Josh’s College Football Rankings 2024–Week 8

Big upsets this week as two top ten teams go down! Texas looked unbeatable for a few weeks, but Georgia reminded everyone that they are still a dominant force in the world of college football. Alabama has some issues, and I would not be surprised if they end up with three or four losses this season. A few other teams had some exclamation point games to announce themselves to the rest of the world, while a couple had some games that continue to make me wonder how they were ever ranked.

Just a quick update on my rankings. I have decided to drop the Watch List from the rankings, and just add five more Honorable Mention spots. The honorable mention spots are basically 26-35, but not in any real order. The Watch List will continue to be a section, but it will just be the games I want to highlight, and I will mention teams to keep an eye on. 

1. Oregon (7-0)–#2–W 35-0 Purdue. The Boilermakers have been known to upset #2 ranked teams at home, but the Ducks had zero troubles with them.
2. Penn State (6-0)–#3–BYE
3. Georgia (6-1)–#4–W 30-15 #1 Texas. The Bulldog defense looked like what we expected this year. They are not nearly at the elite level they were in previous years, but they are still a great team.
4. Ohio State (5-1)–#5–BYE
5. Miami (7-0)–#6–W 52-45 Louisville. I just cannot fathom a world where the Hurricanes end the season undefeated. They are playing too many close games, and the defense does not seem to be able to put teams away.
6. Texas (6-1)–#1–L 30-15 #4 Georgia. Crazy how a team can look so great one week, to so bad another. I think they will rebound from that loss, but they have shown the rest of the SEC that they are beatable.
7. Clemson (6-1)–#8–W 48-31 Virginia. Sooo, maybe that Georgia defense rises to the challenge of good teams. And maybe Clemson is a good team that just ran into a great defense in week one. I think it is a mistake to take the Tigers lightly.
8. LSU (6-1)–#9–W 34-10 Arkansas. There were a decent amount of people picking Arkansas to win this game. LSU decided to shut the naysayers up with this win.
9. Tennessee (6-1)–#12–W 24-17 #7 Alabama. I did not expect the Vols defense to be winning them games, since early on everyone was talking about this offense. They head into the bye week with a huge win, and some much needed rest before facing Kentucky and Georgia. Sure, UK is not that good this year, but that is a huge rivalry game, and those have a way of going badly for good teams.
10. Notre Dame (6-1)–#10–W 31-13 Georgia Tech. The Irish continue to get better each week. Georgia Tech is a solid team, and ND handled them easily.
11. BYU (7-0)–#11–W 38-35 Oklahoma State
12. Iowa State (7-0)–#13–W 38-35 UCF. BYU & Iowa State came close to a loss against mid-level conference opponents (if I had to guess, OkSt and UCF are probably ranked somewhere in the 40-50 range).
13. Texas A&M (6-1)–#14–W 34-24 Mississippi State. The Aggies have a rough schedule the rest of the season. They get LSU and Texas at home, but travel to South Carolina and Auburn. They could win all of them, and shock everyone as a top five team.
14. Indiana (7-0)–#21–W 56-7 #25 Nebraska. The Hoosiers shut up the “they haven’t played anyone” crowd. Not only did they beat Nebraska, but they absolutely curb-stomped them. Curt Cignetti wins wherever he goes.
15. Alabama (5-2)–#7–L 24-17 #12 Tennessee. The idea that Kalen DeBoer was going to turn Jalen Milroe into Michael Penix Jr. seems to have flown out the window. Somehow Milroe is getting worse as the season goes forward. Another loss and Crimson Tide fans will be screaming for a new coach.
16. Ole Miss (5-2)–#15–BYE
17. Kansas State (6-1)–#16–W 45-18 West Virginia. Not a knock against the Wildcats, but Indiana jumping up in the rankings knocked K-State down a spot.
18. SMU (6-1)–#17–W 40-10 Stanford. Ahhh, the classic ACC matchup of SMU & Stanford. The Mustangs continue to roll through the ACC. They have some tough games coming up, but they could win out, and things would get interesting with the ACC Championship (I am not sure what the tie-breakers are for the conference).
19. Missouri (6-1)–#18–W 21-17 Auburn. Another close game for Mizzou. It is going to catch up with them. I know I keep saying it, but I promise you, it will happen.
20. Pitt (6-0)–#20–BYE
21. Illinois (6-1)–#23–W 21-7 Michigan. Someone had Luke Altmeyer ranked in the top ten of college QBs. I do not see it, but the Illini continue to beat some good teams (again, not great, but those mid-tier teams) and that is definitely because Altmeyer does just enough for his team.
22. Boise State (5-1)–#22–BYE
23. Army (7-0)–NR–W 45-28 East Carolina. Time to give them the respect they deserve.
24. Duke (6-1)–HM–W 23-16 Florida State. Everyone has beat FSU this year, but it does not change the fact that Duke had never beaten FSU! How crazy is that?
25. Navy (6-0)–NR–W 51-17 Charlotte. This is the first time Army & Navy have both been ranked in the Josh’s College Football Rankings. I checked the archives, this is true! Oh, I know, it is cooler to hear that this is the first time since 1960 that both teams are ranked at the same time. Even crazier…the last time they were both ranked when they played each other: 1957. They could end up playing the AAC Championship, and then again in the Army/Navy Game.

