Week 8 College Football Risers & Fallers: NCAAF Stock Watch

Week 8 was another wild ride in what is shaping up to be one of college football’s craziest seasons in the final rodeo of the current format of the sport. In the thick of conference play, we saw a number of nail-biters throughout the day.

The noon slate started with a defensive slugfest in Columbus, a heart attack win for Oklahoma, an even more defensive slugfest in Starkville, and a Greg Schiano masterclass. Moving into the middle of the day, we saw an Alabama comeback, a bounce-back win for Oregon, some late Big Ten West wins by Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Texas surviving without Quinn Ewers. 

The night slate was electric, headlined by a North Carolina upset loss, a Michigan trouncing of Michigan State, a dominant win by Florida State, a double-overtime victory in Miami, and a last-second Utah field goal after a ballsy run from quarterback Bryson Barnes to topple USC. Let’s dive into this week’s stock report.

Stock Up

Jim Knowles, Ohio State

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has completely transformed this Buckeye defense. In 2021, they surrendered 22.8 points per game. That number dropped to 21.0 in 2022. This season, they have only given up 10.0 points per game with largely the same personnel that Knowles had on hand a season ago. They are tackling better, covering better, and flying all over the field. This could be the best unit in all of college football.

Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Rutgers has cleared five wins for the first time since 2014. Greg Schiano is the real deal and will forever be considered a Rutgers legend. Following a 31-14 shellacking handed out in Bloomington to the Indiana Hoosiers, Schiano has the Scarlet Knights bowling. Prior to bowl season, they have a tough four-game stretch including games against Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, and Maryland. A win in any of these four would boost Schiano’s stock even higher.

Ollie Gordon II, RB, Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State’s electric sophomore running back has had himself one incredible season. On Saturday against West Virginia, Ollie Gordon II ran for 282 yards and four touchdowns. He has been single-handedly winning games for the Cowboys this season and surely has caught the attention of NFL scouts although he won’t be draft-eligible until 2025.

Ollie Gordon has rushed for 707 yards in Big 12 play, which leads the league by 155 yards.

Per PFF, he has ran for 479 yards after contact in Big 12 play. Only five running backs (including OG) have ran for that many yards total in B12 games this season.

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) October 22, 2023

Jim Harbaugh, Michigan

All week long, Jim Harbaugh heard the noise. The NCAA is openly investigating Michigan for stealing signs of opponents, sending a low-level employee on the road to gather inside information. Harbaugh didn’t care. He took his team into East Lansing and absolutely dismantled a hapless Michigan State team 49-0 in what was once a heated rivalry game. Safe to say Harbaugh did not let the outside noise get to him.

Stock Down

Caleb Williams, QB, USC

USC’s phenom quarterback has been anything but in the past two weeks. Caleb Williams had another tough outing against Utah, dropping back-to-back games. While he did score a touchdown on the ground, Williams did not throw for a single score in the 34-32 defeat. Williams is largely considered a generational quarterback prospect, but if he keeps slipping it will be interesting to see if his evaluation takes a hit.

Big Ten Referees

The Big Ten referees haven’t been awful this season, but they blew a big one in Iowa City on Saturday. With just over a minute left in the game, Iowa trailed Minnesota 12-10. The Gophers punted to Iowa’s star cornerback and returner Cooper DeJean, who had a thrilling return for a touchdown which would have likely won the game for the Hawkeyes. After further review? Officials claimed DeJean had called for a fair catch, negating the return. Decide for yourself if this looks like a fair catch signal, but Iowa fans cannot be happy about this.

The Craziest, Most Unlikely Punt Return For A Game Winning TD Ever
That Was Then Robbed & Stolen Away By The 🦓's.
Iowa. Cooper DeJean. #Iowa @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/bNJTwxFuXi

— Cayla F1 (@CaylaMonacoF1) October 21, 2023

Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina

Caleb Williams wasn’t the only top quarterback prospect to take a hit to his stock on Saturday. North Carolina’s Drake Maye stumbled in a home game where the Tar Heels were 24-point favorites against a 1-5 Virginia team. Maye threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, but tossed an ugly interception to seal the deal for the Cavaliers.

Drake Maye interception seals the W for UVA 😱

(via @TheCW_Sports) pic.twitter.com/lKz32h9sJQ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 22, 2023

Dabo Swinney, Clemson

One week after Dabo Swinney stated that Clemson needed to lose a few more games to get people off the bandwagon, he went ahead and did just that. In a double-overtime thriller, Clemson fell to Mario Cristobal’s Miami team on the road which brought their record to 4-3 on the season. Swinney has struggled in the NIL era of college football and Clemson is now a shell of the powerhouse they were just a few seasons ago.

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