We're entering Week 8 of the College Football season, as we've passed the midway point of the year. As we enter the back half of the season, every game will start to have a big impact on the race for the College Football Playoff. The first half of the season separated the pretenders, but with tons of conference games down the stretch the contenders will battle for their bid into the College Football Playoff.
5 Week 8 games will have a significant impact on the College Football Playoff
Typically, you'd expect the LSU Tigers to dominate against Vanderbilt, but when the game kicks off this weekend, the Commodores may be the favorites. The Tigers have been dominant on defense this season, while their offense caused the fans concerns as Garrett Nussmeier battles through injuries. Diego Pavia has led the Commodores to a 5-1 record, but picking up his big win this season would put the Commodores into Playoff contention while sinking LSU's hopes.
This weekend's edition of The Holy War will have a massive impact on the race for the Big 12 Championship. The BYU Cougars survived double overtime last weekend but, this game will certainly serve as the biggest test of the season. Utah suffered a loss against Texas Tech which means they have to win this game to keep their hopes of reaching the Big 12 Title game alive.
This weekend could mark the final matchup for a long time in the historic rivalry between Notre Dame and USC. If this is the last regular season for some time, the stakes couldn't be higher, as this will serve as a Playoff elimination game. If USC can hand Notre Dame their third loss, it would certainly knock the Irish out of the race, as they wouldn't have the resume to overcome three losses. If Notre Dame can pick up a win, it would be a massive resume-building win for them while forcing USC to go unbeaten the rest of the way.
Nick Saban dominated the Third Saturday in October for most of his tenure, but Tennessee has won 2 of the last 3 matchups as Josh Heupel has made this rivalry a true rivalry again. This year's meeting takes place in Tuscaloosa, which is good news for the Crimson Tide as the home team has won the last 4 matchups.
Alabama lost its first game of the season, but the Crimson Tide has played with a new focus the last 5 weeks, including 3 straight wins over Top 25 opponents. Tennessee has shown some flaws and has been. without star cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III could hurt the Vols as they try to slow Ty Simpson and his star wide receivers.
This weekend, Ole Miss heads to Athens for one of the biggest games of the season as the 5th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels face off against the 9th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Coming off the bye last weekend, the Rebels looked out of sync, but everyone saw against LSU that the defense can step up in big games. Kirby Smart's team has had a problem with starting slow, and it could prove to cost them in a game of this magnitude. The winner of this game will be sitting pretty in the postseason races, especially if it's Ole Miss, while the loser's hopes would take a massive hit, especially if Georgia takes a second loss.
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