College Football Week 8 AP Poll Breakdown: New Playoff Contenders As Penn State Fires HC Franklin
- Pre Game Sports
- Oct 12
- 2 min read
College Football Week 8 AP Rankings: New Faces, New Drama
Rank | Team | Record | Movement |
1 | Ohio State | 6-0 | — |
2 | Miami (FL) | 5-0 | — |
3 | Indiana | 6-0 | ↑ 4 |
4 | Texas A&M | 6-0 | ↑ 1 |
5 | Ole Miss | 6-0 | ↓ 1 |
6 | Alabama | 5-1 | ↑ 2 |
7 | Texas Tech | 6-0 | ↑ 2 |
8 | Oregon | 5-1 | ↓ 5 |
9 | Georgia | 5-1 | ↑ 1 |
10 | LSU | 5-1 | ↑ 1 |
11 | Tennessee | 5-1 | ↑ 1 |
12 | Georgia Tech | 6-0 | ↑ 1 |
13 | Notre Dame | 4-2 | ↑ 3 |
14 | Oklahoma | 5-1 | ↓ 8 |
15 | BYU | 6-0 | ↑ 3 |
16 | Missouri | 5-1 | ↓ 2 |
17 | Vanderbilt | 5-1 | ↑ 3 |
18 | Virginia | 5-1 | ↑ 1 |
19 | South Florida | 5-1 | ↑ 5 |
20 | USC | 5-1 | NR |
21 | Texas | 4-2 | NR |
22 | Memphis | 6-0 | ↑ 1 |
23 | Utah | 5-1 | NR |
24 | Cincinnati | 5-1 | NR |
25 | Nebraska | 5-1 | NR |
The Week 8 college football rankings are in, and the shake-up is real. After a wild Week 7 filled with upsets and near-misses, the AP Top 25 got a makeover.
Penn State Fires Head Coach in Midseason Shock
In one of the biggest midseason bombshells in recent memory, Penn State officially fired their head coach following Week 7's embarrassing loss. The move comes after mounting pressure from boosters, alumni backlash, and growing frustration over stagnant offense and repeated big-game failures.
Reports indicate that tensions behind the scenes had reached a boiling point, with supporting morale taking a hit. Interim leadership has been announced as associate head coach Terry Smith, but the timing couldn’t be tougher — Penn State now faces a brutal remaining schedule while trying to stabilize a collapsing season.
Franklin is owed over $49M making it the second biggest buyout in college football history behind Jimbo Fisher's Texas A&M $76M.
The firing sends shockwaves through the Big Ten and could trigger a full-on coaching carousel ahead of bowl season as many major names have been thrown out there to replace the head coach.
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