sidelined and out of his rhythm, which showed early and often as he totaled 202 yards on 20 completions against 3 interceptions and 5 sacks. Arch wasn’t perfect, but he made some good decisions (21/27 for 166 and 1 TD 0 interceptions and only 1 sack) and did just enough to keep the Horns in the fight until Ryan Niblett could return a punt 75 yards to the house and put the game away. The November 28th date with the Aggies might just be a CFP play-in game for the Horns.

Georgia Tech was picked to finish 4th in the ACC, almost 700 points below the preseason favorite Clemson Tigers. They are now in the drivers seat for a date in Charlotte against Miami on December 6. Their win over Clemson doesn’t look that impressive anymore, but their schedule also doesn’t look incredibly daunting with road trips to Duke and NC State as the only true tests remaining in the ACC slate. However, FPI doesn’t love the Yellow Jackets nearly as much as the AP poll. Although they own the No. 10 strength of record, they rank 35th in FPI and behind both three-loss FSU and Clemson. But, they are on the rise and, if they can win just one of the three road trips remaining, have a real shot at the CFP. Who knows, rivalry week date against Georgia could be a top 10 matchup?

While we definitely miss seeing Jeanty running the ball, only a little more than Skattebo, this season’s Group of 5 is still a fun group to watch. Current leader, USF, just went on the road to a first-time sell out in Denton, TX and beat the wings off previously unbeaten North Texas to the tune of 63-36. The Bulls showed out in their first game of the year knocking off Jeanty-less Boise 34-7, went into the Swamp and pulled out a W over Florida, and go their horns knocked around in Miami. But, South Florida controls their own destiny with road matchups against the two unbeaten American leaders, Memphis and Navy. Memphis, meanwhile, has a squeaky clean record including a matching win over the SEC (Arkansas). The Tigers get USF, Tulane, and Navy all at home. Behind Blake Horvath’s 1620 all purpose yards, the Midshipmen have sailed their way to a 6-0 spot (4-0 in conference). They do have 3 straight ranked games to worry about in November as they visit Notre Dame before coming home to play South Florida and then visit Memphis. The American champion is likely the autobid for the G5 unless they eat themselves up and UNLV runs the table.

Who is in?

Seed	Team
1	Miami
2	Ohio State
3	Texas A&M
4	Texas Tech
5	Indiana
6	Alabama
7	Notre Dame
8	Tennessee
9	Oregon
10	Georgia
11	Ole Miss
12	Memphis
Knocked	Cincinnati

Have You Heard?

One final call out from the heart, the Bearcats of Cincinnati are looking dangerous in the Big 12 after ESPN picked them as long shots before the season (behind Kansas and ISU’s ‘in the running’ rank). Brendan Sorsby, Pryor and Walker have accounted for 1,020 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground while Sorsby has accounted for 14 TDs and only 1 INT and a single sack. A November 1 date in Salt Lake against the Utes and a home finale against BYU could equate to a Big 12 Championship berth against the Red Raiders.