College Football week 8 - A Pac-12 showdown in broad daylight? Don’t mind if I do

Happy Saturday New York Giants fans, and welcome to week eight of the college football season!

Amazingly, we are half-way through the college season, but where the post season picture is normally starting to come into focus, we just got thrown a curveball. Last week South Carolina pulled off the upset against a Georgia team which was a top-four team and a three-score favorite to win. It isn’t one of our highlighted games, but everyone should keep an eye on South Carolina’s game against Florida at noon to see if they can double down and throw the CFB landscape into chaos.

Meanwhile, we have a nice slate of games to watch, including some teams we haven’t spent much time with (yet).

West Virginia at Oklahoma (5)

Fox - noon

With all due respect to WVU, this is going to be the Oklahoma Show.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts has put on a remarkable second act since transferring from Alabama to Oklahoma. He has obviously matured as a passer and has always been a great runner. He is suddenly being talked about as a potential first round draft pick, something which was unfathomable when he lost the starting job at Alabama. If

It helps that CeeDee Lamb, who has always been a good receiver, has taken the next step and is challenging for the title of top receiver in the draft.

On the West Virginia side of things, OT Colton McKivitz and wide receiver T.J. Simmons could be names to watch for a team that could use help at both positions.

Players To Watch

West Virgnia

• Colton McKivitz (OT)
• T.J. Simmons (WR)

Oklahoma

• Jalen Hurts (QB)
• CeeDee Lamb (WR)
• Creed Humphrey (iOL) *red-shirt sophomore
• Grant Calcaterra (TE)
• Neville Gallimore (iDL)
• Kenneth Murray (LB)

Oregon (12) at Washington (25)

ABC - 3:30 p.m.

Those of us on the east coast don’t get to see too many match-ups between Pac12 teams, at least not while the sun is up. Getting a match-up between ranked Pac12 opponents is a nice treat for our Saturday.

Oregon has returned to prominence on the national stage behind the play of Justin Herbert and one of the best offensive lines in the country. On the defensive side of the ball, keep an eye on linebacker Troy Dye, who could be a natural fit as a “new age” off-ball linebacker.

Washington, meanwhile hasn’t been able to take the next step after exciting the scouting world a couple years ago. They have, however, consistently put talented players in the NFL and are a school people should be keeping track of.

Players To Watch

Oregon

• Justin Herbert (QB)
• Jake Hanson (iOL)
• Calvin Throckmorton (OT)
• Troy Dye (LB)
• Jordon Scott (iDL)

Washington

• Jacob Eason (QB)
• Trey Adams (OT)
• Nick Harras (OC)
• Aaron Fuller (WR)

Michigan (16) at Penn State (7)

ABC - 7:30

Our slate of evening games is a bit sparse, but a match-up of ranked opponents is usually a good bet to watch. Michigan comes into the game as a 9-point underdog, but as Georgia’s loss to South Carolina taught us last week, anything can happen.

The best part, from a draft perspective, is that there will be NFL players on the field for these two big programs, and a high level of competition is great for scouting purposes.

Players To Watch

Michigan

• Ben Bredeson (OL)
• Nico Collins (WR)
• Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR)
• Joshua Uche (EDGE)

Penn State

• Yetur Gross-Matos (EDGE)
• Cam Brown (LB)
• Robert Windsor (DT)
• Steven Gonzalez (iOL)
• K.J. Hamler (WR)