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What is UCF doing? What is BYU doing? What are the refs doing? 

All of the above were appropriate questions to ask about the end of regulation in UCF’s stunning 39-31 double overtime upset over No. 2 BYU at The Bounce House. 

There’s inebriation. There’s full-blown drunk. And then there’s whatever happened at the end of regulation.

ICYMI, UCF had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal with two seconds remaining after botching the previous 13 seconds. The field goal got blocked. The kicker’s helmet came off his head. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was confused. When the dust settled, the refs concluded a regulation-ending, ten-second runoff was in order. 

In overtime, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier laced a quick touchdown pass to put the previously undefeated Cougars up by a score. UCF answered when backup-turned-starting quarterback Keyone Jenkins found an open receiver on the first play of extra time. 

UCF opened the second overtime with an apparent go-ahead field goal, but a questionable roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Knights a fresh set of downs. They took the points off the board and capitalized with a touchdown and the corresponding two-point conversion.

Backs against the wall, BYU drove down to the four-yard line before an incomplete pass fluttered to the soggy grass. 

UCF fans stormed the field. The Big 12 got spun on its head. Scott Frost won a big game before Matt Rhule. All would be forgiven if everyone watching on TV thought hell was about to freeze over. 

After climbing to No. 2 in the polls after a last-second win over Notre Dame a week ago, BYU became the latest team to stumble in an obvious letdown spot. Meanwhile, the Knights notched the biggest win of the second Scott Frost era, and now look like a guaranteed bowl team. 

The Big 12 is a Jenga tower of falling blocks. Are we sure we can trust any of these teams?

As it turns out, money can’t buy love or a win against Cincinnati. Just ask Texas Tech mega-booster Cody Campbell.

After a season full of strong defensive showings, the Red Raiders got throttled by Cincinnati in a wild 37-24 road loss that sent the Big 12 hierarchy into free fall. 

There’s no way around it: Texas Tech got manhandled in this one. The Bearcats ran for a jaw-dropping 255 yards, with quarterback JC French IV throwing for four touchdowns on 19 completions. 

Texas Tech’s offense no-showed in the first half and simply did not have enough juice to mount a second-half comeback. Quarterback Will Hammond barely averaged six yards per completion. The Red Raiders were a paltry 3-for-15 on third downs. Head coach Joey McGuire now finds himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

I’m not sure anyone with eyes believed that this version of Texas Tech was ungettable. But to see it happen in this way, in this spot, was a bit jarring. 

Texas Tech has played a weak schedule so far and still has games against Arizona, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State remaining. Any margin for error is now gone.

Let’s get nuts and fire up those Lincoln Riley to Lubbock rumors, shall we? 

Don’t turn the page on your calendar quite yet, folks! Cocktober has officially arrived.

Once a season, LaNorris Sellers puts on his Superman cape and saves South Carolina from imminent danger. Saturday was that day.

After three back-and-forth quarters, the law firm of Sellers and Stewart swooped in to save the day, pulling the Gamecocks out of the fire to knock off No. 11 Tennessee 27-24, sending shockwaves throughout the SEC. 

South Carolina shredded the Tennessee defense for 14 quick first-quarter points. Then the Volunteers answered with a trio of man-ball rushing touchdowns. Down one score with the game hanging in the balance, Sellers ripped off a nasty touchdown run where he ran through a few Tennessee defenders and stretched the ball across the goal line with 1:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Looking to drive the field and score late, Tennessee quarterback George MacIntyre got strip-sacked by the Gamecocks’ game-wrecking edge rusher Dylan Stewart, setting South Carolina up with excellent field position with mere seconds remaining. A few seconds later, South Carolina kicker Malik Orsan drilled a 48-yard walk-off field goal to stun the Vols at the buzzer. 

Tennessee always felt like a team masquerading as an SEC contender, considering its inefficient quarterback play. That theory played out Saturday.

By comparison, Shane Beamer adds another stunning home win to his resume. Could this be the win that saves his job? Time will tell. 

In a week where two Big 12 title contenders bit the dust, Utah bucked that trend with a monster 21-13 win over No. 14 Houston to remain undefeated. 

This game was a rock fight from start to finish. Despite this matchup featuring two potent offenses, it was the Utah defense that stole the show. The Utes held the Cougars to just 2.8 yards per rush and didn’t relinquish a touchdown to Houston’s dual-threat quarterback Conner Weigman. 

On offense, the game ball goes to the Utah offensive line. The big boys up front did an excellent job of creating holes for Devon Dampier, who finished with 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns. 

The Utes mustered zero first-half points and found themselves down three points at the break. Then Dampier took over. Dampier broke off a 22-yard touchdown run in the third to break the scoreless drought. Later, running back Wayshawn Parker punched it in from five yards out to cap off a 10-play, 80-yard drive to take the lead. Dampier then scampered in for the game-clinching score after Houston allowed the Utes to score while attempting to chase points.

Houston deserves credit for going on the road and hanging tough with a potentially very good Utah team. This is a good team that has come up short in two critical conference games.

Utah now finds itself atop the Big 12 standings with an undefeated record. All roads to the Big 12 title game just might lead through Salt Lake City. 

Truth serum time: Does anyone know how good Texas actually is? 

In a primetime spot, Texas jumped out to a huge lead, sputtered for large stretches of the second half, and needed to survive a wonky onside kick recovery and subsequent Hail Mary attempt in a much-needed 34-27 win over No. 9 Ole Miss. 

