James Madison became the first unbeaten team to fall in Week 8, but that was only the beginning.
Appalachian State pulled off a 34–31 upset over the recent College Football Playoff team on Thursday, and Central Florida joined the party on Saturday. UCF stunned No. 2 and formerly unbeaten BYU 39–31 in two overtimes in Orlando.
Knights quarterback Keyone Jenkins threw two touchdown passes in overtime, and BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier threw three consecutive incomplete passes as his team lost for the first time.
BYU rose to No. 2 in the rankings after beating Notre Dame the week before. The Cougars gave up 463 total yards on Saturday and never led by more than a touchdown against UCF.
“We’re going to learn from it, and obviously there were some mistakes made, and that’s my job as a head coach to get these guys ready,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake told BYU TV Sports Nation afterward.
“But the guys played hard, and we made too many mistakes. So gotta go back and look at it and figure out how to improve from this and be better from it.”
BYU will drop in the rankings, but the Cougars still have a legitimate shot to capture the Big 12 title and a CFP spot after missing out last year. Another major Big 12 upset on Saturday helped as well.
Eighth-ranked Texas Tech also fell from the unbeaten ranks as Cincinnati beat the Red Raiders 37–24. Texas Tech didn’t have enough answers for Bearcats quarterback JC French, who went 19–30 for 172 yards and four touchdowns versus two interceptions.
“I’m as frustrated as I think I’ve ever been in my 32 years of coaching,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire told to reporters afterward.
Besides unbeatens, No. 7 Ole Miss lost to No. 19 Texas 34–27, and South Carolina edged No. 11 Tennessee 27–24 as four top 11 teams overall lost on Saturday.
Ole Miss continued to struggle on defense, as Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning engineered two fourth-quarter scoring drives to take the game. The Rebels gave up 419 total yards despite the Longhorns going 3–13 on third downs.
Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding is taking the heat from fans for that loss, while Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is regaining footing after back-to-back losses. Sarkisian dismissed the outside noise afterward.
“We’re never affected by outside influences,” Sarkisian told reporters afterward. “The moment we think we need to respond to the opinions of others, that’s a dangerous way to live life.”
As for Tennessee, the Volunteers are seeing their CFP hopes slip away after a loss to an unranked team. That came on the heels of the Vols’ upsets of Texas and Alabama during the past two weeks.
“We didn’t play smart enough offensively,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel told reporters afterward. “Penalties just crushed us, and if you let a good football team hang around on the road, it’s got a chance to bite you, and it sure did at the end.”
It all may not cause as massive a shakeup in the top-25 as last week’s historic five top-seven teams falling did. However, Week 8 delivered six upsets in the top 16 overall as Minnesota edged No. 15 Iowa 13–10, and Wisconsin stunned No. 16 USC 24–21.
There were close calls, too, as No. 6 Indiana escaped Michigan with a 13–6 overtime win at the Big House. Tenth-ranked Utah also had a 21–13 win over No. 14 Houston in the night cap.
Indiana already fell from the unbeaten ranks the week before, but Utah is still unbeaten for now. That said, the unbeatens are down to Utah, UCLA, and top-ranked Miami—and none of the three look invincible, as the college football season has only grown less predictable in recent weeks.
