Week eight of the CFB season is upon us and not only are conference races beginning to heat up, but the playoff contenders are beginning to come into focus during a weekend when we will learn more about who is for real and who will be on the outside looking in.

Notre Dame has defeated USC six consecutive games in South Bend, including in a 48-20 shellacking of then a 6-0 and top-5 Trojans team in 2023. In a game featuring two of the most prolific offenses in college football, can either defense manufacture enough stops to gain an advantage? The game serves a playoff eliminator with a loss for ND, but what about for the Trojans?

Elsewhere, Washington, Oregon and Maryland all cross multiple time zones for road conference games. Ohio State and Indiana could both potentially further hasten the demise of their opponent's head coach. Nebras ...