College football Week 8 watchability rankings: Realignment continues to take the spotlight
This college football season has been really fun, across the board.
Ahead of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, we have a Texas team that looks dominant, Oregon seemingly rising above the rest of the Big Ten in its first year in the conference, Alabama getting stunned by Vanderbilt, Miami surviving two upset bids, Boise State being powered by a running back that might come within reach of Barry Sanders’ rushing record, Army and Navy both undefeated, and on and on and on.
On the flip side, Trent Dilfer looks like the most cooked coach in college football, USC is again failing to live up to its preseason hype, and we’re probably watching Mack Brown 2.0 come to an end at North Carolina.
Yet the buzz this week isn’t about what’s happening on the field.
Entering Week 8 of the college football season, we’re talking about realignment. Sigh.
The news this week is that Hawaii is joining the Mountain West as a full member and the conference is now targeting a pair of MAC schools, NIU and Toledo, to further bolster its ranks. This comes after the Mountain West poached UTEP from Conference USA and after it flirted with Texas State, attempting to entice the Bobcats to depart the Sun Belt. And all that came about because whatever the new Pac-12 is supposed to be is taking five Mountain West schools – Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Utah State – and Gonzaga to rebuild itself.
Look, conference realignment is going to keep happening as this sport fractures in dozens of directions for lots of factors, money chief among them. I know that. You know that. The changing landscape is inevitable.
But can we have a moratorium on realignment? Can we just talk about whatever is happening on the field while the season is going on?
The NCAA has rules for when the transfer portal is open and closed. If it can control player movement, can it control team movement too?
The conference realignment chatter just seems to suck up all the air in the room. So instead of talking about how awesome Ashton Jeanty or Blake Horvath are, we’re entertaining the idea of a Pac-Whatever with Memphis in it. It all seems so silly and distracting.
This weekend’s slate is packed with what should be several great and interesting matchups. So, Pac-Whatever and Mountain West, can y’all just chill out and wait until January before knocking over more realignment dominos?
Best Game of the Week: No. 5 Georgia at No. 1 Texas
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET – ABC
(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Is Texas truly the best team in the country? Are the Longhorns capable of hanging with the best-of-the-best in the SEC? Is Georgia the team that thumped Clemson, the one that gave up 31 points to Mississippi State, the one that escaped Kentucky with a narrow victory, or some mix of all three? Will Bevo try to run over Uga again?
We’re about to find out.
Game that might have an impact on the College Football Playoff: No. 7 Alabama at No. 11 Tennessee
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET – ABC
Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images
For a second straight week, we might have a loser-leaves-town playoff elimination game in the SEC. The loser of this game will have two conference losses with five more games to go. For Alabama, that includes contests against No. 19 Missouri and at No. 8 LSU. For Tennessee, that includes matchups with No. 5 Georgia and giant-killer Vanderbilt.
The winner gets to smoke cigars.
Weird Weeknight Game of the Week: Western Kentucky at Sam Houston
Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET – ESPN2
Mike Watters-Imagn Images
The top tier of Conference USA is actually pretty good this season. These teams are a combined 9-3 and both have fun quarterbacks. WKU’s Caden Veltkamp leads CUSA in completion percentage (69.6), passing touchdowns (11) and passer rating (160.5), while Sam Houston’s Hunter Watson has passed for 859 yards and seven scores, while rushing for 370 yards and four touchdowns.
Awesome Group of Five matchup worth watching: UNLV at Oregon State
Saturday, 10 p.m. ET – The CW
Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
Boise State is on a bye, and Army and Navy should win comfortably this week against East Carolina and Charlotte, respectively. And so, we turn our attention to this late-night game in Corvalis, Oregon.
UNLV (5-1) drew a lot of attention a few weeks ago when its starting quarterback Matthew Sluka seemingly sidelined himself over an NIL dispute, but the guy who replaced him under-center – Hajj-Malik Williams – has been better, by a wide margin. The Campbell transfer has tossed nine touchdowns and is completing 77 percent of his passes while rushing for 325 yards and two scores.
Oregon State (4-2) is coming off a loss at Nevada, but keep an eye on running back Anthony Hankerson, who is fourth nationally in rushing touchdowns with 12.
Sickos Guilty Pleasure Game of the Week: N.C. State at Cal
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET – ACC Network
(Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
Cal has lost three games in a row by a combined eight points, two of which were to ranked opponents. N.C. State just lost back-to-back home games for the first time since 2019 after blowing a lead to Wake Forest and gifting Syracuse three turnovers.
One of these teams is going to get out of their own way and get their first ACC win. For the other, things only get gloomier.
Also watch…
No. 6 Miami at Louisville: Saturday, 12 p.m. ET – ABC
Nebraska at No. 16 Indiana: Saturday, 12 p.m. ET – FOX
No. 12 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET – ESPN
James Madison at Georgia Southern: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET – ESPN+