The No. 2 team in the nation is no more, as Ohio State lost 24-21 to unranked Penn State, who was a 19.5-point underdog. For comparison, No. 1 Alabama was an 18-point favorite over No. 6 Texas A&M and won by 19.
The Nittany Lions came back from a 21-7 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and took the lead on a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown.
Here's a look at what we learned from watching SEC games in Week 8.
1. Alabama will be the College Football Playoff No. 1. After Saturday's 33-14 win over the Aggies, one thing is perfectly clear: There's Alabama and then there's everybody else. This doesn't mean the Tide (8-0, 5-0) won't lose or can't lose, but it does mean that until further notice everything is theirs to lose.
That means the SEC West, the SEC, the national championship, all of it.[1] There are certainly teams that look capable of beating Alabama, like Michigan and Louisville, and previously Ohio State, and there are still two left on Alabama's schedule that can't be ignored.
Those are LSU, which has always been a tough opponent even when Alabama was steamrolling everyone else, and Auburn, which poses the worst match-up in terms of style of play of any team on the Tide's schedule.
But at the moment, the Tide are unmatched and by virtue of next week's open date, Alabama will easily slide into the No. 1 spot when the first College Football Playoff rankings are announced Nov. 1. That's both significant and meaningless.
It's never bad to be in playoff position, but neither of the No. 1 teams in the first CFP rankings went on to win the national championship. They were Mississippi State in 2014 and Clemson in 2015. But the Tide have something going for them neither of those teams had: they can't lose to Alabama, which is how both those teams got unseated.
2. Auburn is better than it gets credit for. No. 21 Auburn had a huge day with 543 rushing yards in a 56-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and held the Golden Lions to 215 total yards.
Wait, what? Not Pine Bluff? You mean that was THE Arkansas? As in, SEC Arkansas? No. 17 Arkansas? Seriously? OK, my bad, I just assumed, you know. Apologies.
All kidding aside, it's rare that one game causes you to completely re-evaluate a team, but Auburn (5-2, 3-1) pulled it off. When Clemson beat Auburn by only six, it was because Clemson had regressed. When Texas A&M beat Auburn by seven, it was because of SEC depth and we weren't sold on A&M being good yet. When Auburn beat LSU by five, it was because Les Miles is a chucklehead worthy of a Week 4 firing.
But make no mistake, all of that is because Auburn is good too. The offense has gotten plenty of ridicule for being ridiculous with its quarterback ridiculousness, but here's something that may blow your mind: Much-maligned Sean White leads the SEC in QB rating. (Seriously.)
Auburn has gotten better every week as that offense stabilized and they've been overlooked because of the above excuses. Well, no more. The Tigers still have games to play against Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama, so there's no smooth sailing, but they're in great position and will cause problems for all three of them.[2]
3. Leonard Fournette is healthy. Sweet Tim Tebow, we've been waiting for this. Fournette exploded for 284 yards and three touchdowns in No. 25 LSU's 38-21 win over No. 23 Ole Miss. He had some truly spectacular runs that only Fournette can do, but for my money, it gets no better than this one.[3]
Fournette's injury issues contributed to the malaise the Tigers have gone through, but the worst is yet to come. LSU still must play Alabama, Florida and Texas A&M. Having Fournette back and healthy and doing what he does makes that proposition easier to stomach.
The Tigers (5-2, 3-1) are still in the SEC West hunt, but they have by far the toughest road to get there. We're still a long way from figuring out where they stand, but things are looking a lot better today than they have in a while.
4. Texas A&M hit a roadblock. As said above, this has nothing to do with the Aggies and everything to do with Alabama. The Aggies (6-1, 4-1) need help to get back into the SEC West race, but they remain the conference's best shot at a second New Year's Six bowl.
The Aggies' toughest remaining games are against Ole Miss and LSU, and both are at home. A&M's offensive balance and strong defensive line are a favorable matchup against both.
Kevin Sumlin had some things to prove entering this year, and so far, he has done that. The Aggies have got what should be two easy wins with New Mexico State and Mississippi State the next two weeks. The biggest things to worry about is a confidence issue stemming from Saturday's loss that carries the rest of the year.
But if the Aggies keep up their performance to this point of the season, Alabama will be their only loss.
5. Arkansas has cratered. It's time to talk about punters. Toby Baker is not someone who usually is a threat to get more yards than his offense, but Saturday's 415-yard effort was good for a full 200 more than the Hogs produced.
Arkansas (5-3, 1-3) has been a reliable offensive team. They rolled up 30 points and 473 yards on Alabama, but could muster nothing against Auburn. A few weeks ago, I talked about how Arkansas can't run. That sounds hard to believe but the Hogs got 25 yards on the ground against Auburn. Good rushing teams don't let that happen.
