College football stock up, stock down from Week 8: Big 12 playoff hopes take hit

Week 7 of the college football season was great, but so was Week 8. Another week full of upsets and close finishes. After stunning Notre Dame last weekend, BYU hit the road as the new No. 2 ranked team in the country, but the Cougars fell to UCF in overtime as Bear Bachmeier’s pass couldn’t find his target.

But that wasn’t the only big upset. Texas Tech stumbled for the first time this season as the Red Raiders traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats. Ole Miss fell to Texas and Iowa lost on the road to Minnesota. Both USC and Tennessee lost their road games to Wisconsin and South Carolina, respectively.

Following another big day of college football, here is our latest stock report.

MORE: Malachi Toney broke his own Miami football record on Saturday

Stock up: College football viewing entertainment

It was hard to live up to Week 7, but Week 8 certainly didn’t disappoint. The NFL has a saying of ‘On any given Sunday’, but college football is starting to take on that slogan. Parity is at an all-time high in the sport and each week there are multiple upsets.

On Saturday, there were threetop-10 teams upset. After the top 10, Tennessee went down to South Carolina, Minnesota beat Iowa in a low-scoring Big Ten game, and Wisconsin took down USC.

And if you like overtime games both the Indiana vs. Michigan and BYU vs. UCF games went into overtime to add additional excitement.

Some weeks might not look super appealing on paper, but once the chaos begins, it’s hard to look away.

Stock down: Case for multiple Big 12 teams in CFP

Entering Saturday, there were three Big 12 teams ranking inside the top 10 and the conference was starting to get some respect. But, as predicted, there were two major upsets. After upsetting Notre Dame last weekend, BYU lost to UCF in overtime. Texas Tech went on the road and was handled by Cincinnati, a team that lost two games in a row.

Utah was the lone undefeated Big 12 team to win its game. The Utes had a low-scoring affair against Houston. The Cougars had chances to upset Utah, but Devon Dampier and Co. pulled it out to remain at the top of the conference.

BYU will play Utah this season, but Texas Tech misses both the Cougars and Utes. That’s good for the Red Raiders, but Texas Tech could very easily have multiple losses this season. This isn’t the same Red Raiders’ defense as last season, and the Big 12 might pick each other apart too much to get more than one team into the playoff.

Stock up: Middling Big Ten teams

Speaking of parity, it’s at an all-time high in the Big Ten. UCLA won once again on Saturday, over Michigan State, to remain unbeaten on the season. Ohio State still hasn’t lost a conference game, but it’s wide open past those two teams.

Northwestern continues to win games. And then there are Minnesota and Wisconsin, who pulled off home upsets. The Gophers weren’t expected to compete with Iowa, but Minnesota won 13-10. Then the Badgers took down the explosive Trojans’ offense, 24-7.

The typical stout Big Ten teams like Oregon, Michigan, and Penn State are all bad. It’s a new era of college football and the blue bloods are figuring that out

Stock down: Lincoln Riley

After suffering the 41-27 loss to Oregon a few weeks back, USC has just been getting by. The Trojans won one-score games over both Washington and Penn State, but USC met its match on Saturday.

Wisconsin’s offense scored seven points two weeks ago against UCLA, and the Badgers’ offense was lackluster once again. Colton Joseph threw for a meager 58 yards and Wisconsin ran for 142 yards. But it didn’t matter.

USC’s offense was dismal and Jayden Maiava threw two interceptions. Lincoln Riley lost another game he should’ve won and the pressure is really going to start mounting. USC still has to play Ohio State, Indiana, and UCLA this season. It’s not impossible that the Trojans lose all three games. They’ve yet to make the CFP under Riley and that’s unacceptable.

Stock up: Texas remains alive

After losing two games in a row, Texas’ SEC and CFP lives were on the line. With so many upsets each week, there could be a few 9-3 teams making the playoff in 2026, but Texas didn’t want three losses this early. And the Longhorns got out to a 24-3 lead over Ole Miss.

But in typical Texas style, the Longhorns let the Rebels back into the game. Ole Miss kicked a field goal with 1:22 left in the game to pull within seven. The Rebels then recovered the onside kick to give Trinidad Chambliss a chance to tie the game, but Texas intercepted his Hail Mary attempt.

Arch Manning didn’t play well. He threw two interceptions, but Texas’ defense made enough plays to allow the Longhorns to win the game. The SEC keeps picking each other off, but the Longhorns remain alive.

Stock down: Dave Doeren

In-season firings are taking place and North Carolina State made the second one this week. Mike Locksley was fired at Maryland, and now Dave Doeren lost his job at NC State. The Wolfpack fired Doeren after a 3-4 start to the 2026 season. NC State had some big expectations this year in an open ACC, especially with CJ Bailey returning at quarterback.

Doeren has coached NC State since 2013 and has a 98-74 record. He had four nine-win seasons for the Wolfpack and now NC State will begin its coaching search for a new head coach.

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