These are the kind of weekends you live for as a college football fan. Three Top 10 teams lost, some of them in heavyweight battles, and numerous other games came down to the wire as the Top 25 could shift dramatically today. Let’s recap everything from Week 5 below!
Top 10 Headlines
● We all knew James Franklin’s poor record in games against Top 10 opponents. If he was going to change that narrative, he and #3 Penn State had the perfect opportunity against #6 Oregon at home. Happy Valley was extremely rowdy, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t get any offense going, and trailed the Ducks 17-3 into the fourth quarter. Then they scratched and clawed their way back, tying things up with less than a minute left to send things to OT against a gassed Oregon defense. Both teams scored in the first OT, then Penn State stopped the Oregon 2-point try in the second overtime. Life? Not so fast. Penn State QB Drew Allar threw an INT on their first play of the second OT, giving the Ducks an important 30-24 road win and a likely top 3 ranking come Sunday. Penn State is a good team, but played like they had a monkey on their back all night that they still can’t shake. Meanwhile, Oregon has perhaps the win of the season and QB Dante Moore looks like a bonafide Heisman contender
● One of the craziest stats in CFB, to me at least, is that #5 Georgia was 1-9 in their last ten games against #17 Alabama. Make it 1-10 in their last eleven games now after the Crimson Tide ended the Bulldogs’ 33-game home winning streak. Bama owned third down, converting 13 of 19 chances to build an early lead that they never gave up. Even though they didn’t score in the second half, the Bama defense held Dawgs QB Gunner Stockton in check and overcame a strong rushing attack to win 24-21 and prove some of Kalen DeBoer’s doubters wrong. At least, until the team plays Vanderbilt next weekend..
● #4 LSU has had the higher ranking all season long, but both statistically and through the eye test, #13 Ole Miss has looked like the better team. On Saturday afternoon, the Rebels proved that statement true at The Grove. Their defense held the Tigers to a paltry 19 points, an impressive performance after giving up a lot more to the likes of lousy Arkansas a few weeks ago. Backup QB Trinidad Chambliss continues to amaze, racking up over 300 passing yards for the third time in as many starts. LSU’s supposed Heisman contender Garrett Nussmeier continues to regress, looking timid and unconfident for most of the game. The Rebs should leap pretty high into the Top 10 after this one.
● #8 Florida State was the first unranked team this season to beat a Top 10 opponent when they beat then-#8 Alabama in Week 1. On Friday night, they got a taste of the other side. The Seminoles fell to unranked Virginia in double overtime, struggling to tackle all night long. The FSU offense did gain over 500 yards and outgained Virginia by 70+ but allowed Chandler Morris to make key throws that kept the Cavaliers toe-to-toe with their ranked opponent. A Tommy Castellanos INT in 2OT sealed things and led to one of the craziest field storms you’ll ever see. Sad that the good vibes in Tallahassee couldn’t even make it out of September. FSU WR Duce Robinson is a freaking stud though.
● The scenes at Husky Stadium are some of the best in the country, and #1 Ohio State certainly enjoyed the views and then some. Their offense was stifled at times by a scrappy Washington team, but the Buckeyes defense held the Huskies out of the end zone in a 24-6 road win. It’s a 1-0 Big Ten start for Ohio State as they look to get back to the Big Ten title game for the first time since 2019. That’s a wild statement to type even though the Buckeyes won the whole damn thing last year.
● #9 Texas A&M wasn’t sharp on offense at all against Auburn, another showcase that the Tigers have a pretty good defense after last weekend’s close loss to Oklahoma. On a day when the Aggies struggled to score, Auburn hung around thanks to this loooooong interception return. But the Aggies saw the formula on how to beat Auburn from last weekend and followed it: suffocate Tigers QB Jackson Arnold with your defensive line. They didn’t sack him as many times as the Sooners, but five overall will do, including one on the Tigers’ final play to seal a 16-10 victory. Texas A&M will have to score more against better opponents to keep up in the SEC, but you’ll always take a 1-0 start to conference play.
● #2 Miami was idle as they prepare for a trip to Tallahassee to take on what should be a ranked Florida State team, but not a Top 10 one like we might’ve expected. Red River rivals #7 Oklahoma and #10 Texas also had open weeks.
Best of the Weekend
● In a battle of potential Big Ten contenders, #23 Illinois came back for a clutch win over #21 USC. The Trojans (and breakout star Makai Lemon) led late, a common theme for USC’s first few Big Ten road trips. But like the ones before, USC couldn’t hold on to that lead. Veteran Illini QB Luke Altmyer calmly led his team into field goal range to bounce back after a blowout loss to Indiana last week.