Honorable Mention

• Syracuse (5-1)–HM–BYE
• Vanderbilt (5-2)–HM–W 24-14 Ball State. The Commodores are almost bowl eligible
• Washington State (6-1)–NR–W 42-10 Hawaii
• Memphis (6-1)–NR–W 52-42 North Texas
• Louisiana (6-1)–NR–W 34-24 Coastal Carolina
• Liberty (6-0)–NR–BYE
• Cincinnati (5-2)–NR–W 24-14 #24 Arizona State
• Colorado (5-2)–NR–W 34-7 Arizona
• Wisconsin (5-2)–NR–W 23-3 Northwestern
• UNLV (6-1)–NR–W 33-25 Oregon State

Watch List
There are a bunch of great games to watch this week. Thursday night we get Syracuse at #20 Pittsburgh. I feel like this is the toughest challenge so far for the Panthers, if they win this game, they could jump up a few spots. Then on Friday night we get an MWC battle between #22 Boise State and UNLV. The Broncos could take a solid lead in the conference with this win, and give them another quality win. There are two solid Big Ten matchups on Saturday that you should pay attention to: Nebraska at #4 Ohio State, and #2 Penn State at Wisconsin. These are the types of games that can provide big upsets, so the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions need to keep focused and take care of business. Another game to keep an eye on is #18 SMU at #24 Duke. The Mustangs cannot overlook this Blue Devil team. And that brings us to #19 Missouri at #15 Alabama. If the Tigers want to prove to people they are for real, beating Alabama is the way to do it. 

This brings us to the three big games this week. But first, I need to mention that we still have two winless teams: Kennesaw State and Kent State. The Owls welcome Liberty on Wednesday night while Kent State travels to Western Michigan. Can either of these teams pick up a win? Probably not. 

The first big game is at noon as #10 Notre Dame heads to MetLife Stadium to face #25 Navy. The Midshipmen can obviously run the ball, whereas the Irish are not great at defending the run. Navy has a shot to win this game. The next big game is #21 Illinois at #1 Oregon. I do not think Oregon has any trouble with Illinois, but this is their toughest hurdle towards an undefeated season. After that they can probably coast. And finally we have #8 LSU at #13 Texas A&M. Two teams that lost in week one and have looked impressive ever since. 

Coaching Hot Seat
Brent Venables is not the right guy for the Oklahoma job. He is 20-13 since taking over for the Sooners. The school that was dominating Heisman discussions every year now looks completely lost at quarterback. Venables is a defensive guy, but against the better teams, the defense has not held up their end of the bargain. I think he is a great DC, and that is probably where he should stay. If the Sooners want to be competitive in the SEC, they need a new head coach.

Awful Losses
This week USC gave up two touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in the 4th quarter to lose to Maryland. This is three straight losses for the Trojans, all of which have involved second half collapses. Lincoln Riley’s team is now 3-4 with games against Rutgers, Washington, Nebraska, UCLA, and Notre Dame. If they continue to play like this, they may not reach bowl eligibility.