College football schedule, updates, previews, and fun stuff for Week 8

Florida has dismissed head coach Will Muschamp nine games through his fourth season, finally making the move to cut ties after the Gators’ loss to South Carolina Saturday, the school announced, confirming a report by Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples. Florida Today’s David Jones later reported Muschamp resigned and was not fired.

Muschamp will coach the team’s final regular season games, against Eastern Kentucky and at Florida State.

In our quest to give you what every single person in the world thinks about the offensive pass interference call that essentially ended last week’s marquee matchup between Notre Dame and Florida State, we bring you this important update from former President Bill Clinton.

Previously, ACC and NCAA officials agreed the call was right.

Last Week: Bye

2014 Season: 96-for-156, 1,478 passing yards, 14 TDs, four INTs; 106 carries, 576 yards, eight TDs; receiving TD

Current Odds: 9/4

Last Week: 24-for-33, 336 passing yards, two TDs; defeated Washington, 45-20

2014 Season: 132-for-188, 1,957 passing yards, 19 TDs; 289 rushing yards, five TDs; receiving TD

Current Odds: 3/2

A warning to those of you who only come here for good-natured schadenfreude — this week’s column concludes with an entire section devoted to Notre Dame commenters. It is not recommended for anyone, and anyway you aren’t good enough to read the brilliant and brave arguments put forth by Indiana’s top Hawaii Bowl representative.

We’ve reached that stage in the season where it feels like every ACC team has already played every other ACC team, so when you see “Pitt 21, Virginia Tech 16,” your brain stops for a moment. It’s like a very specific form of deja vu where nobody can pass the ball. And that detachment from reality is seeping over into life at The Key Play:

Controversy continues to brew over Notre Dame’s canceled game-winning touchdown against Florida State, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll let up any time soon. The Irish appeared to score the winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter against the Seminoles, but it was quickly called back after apparent offensive pass interference.

Some Notre Dame fans believe the call was a correct one, even if their head coach very much does not.

Just ... the game is happening right behind you, people. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ALCOHOL LATER.

Against Arkansas in Little Rock, however, he went off. His first 10 carries featured gains of 18, 33, and 43 yards, and he finished with 202 yards in 30 rushes. And for the second straight week, Georgia went up big on the road, taking a 38-6 lead into halftime.

Alabama’s first drive against Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa was, comparatively speaking, one of its worst of the afternoon. The Tide gained 51 yards in their first four plays before stalling out and kicking a field goal. On their second drive, they went 72 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown. Third drive: 10 plays, 84 yards, touchdown. Fourth drive: four plays, 64 yards, touchdown. Fifth drive: 11 plays, 80 yards ... you get the idea. Bama scored on each of its first eight drives.

December is usually the month when underperforming coaches are shown the door. And with underwhelming performances by Florida, Nebraska, Rutgers and a host of others, 2013’s was certain to be an active hiring/firing month.

And then something weird happened: few got fired. Whether it was due to large buyouts or athletic director stubbornness or patience, many high-profile coaches on the hot seat were retained. Even some that left, like Texas’ Mack Brown, were fired only after days of consternation.

Saturday may not have seen quite the mayhem of the previous two weeks, but there was still a shakeup near the top of the polls. Florida State beat previously undefeated Notre Dame, keeping the Seminoles firmly in the second spot and sending the Irish further down the top ten. Baylor was walloped by West Virginia and slide pretty far down the rankings, leaving an if-the-season-ended-early Playoff spot open for the taking.

And if you think the human polls like the SEC and Big 12, just wait til you see the computer ratings. Here’s the full picture heading into Week 9:

We’re back! After missing Week 8, the Underdogs Poll is back with quite possibly the biggest shakeup in the rankings since Week 1.

ECU and Marshall are still the top dogs in this race as they continue to dismantle opponents. The Herd, for all the knocks on their weak schedule, are doing exactly what they need to do to make up ground on ECU: obliterate teams. It helps when Rakeem Cato, who just broke the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, is your field general.

Right into the hands of the defender. How the right tackle is there to catch the ball is anyone’s guess.

