This is one of those weekends when college football fans must be judicious allotting time for yardwork or running errands.
Their best option might be to plop down in front of their screens and take in a Week 8 schedule highlighted by a season-high five matchups of Associated Press Top 25 teams on Saturday.
The day starts with No. 10 LSU visiting No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Mississippi playing at No. 9 Georgia. In prime time, No. 10 Tennessee is at No. 6 Alabama, No. 20 Southern California visits No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 23 Utah makes the short trip to No. 15 BYU.
Two ranked teams are in action Friday night, with a one-loss Louisville going to No. 2 Miami and No. 25 Nebraska playing at Minnesota.
There are a couple of sneaky-good games, too: No. 12 Georgia Tech, which has lived on the edge while starting 6-0, plays on the road against a Duke team that’s won three straight since a 1-2 start. No. 7 Texas Tech visits defending Big 12 champion Arizona State, which is in desperation mode after getting blown out at Utah. Both teams’ quarterbacks are battling injuries.
No. 5 Mississippi (6-0, 3-0 SEC) at No. 9 Georgia (5-1, 3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Funny thing about this top-10 matchup is there’s an aura around both teams that something’s a bit off.
Mississippi, nearly a five-touchdown favorite at home against middling Washington State last week, was lethargic and didn’t secure its 24-21 win until it held off the Cougars on the game’s final series.
Georgia won 20-10 at Auburn in a game that easily could have gone the other way had officials ruled Tigers QB Jackson Arnold scored a touchdown rather than fumbled at the goal line late in the first half. The Bulldogs have trailed at the half in three of their four SEC games.
UNLV (6-0, 2-0 MWC) at Boise State (4-2, 2-0), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
The Rebels have been trying to knock Boise State off the summit of the Mountain West for going on three years. The teams have met in the last two conference championship games, as well as a regular-season game last year, and the Broncos have won them all. In fact, Boise State has won nine in a row in the series.
UNLV is 6-0 for the first time since 1974 and clings to College Football Playoff hopes despite its light schedule. This will be the Rebels’ toughest game — they are an 11-point underdog — and if they win they would be in position to run the table the rest of the regular season. If that happens, they just might play Boise State again in the MWC championship game.
Quarterbacks Carson Beck of Miami, Ty Simpson of Alabama and Fernando Mendoza of Indiana have separated themselves from the pack entering the second half of the season.
Beck and Simpson are 7-to-2 co-favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and Mendoza is next at 11-to-2.
Beck comes off an open date to play a challenging home game Friday night against Louisville, which also was idle last week after its first loss of the season, against Virginia. Simpson will be in the spotlight at home against Tennessee, and Mendoza will have an opportunity to put up big numbers at home against Michigan State.
18.4% — Sam Houston’s third-down conversion rate, worst through a Week 7 since Colorado State’s 16.9% in 2022.
28 — Western Michigan’s nation-leading sacks through seven games, nine more than its 13-game total in 2024.
42 — Memphis’s FBS-leading streak of games in which it has scored at least 20 points.
54 — Iowa penalties since start of 2024 season, 10 fewer than the next-closest team.
2006 — Last year Nebraska won back-to-back road games. The Cornhuskers won at Maryland last week and visit Minnesota on Friday.
Hugh Freeze is 14-17 at Auburn, and the Tigers would start 0-4 in SEC play a third straight year if they lose to No. 16 Missouri at home. That won’t fly in War Eagle country.
The Tigers (3-3) opened with a solid road victory over Baylor and predictably lopsided wins over Ball State and South Alabama. Facing four straight Top 25 opponents to begin SEC play was never going to be easy. But the Tigers’ struggle to move the ball — four TDs over the last three games — seems inexcusable for a coach who arrived three years ago with the reputation for being an offensive wizard.
Freeze’s buyout would be $15.4 million if he is fired after the season.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
