College Football 2017: What did we learn from Week 8 action?

After a wild Week 7, the eighth week of the college football season had a lot to live up to and it didn’t let us down.

We are more than halfway through the season and as we go from October to November, we see that conferences like the Big 12 and SEC are starting to separate themselves when it comes to teams that could be playing in conference title games and then you have some divisional races like the Pac-12 South and Big Ten East that are starting to heat up.

Before we can look down the road, we first have to look and take into account from what we’ve learned from Week 8.

3. You can officially call USC’s season an abject failure

This is the darkest timeline for USC football in 2017.

With all of the flaws that USC had coming into the season, you could still put this team as a favorite to reach the College Football Playoff. A slow start turned into an eventual win over Western Michigan in the season opener. Then there came a survival effort against Texas in overtime. Even with all of the struggles and the questions regarding the Trojans, you could still make a case for them to make a run to the CFP.

Then came the injuries and shaky defense that occurred at Washington State on a Friday night in September. That loss also showcased the struggling play of USC quarterback Sam Darnold but even a strong running game couldn’t mask the inconsistencies of the preseason Heisman candidate. A loss to Washington State didn’t kill the playoff hopes of the Trojans, it only struck a dent in them.

Saturday night’s loss at Notre Dame buried the Trojans 2017 College Football Playoff hopes in a funeral draped in blue and gold under the lights of Notre Dame Stadium. After jumping out to a four touchdown lead the beating continued and if you needed to see how this game went, just take a look at this run by USC’s Josh Adams.

USC’s 2017 season essentially started with a legendary Rose Bowl victory over Penn State and it abruptly ended with a drubbing by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Oct. 21 in South Bend, Ind.