The group of unbeaten teams in college football shrank significantly in Week 8.
Just six teams remain undefeated after No. 2 Miami, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 22 Memphis and UNLV all lost over the weekend.
Miami was the first team to fall as the Hurricanes lost to Louisville on Friday night. Ole Miss scored TDs on its first five possessions against No. 9 Georgia before being unable to move the ball in the fourth quarter and Texas Tech took a late lead against Arizona State before the Sun Devils scored the game-winning TD with 34 seconds to go.
Memphis lost at UAB despite being in prime position to send the game to overtime, and UNLV was blown out by Boise State on the road.
With six weekends still to go during the regular season, the chances of one or more teams finishing 12-0 are dwindling quickly. However, there are still at least two who we think have a great chance of doing that.
Here’s how we think the six remaining unbeatens stack up after Week 8.
No. 6 Navy (6-0): The Midshipmen have a half-game lead on Tulane in the American at 4-0 in the conference. Navy, which was off in Week 8, has one of the best offenses in college football so far this season. The team is averaging 7.6 yards a play as QB Blake Horvath has been one of the most underrated players in the country. Horvath leads Navy with 640 rushing yards and eight touchdowns and has completed 64% of his passes for 980 yards and seven touchdowns on just 81 attempts.
If Navy has an Achilles’ heel so far, its the defense. The Midshipmen allowed 518 yards to Temple in Week 7 and are giving up 5.7 yards a play. That unit will be tested in November as Navy plays North Texas, Notre Dame, South Florida and Memphis.
No. 5 BYU (7-0): The Cougars kept rolling with a 24-21 win over rival Utah. The Utes turned the ball over on downs three times inside the BYU 30-yard line and also turned the ball over twice with a fumble and an interception.
BYU started the season 9-0 in 2024 the ninth win came on a late field goal against Utah before back-to-back losses to Kansas and Arizona State took them out of Big 12 contention. Can the Cougars get to the title game this year? BYU heads to Iowa State on Oct. 25 before traveling to Texas Tech in Week 11.
LJ Martin led BYU with 26 carries for 122 yards against the Utes and freshman QB Bear Bachmeier was 13-of-22 passing for 166 yards and a score. As long as Bachmeier continues to limit mistakes, BYU has a very good chance in the Big 12.
No. 4 Georgia Tech (7-0): The Yellow Jackets are 4-0 in the ACC after a 27-18 win as a road underdog at Duke. The Blue Devils repeatedly struggled in the red zone and Georgia Tech pulled away in the fourth quarter.
QB Haynes King is the epicenter of the Georgia Tech offense. Hes thrown for 1,176 yards and completed 70% of his passes. He also has 560 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. He threw for 205 yards against Duke and rushed for 120 on just 14 carries.
Georgia Tech isnt pretty at times, but the Yellow Jackets are ruthless and efficient. And they have a path to an undefeated season in the ACC. Before a season-ending matchup against Georgia, Tech plays Syracuse, NC State, Boston College and Pitt.
No. 3 Texas A&M (7-0): The Aggies scored a season-high 45 points in a 45-42 win over Arkansas on Saturday. Coach Mike Elko said after the game that he thought it was the best game of the season for QB Marcel Reed. He threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 55 yards and another score.
If Reed can continue to improve like LaNorris Sellers did a season ago for South Carolina, the Aggies will again be in the thick of the SEC title game race. The receiving corps is better than it was a season ago with KC Concepcion and Mario Craver playing big roles and the defense had allowed just 36 points over the Aggies first three SEC games.
The trip to Fayetteville was also the first of three consecutive road games for A&M. Up next is a prime-time game at LSU and the Aggies go to Missouri on Nov. 8.
No. 2 Indiana (7-0): There was no letdown for the Hoosiers on Saturday. Fernando Mendoza threw as many touchdowns as he did incompletions in a 38-13 win over Michigan State. Mendoza is positioning himself alongside Alabama QB Ty Simpson as a top-notch Heisman contender as he was 24-of-28 passing for 332 yards and four touchdowns.
As Mendoza has shined in his first season in Bloomington, the defense has gotten even better than it was in 2024. Indiana had four sacks of MSU QB Aidan Chiles and has racked up 26 so far this season. Entering Week 8, only two teams had more.
Indianas also not playing any close games, either. The closest win the Hoosiers have this season came in a 20-15 win over Iowa where Mendoza purposely took a safety as time expired. And its hard to see where Indiana is losing before the end of the season, either. Maryland is the only opponent above .500 remaining on the Hoosiers schedule before what looks to be an inevitable meeting with Ohio State for the Big Ten title game.
No. 1 Ohio State (7-0): Like Indiana, Ohio State has gotten even better after an exceptional 2024 season. The Buckeyes didnt give Wisconsin any hope of a miraculous upset on Saturday in a 34-0 win. The Badgers had 144 total yards of offense as QB Julian Sayin had the best game of his young career.
