College football did what college football always does in Week 8: it blew up the script.
The biggest jolt came in the Big 12, where No. 2 BYU went on the road and lost to UCF in double overtime just one week after beating Notre Dame.
That wasn’t even the only shock of the weekend. It was just the latest reminder that this season has been living on a knife’s edge, with upset after upset reshaping the national picture.
A week after five of the top seven teams in the AP poll were beaten, and a week after then-No. 1 Texas lost to an unranked opponent, the chaos kept rolling.
Saturday’s results made the turbulence even more striking. It guaranteed that there will be three or fewer unbeaten Football Bowl Subdivision teams through the end of October for the sixth time in the past 50 seasons. It also marked the first time in AP Top 25 history that three top-15 Big 12 teams lost on the same day.
And yes, that brings us back to the conference everyone loves to call a grind.
The Big 12 took another hit, and the results only deepened that reputation. If upsets happen there, people call it a weekly bruiser.
If they happen elsewhere, the labels tend to change. Funny how that works.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, keeps rewriting its own script. Luke Fickell entered the season with his seat hot, but the Badgers are suddenly making the kind of run that changes the conversation fast.
After the win over USC - and the field storm that came with it - the ceiling looks a lot higher than it did a month ago. A road trip to Iowa City still stands as the biggest hurdle left, but Wisconsin should be favored the rest of the way in the regular season.
Ten wins? Nine at worst?
That’s now on the table.
Fickell’s tenure had been defined by frustration entering this year. Through three full seasons, he was 17-21 overall and 10-17 in Big Ten play, with only one win over a ranked opponent, and Washington was No. 23 in the AP poll at the time.
But Wisconsin is 5-2 now, with both losses coming against teams currently ranked in the top 10. The defense has turned into one of the country’s nastiest units, and it held USC to -17 rushing yards Saturday night.
The offense brings a punishing run game, and the whole team is playing in sync.
In other words, this looks like the version of Wisconsin Fickell has been trying to build all along. The quarterback situation has stayed stable.
The defense is deeper than it has been at any point in his time there. And after all the speculation, the decision to stick with him for a fourth season is looking like a smart one.
For USC, the loss in Madison was a hard reset. The Trojans were supposed to be tougher.
They were supposed to be more physical. They were supposed to show they could handle road games in the Big Ten.
None of that showed up at Camp Randall.
The offense, which is supposed to be Lincoln Riley’s strong suit, managed only seven points - the fewest any of his teams have scored with him as head coach. USC finished with negative rushing yardage and lost to a quarterback who threw for just 58 yards. That’s a rough night by any measure.
And the schedule does not get easier. Ohio State is headed to the Coliseum next.
Texas Tech also walked away from the weekend with some uncomfortable questions. The Red Raiders may still reach Dallas for the Big 12 title game, since they avoid both BYU and Utah in the regular season, but the team does not look like the force many expected. Cincinnati handed Texas Tech a 37-point loss, the most points the Red Raiders have surrendered in a game since 2024.
The offense has been stuck in the bottom half of the Big 12 in most major categories, and the reason Texas Tech pushed so hard to try to get former Bearcat Brendan Sorsby eligible makes more sense now. Will Hammond’s arm limits what the attack can do.
But the defense is not carrying its end of the bargain either, especially compared to last season. The departures of Jacob Rodriguez and David Bailey loom large.
Some of the cracks had been hidden by pick-sixes, and Texas Tech leads FBS with five of them this season. Those scores helped make a few wins look more comfortable than they really were. Right now, though, the Red Raiders do not look like the best team in a loaded Big 12.
There were offensive signs worth noting elsewhere, too. Sam Leavitt appears to be settling in as a passer.
And at LSU, the offense is starting to resemble the version people expected to see with Lane Kiffin in charge. Over the past two games, Leavitt has completed 76 percent of his passes for 676 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
Then there’s Kentucky, sitting alone atop the SEC standings at 5-1 in league play. Yes, really. Will Stein is on the shortlist for all the National Coach of the Year awards for a reason.
In Other News...
USC Is Chasing A Local Recruiting Win Lincoln Riley Needs
USC is already making the early rounds in the class of 2028, and one of the names sitting near the top of the board is local defensive back Ca'Ron Williams. The four-star prospect has attracted attention from a national group that includes Oregon, UCLA, Texas and Ohio State, but USC has been persistent enough to get him on campus multiple times, which matters when the Trojans are trying to keep elite Southern California talent at home.
The timing also fits where Lincoln Riley wants this recruiting push to go next. USC has just one commitment in the 2028 class so far, and the staff is expected to turn up the pressure again in the spring of 2027, when these early evaluations start to become more meaningful. For a program built on locking down the region, landing a player like Williams would be a statement, but the Trojans are clearly still in the opening stages of that battle. [Read more 🡒]
USC's Wisconsin Loss Brought Back Familiar Problems Fans Feared
The bye week was supposed to give USC a reset, but the trip to Wisconsin instead brought back the same frustrations that have hovered over this season. Early on, the Trojans defense looked ready to make it a grind, getting after the quarterback with multiple sacks and tackles for loss while keeping the Badgers run game in check through the first half.
USC never found enough on offense to support that effort. Turnovers and an ineffective ground game kept the Trojans from building any rhythm, and once Wisconsin started to tilt the field in the second half, USCs defense had a harder time holding up. The result was a 24-7 loss that felt less like a one-off and more like a reminder of the problems fans had been hoping the bye week would help erase. [Read more 🡒]
USC Suddenly Has A Big Ten Path Fans Need To See
A strange new possibility is starting to take shape for USC and UCLA now that both former Pac-12 rivals are living in the Big Ten. With UCLA having lost starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the Bruins path is suddenly less certain, but the broader picture still leaves room for both programs to stay in the hunt if they finish well down the stretch. For USC, that means every remaining conference game carries extra weight, not just for playoff positioning, but for the chance to keep climbing in the league race.
The appeal is obvious for Trojan fans: a season that already feels different could end with a matchup that once belonged to the old Pac-12 stage, only now carrying Big Ten stakes. Both teams have key players and tricky games ahead, and there is still plenty to sort out before any championship scenario becomes real. Even so, the idea of USC and UCLA meeting again with a conference title on the line is the kind of late-season twist that gives the schedule a little more juice. [Read more 🡒]