How To Football: Week 8

Your guide to college football Saturday.

By Adam Henderson@AdamdotH Oct 20, 2023, 8:46am CDT

Penn State-Ohio State: Finally, it’s time to pay attention to the Big Ten outside of rubbernecking whatever it is that’s going on in Iowa City. It’s an incredibly top-heavy league, which is bad for week to week #content but when you do get a big game, it’s a really big one. We know a big more about Ohio State by virtue of the Notre Dame game, but Penn State has essentially gone off the grid since they beat WVU in week one, and that doesn’t even move the needle much itself. Hopefully both teams are worth their salt and we get a good game in the nooner.
Mississippi State-Arkansas: ...because the rest of the shit is full of filler. SP+ thinks this is going to be a close game but I’m not sure I buy that logic. We saw what Arkansas’ offense and defense looked like and we saw what State’s looked like, and there is a disconnect between the two.
Memphis-UAB: Look man,
Boston College-Georgia Tech: Like I said, the noon shift is tough.

Tennessee-Alabama: Neither team are as good as they were in last year’s classic, so the game may not be as high-quality, but it still should be similarly close and still be pretty far from unwatchable swill.
Washington State-Oregon: It’s pretty disappointing how Washington State won the Leftovers Bowl and the dropped two clunkers in a row. I have no misconceptions about the Coogs winnings, but this game would have way more juice and intrigue if they were still alive for the PAC-12.
Texas-Houston: Somebody is going to not only lose this game but also be mighty unhappy about it. And I think I know who.
Oklahoma State-West Virginia: Somebody is going to not only lose this game but also be MIGHTY unhappy about it yet unable to do anything for different reasons.

Army-LSU
Utah-USC: This isn’t the same Utah team that stuffed the Trojans into the locker last year but at the same time, with the way USC’s defense has been playing I’m not so sure they need to be.
Duke-Florida State: Duke is not only very much alive in the ACC, this could very well be the first leg of the ACC Championship series. I think FSU has too much talent for the Blue Devils to handle for four quarters, but they should be game. All you need is chance late.
Clemson-Miami (FL): SP+ is calling this one a tossup, which feels very correct. You know the ACC league office is seething that this game has lost luster from what it looked to have in the preseason.

UCLA-Stanford: I don’t want to say anything too glowing of Stanford or expect too much from them, but after last week they’ve played their way on to the watch grid. And if you turn off early, that’s fine because...
Montana State-Sacramento State: Honestly shoutout to the Big Sky conference with blessing us with bangers of games in the late night shift because lord knows the PAC-12 won’t.
Arizona State-Washington: Fun fact I forgot to add this completely when I made the chart and strongly considered excluding it anyway because it doesn’t add much value.

Share this story