The Week 5 college football roundup. The 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated, and what it all means.
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College Football Week 5 Roundup
CFN 1-130 Rankings | Bowl Projections
Coach Hot Seat Rankings | Heisman Race
10 Best Week 5 Games | Playoff Chase
Early Week 6 Line Lookahead & Projection
Rankings: AP | USA Today Coaches | FWAA
– Quick Thoughts On …
Clemson 21, UNC 20 | Big Ten | SEC
5. Winners & Losers From Week 5
Winner: Minnesota
It’s a strange team that seems to play just well enough to uncomfortably win. The Gophers are 4-0 and could very, very easily be 0-4 – but they’re not. They’ve got a backfield loaded with terrific veteran running backs, and yet NFL-caliber receiver Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman are the stars. QB Tanner Morgan? Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa. Those are the only other quarterbacks in college football with a passer efficiency rating of 200 or higher. The Gophers get Illinois next.
Loser: Purdue
It’s been a bad, bad season for Purdue. It started out with a collapse/choke in the loss to a Nevada team that’s getting obliterated by anyone who can throw a forward pass, and now it’s 1-3 with a rough slate ahead. Worse yet, star WR Rondale Moore left the loss to Minnesota with a scary leg injury, and QB Elijah Sindelar hurt his shoulder. Oh goody … up next is a trip to Penn State.
Winner: Arizona and Colorado
Utah and Arizona State might just be the two best teams in the Pac-12 South, and USC and UCLA get most of the national headlines, but …
Loser: UCLA 67, Washington State 63 turning the season around
So would the momentum carry over from that epic win by UCLA two Saturdays ago? Arizona was without QB Khalil Tate and RB JJ Taylor, and still beat the Bruins 20-17.
Winner: Chuba Hubbard
The Oklahoma State sophomore leads the nation in rushing by a mile, with 938 yards and ten scores in five games. In five games, Ohio State’s JK Dobbins is No. 2 with 654 yards and five scores. Hubbard ran for 296 yards and a score in the 26-13 win over Kansas State, or 46 more yards than the total so far by …
Loser: Akron
Dead last in the nation in rushing and coming off an embarrassing loss to UMass, Akron has gained 250 yards and two scores in just five games. It’s averaging 1.77 yards per carry. The second-worst team in YPC is Tulsa, and it’s averaging 2.42 yards per pop.
Winner: SMU and Appalachian State
5-0 SMU cracked the top 25 of the AP Poll, checking in at 24. It’s now ranked for the first time since the 1980s, but it’s still in the Others Receiving Votes category in the Coaches Poll. Appalachian State – the team that beat North Carolina – is still unbeaten and unranked, meanwhile …
Loser: Ranking UCF in the polls
Oh how quickly everyone forgot that loss to Pitt. UCF hasn’t beaten anyone all that great, blasted a bad UConn program that hasn’t won a game over an FBS team since 2017, and that warranted the No. 18 spot in the AP and No. 19 ranking in the Coaches. By the way, Pitt needed everything in the bag to get by Delaware this weekend.
Winner: DeVonta Smith
Ole Miss is an SEC football team with a whole lot of talent and, technically, SEC-caliber football players. Alabama ripped through it like butter in the 59-31 win, with Tua Tagovailoa throwing six touchdown passes and running for another. 11 of his passes were caught by Smith – known for his national title-winning touchdown catch over Georgia – for 274 yards and five touchdowns. In one game, Smith scored as many or more receiving touchdowns than …
Loser: 41 college football teams
Of course the pure-running teams like Army, Georgia Southern and Navy are among those who have yet to throw for five touchdowns or more, but Northwestern is in that mix. So is Wisconsin, NC State, BYU and Kansas State. And as for the 274 yards by Smith, those are more than Army and Georgia Southern have amassed all year. too.
The Really Big Thing | Most Overrated Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means
NEXT: The really big thing was …
4. The Really Big Thing Was …
Ohio State annihilated Nebraska 48-7
That Gameday was in Lincoln for this showed just how awful a week it was for big games, but it was there for either the Nebraska coming out party, or the Ohio State fun-time variety show.
