Just when you have everything figured out, college football has a way of turning things on its head.

So does LSU running back Leonard Fournette -- literally -- but we'll get to that.

While Alabama kept rolling against Texas A&M, Penn State did its job to disrupt the top of the standings with a win over Ohio State. It doesn't drive a stake into the College Football Playoff rrace, but it does shuffle things up a little.

From those games to a wild offensive showdown in Lubbock, Texas, and Charlie Strong's bad loss, Week 8 wasn't short on storylines.

With so much action happening around the country, we here at CBS Sports want to get you caught up on all the noteworthy things that happened -- both the good and not so good. What were the highlights from Saturday of Week 8? What were the moments some programs want to forget? We hash out the best and worst below.

Winner -- Penn State coach James Franklin: With a 24-21 win over Ohio State, the third-year coach helped Penn State record its first win over a ranked team since 2013 as well as its first win against a top-10 team since 2008. Heading into Saturday, Franklin was 0-7 against Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. For all that Franklin's done, he's never had an exemplary record against quality teams. For one game at least, he took some pressure off of him and changed the narrative a bit.

Loser -- Ohio State: Much will be made about the the playoff landscape now that Ohio State lost. The reality is a little less exciting as the Buckeyes still somewhat control their own destiny. They can still win the Big Ten East, the Big Ten and get into the playoff. None of that will happen, however, if this team can't fix a few glaring issues. The deep passing game again wasn't there and pass protection for quarterback J.T. Barrett was a major issue. Special teams gaffes proved to be perhaps the most costly. Given that some of these issues go back further than a week, the Buckeyes have some work to do to relive their 2014 national championship run.

Winner -- Alabama defensive end Jonathan Allen: We've spent so much time talking up guys like Jabrill Peppers for the Heisman Trophy that maybe we've overlooked players like Allen. OK, maybe not, but Allen was legitimately one of the monster creations from "The Cabin in the Woods" in a 33-14 win over Texas A&M. His two biggest plays included a superhero leap-sack of Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight ...

... and a 30-yard scoop-and-score to give Alabama its 12th non-offensive touchdown of the year and Allen's second fumble recovery for a touchdown. For reference Allen and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey each have two touchdowns since Week 3.

Loser -- Texas A&M receiver Speedy Noil: I'm not about to join the debate over whether the following hit on Noil was targeting or not because, well, I know what targeting is as much as you do. What I do know is that Noil got absolutely obliterated on this return against Alabama and I consider him lucky to be alive.

A slow motion replay of the hit shows Noil's facemask actually being bent inwards -- and is that a tooth flying out of there? That hit, courtesy of Mack Wilson, would turn me into ashes -- actually vaporize into tiny particles that once came together to form parts of a human.

Winner -- LSU running back Leonard Fournette: He isn't going to win the Heisman, but Fournette reminded everyone in a 38-21 win over Ole Miss why he's still the best running back in college football. The junior returned for the first time since missing two games with a nagging ankle injury with a school single-game record 284 yards and three touchdowns ... on just 16 carries. That's a whopping 17.8 yards per carry.

He also produced some highlight reel runs.

When he's healthy, there's almost no stopping Fournette. It was good to see him return to his old self.

Loser -- Stealing signals (allegedly): Leading up to Washington State's game against Arizona State, Cougars coach Mike Leach accused the Sun Devils of stealing signs. For making such an accusation, Leach was fined $10,000 and reprimanded. Regardless of how factual his statements were, it didn't matter as Wazzu upended the Sun Devils 37-32. Leach didn't exactly make a friend out of Todd Graham, however, who told Leach in the post-game handshake his comments were "chicken----."

Winner -- Your weekly Lamar Jackson update: The Heisman frontrunner was his usual self in Louisville's 54-13 rout over NC State. Not only did the Cardinals quarterback continue to pad his season stats (431 yards, four touchdowns), he also broke the school's single-season touchdown record.

By the way, there are five games left in Louisville's regular season.

Loser -- NC State's pump fake extra point: The pump fake can be an effective tool in an offense's passing game. It can entice defenders to bite on a route or a certain side of the field. When used properly, it's lethal. However, there is no such evidence or data that suggests pump faking on an extra point enhances the chances of going in. Quite the opposite, actually.

