Week 8 of the college football season is in the books, and with a little more than a week until the initial College Football Playoff rankings, things are still pretty cloudy. Here’s what we learned in another entertaining weekend of action.
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Oregon is hanging on
With ESPN College GameDay in Los Angeles for Oregon-UCLA, a brighter spotlight was on a pair of teams that had been trending the wrong way since inspiring early-season wins. Oregon went into the game as the No. 10 team in the AP poll but had looked mediocre, at best, since winning at Ohio State on Sept. 11. That stretch, which included a 31-24 loss to Stanford (3-4), made it hard to put much stock in the Ducks as serious College Football Playoff contenders.
Their 34-31 win over UCLA doesn’t necessarily change that but, as things sit, the Ducks will likely be favored in every game left on their schedule — Colorado (2-5), at Washington (3-4), Washington State (4-4), at Utah (4-3), Oregon State (5-2). ESPN’s Football Power Index gives Oregon just an 11.8% chance of running the table, but that’s enough hope to keep the playoff a viable possibility — especially if Ohio State wins the Big Ten. That head-to-head win would carry a lot of weight if both teams are among the committee’s options in December. — Kyle Bonagura
What should we make of 6-1 Pitt?
In the aftermath of what amounted to a signature win for Pitt, QB Kenny Pickett said he was going home to “have a cold one,” a reward much deserved. And, for the Panthers, there was probably little point in dwelling on issues bigger than Saturday’s win over Clemson. There’s still a long ride before the ACC championship game, starting with this week’s showdown with Miami.
But now that Pitt has knocked off the six-time defending league champions, it might be time to start asking some bigger questions, too.
Is Pitt the team to…
Source : espn
