Vibes Up/Vibes Down: Week 8

The highs are high after Week 8 of college football and the lows... well, you're going to need a hard hat, a flashlight and a rope-and-pulley system to reach those teams where they are right now. 

VIBES UP

1. BYU: What's better than beating your rival on national TV? Beating your rival to remain the only undefeated team standing in your conference. Kalani Sitake is now 52-18 since 2020, 18-2 since 2024, and has won nine games in a row -- and has won three straight Holy Wars for the first time since taking four straight from 1989-92. The Cougars, now ranked within the AP top-12 for the fifth time in the last six seasons, gets Iowa State on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox) before the biggest regular-season game since the last one, with two weeks to prepare: at No. 14 Texas Tech on Nov. 8.

2. Vanderbilt: After pulling an "upset" over No. 10 LSU (Vandy was favored), Clark Lea's team is now in the AP top-10 for the first time since 1947. Last year's win over No. 1 Alabama will always hold a special place in every 'Dores' fan's heart, but if I'm a Vandy fan, Saturday's 31-24 win over the Tigers is more satisfying. At 6-1, Vanderbilt hosts College GameDay for the first time since 2008 when No. 15 Mizzou comes to town on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). 

3. Indiana: We could have Indiana at the top spot every week, but Saturday's game was the first since taking Curt Cignetti off the market for good (probably). There was a moment of fear when Michigan State took a 10-7 lead on the Hoosiers in the second quarter (Oregon hangover! Contract curse! Cignetti has peaked!), but it was brief. IU scored in six plays to regain the lead, igniting a 31-0 run to secure the program's 18th win in 20 games. 

4. Arizona State: Before we hand Texas Tech the 2025 Big 12 champions, the 2024 Big 12 champs have something to say. Sam Leavitt's steady hand returned to the offense after missing last week's 42-10 loss at Utah, helping the Sun Devils build a 19-7 lead and then leading a 10-play, 75-yard drive to retake the lead with 34 seconds to play. This team has struggled to find consistency in their post-championship hangover, and afterward Kenny Dillingham said the physicality they practiced with this week will be a mainstay this season. If so, there's no reason ASU can't win out and return to Dallas -- they don't have to play No. 11 BYU or No. 21 Cincinnati and, oh yeah, they hold head-to-head over everyone's champ, No. 14 Texas Tech. 

5. Alabama: Aug. 30 has never felt so long ago. Alabama is the first team in SEC history to win four straight games over AP top-20 teams in four consecutive weeks and, here's the best part, they seem to be improving by the week. Zabien Brown's 99-yard pick-six basically ended Alabama's 37-20 win over No. 11 Tennessee and instantly entered the lexicon of great moments in Tide football history. 

6. Notre Dame: There wasn't a single win earned over the weekend that meant more to the people within the building than No. 13 Notre Dame 34, No. 20 USC 24. As John Brice reported on the FootballScoop podcast, Marcus Freeman told his team on Thursday, "This is f***ing personal." We're all hoping that wasn't the end of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry but if it was, Notre Dame goes out winning three straight and seven of the last eight. 

7. Ohio State: It's a strange phenomenon to have the No. 1 team in the country and the defending national champions effectively be "out of sight, out of mind," especially when they play on national TV every week, but that's effectively been the case. Ryan Day's team has now won 11 in a row (his longest streak since taking the full-time job is 13) and hasn't played a game within 18 points since the opener. With Penn State down and out, Ohio State is essentially fine-tuning until the pressure jumps up to 100 beginning with Michigan to end the regular season. In the meantime, the defense has allowed the fewest points through seven games by any FBS team in more than 30 years, and Julian Sayin is connecting on 80 percent of his passes for 9.6 per attempt. The consensus around the country is that there are no great teams this year, but: A) people aren't watching Ohio State right now, and B) we haven't seen Ohio State's fifth gear yet.  

8. Missouri: No one's looking past the stakes of this weekend -- at No. 10 Vanderbilt -- but look at the scene that could await the Tigers if they win on Saturday. No. 3 Texas A&M comes to CoMo on Nov. 8 to play a likely top-10 Missouri team, and the home team would have two weeks to prepare. Saturday's game is enormous, because that opportunity would be the greatest home game scene in a long time, perhaps ever, for Mizzou. And oh by the way, this team is 27-6 since 2023. 

9. UAB: Trent Dilfer may have been UAB's head coach for a time, but he was never of UAB. He made sure of that. So, earning the program's first ranked win since 2021, while ending the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games, in interim head coach Alex Mortensen's first game was special stuff. And the Blazers did while in their Children's Health uniforms, which they are now 8-1 in. 

10. SMU: Clemson is not the ACC's best team, but it's still the ACC's marquee program, so winning in their first trip to Death Valley was a great accomplishment. But that's not all. There are three undefeated teams atop the ACC standings -- No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 16 Virginia, and SMU -- who doesn't play the Yellow Jackets or the Cavs, and who hasn't lost a regular-season conference game since Nov. 17, 2022. 

VIBES DOWN

1. Wisconsin: It's to the point now where the only shock is that there hasn't been a change yet. Former Badger Vince Biegel tweeted this before the Wisconsin's lowly-attended 37-zilch loss to No. 1 Ohio State.

2. Florida State: We're into "comprehensive review" territory. Moving on from Mike Norvell seems like "when, not if" and the "when" won't be until after the season. Until then, Florida State will attempt to do the unthinkable: end their 9-game ACC losing streak. 

3. Auburn: Groundhog Month continues on the Plains, where once again Auburn's defense was good enough to win but the offense couldn't hold up its end of the bargain. In conference play only, Auburn is 16th in the SEC in yards per play and scoring -- and they're 15 percent behind Kentucky and South Carolina, tied for next-to-last.

4. Nebraska: What's worse if you're a Nebraska fan -- the constant hum of rumors that your coach is leaving your supposed blue-blood job for a bluer-blood job at Penn State, or when those rumors subside? Friday's 24-6 loss to Minnesota was the seventh time in 22 outings that a Matt Rhule outfit has been held to 10 points or fewer. The Huskers rushed for 36 yards in the loss, their sixth straight to Minnesota. 

5. LSU: It's one thing for a neutral observer to say, "Yeah, but this isn't, you know, regular Vanderbilt." It's another when it happens to you. Diego Pavia and company ripped up LSU's supposedly-elite defense for 400 yards and could've scored 38 points if they wanted to, and now the Tigers -- with No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 6 Alabama up next -- are staring 5-4 directly in the face. You don't hand out $95 million contracts to go 5-4 in Year 4, to put it mildly.