It's hard to believe the college football regular season will more than halfway done when Saturday ends. That the bad. The good is that the next six weekends before the conference championship games are when the stakes are the highest and the games mean the most as teams jockey for College Football Playoff positions.
Among those under pressure are two-loss teams that were expected to either waltz into the 12-team field or be strong contenders. That list includes Texas, Oregon, Alabama and LSU. Among those teams hoping to continue the momentum of strong starts are Brigham Young, UCLA and Utah.
College football picks: Texas or Ole Miss? Week 8 predictions for Top 25 games
What will happen this weekend? Nobody knows. That's the beauty of college football. We do know that upsets will happen. The questions is from where. That’s where the college football staff at USA TODAY Sports comes in. Our experts weigh in with their bold predictions.
Cincinnati takes down Texas Tech
Scott Satterfield hardly is in position to run for mayor of Cincinnati. His Bearcats program had both direct and tangential ick from Brendan Sorsby's gambling scandal. It has too many losses - such as last week against West Virginia - for a well-funded Big 12 conference roster. Enter this upset special: Satterfield, an overachiever previously at AppState, guides the Bearcats to a disastrous victory against No. 5 Texas Tech at home in Nippert Stadium. — John Brice
Arch Manning revives Texas season vs Ole Miss
Ole Miss is surging with emphatic defeats of Vanderbilt and Missouri. Texas is reeling after losses to Oklahoma and Florida. Now let me introduce the last stand of the season at Texas for coach Steve Sarkisian. Make it happen now -- with Arch Manning playing his best game -- or stare at the reality of missing the College Football Playoff and finishing with a five-loss season. — Matt Hayes
Texas finally benches Arch Manning
Steve Sarkisian has likely been the only person yet to realize his quarterback’s play has been severely hurting the Longhorns. Whether it’s pure faith or just sticking with the name on the back of the jersey, it’s only a matter of time before the Texas coach comes to his senses and realizes it’s time to take Arch Manning out. With the season on the line, Manning isn’t able to impress against Mississippi, resulting in him being taken out of the game for KJ Lacey Jr. in a seismic move. It won’t be enough to beat the Rebels, put it sure will turn up the noise in Austin. — Jordan Mendoza
Minnesota damages Iowa's CFP hopes
Minnesota wins an ugly one against Iowa to put the Hawkeyes' playoff hopes on thin ice. To score the upset, the Gophers need to slow down an Iowa run game that popped for 263 yards against Washington but had a combined 190 yards in three other games against Power Four teams. Minnesota has been up and down (most recently losing to Purdue) but scored wins against UW and Michigan. — Paul Myerberg
BYU gets tested after Notre Dame win
We've seen the script before many times. And there's almost no way the Brigham Young players can avoid a letdown after one of the school's biggest victory against Notre Dame and then a road trip to Central Florida. The question is how big of a letdown. The Knights are capable of puling the upset if they can play clean and slow down Bear Bachmeier. Don't be surprised if we see a surprise in Orlando. — Erick Smith
Tennessee hangover leads to South Carolina win
The SEC’s next hangover victim will be Tennessee. There’s no good reason for this. The Volunteers should absolutely not lose at South Carolina – but they will. OK, maybe there are a couple of reasons. The Gamecocks have a rest advantage first and foremost, and they’re actually feeling good about their most recent outing, a dominant road win at Florida. The last time Tennessee left home nearly resulted in a catastrophic loss at Arkansas, and as we mentioned, we’ve already seen the hangover effect from a big win several times. Sorry, Vols, but it’s your turn. — Eddie Timanus
Texas rises from the grave against Ole Miss
Somebody in the top 10 is losing this weekend. That’s not exactly a bold take, is it? We’ve learned this season that the top 10 is a dangerous place to be, but which one is going down in Week 8? I’m tempted to say No. 6 Indiana will lose a rock fight to Michigan or No. 3 Brigham Young will succumb to a hangover loss at Central Florida. But, as much as I believe in college football’s chaos theory, I really don’t believe in either Michigan or UCF.
So, which team is capable of toppling a top-10 team? I’m looking at you, Bevo. The Texas defense is good enough to keep the Longhorns in every game, and maybe Steve Sarkisian will simplify the offense so that it focuses on what Arch Manning can do well, most often. A competent Arch combined with the Texas defense and a team with its back against the wall puts No. 7 Mississippi on high upset alert. Vegas wouldn’t even call it an upset. The bookies favor Texas. So do I, in a close victory that keeps Texas afloat for the playoff. — Blake Toppmeyer
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bold predictions for college football Week 8 put BYU, Tennessee on upset alert