Auburn had five players get more than that on a single carry.
Quarterback Austin Allen was injured, which had an effect, but it's not like Arkansas was doing anything while he was in the game. Allen attempted 30 passes, completing 17 for 187 yards. There's more than injury at play with that.[4]
6. Kentucky is staring at bowl eligibility. Hoo boy, this is getting good. The best-case scenario for Kentucky's bowl chances had the Wildcats (4-3, 3-2) beating Mississippi State and they came through 40-38 thanks to a 51-yard field goal as time expired.
Austin MacGinnis has a few weeks of fame and stardom around campus before De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk take over. (They're basketball players, by the way.) Wins over Missouri and Austin Peay would bring that bowl game.
Outside of those games though, Georgia, Tennessee and Louisville will be much tougher, making next week's game against Missouri a must-win. We've been in this position before, and it's not worked out, so stay tuned.
7. Ole Miss is out of it. Three SEC losses before November is a disaster for a team that had its eye on the championship game. Several other teams have three conference losses (in the SEC West alone, there is Arkansas and Mississippi State) but only one has more - South Carolina.
There's no sugar coating where the Rebels (3-4, 1-3) are right now. They have nothing outside of Chad Kelly and what we thought was at least an above average defense has allowed 334 rushing yards to Alabama and 311 rushing yards to LSU.
Guess who's next: Auburn, the SEC's best rushing team.
Hugh Freeze was being mentioned for some potential jobs that may come open in the next few weeks. It was doubtful he would leave to begin with, but now it would be surprising if he was even considered. Much less so if the Rebels take more losses, and it looks certain that they will.
8. You have to play until the end. The last few minutes of a football game are where you used to wait with bated breath to see what Les Miles would do. But Miles is gone and the new team with last minute woes is Mississippi State.
There are a lot of Bulldogs fans taking solace in the fact that they were close to winning four games. In other words, they're making excuses. But there's validity to it.
Let's make no mistake, Mississippi State (2-5, 1-3) is terrible. The Bulldogs threw for 81 yards against Kentucky and are surviving due to a pretty good dual threat quarterback, a competent wide receiver and nothing else.
But they've been competitive in all but one of their five losses. Against South Alabama, Mississippi State gave up a touchdown in the final minute after missing a field goal. Against LSU, the Bulldogs came back from 20 points down and had the ball with a chance to drive for the win. But it ended with a sack and fumble. The loss to BYU came in overtime. Then Kentucky won on a last-second field goal.
That's the very definition of worst-case scenario.
9. Something about Missouri and/or South Carolina? I have to be honest, I have nothing here. Missouri lost to Middle Tennessee 51-45 and South Carolina beat Massachusetts 34-28.
South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) tried out Jake Bentley at quarterback for the first time and he threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Missouri (2-5, 0-3) did its typical thing of putting up great numbers on offense - 629 yards - yet somehow managed to be worse than ever.
These teams play each other in two weeks. I have no idea what that means.
10. It's cocktail time. No. 15 Florida and Georgia were both off this week to get ready for the big party in Jacksonville. Florida (5-1, 3-1) needs a win to get on the cusp of a return trip to Atlanta. Georgia (4-3, 2-3) needs a win to help Tennessee get there.[5]
Oh yeah, that's some shade thrown at Georgia. Tennessee, which was also off this week, has only the lesser East teams left to play in South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt. The Vols should win them all.
If Florida beats Georgia, it will be a win away from winning the SEC East. A win for Georgia and they would still need a lot of help to win the East. It's not totally inconceivable, but it's still a stretch.
Florida's defense gives the Gators a huge advantage.
Extra points:
[1] - If it weren't for Louisville's Lamar Jackson, you could add the Heisman Trophy to this list. Jalen Hurts has accounted for 20 TDs and Jackson has 34. Their yardage numbers are just as disparate. Entering this week, Jackson was No. 2 in total offense and touchdowns, and the No. 6 rusher in the nation. Just to be clear, that's among all players, not just QBs. He was also the No. 23 passer. (Current stats were not available from the NCAA.)
[2] - Gus Malzahn can also go to the local Waffle House without getting side-eye from fans who just three weeks ago considered him worthy of unemployment.
[3] - But look at THIS! Good Lord, that's terrifying. (By the way, that was a pass.)
[4] - Now would be a great time for the Crazy Hog Lady to return to YouTube and rally the troops. Here's a suggestion.