Sayin was 36-of-42 passing for 393 yards and threw four touchdowns. Two went to Carnell Tate, who had six catches for 111 yards, and star wideout Jeremiah Smith had nine catches for 97 yards.
Through seven games, Ohio State has allowed just 41 points and only Illinois, with 16, has scored more than nine points. Arvell Reese and Caleb Downs are two of the best defensive players in the country and edge rusher Caden Curry has seven sacks this year after just 4.5 through his first three seasons with the Buckeyes. Ohio State is off in Week 9 before a home game against Penn State that looks a lot different than it did before the season.
Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.
No. 8 Oregon: Its safe to say the Ducks bounced back from their loss to Indiana. Oregon trounced Rutgers 56-10 in a game that could have been even uglier. Midway through the third quarter, Oregon was averaging 15 yards a play. Oregon only finished the game with 740 total yards on 60 plays as Dante Moore threw for 290 yards on just 15 completions; Moore, Dierre Hill Jr., Jordon Davison and Noah Whittington each had a run of longer than 30 yards. Seven of Oregons eight touchdowns were at least 20 yards or longer. The only red-zone score came when Moore found Whittington for a five-yard TD with 43 seconds to go before halftime.
Louisville: The Cardinals pulled a Jeff Brohm special on Friday night at No. 2 Miami. Louisville won 24-21 as Brohms teams are now 4-2 against opponents in the top five dating back to his time at Purdue. Louisville should jump into the AP Top 25 this week and has a real chance to make noise in the ACC. The Cardinals dont have any games against ranked opponents remaining, and host Clemson in November.
Houston: The Cougars are bowl-eligible at 6-1 after a 31-28 home win over Arizona. Its a big step forward for Willie Fritzs team after Houston was 4-8 in 2024. After Arizona tied the game with 4:52 to go, Houston went on a 13-play drive that covered 52 yards and took all but a second off the clock as Ethan Sanchez hit the game-winning 41-yard field goal.
Former Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman was 15-of-23 passing for 164 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 14 times for 98 yards and a score. The Cougars are 3-1 in the Big 12 and have a monster matchup in Week 9 when they travel to play defending Big 12 champion Arizona State.
Northwestern: Watch out for the Wildcats. As Northwestern honored its 1995 Rose Bowl team and former coach Pat Fitzgerald was in attendance for the first time since he was fired the Wildcats won their fourth straight game with a 19-0 victory over Purdue. Northwestern rushed 50 times for 232 yards and had the ball for nearly 38 minutes as Purdue turned the ball over three times. Northwestern is now a win away from bowl eligibility and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
No. 25 Nebraska: So much for being ranked, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers jumped into the AP Top 25 on Sunday and will be out of it after Week 8 after their embarrassing 24-6 loss to Minnesota.
Dont get us wrong, the Gophers are a good football team. But this was a game that showed just how far Nebraska still has to go under Matt Rhule. QB Dylan Raiola was sacked nine times as Nebraska ended up with just 213 total yards after those sacks. Minnesota had 339 yards on 55 plays as the Gophers averaged over five yards a carry and pulled away with 17 unanswered points in the second half.
Clemson: Any hope the Tigers had of winning the ACC is extinguished after a 35-24 home loss to SMU. Clemson was without QB Cade Klubnik thanks to an ankle injury he suffered against Boston College in Week 7 as he became the first Clemson starter to miss a game with an injury since 2014, though Trevor Lawrence missed a game with COVID-19 in 2020.
Christopher Vizzina started in Klubniks place and was 29-of-42 passing for 317 yards and three touchdowns. However, Vizzina was sacked four times and Clemson had just 53 yards rushing before those sacks are accounted for.
SMU, meanwhile, has now won 10 straight regular-season games since joining the ACC. Their lone loss came to the Tigers in last years ACC title game.
North Carolina: The good news for the Tar Heels is that they didnt get blown out by a power conference opponent on Friday night at Cal. The bad news is that UNC bookended its game with fumbles and the second one was especially costly.
Nathan Leacock fumbled as he approached the goal line with 3:48 to go in UNCs 21-18 loss at Cal. The Golden Bears then ran all but five seconds off the clock to ensure the win.
North Carolina started the game with a fumble on its first play after Gio Lopez hit Shard Clower for a seven-yard gain. Cal turned that into a touchdown and North Carolina never led.
UNC is now 2-4 and 0-2 in the ACC in Bill Belichicks first season. Up next? No. 18 Virginia.
Boston College: Its bleak for BC. The Eagles fell to 1-6 with a 38-23 home loss to UConn on Saturday. Huskies QB Joe Fagnano was 23-of-31 passing for 362 yards and four touchdowns as Skyler Bell had 10 catches for 125 yards.
After leading 20-17 at halftime, Boston College was outscored 21-3 in the second half as it punted three times and turned the ball over on downs. The Eagles havent beaten an FCS team all season and have lost four games by two possessions or more.