College Football Betting Recap for Week 8
College Football Recap for Week 8
Let’s talk about the upsets and upstarts from Week 8. We had a Big 10 battle, and more troubles with USC, Clemson continued to fall while Oregon, Texas and Oklahoma struggled in wins. Formerly unbeaten North Carolina was also shocked by Virginia.
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*The story in the Texas game wasn’t just that they struggled to beat Houston 31-24 as a 23.5 point road favorite. The Horns jumped out to a 21-0 lead, but Houston tied the game 24-24 on a Jack Martin 40-yard field goal halfway through the fourth quarter. Texas lost QB Qunn Ewers in the third quarter on a hard hit on a scramble. Maalik Murphy is expected to take over at quarterback for Ewers, who is out due to a left shoulder injury.
*Clemson fell to Miami 28-20 as a 3-point favorite in double overtime. That’s despite QB Tyler Van Dyke not playing for Miami and the Tigers going up by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Clemson allowed 211 yards rushing and they also coughed up three turnovers. At 4-3, Clemson might go bowling before Jan. 1, which is a rarity and needs to win out to keep their streak of 12 straight 10-win seasons alive.
*No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 7 Penn State 20-12 as a 4.5-point favorite. This was a good game, but not a classic because the Buckeyes’ defense dominated this game. On offense, it was all about WR Marvin Harrison Jr, who caught 11 passes for 162 yards and a TD. Penn State is now 1-11 SU in their last 12 games against the Buckeyes. PSU QB Drew Allar was held to 18 of 42 for 191 yards with a TD. The Nittany Lions couldn’t run the ball (49 yards on 26 carries), but this game was all about Harrison going wild in their secondary and Allar getting outplayed by Kyle McCord (22 of 35 for 286 yds).
*Is No. 16 Missouri for real? The Tigers destroyed South Carolina on Saturday, jumping out to a 24-0 start and held on in the second half. Cody Schrader rushed for 159 yards and two TDs, while Brady Cook passed for 198 yards with two TDs. Spencer Rattler was sacked six times for South Carolina behind a beat-up offensive line. Missouri’s only loss came at home against LSU (49-39) and they have a bye this week before preparing for No. 1 Georgia on the road, followed by Tennessee and Florida at home and then Arkansas on the road.
*The shocker of the day took place in Chapel Hill, as then No. 10 UNC fell at home to Virginia 31-27. Virginia came into this game at 1-5 and had not won a conference game yet. The Tar Heels’ hopes of going to the College Football Playoffs are now over. Mike Hollins led the Cavs with three touchdowns with 66 yards rushing. Uva QB Tony Muskett threw for 208 yards with a TDs and a pick. Drake Maye threw for 347 yards with two TDs and a pick. RB Omarion Hampton rushed for 112 yards for North Carolina. The Tar Heels led by as much as 10 points in the third quarter, but once again, the defense can’t seem to hold leads. When they aren’t scoring over 30 points, it’s tough to win.
*The Pac-12 is wild this season. No. 14 Utah (+6.5) came into Los Angeles and found a way to edge the Trojans 34-32. Bryson Barnes threw for 235 yards with three TDs and ran for 26 yards to set up Cole Becker’s 38-yard game-winning FG as time expired. Caleb Williams completed 24 of 34 for 256 yards and ran for a TD, but did not throw for one. USC’s defense was an issue once again as they allowed 247 rushing yards, which gave the Utes a 34:42 to 25:18 time of possession advantage.
*BYU gets first “real” Big 12 win. They had already defeated new Big 12 member Cincinnati 35-27 on Sept. 29 and then were destroyed at TCU 44-11 on Oct. 14 after a bye week. The Cougars were three point underdogs at home against Texas Tech and beat the Red Raiders 27-14. Texas Tech has a freshman at quarterback in Jake Strong, who struggled with three interceptions and it didn’t help that the Red Raiders fumbled five times. The Cougars did nothing special on offense, rushing for 150 yards and tallying 12 first downs. But they didn’t turn the ball over. QB Kedon Slovis, the Pitt and USC transfer, continues to struggle, throwing for just 127 yards but did have two TDs. He’s completing just 56.6% of his passes for 1,519 yards, but does have a 12 TDs and four picks with three rushing scores.