And America got the latter in a very, very big way.
Forget the current rankings that don’t count – the ones from the College Football Playoff committee do, and they don’t drop for another month – Ohio State just showed that it’s the second-best team in college football, at worst.
No, it doesn’t have a win like LSU has over Texas on the road, or Georgia can boast over Notre Dame, but it’s been on the road for two Big Ten games and came away with wins over Indiana and Nebraska by a combined score of 99-17.
Ohio State had all the pressure on its side of the field to produce and the highest of levels. The Nebraska crowd was waiting to erupt, the Scott Frost offense was about to unleash the fury after giving the Buckeyes so many problems last year, and …
At halftime, Ohio State 38, Nebraska 0.
CFN 1-130 Rankings | Bowl Projections
Coach Hot Seat Rankings | Heisman Race
10 Best Week 5 Games | Playoff Chase
Early Week 6 Line Lookahead & Projection
Rankings: AP | USA Today Coaches | FWAA
– Quick Thoughts On …
Clemson 21, UNC 20 | Big Ten | SEC
Ohio State played like one of the most complete teams in college football, and Nebraska played like it’s still miles away from being anywhere near the College Football Playoff discussion.
Adrian Martinez was the darling on the preseason Heisman pundit circuit, and he completed 8-of-17 passes for 47 yards and three picks. This was hardly his fault as the loss showed how Frost still needs to get the playmakers around his star.
Ohio State? It rolled up 580 yards, didn’t turn the ball over, got hit for just two penalties, and kept the ball for close to 37 minutes.
It was the moment when the Buckeyes looked every bit the part of an Alabama or Clemson in terms of speed, athleticism, and NFL talent, but again, it was against a Nebraska program that’s not there yet.
Michigan State comes to Columbus this week, and Wisconsin hits town on October 26th. Now it’s time to see what Ryan Day’s team can really do.
Winners & Losers | Most Overrated Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means
NEXT: The most overrated thing was …
3. The Most Overrated Thing Was …
Clemson 21, North Carolina 20
Over the next several weeks, America is going to go into a tizzy over Clemson’s close call win over North Carolina, along with a schedule served right out of a Sprinkles vending machine.
This, right now, is absolutely not the No. 2 team in college football, being one converted two-point play away from having to be ranked behind Appalachian State.
Whatever.
It doesn’t make a lick of difference, because the current polls aren’t a part of the mix. It needs to keep being said as the college football world starts to lose focus – and its mind. If Clemson goes 13-0, it’s in the College Football Playoff no matter what.
While the other top teams are crushing and killing everything in their respective paths, the defending national champion was pushed to the brink by a nice-but-flawed North Carolina team that should’ve run anything other than its freshman quarterback Sam Howell wide against the ultra-fast Tiger D on the final two-point try.
Worse yet, there’s absolutely nothing left on the Clemson schedule that comes close to comparing to what the other big boys have to deal with. As I keep reiterating, there’s an almost-certain chance that no team on Clemson’s schedule will be ranked by the time it finishes 13-0 with another ACC championship,
Will Clemson deserve to be in the College Football Playoff with this schedule? Depending on what the other top Power Five teams do, probably not.
Is that close call against a mediocre UNC team a disqualifier in some way? Not necessarily, but it might be depending on what the top teams do.
Is it wrong that Clemson is still getting credit for its blowout national championship win over Alabama last year, considering the past shouldn’t have any bearing on a self-contained 2019 season? Absolutely.
Just wait if a Pac-12 champion goes 12-1 in a league that has five teams ranked in the final polls.
Just wait if the Alabama-LSU loser finishes 11-1, and/or Ohio State and Wisconsin split and both finish 12-1. Just …
Save your energy.
We can dive into all the theoretical debates you’d like, but again, an unbeaten Clemson is absolutely, no question about it, don’t-even-try-to-rationalize-otherwise in the College Football Playoff.
Clemson got on the bus and left Chapel Hill with a win. It’s still undefeated, and it’s still in a Power Five conference.
Unless there’s a monumental gack somewhere along the way, the Tigers are in, and the margin of victory this week won’t matter.
