Welcome back to the third installment of Border Eight, a journey through the twenty college football teams that reside in the eight states that border Missouri.  

Starting as usual in Big 10 country, the Nebraska Cornhuskers lost in a shootout 43-37 on the road to Purdue. This marks Nebraska head coach Mickey Joseph’s first Big 10 loss. 

While Iowa and Northwestern had bye weeks, Illinois took down a team just coming off one. 

Despite the extra week to prepare, the Minnesota Golden Gophers could not topple the Illinois Fighting Illini as Illinois won 26-14 to get to 6-1. This is only the second time they have reached bowl eligibility since 2015. 

Louisville had a bye week as well, but their instate rivals got a much-needed win. 

After dropping two straight games, Kentucky took down cross divisional rival Mississippi State for their second ranked win of the season. 

Down in Tennessee, the Vanderbilt Commodores took a brutal loss 55-0 to number 1 ranked Georgia. The Tennessee Volunteers on the other hand had much better luck. 

The Vols beat number 3 Alabama in a shootout 52-49 behind Jalin Hyatt’s 207 yards and 5 touchdowns. This is Tennessee’s first win over Alabama since 2006. 

Down in Arkansas, the Razorbacks pulled off a small upset over BYU 52-35 to snap their three-game losing streak. 

Over in the Big 12, Kansas State also had a bye week keeping them undefeated in conference play, but the Jayhawks did not have the same fate.  

Oklahoma had a huge game over number 19 Kansas to win their first conference game 52-42. 

Oklahoma State on the other hand was not as lucky. The Cowboys blew a 30-16 lead and lost their first game of the season 43-40 in double overtime. 

Iowa State took a very close loss to number 22 Texas 24-21 after a very controversial targeting no call. The Cyclones are the only Big 12 team without a conference win. 

Down at the Group of Five level, Northern Illinois won their first conference game in blowout fashion over Eastern Michigan 39-10. 

Western Kentucky got back over .500 with a win over rival MTSU 35-17. 

In the AAC, Tulsa had a bye week, but the Memphis Tigers lost an all-time classic 47-45 in quadruple overtime to East Carolina. 

In the Sun Belt, Arkansas State came up one point short 20-19 to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to take their fifth loss of the season. 

The border eight teams were a combined 7-8 on the week with Louisville, Iowa, Northwestern, Tulsa and Kansas State having bye weeks.