What to watch: Week 8 college football viewing guide

Week 8 is a big one for the SEC.

Saturday features two games between top-11 opponents and could go a long way to deciding who is playing in Atlanta for the conference title in December. Of the four, only No. 1 Texas is undefeated. No. 5 Georgia, No. 7 Alabama and No. 11 Tennessee each have a loss. Not only is a second loss deleterious to their SEC title hopes, it will leave little margin for College Football Playoff error.

But there’s a lot to watch outside the SEC too. No. 6 Miami has a pivotal road game in the ACC and there’s a matchup of ranked teams in the Big Ten.

Here’s what to watch in Week 8. All times are Eastern and all odds are from BetMGM.

Time: Noon | TV: ABC | Line: Miami -4.5 | Total: 61.5

Is Miami in for a third consecutive close game? The Hurricanes have had two weeks to prepare for the Cardinals after a bye in Week 7. Louisville has won its last two games as home underdogs and both of those victories came against ranked opponents. The Cardinals took down No. 10 Wake Forest 48-21 in 2022 and beat No. 10 Notre Dame 33-20 a season ago.

The Cardinals are 4-2 after a win over Virginia a week ago. It was the first game all season that Tyler Shough hadn’t thrown multiple TD passes. He was 18-of-31 passing for 231 yards, a TD and an interception. He’s stayed healthy so far this season — he’s never played more than seven games in any of his first six seasons of college football — and his ability to force Miami to not focus on Isaac Brown will be crucial. Brown has emerged over the Cardinals’ last three games; he had 20 carries for 146 yards and two scores against the Cavaliers.

No player in college football has more than Cam Ward’s 23 total touchdowns. If Miami can avoid the upset on Saturday and Ward has a fantastic game, his Heisman campaign will be in an even stronger position.

Time: 3:30 p.m. | TV: ABC | Line: Alabama -3 | Total: 56.5

The Crimson Tide are a road favorite in Knoxville as the Vols’ offense has had a rough two weeks. After looking dominant in its first three games, Tennessee scored just six points in the second half in its Week 4 win over Oklahoma and has just 31 points in regulation across its last two games.

UT has been plagued by penalties and sacks over the past three games. Nico Iamaleava has been sacked 10 times in the Volunteers’ three SEC games and hasn’t thrown for more than 200 yards since the second game of the season. After Saturday’s overtime win over Florida, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said that “at some point we got to say we’re going to man up and do our job and make this thing go the way that it’s capable of.”

Alabama is about as good of a test as any, right? The Crimson Tide have issues of their own. After losing on the road at Vanderbilt, Alabama couldn’t put South Carolina away until the final play in a 27-25 win. Jalen Milroe threw two interceptions and was sacked four times as South Carolina took away the Crimson Tide’s run game. Tennessee has one of the best defensive lines in the SEC. Will Alabama have answers up front?

Time: 3:30 p.m. | TV: CBS | Line: Michigan -3 | Total: 43.5

This has all the makings of a slugfest. Just look at the over/under.

However, Illinois easily eclipsed that total itself a week ago in a 50-49 overtime win at home against Purdue. QB Luke Altmyer was 20-of-34 passing for 379 yards and three TDs and the Illinois defense was gashed by Purdue QB Ryan Browne. The freshman made his first start in Week 7 and threw for 297 yards and three scores while also rushing 17 times for 118 yards.

Michigan fans might faint if Jack Tuttle throws for nearly 300 yards on Saturday. Tuttle came on in relief of Alex Orji in UM’s Week 6 loss to Washington and is set to be Michigan’s third starting QB of the season in the Wolverines’ seventh game. Tuttle threw a TD against Washington, but also threw an interception and fumbled.

Michigan will, of course, look to run the ball as much as possible. And that could be a good strategy against Illinois. The Illini have given up 239 yards rushing in each of their last two games and opponents are averaging 4.5 yards a carry.

