Winners, losers from College Football Week 8: From Army QB Bryson Daily to Alabama and Michigan

Bryson Daily for Heisman? Maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but the senior quarterback is carrying the Army Black Knights to a 7-0 record. In Saturday’s win over East Carolina, Daily rushed for four touchdowns for the second consecutive game. He’s now averaging over 137 rushing yards per game over the last six weeks, scoring 17 rushing touchdowns over that span. For good measure, Daily also recorded a touchdown pass for the third consecutive game with 100-plus passing yards in each of those contests. It’s just been an incredible year for the Black Knights and Daily deserves far more national recognition at this point.

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Something needs to change with this Miami Hurricanes defense. Before college football Week 8, Miami had allowed 764 total yards and 72 combined points to Virginia Tech and Cal, forcing Cam Ward to save the day. On Saturday, Miami once again needed its ‘superman’ and Ward delivered once more on the road. As great as these performances are for Ward’s Heisman Trophy candidacy, Hurricanes defensive coordinator Lance Guidry is the architect of one of the worst defenses in the Power 5 for a month now. Maybe it won’t cost Miami against ACC opponents, but it can force an early playoff exit.

Have a day Bhayshul Tuten. The Virginia Tech Hokies put on an early fireworks show in Week 8, kicking things off on Thursday night at home against Boston College. After the Hokies took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, Tuten came alive in the second quarter with an 83-yard touchdown run and a 20-yard catch-and-run score. Tuten finished the night with 286 scrimmage yards (266 rushing), turning 19 touches into 4 touchdowns. Just a phenomenal performance.

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This is just embarrassing now for the Florida State Seminoles. Fans had reason to believe Norvell turned the program around in 2022, overcoming an 8-13 record in his first two seasons replacing Willie Taggart with consecutive double-digit win seasons. Instead, Florida State is even worse than it was under Taggart. The Seminoles have now lost to Georgia Tech, Boston College, Memphis, SMU, Clemson and Duke this year. Losses against Miami and Notre Dame feel inevitable. Quite frankly, there’s a legitimate chance Florida State loses nine games for the first time since 1974.

We don’t often highlight defensive players in our weekly winners and losers for college football, but Nick Emmanwori stood out in Week 8. The junior defensive back feasted on Saturday afternoon, snagging two interceptions including a pick-six that put the game on ice. There’s certainly credit to go around for a South Carolina Gamecocks defense that had eight different players record a sack, but the 20-year-old defensive back stood out the most.

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Sherrone Moore is Jim Harbaugh’s fall guy. The Michigan Wolverines will rightfully trade a brutal 2024 campaign as the cost of winning the national championship last season, but it’s hurting Moore the most. Michigan’s playoff run meant Moore couldn’t effectively use the transfer portal to replace J.J. McCarthy. To make matters worse for Moore, Harbaugh brought Michigan’s top coaches with him to the NFL. The end result is what we’re seeing from this Wolverines offense, which has largely been atrocious with one of the worst passing offenses in college football. Let’s just all remember that Harbaugh that Moore with very little to work with.

Sometimes, a team just can’t get away from a quarterback. Accuracy has always been an issue for Alan Bowman, sometimes he just struggles to hit the broadside of a barn. He’s been playing college football since 2018 and the Oklahoma State Cowboys know better than anyone that great decision-making and protecting the football aren’t Bowman’s strengths. Having already benched him, though, the Garret Rangel injury forced Bowman back into action. Sure enough that proved costly, with Bowman throwing an interception for the sixth consecutive game and completing under 59 percent of his passes for the fourth consecutive game.

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It’s not often we highlight a freshman quarterback on the losing team as a ‘winner’, but Michael Van Buren Jr. deserves his flowers. Rated by 247 Sports as a three-star recruit, Van Buren Jr. got thrown into the fire at Mississippi State much sooner than expected. In his last two games against Georgia and Texas A&M, the true freshman has thrown 3 touchdown passes in both starts and he cleared the 240-yard mark on Saturday night. We’ve learned our lesson with freshmen quarterback, not overreacting to hot starts too quickly, but Van Buren is off to an impressive start and Mississippi State (1-6) needed this bright spot.

It’s been a miserable month for Jalen Milroe and Kalen DeBoer. It’s all seemingly unraveled since that 30-7 halftime lead in the win over Georgia. Since coming out for the second half in that game, Alabama has been outscored by 26 points, allowing 116 points in the last 14 quarters. Milroe’s Heisman candidacy is long over and DeBoer is already finding himself on the hot seat. While that might sound absurd for a first-year coach with DeBoer’s career record, Alabama has higher expectations than anyone and DeBoer is falling well short.

We’ll first give credit to UCF Knights quarterback Jacurri Brown, who was a negative passing the football but came through with his first 100-yard game in college and only his second two-touchdown performance. Of course, Brown’s success on the ground was made easier by RJ Harvey. Central Florida’s featured running back tore through the Iowa State Cyclones defense, erupting for 196 rushing yards with 2 touchdowns. It just wasn’t enough in a 38-35 loss on the road.

We were willing to overlook one-score losses to Michigan and Penn State, especially with this being the USC Trojans’ first year in the Big Ten Conference. There could also be excuses made for travel, with the Trojans having to fly all the way across the country to face Maryland in Week 8. Four losses before November is unacceptable, especially for a head coach making $10-plus million per season. USC is being out-coached and it still hasn’t played even three quality quarters of football in a single game against a Power 4 opponent. While it seemed ludicrous before the season, it’s time to start thinking about coaching candidates to replace Lincoln Riley because this stint has been a failure.

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In the most highly-anticipated game of Week 8, it wasn’t the quarterbacks who stole the show. The Georgia Bulldogs desperately needed someone to step up defensively and edge rusher Jalon Walker did that and then some. Walker recorded 3 first-half sacks and generated even more pressures that forced Quinn Ewers into some off-target throws. Just a phenomenal defensive performance, one that made a massive difference for the Bulldogs and very much caught the attention of NFL scouts.

Sometimes, one game is all you need to see to be ‘out’ on a quarterback. While Quinn Ewers did turn things around after his first-half benching, responding with two touchdown passes in the third quarter, those were lone bright spots. He averaged an abysmal 4.9 yards per attempt and his lack of athleticism was obvious when Georgia got into the backfield. Arch Manning obviously isn’t ready to be the starting quarterback for a national championship contender, but his athleticism and pocket movement open up this offense. There’s a reason Ewers probably won’t have a bright future in the NFL and it’s also why Texas might eventually just want to give Manning his reps.