Winners & Losers | The Really Big Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means
NEXT: The most underrated thing was …
2. The Most Underrated Thing Was …
Notre Dame 35, Virginia 20
This was and is a very, very good Virginia Tech that Notre Dame just beat.
For what it’s worth, the Irish probably just took down the ACC’s second-best team – the Cavaliers might end up in the Orange Bowl if Clemson goes to the College Football Playoff.
Virginia was supposed to bring its nation-best-at-the-time pass rush to South Bend. Veteran quarterback Bryce Perkins was supposed to be able to make the plays needed to get by. The absent Notre Dame running backs were supposed to be a flaw that couldn’t be overcome.
Bronco Mendenhall’s team was supposed to control the clock, the tempo, and the tenor of the game.
For a half, it sort of did.
The Cavaliers were up 17-14 at halftime, and then a new and improved Notre Dame team came out of the locker room.
The mediocre Irish pass rush that failed to touch Georgia’s Jake Fromm and couldn’t register a sack over the last two games spent the second half doing very, very bad things to Perkins.
There’s no Notre Dame pass rush? Eight sacks, 13 tackles for loss.
The running backs were just okay this year? Tony Jones ran for 131 yards and three scores, and C’Bo Flemister powered away for a touchdown.
Yeah, Perkins bombed away for over 300 yards and Virginia had the ball for over 33 minutes, but the offense turned it over five times and Notre Dame gave it up just once.
It might not have seemed like it, but this was one of the two final tests.
Unless something crazy happens, Notre Dame isn’t losing to Bowling Green, USC, Virginia Tech, Duke, Navy, Boston College, or Stanford. There’s the date at Michigan, and there’s this.
This version of Notre Dame can go 11-1.
Winners & Losers | The Really Big Thing
Most Underrated Thing | What It All Means
NEXT: What Is All Means: Week 5
1. What It All Means: Week 5
There weren’t the big chokes. And now … let’s have some fun.
You know how everyone likes to root for Cinderella to win a game or two in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, because it’s a fun, nice story to see the little guy get a shot at something big?
You know how that happens, and then that upstart gets squished like a grape in the next round by the team with talent?
There weren’t any monster upsets this last week, and that’s a good thing.
No, Nebraska didn’t beat Ohio State.
No, Texas Tech didn’t shock Oklahoma.
No, Virginia didn’t upset Notre Dame, Ole Miss didn’t go off on Alabama, Maryland didn’t push Penn State, Northwestern didn’t knock off Wisconsin, and USC didn’t wipe out Washington.
Michigan didn’t lose to Rutgers, Michigan State was able to hang on against Indiana, and Auburn and Florida each were able to win in easy blowouts.
And now look what’s coming.
This week … unbeaten Auburn at unbeaten Florida. Let’s go.
Unbeaten Iowa goes to Ann Arbor, with Michigan getting a shot to jumpstart its season with one win.
Michigan State is bringing that nasty defense to Ohio State, and Cal vs. Oregon should be a terrific elimination game – or close to it – in the Pac-12 North.
The week after? Florida State is all of a sudden not that horrible, and it’s playing at Clemson with two weeks rest and absolutely nothing to lose.
Why do you want to root for Florida this week, and for LSU to not blow it against a dangerous Utah State team? That sets up the Gators in Death Valley between two powerhouse unbeaten teams. Or, Auburn beats Florida, and that’ sets up a few other big games in the coming weeks.
In two weeks, Michigan State goes to Wisconsin, Penn State is going to Iowa, Washington has to travel to Arizona, USC is making the trip to Notre Dame, and very, very quietly, Hawaii’s date at Boise State should be a big deal.
Oh yeah, and Oklahoma and Texas are going to do what they do.
This has already been a fun and interesting season, and it just keeps on building up into bigger and better weeks.
The season is about to get a whole lot better.
CFN 1-130 Rankings | Bowl Projections
Coach Hot Seat Rankings | Heisman Race
10 Best Week 5 Games | Playoff Chase
Early Week 6 Line Lookahead & Projection
Rankings: AP | USA Today Coaches | FWAA
– Quick Thoughts On …
Clemson 21, UNC 20 | Big Ten | SEC
