College Football Playoff projections Week 8: Where Ole Miss and Texas Tech landed originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Parity has been the watchword in college football this year -- the elite teams don't seem quite as elite, and the sport's middle class seems closer to the top of the pack than usual. It rules, frankly. Week 8 certainly reinforced that notion. It was a breathless mess from start to finish.

Four top-10 teams lost, another head coach was fired, others now feel their seats getting hotter and more teams were effectively eliminated from their conferenc

A Heisman Trophy candidate throws his teammate under the bus, Penn State coach auditions don't go so well and Group of Five playoff hopefuls stumble.

ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the playoff will play out, and we'll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set. Friday, Dec. 19/Saturday, Dec. 20

Games with ACC or Big Ten teams that involved three times worth of travel generally went quite well for the home teams in Week 8, as they finished 6-1 in contests against their cross-country visitors. The one exception was quite notable, as Rutgers ended up on the wrong side of Oregon's wrath in a 56-10 loss to an angry group of Ducks.

On Saturday, Michigan bounced back from a Week 7 loss at USC by defeating Washington 24-7 behind 230 passing yards and two touchdowns from Bryce Underwood, along with three interceptions by the Wolverines ’ defense off Huskies quarterback Demond Williams.