● Speaking of the Hoosiers, a week after #11 Indiana burst back onto the national scene, they survived a tough road test. Iowa always features a physical, punishing defense, and they held a Hoosiers offense averaging 55 points a game to a mere 20. The final 7 of those points came late in the game as a 49-yard Fernando Mendoza touchdown gave the Hoosiers the lead for good. This weird safety ensured that Indiana started out 5-0 for the second straight year, which has never happened in their history before.
● On a weekend where fellow ACC contender Florida State couldn’t get the job done on the road, #16 Georgia Tech eked out a win to stay undefeated. Things looked dicey for them at Wake Forest for most of the afternoon, but without any timeouts left, severely underrated QB Haynes King led the Yellowjackets to a game-tying field goal at the end of regulation. They stopped a Demon Deacons 2-point attempt in overtime to move to 5-0 for the first time since 2014.
● For the first time since 1959(!), the North Texas Mean Green are 5-0. They held off South Alabama at home, with QB Drew Mestemaker putting in another solid day of offense without a turnover. This win ensures that in two weeks, we get one of the G5’s best games of the year when undefeated UNT hosts South Florida on October 10th.
● Other interesting notes: Houston is 4-0 after an overtime win over Oregon State. Utah bounced back with a 48-14 trouncing of West Virginia. #18 Vanderbilt is 5-0 and gets Alabama on the road next week.
Worst of the Weekend
● How much longer will Arkansas continue the Sam Pittman experience? There wasn’t a single second of their loss to #22 Notre Dame that made them look like a competent team, letting up 28 second quarter points en route to a 56-13 home defeat. Pittman has an odd buyout that might prolong his time in Fayetteville, but it seems like a matter of when rather than if at this point.
● #24 TCU had a golden opportunity to make an early Big 12 statement when they went up 17-0 on Arizona State on the road and let things slip through their fingers. The Horned Frogs offense completely fell apart in the second half, committing two crucial turnovers at the end of the game trying to both nurse a lead and get a lead back. It’s only one game, but TCU has to figure out their run game to be successful in the Big 12.
● Mississippi State is by far one of the most improved teams in the country this season, but they have to be pretty disappointed they couldn’t seal the deal and upset #15 Tennessee on Saturday night. The Bulldogs led at multiple points in this game but let a late lead slip away as the Vols marched down the field and tied the game with under two minutes. In overtime, it took Tennessee one play to score, and Mississippi State couldn’t match. They’ll win an SEC game this year (unlike last season), but this would’ve been a sweet one to break their conference losing streak.
● Not so fun stats: LSU hasn’t scored more than 23 points against FBS competition this season. James Franklin is now 4-21 against Top 10 opponents in his time at Penn State. Auburn is 3 of 27 on third down in their last two games.
● During Pitt’s loss to Louisville, some Panthers defenders fought with a Louisville ball boy for a ball after a pick-six. Louisville then proceeded to outscore Pitt 34-10 after that kerfuffle. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
Fun Corner
● Lane Kiffin had a lot of fun trolling LSU, referencing LSU LB Whit Weeks, his daughter Landry’s boyfriend, in his postgame interview and tweeting a Brian Kelly quote about keeping the Magnolia Trophy in Baton Rouge.
● The loudest doink of the season so far came from Wake Forest’s kicker hitting the uprights in their loss to Georgia Tech.
● INT of the year candidate #1: how did Kansas State safety Qua Moss come down with this ball?
● INT of the year candidate #2: FCS Incarnate Word played ping pong with the football before coming down with the ball.
● Everyone loves a good trick play. But everyone LOVES a trick play when it involves an offensive lineman. Alabama Kadyn Proctor caught this backwards pass and rumbled down to the Georgia red zone on a drive where the Crimson Tide would eventually score.
1. Carson Beck, Miami QB: I’ll keep Beck here based on overall resume, and he’ll have another chance at a ranked win when he and the Hurricanes travel to Florida State next weekend.
2. Dante Moore, Oregon QB: To go on the road in one of CFB’s most hostile environments and throw three touchdown passes with no interceptions against a top 3 team in the country gets you noticed.
3. John Mateer, Oklahoma QB: We won’t see Mateer for a few weeks after he underwent surgery for an injured thumb. My guess is he will play against Texas on October 11th as long as he doesn’t worry about re-injuring his thumb. He’s that kind of player.
4. Ahmad Hardy, Missouri RB: In a week that saw several of my pet cat QBs lose, let’s highlight a non-QB here. Hardy has been a machine for the Tigers, totaling over 100 rushing yards in all five games he’s played so far.
5. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss QB: What a story it is that a former DII QB is dominating SEC competition. There might be a QB controversy in Oxford once Austin Simmons gets healthy.