Michigan, J.J. McCarthy among College Football Week 8 winners; USC, North Carolina biggest losers
Michigan football and its quarterback J.J. McCarthy were among the biggest winners in College Football Week 8; North Carolina and USC were the biggest losers.
The biggest story in college football all week was Michigan football and the investigation into potential “in-person scouting.”
Many people keep saying that Michigan football is being investigated for stealing signs. However, there is no rule against that.
In-person scouting was only stopped in 1994 as a cost-saving measure — it had nothing to do with competitive balance other than smaller programs didn’t want to pay the travel costs.
At any rate, Michigan stole the show on Saturday night, beating Michigan State mercilessly, 49-0. Beyond that, J.J. McCarthy became a clear contender in the Heisman race.
Here are the biggest winners and losers from College Football Week 8.
Biggest College Football Week 8 winner: Michigan football and J.J. McCarthy
J.J. McCarthy shot up our college football quarterback power rankings this past week into the top three but after four touchdowns, as well as 276. yards and three touchdowns in the first half, he looked like the best player in college football.
Michigan has now outscored its five Big Ten opponents 229-31. J.J. McCarthy now has 18 touchdown passes and three rushing touchdowns and if he ever needed to play in the fourth quarter, his numbers would be even better.
There are some other winners from College Football Week 8 and we’ll get to them in a second. Yet, there are some big-time losers too and no one lost more than Penn State football.
Biggest College Football Week 8 loser: Penn State football
James Franklin has one of the most talented college football teams in the country. The problem is that he has to coach it.
Franklin showed on Saturday that he’s not good in big-game situations and neither is his team. Penn State football had a winnable situation but Drew Allar produced more like a walk-on than a five-star quarterback.
Franklin didn’t even trust him to throw on third downs, but also, after Penn State ran for first downs, he refused to stick to it.
It’s clear the Nittany Lions are a pretender. They’ll get a chance to take down Michigan and rebound, but nobody watching Penn State on Saturday should be calling this a playoff contender.
The Nittany Lions are a fraud and they got exposed in Columbus.