Proof why linemen don’t carry the football. Directly up into the air too.

It’s time to crowdsource this sucker. We need your help to work out exactly what he said, Internet. Kudos to drunk Ole Miss fan for not running into the frame shirt off and screaming; instead he tried to ask a legitimate question to Justin Worley.

Here’s what we think he said.

In a 2013 profile of Nick Saban, it was revealed the Alabama head coach eats two Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies for breakfast every day. During the Tide’s blowout victory over Texas A&M this past weekend, injured running back Kenyan Drake decided to get in on the fun on the sidelines.

Image via Marvin Gentry, USA Today Sports

Iggy Azalea appeared at Minnesota’s homecoming concert on Friday and also took the time to shoot the above hype video for their game against Purdue.

She also got a present from Coach Kill!

You can take your SEC West parity and shove it -- only the ACC knows what equality looks like.

While the division didn’t cooperate in Week 8 with our path to all seven teams finishing with 4-4 conference records, that distinction is still in play. Let’s go, Coastalpocalypse!

The chances of a college kicker missing field goals of 22, 41, and 42 yards, like Kansas State’s Jack Cantele did against Auburn earlier this year, are about 0.7 percent.

The chances of a college kicker missing a 19-yarder, a 32-yarder, and an extra point, like Oklahoma’s Michael Hunnicutt did against K-State on Saturday, are about 0.02 percent.

Notre Dame scored a game-winning touchdown to knock off undefeated defending national champion Florida State, and then it didn’t. An offensive pass interference penalty negated the score, and the Fighting Irish couldn’t find the end zone on one last fourth-down play. Some Notre Dame fans seem to believe the call was correct, but Irish head coach Brian Kelly vehemently disagrees.

Kelly said that he would have a conversation with the ACC’s supervisor of officials, and that he was “sure we’ll get even less clarification.”

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has lashed out at ACC officials following his team’s dramatic loss to Florida State Saturday night, questioning a late offensive pass interference call that negated what would have almost certainly been the game-winning touchdown for the Irish.

Everett Golson’s pass to the right side was completed for a touchdown, but the play was called back after it appeared an Irish receiver screened a defender out of the way without making an effort to run a route. Kelly saw the play differently:

With only four unbeaten teams left (Florida State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Marshall), we’re now into the really fun part of the college football season. Since the Mississippi schools will play each other, we’re now officially guaranteed to have at least one team with a loss in the College Football Playoff. And with so much football still to go, having zero undefeated teams is a good bit more likely than having even three.

Now it’s even more about trying to match what teams have done so far with what they could still accomplish, then trying to guess what the selection committee will think of those things. That’s two levels of guessing! What fun!

There have been a number of lows during Will Muschamp’s tenure as Florida’s head coach. In 2013, the Gators lost to FCS Georgia Southern, the first time in school history they were defeated by a lower division school. Florida finished with a 4-8 record that year, their worst since 1979. This year’s off to a terrible start.

This though ... this might top even those. According to ESPN, of all the teams that have held opponents below 120 yards, only two have lost, and they’ve both been Muschamp Florida teams.

An instantaneous survey of five teams in the best position for the College Football Playoff’s four spots at this very moment, plus the biggest threats looming for each. Be advised: these have nothing to do with the Top 25 polls. If you get mad about this, you will be pointed to the previous sentence.

Beat Notre Dame in a 31-27 thriller, confirming much of what you already suspected about the Seminoles: that they can be outgained by almost 150 yards, allow the opponent to dominate much of the game, and lay low until the fourth quarter, when their quarterback is capable of ripping off, like, 15 of 16 completions with ease for a last-ditch win we’ll all decide was the result of their inherent winner-ness. Or something like that.

UGA’s offense has put up 79 points in two weeks without its star, but no Georgia player would ever attribute any of that to the absence of Gurley, perhaps the best player in college football before he was snagged in a local autograph dealer’s kamikaze plot. They do have opinions on his suspension itself, though.

“I don’t work with the NCAA anymore. My sentiments and my thoughts are here with my team,” Conley, who was elected to represent the SEC as part of the NCAA’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee for two years in 2012, said.