Time: 7 p.m. | TV: ESPN | Line: LSU -3 | Total: 55.5

That three-point line is no coincidence. The last four games in this series have been decided by exactly three points since LSU beat Arkansas 56-20 in 2019. LSU has won the last two contests since Arkansas’ 16-13 OT win in 2021. The Tigers won 13-10 in 2022 and then 34-31 in 2023.

The Razorbacks are playing their third straight ranked opponent after a neutral-site loss to Texas A&M and a home win over Tennessee two weeks ago. In that win over the Vols, Arkansas didn’t turn the ball over for the first time against an FBS opponent all season. QB Taylen Green was injured in the upset and is set to play against the Tigers after he wasn’t on the team’s injury report Wednesday night.

LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier had his roughest game of the season in the Tigers’ OT win over Ole Miss. He threw the game-winning TD pass to Kyren Lacy, but was 22-of-51 passing for 337 yards and had his second-straight two-interception game. The win over Ole Miss was the best game of the season for the LSU defense.

Time: 7:30 p.m. | TV: ABC | Line: Texas -4.5 | Total: 55.5

Georgia’s second huge road test of the season is the biggest game of the weekend. The top-ranked Longhorns are coming off a blowout win over Oklahoma in Quinn Ewers’ first start since Week 3. Georgia had a comfortable win at home against Mississippi State.

It’s not much of a stretch to say that Georgia will need the best game of the season from Carson Beck to get the win. Beck hasn’t had a statement game so far this season; he threw three interceptions against Alabama even though he threw for 439 yards as Georgia briefly took the lead in the second half. Against MSU, Beck completed 75% of his passes for 459 yards and three scores with two interceptions.

Ewers got more comfortable as the Oklahoma game went on and finished 20-of-29 passing for 199 yards and a TD after his opening-drive interception. As Ewers and Arch Manning have both made starts at QB this season, Texas’ biggest strength has been its running game with Jaydon Blue, Derrick Gibson and Quintrevion Wisner. Texas is averaging over 5.1 yards per run as a team. Georgia’s defense, meanwhile, is giving up 5.2 yards a play. The Bulldogs haven’t given up more than 4.9 yards a play for an entire season since 2016. That was Kirby Smart’s first season.

Other games to watch

Oklahoma State at No. 13 BYU (Friday, 10:15 p.m., ESPN): Late-night home games can be tough for opposing teams in Provo. But this could be the time where Oklahoma State shows it was a preseason favorite in the Big 12. The Cowboys have lost three straight games and are 0-3 in the conference, while the Cougars are 3-0 and 6-0 overall. A win for BYU ends any hope of Oklahoma State getting back to the Big 12 title game.

Nebraska at No. 16 Indiana (Noon, Fox): The Hoosiers are favored by 6.5 as they are 6-0 for the first time since 1967. Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola has gotten a lot of attention as a five-star freshman starter, but this is a great chance to get a look at Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke. He’s completing over 70% of his passes.

No. 12 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech (3:30 p.m., ESPN): The Yellow Jackets are a good test for a Notre Dame offense that made strides against Stanford. Riley Leonard threw for more than 163 yards for the first time a week ago as he was 16-of-22 passing for 229 yards and three TDs. Georgia Tech is 5-2 and has won back-to-back games after running over, around and through North Carolina in Week 7, though starting QB Haynes King appears iffy to play after he was injured against the Tar Heels.

Colorado at Arizona (4 p.m., Fox): Travis Hunter is set to return for the Buffaloes after he missed the second half of the team’s loss to Kansas State with an injury. Arizona has lost three of its last four games, though the one win came over Utah. The loser of this game could be eliminated from Big 12 title contention.

No. 17 Kansas State at West Virginia (7:30 p.m., Fox): West Virginia gets a second chance at a prime time home upset over a ranked team after No. 9 Iowa State won 28-16 in Morgantown a week ago. This could be the quickest game of the day; both teams love to run the ball and are very good at it. Kansas State’s DJ Giddens is averaging 7.3 yards a carry.