Week 8 doesn’t exactly look like a get-right weekend for the ranked teams.
After a Week 7 slate packed with upsets at the top, the pressure is already building again, and three big names are walking into matchups that could turn ugly fast. BYU, Tennessee and Texas all enter the week with reasons to be nervous, even if the odds and the rankings don’t always tell the full story.
BYU is the headline act here after knocking off Notre Dame and jumping to No. 2.
Now comes the hard part: a long trip to face a UCF team that has been tough at home and far less comfortable away from it. The Knights are 3-0 on their own field and 0-3 on the road, and they have enough firepower to make this one uncomfortable.
Keyone Jenkins has been playing well lately, and Duke Watson has established himself as one of the Big 12’s better running backs.
The challenge for BYU is more than just the opponent. There’s the emotional hangover that can come after pouring everything into a statement win like the one over Notre Dame, plus the grind of cross-country travel. That combination can drain a team, and if BYU isn’t locked in, Week 8 has upset written all over it.
Tennessee is dealing with a different version of the same problem. The Vols just delivered a huge Week 7 upset of Alabama, capped by a field storming, and now they’re headed to South Carolina as a mild Vegas underdog. With Tennessee closing in on the top 10, this is the kind of spot that tests whether a team can reset quickly after a season-defining win.
South Carolina is hardly a soft landing. The Gamecocks are coming off a 38-19 win over Florida, a team that had just flexed its own muscles by beating Texas.
LaNorris Sellers remains dangerous as both a passer and a runner, and receiver Nyck Harbor brings a matchup problem that never really goes away. South Carolina being favored may feel a little off, but it says plenty about how tricky this game is for Tennessee.
Texas is in a different place entirely, but the assignment is no easier. The Longhorns have fallen from No. 1 to No. 19 after losses to Oklahoma and Florida, and now they host No.
7 Ole Miss as a slight favorite based on home field. That’s a lot to ask from a team that has struggled to find its footing.
Ole Miss has had defensive issues this season, but most of that damage came in its lone loss to Florida and in a tough Week 1 battle with Louisville. Since then, the Rebels have looked much sharper on that side of the ball, holding Vanderbilt and Missouri to a combined 20 points.
Texas, meanwhile, hasn’t topped 400 yards or 30 points since Week 1. Arch Manning has disappointed all season, and the running game hasn’t helped much either, with the Longhorns sitting 13th in the SEC in rushing at just 3.6 yards per carry. Add in the injury to Colin Simmons, and the task only gets steeper.
If this turns into a shootout, Ole Miss looks like the better team. And lately, Texas hasn’t shown much appetite for that kind of game.
In Other News...
Texas Still Has One Frustrating Question After That Gators Field Incident
Texas had plenty to feel good about after the Florida game, but one awkward postgame scene has lingered. A fan was identified and permanently banned from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after he flipped off Gators players on the field, a move that quickly pulled the spotlight away from the scoreboard and onto how a spectator ended up in that spot in the first place.
Athletic director Chris Del Conte said the fan is a local college student attending a Florida school other than the University of Florida, but he also said he does not know who authorized the field access. That unanswered question has become the one many Texas fans keep circling back to, because the ban closes one door while leaving the bigger issue of how the situation was allowed to happen very much open. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Defense Has A New Problem Fans Wont Like
Texas slide in the AP poll has been bad enough on its own, but the bigger concern for Longhorns fans is how opponents are finding answers against that defense. The losses to unranked teams, including the home setback against Florida, have put plenty of pressure on a unit that was supposed to be a strength, and the tape is not making the picture any prettier.
Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner helped back up quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. with boot-action looks that kept Texas off balance, while the Gators run game and play-action game opened up room the Longhorns struggled to close. For Texas, the issue is no longer just a bad result or two. It is the way teams are creating easy, repeatable stress points, and that is the kind of problem that tends to linger until it gets fixed. [Read more 🡒]
Texas May Be Missing Its Biggest Defensive Difference Maker
Texas is likely to be without one of its most disruptive defenders when Ole Miss comes to Austin, as edge rusher Colin Simmons has been listed as doubtful because of the right-leg injury he picked up against Florida. Steve Sarkisian confirmed Simmons hurt his right knee, and the early read on the injury points to a high-ankle sprain that could keep him sidelined for the next few weeks.
That is a significant hit for a Longhorns defense that has leaned on Simmons' ability to change games off the edge. He already sits third on Texas' all-time sack leaderboard and had been chasing the program's single-season sack record, which makes his absence more than just a lineup tweak as the Longhorns prepare for a key SEC matchup. [Read more 🡒]