Winner -- Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield: There are many things one can take away from Oklahoma's 66-59 win over Texas Tech. There are more gaudy offensive stats and records snapped than you can take in at a single glance. So we'll concentrate solely on Mayfield. The former Texas Tech quarterback returned to Lubbock for the first time as a starter since his freshman season in 2013. All he did was rack up 545 yards through the air and break the OU single-game passing touchdown record with seven scores. He was technically outperformed by Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes (FBS record 819 total yards, seven touchdowns), but Mayfield was on the winning side.

Loser -- Defensive coordinators in Lubbock: Oklahoma-Texas Tech was a classic Big 12 matchup. While that means lots of fireworks and good times, it also means some poor saps have to play defense and get clowned doing it. The Sooners and Red Raiders had 854 yards ... each ... and set the FBS record for most yards in a game (among many other records). To summarize, we go to Sooners defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was on the winning team ...

Winner -- Oklahoma State's tip-drill interception: We'll get to a pair of incredible interceptions by Northwestern in a minute, but the opening act by Oklahoma State's Jordan Sterns is just fine, too. Sterns was Johnny on the spot on the tip. Had the ball been better placed, it might have been a touchdown for the Jayhawks. Instead, it was one of the wildest picks of the day.

Loser -- The Jeff George Jr. experiment: Jeff George Jr.'s name may carry some weight in and around the greater Champaign area, but starting the first game of your career out of necessity on the road at Michigan, which statistically has one of the best defenses in the country, probably isn't a recipe for success. Lo and behold, it wasn't. George went 4 of 15 for 95 yards and didn't complete a pass in the first half in a 41-8 loss. That's a tough way to start.

Winner -- Northwestern's ball-hawking defense: So, Northwestern is ... actually not bad? The defense definitely showed up in the Wildcats' 24-14 win over Indiana. The Cats had not one, but two spectacular interceptions courtesy of defensive backs Montre Hartage and Kyle Queiro.

Both are good in their own right, but Queiro's pick was especially jaw-dropping as it was 1) one-handed and 2) done with a cast on his opposing hand.

Loser: So long, Strong? A 24-21 loss to Kansas State might have sealed Strong's fate for good. Maybe Texas fires Strong on Sunday, maybe they don't (probably not, in fact), but he would likely have to win out the remaining five games to definitely keep his job. The problem is there's nothing that would make anyone think Texas is capable of suddenly figuring out how to not be bad. There are simply too many self-inflicted errors, too many constant mistakes for there to be a sudden flip.

Winner -- West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen: Remember when Holgo was on the hot seat to start the season? Yeah, about that. The Mountaineers are 6-0 for the first time since 2006 following a 34-10 win over TCU, and Holgorsen suddenly goes from a coach without a contract extension to one that could be sought after by other schools at the end of the season. Building this program into a Big 12 contender has taken a while; you don't normally consider a project like this to be six years in the making. But the defense has been excellent under coordinator Tony Gibson and the offense is balanced with a much-improved Skyler Howard at quarterback. Holgorsen should be a candidate for coach of the year.

Loser -- The Civil conFLiCT trophy: The "rivalry" between UConn and Central Florida gets its fair share of lampooning, but the Knights flat-out disrespected the Civil conFLiCT trophy, created by UConn coach Bob Diaco, following a 24-16 win over the Huskies. When you disrespect the newest, most made up trophy in college football, it's fair to ask if anything is sacred anymore.

Winner -- Utah running back Joe Williams: If you haven't heard Williams' story yet, it's quite remarkable. The senior opted to retire from football last month and focus on his degree. However, that retirement was short lived. Williams returned to the team in time for Week 7 against Oregon State, a game in which he rushed for 179 yards and a score. In a 52-45 win over UCLA on Saturday, Williams rushed for a school-record 332 yards and scored four touchdowns. Welcome back, huh?

