The air turned cold, deer season is two weeks away, and Week 8 of college football is on our doorstep. October, you are the most underrated month on the calendar. Plenty of programs in Texas were underrated heading into the season – Texas A&M, SMU, North Texas, and Sam Houston come to mind. One team that was properly rated was Texas, and the Longhorns host Georgia in one of the premier games of the 2024 season on Saturday. 

The Lone Star State has represented itself well through seven weeks of the year. Texas, Texas A&M, and SMU are ranked in the AP Top 25 and are clearly in their respective conference championship races. So is Texas State and North Texas. Week 8 should separate more contenders from pretenders as the College Football Playoff race heats up. 

Here are my five questions for Week 8. 

1. Is Texas top dog in the SEC? 

The Longhorns are the best team in the nation through seven weeks. Full stop. Does that mean Texas will run the table and win an SEC championship and a national title? No. The college football season is the longer than ever with the expanded playoff and finishing a season perfect is virtually impossible with stacked power conferences in the SEC and Big Ten. Still, the Horns can send a message to its new Southeastern Conference mates with a home win over the Bulldogs. They beat Alabama last year on the road. 

And where is Georgia better than Texas? The Longhorns score more points (43.2 points per game vs. 33.5 for Georgia) and allow fewer per contest (6.3 vs. 17.2). Texas holds the edge at offensive line and wide receiver. Defensive line and linebacker feel like a push. Georgia likely possesses the better secondary and running back room, but not by much, and Texas’ secondary might be the most improved unit of the championship contenders. Saturday might come back to quarterback play. Quinn Ewers vs. Carson Beck. Who gets it done? 

2. Can the Aggies avoid the trap? 

Texas A&M comes out of the idle week with a road trip to Mississippi State as an appetizer to a Week 9 home tilt against top-10 LSU. Mike Elko’s crew dominated Mizzou – a top-10 team at the time – at home in Week 7. Conner Weigman returned from injury and looked like the five-star recruit he was rated as in high school. Le’Veon Moss and Noah Thomas have emerged as true playmakers in the run and pass game, respectively. The Aggie offensive line is no longer a glaring weakness and might even be a strength. And the Wrecking Crew has returned under Elko’s watch. 

But bad losses to less talented teams have been a staple of Aggie football for a long time, especially lately on the road. A win over Florida in Week 3 snapped a two-year road losing streak, but that doesn’t mean the demons are exorcized completely. Not with thousands of cow bells waiting in Starkville. The good news for Texas A&M is that the Bulldogs are awful.

3. Heat check for Baylor, Rice? 

Conference championship races and playoff contention aren’t the only things that heat up in mid-October. So does the coaching carousel. The transfer portal and early signing period accelerates the backroom conversations more than ever, and that means eyes are on Baylor and Rice heading into Week 8. 

The Bears are 2-4 with four losses to Big 12 competition ahead of a road trip to Lubbock to face Joey McGuire – the man who finished second behind Dave Aranda for the head coaching job in 2020 – and the 5-1 Red Raiders. Rice (2-4) is in New Orleans to face a surging Tulane team with CFP dreams. 

4. How close is North Texas to contention? 

The Mean Green are the best team in Texas we know very little about halfway through their regular season schedule. They are 4-0 against G5 peers with a win over FCS Stephen F. Austin and a loss to the Big 12’s Texas Tech. The four FBS teams that North Texas beat are a combined 8-17 on the year and all of them are sub-.500 heading into Week 8. Eric Morris’ team has feasted, but they’ve feasted on the bottom of the barrel. 

The road game against Memphis on Saturday allows the Mean Green a potential coming out party. The Tigers are an accepted AAC contender who could serve as a gatekeeper for North Texas’s credibility. Beat Memphis on the road to improve to 6-1 on the season and remain undefeated in conference play or lose and fall off the radar until next year. Those are the stakes with Tulane and Army next up. 

5. Will TCU make a final stand?  

The Horned Frogs played for a national championship 648 days ago. That day in Los Angeles against Georgia almost feels like a mirage. Not much has gone right for Sonny Dykes since beating Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl to reach that matchup against the Bulldogs, which they lost 65-7. The 2023 opener against Colorado in Deion’s debut. The 41-3 loss at Kansas State 10 months after the Big 12 championship game. UCF erasing a 21-point lead in Week 3. Giving up 66 a week later to SMU when Dykes was ejected. Losing to a Houston team that was shut out in its first two Big 12 games. You get it. 

TCU is 8-11 since beating Michigan and enter the Utah trip 1-2 in the Big 12 and teetering on the edge at 3-3. The Frogs have lost three of their last four. They must win at least three of the last six to reach a bowl. The schedule isn’t easy, however. Five of the last six opponents are .500 or better and the six are a combined 21-15 heading into Week 8.