[5] - Mark Richt had a game, though, and Georgia fans can take solace in the fact that he's biting the dust as hard as Georgia ever did. Miami fell to Virginia Tech 37-16 for its third straight loss.
The Nittany Lions came back from a 21-7 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and took the lead on a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown.
Here's a look at what we learned from watching SEC games in Week 8.
1. Alabama will be the College Football Playoff No. 1. After Saturday's 33-14 win over the Aggies, one thing is perfectly clear: There's Alabama and then there's everybody else. This doesn't mean the Tide (8-0, 5-0) won't lose or can't lose, but it does mean that until further notice everything is theirs to lose.
That means the SEC West, the SEC, the national championship, all of it.[1] There are certainly teams that look capable of beating Alabama, like Michigan and Louisville, and previously Ohio State, and there are still two left on Alabama's schedule that can't be ignored.
Those are LSU, which has always been a tough opponent even when Alabama was steamrolling everyone else, and Auburn, which poses the worst match-up in terms of style of play of any team on the Tide's schedule.
But at the moment, the Tide are unmatched and by virtue of next week's open date, Alabama will easily slide into the No. 1 spot when the first College Football Playoff rankings are announced Nov. 1. That's both significant and meaningless.
It's never bad to be in playoff position, but neither of the No. 1 teams in the first CFP rankings went on to win the national championship. They were Mississippi State in 2014 and Clemson in 2015. But the Tide have something going for them neither of those teams had: they can't lose to Alabama, which is how both those teams got unseated.
2. Auburn is better than it gets credit for. No. 21 Auburn had a huge day with 543 rushing yards in a 56-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and held the Golden Lions to 215 total yards.
Wait, what? Not Pine Bluff? You mean that was THE Arkansas? As in, SEC Arkansas? No. 17 Arkansas? Seriously? OK, my bad, I just assumed, you know. Apologies.
All kidding aside, it's rare that one game causes you to completely re-evaluate a team, but Auburn (5-2, 3-1) pulled it off. When Clemson beat Auburn by only six, it was because Clemson had regressed. When Texas A&M beat Auburn by seven, it was because of SEC depth and we weren't sold on A&M being good yet. When Auburn beat LSU by five, it was because Les Miles is a chucklehead worthy of a Week 4 firing.
But make no mistake, all of that is because Auburn is good too. The offense has gotten plenty of ridicule for being ridiculous with its quarterback ridiculousness, but here's something that may blow your mind: Much-maligned Sean White leads the SEC in QB rating. (Seriously.)
Auburn has gotten better every week as that offense stabilized and they've been overlooked because of the above excuses. Well, no more. The Tigers still have games to play against Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama, so there's no smooth sailing, but they're in great position and will cause problems for all three of them.[2]
3. Leonard Fournette is healthy. Sweet Tim Tebow, we've been waiting for this. Fournette exploded for 284 yards and three touchdowns in No. 25 LSU's 38-21 win over No. 23 Ole Miss. He had some truly spectacular runs that only Fournette can do, but for my money, it gets no better than this one.[3]
Fournette's injury issues contributed to the malaise the Tigers have gone through, but the worst is yet to come. LSU still must play Alabama, Florida and Texas A&M. Having Fournette back and healthy and doing what he does makes that proposition easier to stomach.
The Tigers (5-2, 3-1) are still in the SEC West hunt, but they have by far the toughest road to get there. We're still a long way from figuring out where they stand, but things are looking a lot better today than they have in a while.
4. Texas A&M hit a roadblock. As said above, this has nothing to do with the Aggies and everything to do with Alabama. The Aggies (6-1, 4-1) need help to get back into the SEC West race, but they remain the conference's best shot at a second New Year's Six bowl.
The Aggies' toughest remaining games are against Ole Miss and LSU, and both are at home. A&M's offensive balance and strong defensive line are a favorable matchup against both.
Kevin Sumlin had some things to prove entering this year, and so far, he has done that. The Aggies have got what should be two easy wins with New Mexico State and Mississippi State the next two weeks. The biggest things to worry about is a confidence issue stemming from Saturday's loss that carries the rest of the year.
But if the Aggies keep up their performance to this point of the season, Alabama will be their only loss.
5. Arkansas has cratered. It's time to talk about punters. Toby Baker is not someone who usually is a threat to get more yards than his offense, but Saturday's 415-yard effort was good for a full 200 more than the Hogs produced.
Arkansas (5-3, 1-3) has been a reliable offensive team. They rolled up 30 points and 473 yards on Alabama, but could muster nothing against Auburn. A few weeks ago, I talked about how Arkansas can't run. That sounds hard to believe but the Hogs got 25 yards on the ground against Auburn. Good rushing teams don't let that happen.