Loser -- Kirk Ferentz and the wonders of mathematics: One area where college football coaches struggle across the board is late-game decision-making. Some of it can be placed on the fact that coaches are still dealing with non-professional players, thus making ideal decisions potentially tougher than expected. But sometimes there's no excuse for coaches doing what they do. Ferentz's decision to attempt a 38-yard field goal on a 4th-and-five on the Wisconsin 20 with 5:30 remaining in the game is one of them. (The field goal, by the way, was no good.) Mathematically, the Hawkeyes would still need a touchdown to take the lead. That concept seemed to be lost on Ferentz in a post-game Q&A:

The down-and-distance coupled with the area of the field alone suggests Iowa should have gone for it. With under six minutes remaining, it should have been a no-brainer.

Winner -- Colorado: Don't look now, but the Buffaloes are going bowling for the first time since 2007 after a 10-5 win over Stanford. We've touched on Colorado in a positive way before on here, but the bowl eligibility feat is worthwhile. To say that coach Mike MacIntyre has done a masterful job in Boulder might be an understatement; this was an absolutely hapless program when he took over. And after a few years of blowouts and near-upsets, Colorado has finally taken that next step. It helps that Stanford and Oregon are down, but MacIntyre has revitalized the Buffs to the point where a Pac-12 Championship appearance isn't out of the cards.

Loser -- Stanford's offense: Getting Christian McCaffrey back from injury didn't do much to spark Stanford's offense, which came into the weekend ranked last in the Pac-12 in points per game. The Cardinal averaged just 4.24 yards per play and 263 yards in the loss. McCaffrey had 92 yards on the ground but failed to score a touchdown. About the only thing that went right for Stanford was Colorado's rare "double safety" at the end of the game. So, yeah, it was that kind of day.

Winner -- Rice: You better believe we'll give an internet fist bump to the Rice Owls, the lone winless team heading into Week 8. The Owls beat Prairie View 65-44, putting them at 1-6 on the season. And, hey, since we're rolling with the optimism, do that five more times, Rice, and you will be bowl eligible.

Loser -- Michigan State linebacker Riley Bullough: Look, Bullough is a good player and a stalwart of that Spartans defense, but he was all kinds of turned up in the first quarter of Michigan State's 28-17 loss to Maryland. Bullough drew not one, not two, but three personal foul penalties -- two within three plays of each other -- and was ejected for targeting. The first personal foul came on a late hit out of bounds. The second was a roughing the passer and the final was the aforementioned targeting call. Chill, man.

Winner -- Auburn: At the risk of getting too ahead of ourselves, I'll refrain from using the "back" word and pining for the Iron Bowl too soon. Still, Auburn looks competent -- more than competent, even. Fun, in fact. The Tigers' 56-3 whipping of Arkansas featured the offense running for 543 yards, setting a SEC regular season single-game record. Coach Gus Malzahn has finally turned this thing around as the offense is potent again. There are still a couple of tests before Auburn gets Alabama, but the potential for it to be a critical SEC West game is creeping upward.

Loser -- Houston's worst week ever: What a week for the Cougars, and not in a good way. First, the Big 12 announced on Monday that it was not expanding, wasting everyone's time for the past several months. Among the schools to be passed over was Houston, which was at one point not too long ago considered a true front-runner to receive an invite. Then, the Coogs lost a stunner to SMU 38-16. Houston was already out of the playoff picture, but now Tom Herman's team is just trying to keep pace with Navy in the AAC West. With the Midshipmen beating Memphis 42-28, that task by itself is looking tougher by the week.

Winner -- Kentucky kicker Austin MacGinnis: You've earned your props when you make a game-winning, 51-yard field goal to beat Mississippi State 40-38. You've definitely earned your props when you make a game-winning, 51-yard field goal to keep your bowl hopes alive. You've most definitely earned your props when you make a game-winning, 51-yard field goal to put your team -- a team called Kentucky -- in sole possession of second place in the SEC East.

Loser -- BYU's awful fake punt: If you somehow missed BYU's 28-27 loss to Boise State on Thursday, you also missed one of the weirdest and worst fake punts you'll see. In short, the Cougars reached into their magic bag of tricks and attempted the fake -- a designed run by the punter -- nine yards deep in their own end zone. The result was ... predictable, to say the least.