2025 Week 8
October 21, 2025
One of the best things about the calendar turning to October is we start getting college football 5 nights a week. I for one love to sit back and watch some Conference UFO action in October before seguing to MACtion in November, which then leads to the finest time of year, December and bowel season.
Midweek football isn't just for minor conferences anymore. Last Wednesday night I saw Jacksonville beating up on the team that sports the famous winged helmet. I'm not sure why Michigan decided to join the AFC and play the Jaguars.
Texas continued their fine turnaround by following up on their win against Oklahoma with a trip to play another powerhouse, Kentucky, and won 16-13. The Longhorns' finely tuned offense, led by Heisman candidate Peyton Manning III, put up 179 yards in the game - about as many yards as Oregon gained in the first quarter against Rutgers.
Some of the military guys like to stop by and watch football with us so a couple of them were around on Saturday and saw the Texas victory. My new friend General Patton told me "I haven't seen such a lousy offensive performance result in a victory celebration since Ike let the French Army ride our coattails and march ahead of us into Paris".
Some pre-season BS playoff championship contenders continued to struggle. Clemson lost for the fourth time, to Southern Methodist. And Penn State blew a late lead at Iowa to also fall to 3-4.
It seems like lots of coaches are interested in the Penn State vacancy. There have been rumors that Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, a Penn State alum, would like the job. He had a fitting audition for the job last Friday, as he followed a Penn State tradition of blowing a game in Minneapolis.
Teams are firing coaches earlier than ever. Florida beat Ole Southern Piss State 23-21 after the Bulldogs' quarterback Blake Shapen threw a horrible interception while his team was in range for a buzzer beating game winning field goal. I've haven't seen a worse pass since I was on an elevator and watched my good friend Herb Street chat up Erin Andrews.
Even though the Gators won, Florida fired coach Billy Napier the next day. UF's arch-rivals Florida State seem to be ready to jettison their coach Mike Norvell after an embarrassing 20-13 loss in front of 3,500 fans at Stanford.
But the most notable result in the SEC South likely won't lead to a firing, at least not yet. The St Louisville Cardinals slugged the Miami Hurricanes early then held on for dear life for a 24-21 victory. Cane quarterback Carson Beck really spread out the ball in this one - he completed 29 of 35 passes to 11 different receivers, 7 of whom were from his own team.
Notre Dame continued their excellent turnaround, riding a kickoff return and a strong fourth quarter defensive effort to a 34-24 home victory over Southern Cal. Irish fans were already riding high as one of their former assistants, Clark Lea, led Vanderbilt to a 31-24 win over former ND coach B Kelly. I'm not sure whether coach Kelly is on the hot seat in Baton Rouge yet, but he may want to stop working on the Cagin' accent and start trying to talk like he's from central Pennsylvania.
Bring 'em Young won a tight 24-21 battle in Provo over the University of Texas at Houston. Another Loan Star state team, Texas Tech, also struggled on the road, giving up a late touchdown to lose at Arizona State. Afterward ASU fans rushed the field, which caused my good friend Frank Kush to smash a couple TV sets in disgust.
The SEC North had some fine matchups as well. Alabama pulled away from Tennessee for a 37-20 victory. Missouri held off a game Auburn team 23-17. And, in the game of the day, Georgia came from behind by scoring the final 17 points to defeat Ole Southern Piss, 43-35. Bulldog quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns. I see a pro career for Stockton and predict he will be the best Gunner in the NFL since Steve Tasker.
I'm definitely looking forward to the upcoming week - on Tuesday we'll be getting the first BS ratings of the season. That means we'll get to see various ESPN talking heads droning for most of an hour about who the G5 playoff team will be, followed by the exciting battle between the exchange students from Florida International and Kenesaw State. Still beats the heck out of postseason baseball!