A wild week 8 yielded losses for several undefeated teams, and statement victories for others.
There's no greater winner on Saturday than Clark Lea's Vanderbilt Commodores, who find themselves in the thick of the College Football Playoff hunt after taking down No. 10 LSU at home (more on that in a minute).
Let's dive into college football's Week 8 takeaways, starting as always, with a hot seat check.
Hot seat check
You won, but it's over: Billy Napier, Florida Gators
Billy Napier and his Florida Gators improved to 3-4 on the season thanks to a late-game turnover to clinch a largely unimpressive 23-21 victory over Mississippi State in Gainesville on Saturday. Napier received a smattering of boos as he left the field for the tunnel, and rumors are swirling that AD Scott Stricklin will be pulling the trigger on firing Napier during the team's upcoming bye week.
Napier told reporters after Saturday's win that he's built for the job at Florida, but after mixed results in his three-plus seasons in one of the highest-profile jobs in the sport, the fans and power brokers in Gainesville sound like they disagree with the 46-year-old's assessment.
Expect the job to open before the program takes on Georgia on Nov. 1.
You lost, pressure's mounting, and your alma mater's open: Shane Beamer, South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina fell to 3-4 on the season and 1-4 in SEC play thanks to a hapless offensive performance in a 26-7 home loss to No. 14 Oklahoma. One week after head coach Shane Beamer fired offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley, the Gamecocks allowed six sacks and 13 tackles for loss in the defeat.
After going 9-4 last season and nearly making the College Football Playoff, the Gamecocks will struggle to make a bowl game. The remaining schedule features home games against Alabama, Coastal Carolina and Clemson, and road tilts with Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
Perhaps Beamer should take a closer look at the open Virginia Tech job. The search committee in Blacksburg has Beamer on the board as a legitimate candidate to take over his alma mater—the program his dad built—and he could use a soft landing.
Cannot foresee any circumstance where you're back on the sideline with your program in 2026: Luke Fickell, Wisconsin Badgers and Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers
Two coaches that were facing immense pressure before the season didn't do themselves any favors on Saturday.
Wisconsin welcomed No. 1 Ohio State to Camp Randall and once again looked inept offensively en route to a 34-0 shutout at the hands of the Buckeyes. The Badgers have been outscored 71-0 over the past two weeks, and travel to top 10 Oregon next. It's a matter of when, not if, for the end of Fickell's tenure at Wisconsin.
As for Auburn, the Tigers took No. 16 Missouri to double overtime at home on Saturday, but once again could not close the deal. Auburn has now lost four straight, and the seat could not get much hotter for Hugh Freeze. The Tigers travel to Arkansas next Saturday, and if Auburn finds a way to lose to the interim coach-led Razorbacks, expect the plug to be pulled on the Freeze experiment.
You're not in trouble at your current job, but you're no longer a slam dunk at your shoo-in future job: Matt Rhule, Nebraska Cornhuskers
No coach was in the news more this week for a job that wasn't his own than Nebraska's Matt Rhule.
Rhule, who is good friends with Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft dating back to when the duo worked together at Temple, was named as an early candidate for the Penn State opening following James Franklin's firing.
Rhule's current program at Nebraska played like it was distracted all week. The Cornhuskers lost 24-6 on the road at Minnesota on Friday night in a game in which Nebraska starting quarterback Dylan Raiola was sacked nine times.
Perhaps Penn State should open up their coaching search a bit more before gift wrapping it to Rhule in the same way his Nebraska program gift-wrapped a win to Minnesota on Friday night.
Vanderbilt has inside track to the College Football Playoff
The SEC is sure to have plenty of twists and turns remaining for the rest of the conference slate, but Saturday proved to be a significant needle mover for Vanderbilt, who earned a 31-24 home victory over No. 10 LSU to improve to 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in SEC play.
The Commodores have now split the two toughest games on the schedule, following up a loss to No. 10 Alabama earlier this month with a win on Saturday against the Brian Kelly-led Tigers. The 'Dores have games against Mizzou, Texas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee. There's a non-zero chance that Vanderbilt is favored in all of them.
If Vandy can go 4-1 in the closing stretch, it's hard to envision a 10-2 Commodores team being left out of an at-large bid to compete for a national championship.
No. 2 Miami lost, and could now miss the ACC title game
Entering the week, the second-ranked Hurricanes were in the conversation as one of the best teams in college football. But danger always seems to find Miami when they're in the thick of both the ACC and College Football Playoff race. Remember last season? Miami was ranked fourth in the country when they traveled to Atlanta to take on unranked Georgia Tech. The result was a 28-23 loss that put the Hurricanes in a precarious position for the ACC title race. The death knell came three weeks later in a 42-38 loss at Syracuse that doomed the program's conference title (and College Football Playoff) hopes.
This year was supposed to be different. But after winning a rivalry game at Florida State two weeks ago, Miami came off a bye week and found a way to lose to Louisville, 24-21, on Friday night. The Miami offense was suffocated by Louisville's defense (file under Beck, Carson's four interceptions), and the Hurricanes made just enough mistakes of their own defensively to drop their first game of the season.
Miami now needs help to make the ACC title game. Georgia Tech, Virginia and SMU are all undefeated in ACC play, and the Hurricanes only face one of those teams—the Mustangs—on their remaining schedule.
Life comes at you fast. If the Hurricanes win out, an 11-1 ACC team would likely still make the field, conference title or not. But the margin for error is gone for Mario Cristobal's bunch.
Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love enters wide open Heisman Trophy race
Miami's loss to Louisville didn't help Notre Dame's College Football Playoff odds. The Irish, of course, don't have a conference title game to play in and could be lacking in quality wins compared to other at-large candidates for the CFP by season's end.
But the Irish can only control what they can control, which starts and ends with running the table and finishing the season 10-2. Notre Dame passed their toughest remaining test on Saturday in South Bend against No. 20 USC for the program's first signature victory of the season. Running back Jeremiyah Love has a good argument for best running back in the sport—and his excellence was on full display on Saturday night. Love rushed for a career-high 228 yards in the 34-24 win over the Trojans, which also set a rushing record in the 512-game history of Notre Dame Stadium.
Love should be in serious consideration for a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist, especially if the Irish finish the year 10-2. The third-year back will certainly continue to play a key role in the offense's success.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Week 8 Takeaways: Vanderbilt Could Make the College Football Playoff.