For the first two quarters, Dr. Jekyll Texas looked like the best team in football. Arch Manning was throwing dots. The run game was eating. The defense locked up the high-flying Rebels’ offense, and it looked like the Longhorns would run away with it. 

Then the third quarter happened, and Mr. Hyde reared his ugly head. Manning got strip-sacked for an Ole Miss touchdown. The Longhorns’ offense subsequently spiraled and got shut out in the third frame. Meanwhile, Trinidad Chambliss got hot and pulled the game back within reach. 

In the fourth, Manning did his own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impersonation, throwing an arm-punt of an interception, before chipping in a crucial go-ahead rushing touchdown. The Rebels pulled it within seven after a field goal and recovered an onside kick, before Chambliss had his Hail Mary attempt picked off. 

Week to week, quarter to quarter, drive to drive, there’s no telling what this Texas offense will do. I don’t mean that as a compliment. But wins are wins, and at least for now, Manning and coach Steve Sarkisian washed some stink off, if only for another seven days. 

Ole Miss now finds itself with two losses, and has mounting concerns on the defensive side of the ball. Big games against Auburn and Georgia remain. Might the Rebels be the three-loss SEC team that makes the College Football Playoff? 

It’s time that we stop pretending that this year’s Indiana offense is anything close to last year’s group.

Indiana mustered just 81 passing yards, relied on a heroic defensive performance, and needed overtime to escape Ann Arbor with a 13-6 overtime win over an imbalanced Michigan team. 

Still dinged up from the high-profile matchup from a week ago, Josh Hoover had arguably the worst outing of his career. He finished 8-of-18 for 81 yards, one interception, and zero touchdowns. The Hoosiers averaged only 3.7 yards per carry on 35 touches. Nothing about this offensive performance should make anyone associated with this program feel good. 

Michigan had a putrid offensive showing of its own. Tommy Carr was far from spectacular in his debut start. The run game churned out only 57 yards on 42 carries. The offensive line got overwhelmed at the point of attack all afternoon, too. 

Give Indiana credit for finding a way to win in overtime. But man, oh man, this was a concerning showing, albeit against an elite Wolverines defense. 

Entering the season, we all wondered if the Big Ten would get four teams in the College Football Playoff. Now, every team at the top of the heap has noticeable flaws and appears incredibly gettable.

Entering the week, Iowa and USC had reasonable cases for making a serious run at the Big Ten title game. Now, both teams find themselves reeling after incredibly poor losses. 

Iowa had a diabolical offensive showing in a 13-10 loss to unranked Minnesota. The Hawkeyes mustered just three points through three quarters, with quarterbacks Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown combining for three interceptions. Simply not good enough.

Credit where credit is due, Minnesota out-Iowa’d Iowa. That’s not a feat many teams can pull off. 

Meanwhile, Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans laid an egg on the road in a bad 24-7 loss to Wisconsin. 

Quarterback Jayden Maiava averaged just 5.2 yards per completion on 50 attempts. The Trojans mustered just 40 non-sack-adjusted rushing yards. It’s not a stretch to suggest this is one of the worst losses of the Lincoln Riley era.

I hope LinkedIn Riley has an updated resume handy. He might need it at season’s end.

Put some respect on Jason Eck’s name!

In arguably the biggest regular-season game of the Eck era in Albuquerque, the Lobos knocked off Mountain West title challenger North Dakota State 21-16. 

New Mexico did an excellent job of squeezing the life out of the North Dakota State run game, holding the Bison to just 53 yards on 28 carries. On offense, the Lobos ran the ball with vigor, rushing for 187 yards and two touchdowns. 

The New Mexico defense turned Bison quarterback Nathan Hayes over twice and did an excellent job of making North Dakota State earn every yard. 

What more can you say about Eck and company? 

Despite losing starting quarterback Jack Layne at the beginning of the season, the Lobos now find themselves 6-1 (3-0) and have firmly cemented themselves atop the Mountain West standings, with an outside shot at the College Football Playoff on the horizon. What a time to be alive!

A cool fall breeze is in the air, which means it’s only right that the college football coaching carousel has started spinning. 

ICYMI, we now have three Power 4 openings officially on the board. 

College Football Week 8 delivered another round of chaos, with major upsets, shaken playoff contenders and an increasingly difficult question: Who can we actually trust?

We start in the Big 12, where BYU and Texas Tech both went down in stunning fashion. Just when it looked like the conference was establishing a clear hierarchy, UCF and Cincinnati threw everything into question. What do these losses mean for the Big 12 championship race and the College Football Playoff picture?

Elsewhere, Miami continued making its case as the best team in the country, Indiana survived an ugly battle with Michigan, and Oregon suffered another frustrating defeat. Is Miami the only truly elite team in college football? And has the Big Ten taken a bigger step backward than anyone anticipated?

In the SEC, Texas survived a wild finish against Ole Miss, LSU continued its ascent, Alabama got past Texas A&M, and Tennessee stumbled against South Carolina. We dig into which SEC contenders are gaining momentum, which teams still have serious questions to answer, and whether the conference's playoff picture is finally coming into focus.

Plus, we run through the rest of Week 8's most interesting results, check in on fan sentiment around the country, and wrestle with a new AP Top 25 ballot after another weekend that turned the rankings upside down.

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