With just over two weeks before the first College Football Playoff poll is released, separation is now being made between the best teams. College football Week 7 was one that had plenty of ups and downs, with its fair share of winners and losers. We saw the likes of USC suffering their first loss, Washington surviving a thriller in Seattle, and much more.

Let's get into those college football Week 7 winners and losers.

College football Week 7 – Losers

USC football

No. 10 USC football came looking to make a statement for them to be a top-10 team after three weeks of bad play, during which they've continued to drop in the polls. They'll be dropping even further now after their 48-20 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night.

Notre Dame was actually favored in this game. Oddsmakers were probably accounting for factors: the home field advantage of South Bend at night, a tough, physical Fighting Irish defensive front, and a USC defense that has continued to falter. Sure enough, all that came true. What's more, even USC football's offense and last year's Heisman winner looked out of sync.

Williams threw for under 200 yards, only one score, and three interceptions. He was also held to minus eight yards rushing and sacked six times. These were some season lows for the USC offense, and with a gauntlet of a schedule coming up, most are now wondering how far this team may fall.

Miami (FL) football

After one of the most embarrassing losses in program history (and college football for that matter) last week against Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes football team had the opportunity to make a statement against one of the ACC's best teams in North Carolina on Saturday. Instead, it was the same old Miami Hurricanes that we've seen for the better part of two decades now.

At the half, Miami went in with a 17-14 lead. After the break, they were outscored 27-14 by the Tar Heels football team, including 21 in the third quarter alone. Miami's coaching somehow forgot to account for the recently reinstated Devontez Walker, who caught six balls for 132 yards and three touchdowns.

What really makes Miami football the losers here is that they had plenty of opportunities to beat the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels were penalized 14 times for 147 yards. But what killed the Hurricanes on Saturday was once again turnovers. They had four, including a Henry Parrish fumble inside the Tar Heels' one-yard line that should have been a score. Miami now has nine turnovers in the last two games.

Colorado football

Colorado football wasn't the only game on television on Friday night, but they were certainly the most memorable. Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes football team went into the half against Stanford with a 29-0 lead. Sanders was all smiles, believing his team had finally put it all together.

Sanders was not all smiles by the end of the game.

Stanford had its largest comeback victory in school history, leaving Sanders questioning his team's love for the game by press conference time. For a team that has been nothing but must-see this season, Friday night's game turned out to be the wrong way again, just for all the wrong reasons if you're a Buffaloes football fan.

Stanford was supposed to be an easy win for the Buffaloes. The Cardinals had only won one game coming into playing Colorado football. Plus, this was a needed win for Colorado in their hopes of gaining bowl eligibility. That's now looking a bit uncertain. Colorado football is one of the biggest losers of Week 7.

College football Week 7 – Winners

Washington football

Washington and Oregon were the most highlighted game on most fans' viewing schedules this past weekend. It was a top-10 battle that lived up to the hype in every way. It was full of emotion, high-scoring, and pivotal coaching decisions. In the end, though, the Washington Huskies football team walked out victorious and held onto their undefeated record to stay atop the Pac-12 conference.

The Huskies' football team will now be one to watch even more so the rest of the season, with more national spotlight being put on them. How far they move up the polls is now something to watch. But with a Heisman favorite quarterback leading them in Michael Penix Jr., this is poised to do some big things the rest of the way. The way he and the Huskies pulled out a victory on Saturday makes them Week 7's biggest winners.

Notre Dame football

Coming into Saturday night's game against USC, the Fighting Irish football team had already faced three ranked opponents in as many weeks. The Trojans were their first and second top-10 opponents. Notre Dame wasn't as lucky against Ohio State and Louisville, but they were victorious over the Trojans.

Notre Dame was likely beaten and bruised over the last several weeks of play thanks to the physical teams they had faced. It was definitely one of the toughest stretches of football that Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman had faced in his young career to this point. So, needless to say, going 1-2 in that stretch, he and the Fighting Irish needed this win over No. 10 USC.

But not only did Notre Dame win, they dominated USC football, and perhaps proved that they were a bit of fools gold, a fraud as a top-10 team.

Tennessee football

The Tennessee football team continues to reinvent itself as a tough defensive team rather than the prolific high-powered offensive onslaught of a team that they were last year. But Volunteers fans probably don't mind that as long as they keep on winning games.

The Volunteers' football team was able to hold onto a late fourth-quarter lead to win 20-13, keeping Texas A&M on an SEC conference losing streak after their loss to Alabama the previous week.

It's still unclear how the Volunteers may finish this season, as there are still some tough games ahead, especially against rival Georgia in late November that could ultimately determine the SEC East and who plays in the SEC Championship game. Nonetheless, the Volunteers' football team continues to find victories through grit and grind, making them a winner and highlight from Week 7 in college football.