Auburn had five players get more than that on a single carry.
Quarterback Austin Allen was injured, which had an effect, but it's not like Arkansas was doing anything while he was in the game. Allen attempted 30 passes, completing 17 for 187 yards. There's more than injury at play with that.[4]
6. Kentucky is staring at bowl eligibility. Hoo boy, this is getting good. The best-case scenario for Kentucky's bowl chances had the Wildcats (4-3, 3-2) beating Mississippi State and they came through 40-38 thanks to a 51-yard field goal as time expired.
Austin MacGinnis has a few weeks of fame and stardom around campus before De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk take over. (They're basketball players, by the way.) Wins over Missouri and Austin Peay would bring that bowl game.
Outside of those games though, Georgia, Tennessee and Louisville will be much tougher, making next week's game against Missouri a must-win. We've been in this position before, and it's not worked out, so stay tuned.
7. Ole Miss is out of it. Three SEC losses before November is a disaster for a team that had its eye on the championship game. Several other teams have three conference losses (in the SEC West alone, there is Arkansas and Mississippi State) but only one has more - South Carolina.
There's no sugar coating where the Rebels (3-4, 1-3) are right now. They have nothing outside of Chad Kelly and what we thought was at least an above average defense has allowed 334 rushing yards to Alabama and 311 rushing yards to LSU.
Guess who's next: Auburn, the SEC's best rushing team.
Hugh Freeze was being mentioned for some potential jobs that may come open in the next few weeks. It was doubtful he would leave to begin with, but now it would be surprising if he was even considered. Much less so if the Rebels take more losses, and it looks certain that they will.
8. You have to play until the end. The last few minutes of a football game are where you used to wait with bated breath to see what Les Miles would do. But Miles is gone and the new team with last minute woes is Mississippi State.
There are a lot of Bulldogs fans taking solace in the fact that they were close to winning four games. In other words, they're making excuses. But there's validity to it.
Let's make no mistake, Mississippi State (2-5, 1-3) is terrible. The Bulldogs threw for 81 yards against Kentucky and are surviving due to a pretty good dual threat quarterback, a competent wide receiver and nothing else.
But they've been competitive in all but one of their five losses. Against South Alabama, Mississippi State gave up a touchdown in the final minute after missing a field goal. Against LSU, the Bulldogs came back from 20 points down and had the ball with a chance to drive for the win. But it ended with a sack and fumble. The loss to BYU came in overtime. Then Kentucky won on a last-second field goal.
That's the very definition of worst-case scenario.
9. Something about Missouri and/or South Carolina? I have to be honest, I have nothing here. Missouri lost to Middle Tennessee 51-45 and South Carolina beat Massachusetts 34-28.
South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) tried out Jake Bentley at quarterback for the first time and he threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Missouri (2-5, 0-3) did its typical thing of putting up great numbers on offense - 629 yards - yet somehow managed to be worse than ever.
These teams play each other in two weeks. I have no idea what that means.
10. It's cocktail time. No. 15 Florida and Georgia were both off this week to get ready for the big party in Jacksonville. Florida (5-1, 3-1) needs a win to get on the cusp of a return trip to Atlanta. Georgia (4-3, 2-3) needs a win to help Tennessee get there.[5]
Oh yeah, that's some shade thrown at Georgia. Tennessee, which was also off this week, has only the lesser East teams left to play in South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt. The Vols should win them all.
If Florida beats Georgia, it will be a win away from winning the SEC East. A win for Georgia and they would still need a lot of help to win the East. It's not totally inconceivable, but it's still a stretch.
Florida's defense gives the Gators a huge advantage.
Extra points:
[1] - If it weren't for Louisville's Lamar Jackson, you could add the Heisman Trophy to this list. Jalen Hurts has accounted for 20 TDs and Jackson has 34. Their yardage numbers are just as disparate. Entering this week, Jackson was No. 2 in total offense and touchdowns, and the No. 6 rusher in the nation. Just to be clear, that's among all players, not just QBs. He was also the No. 23 passer. (Current stats were not available from the NCAA.)
[2] - Gus Malzahn can also go to the local Waffle House without getting side-eye from fans who just three weeks ago considered him worthy of unemployment.
[3] - But look at THIS! Good Lord, that's terrifying. (By the way, that was a pass.)
[4] - Now would be a great time for the Crazy Hog Lady to return to YouTube and rally the troops. Here's a suggestion.
[5] - Mark Richt had a game, though, and Georgia fans can take solace in the fact that he's biting the dust as hard as Georgia ever did. Miami fell to Virginia Tech 37-16 for its third straight loss.
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