College football is not without its problems: astronomical coaching contract buyouts, largely unregulated free agency, an unsatisfactory national championship process.
And sometimes just one weekend in October is enough to eclipse all these looming uncertainties.
October 18, 2025 was one of those special college football Saturdays that comes around every few years and brings everything we love about the sport into one day. Well, in a few days.
A chaotic Saturday began in earnest with Louisville’s 24-21 victory over No. 2 Miami on Friday, setting the tone for a Week 8 that saw nine teams ranked in the Top 25 fall. Four lost to unranked opponents, including No. 7 Texas Tech — which played the first six games of its schedule — dropping a 26-22 decision at Arizona State with just 34 seconds left.
The defending Big 12 Conference champion Sun Devils’ chances of a return to the College Football Playoff seemed done just a week ago after a 42-10 blowout loss at Utah. Maybe Arizona State is no closer to the playoffs this season than it was after the Week 7 setback, but the Sun Devils demonstrated that every Saturday is its own story.
“You have to self-correct when you realize maybe you miscalculated and steered something in the wrong direction,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said. “You might be five or seven degrees off. Good programs don’t turn left or right; they just turn a little.”
As coaches are let go earlier in the season and earlier in their contracts, the room for those slight course corrections that Dillingham alluded to isn’t always there.
The dramatic turn of firing a head coach is not a panacea; Cutting bait with James Franklin after a 3-3 start and paying him a staggering $50 million buyout didn’t save the Nittany Lions from a fourth straight loss with a 25-24 finish in Iowa.
On that note, LSU would owe Brian Kelly $53.3 million if it fired the coach; the topic of Kelly’s buyout was among the top Google search results minutes after the Tigers’ 31-24 loss to Vanderbilt.
Changing direction hardly guarantees LSU, or any other program making a midseason change, a quick fix. But for UAB, its first game since Trent Dilfer’s firing underscored just how disastrous Dilfer’s hiring was.
Week 8 marked a return to the Bill Clark era, when UAB was still one of the best stories in sports. Under interim coach Alex Mortensen and with starting quarterback Ryder Burton controlling the offense, the Blazers turned the playoff race on its head with a 31-24 victory over undefeated, No. 22-ranked Memphis.
Burton’s journey from BYU to West Virginia to UAB is a reminder that not all, or even most, transfers around college football are marquee players leaving programs that gave them the opportunity for bigger NIL salaries and brighter spotlights.
In many cases, the transfer portal provides an opportunity that a player has not seen elsewhere.
“I’ve been to three schools in three years, and it’s hard not to play the game you love,” Burton said after his 251-yard, three-touchdown performance. “But I prepared like I was a starter for three years, and I think tonight [paid] dividends. »
UAB’s victory further reflects the spirit of college football as the Blazers win a unique rivalry trophy. They will hold the 100-pound bronze rack of ribs awarded to the winner of the Battle of the Bones.
Ribs at Jeweled Shillelagh – which Notre Dame retained with its 34-24 loss to Southern California – wild Week 8 crowned champions. The playoffs aren’t the only place in college football where a winner takes home a trophy, and its many rivalry games contribute to the magic of the sport that keeps us coming back.
