Week 5 felt like our first “normal” week of the season. The novelty of a new season comes with weeks 1 and 2. Week 3 did not feature any top 25 matchups and week 4 was loaded with them. In week 5, conference play is more or less in full swing. Whether the matchups involve ranked teams or not matters a lot less. Familiar foes, frenemies, and rivalries tend to bring a level of parity that does not exist during the nonconference portion of the schedule.
We’re also one-third of the way through the season (crazy, right). There is no obvious juggernaut this season. There are probably a dozen or so teams that have playoff hopes. A few of those are eliminated before the calendar even hit October (looking at you Clemson and LSU). There are a few others, which still have a perfect record, that seem to have some pretty obvious flaws that will likely lead to their elimination by the end of the season. The teams getting a little extra attention that may be worthy of the pretender moniker are USC and…*whispers* Georgia.
USC and Georgia Will Miss The Playoffs (Probably)
USC beat Colorado 48-41 on Saturday. The score was both misleading and accurate. USC thrashed Colorado in the first half. It was 34-14 at the half and would have been even worse if Caleb Williams hadn’t missed a wide open receiver on the Trojans’ second possession. However, USC’s defense continues to be a problem. Colorado scored 20 straight to end the game to make it 48-41. Lincoln Riley refuses to get serious about improving or helping USC’s defense. The Trojans are a little better along the defensive line, but they cannot tackle and whatever scheme Alex Grinch runs, opponents have it figured out. Just a week ago, this same Colorado team was throughly outclassed for 4 quarters by Oregon. I know teams are different week to week, but it was clear Colorado stood no chance on either side of the ball against Oregon. Against USC’s defense, Colorado hung in there.
Caleb Williams and the offense are great and they will put up plenty of points on everyone they play. But that defense cannot be trusted. When USC goes up against most of the rest of the conference and especially Oregon and Washington, they look like they are going to be in trouble. The 2023 Pac-12 is stronger than the Big 12 when Oklahoma was dominating the conference on the strength of its offense alone. It isn’t going to be enough if the defense doesn’t pull a rabbit of its hat in the second half of the season.
On the side of the country, the two-time defending champion Georgia Bulldogs continue to underwhelm. The Bulldogs squeaked by Auburn 27-20. I am getting vibes of 2014 Florida State or 2015 Ohio State from this Georgia team. A defending champion with a ton of talent that waltzes through its games with a lacadaisical approach until it absolutely has to have it key moments.
In the 2023 version of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, Georgia struggled early and often against an Auburn team that is fully rebuilding under Hugh Freeze and was embarrased against Texas A&M last week. The Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the first quarter. Georgia has been a slow starter all year and that looks like it just may be the trend for them this season. The Bulldogs tied it up by halftime. Unlike the South Carolina game when Georgia laid the wood, Auburn made a game of it in the second half. The teams traded scores in the second half, with Brock Bowers scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just under three minutes left in the game.
Speaking of Brock Bowers, Georgia should just build the entire offense around him. Bowers was unstoppable in the second half where he gained the majority of his 157 yards.
Georgia is undoubtedly talented. Talent is not everything. Alabama has the highest ratio of blue chip players on its roster in the history of college football this season. Nobody thinks Alabama is even going to make the playoff this year. I think a team is going to get them at some point this season. Between Georgia’s lackluster schedule and an overall down SEC, I don’t think Georgia can afford the loss that seems inevitable.
Quick Hits
Ole Miss 55 - LSU 49. The most entertaining game of the day. Just your classic SEC West shootout. A week after getting completely shutdown by Alabama, Ole Miss did whatever it wanted on offense. The Rebels gained 711 yards of offense against the Tigers. For LSU, a 3-2 start is not what this team envisioned. The defense is not up to the challenge against quality offenses. Jayden Daniels was magnificent again, although his fearlessness is going to get him killed.
Kentucky 33 - Florida 14. I believe we can officially knock the Gators out of the polls for a little while. Kentucky ran all over Florida’s defense. Running back Ray Davis had himself a day. 280 yards and 3 touchdowns on 26 carries. Florida had another brutal special teams penalty in the first half that extended a drive. Kentucky punted from deep in their own territory, except that Florida was called for leaping (big leaping week in football). Setup with a fresh set of downs, Ray Davis hit a 75-yard touchdown run on the very next play. Ball game. Or as emphatic as one can say ball game after a quarter of play.
Notre Dame 21 - Duke 14. A week after losing in heartbreaking fashion against Ohio State, it was Notre Dame’s turn to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Notre Dame held Duke scoreless until late in the third quarter, building a 13-0 lead. Duke clawed back to take a 14-13 lead halfway through the fourth quarter. On Notre Dame’s final drive, facing 4th and 16, Sam Hartman somehow scrambled to secure a first down. Notre Dame would score a few plays later to take the lead with 30 seconds left. The Irish have games against the resurgent Louisville and rival USC on deck.
West Virginia 24 - TCU 21. Props to West Virginia, which has started 4-1. Neal Brown was the offseason favorite to be the first coach to lose his job. After wins over rival Pitt, preseason Big 12 darkhorse Texas Tech, and now TCU, West Virginia is looking at its best season in several years. Brown’s job is safe. On the otherhand, if the Colorado loss wasn’t enough of a clue, this confirms that TCU is a far cry from last year’s national title runner-up.
Texas Tech 49 - Houston 28. Houston falls to 0-2 in Big 12 play. This game was 35-28 at the half. Texas Tech figured out enough on defense to hold the Cougars scoreless in the second half.
Baylor 36 - UCF 35. The comeback of the year. With 3:20 left in the third quarter, Baylor hit a very sad field goal to make it 35-10. The Bears’ season had seemingly gone completely off the rails and UCF was going to get their first Big 12 victory. In the words of Lee Corso, not so fast. Baylor went on a scoring frenzy and took a 36-35 lead with 1:21 left in the game. UCF had a chance and even pulled off the best 4th down conversion of the day on their final drive.
It was not enough and Baylor would hold on for a much needed win.
Washington 31 - Arizona 24. This was on Pac-12 network, so I haven’t seen a second of it. I am curious to see what happened in this game. Washington had been unstoppable up to this point. Perhaps they read a few too many press clippings this week as the national media has given the Huskies a lot of love the past couple of weeks.
Oregon State 21 - Utah 7. This was from Friday night. Without Cam Rising, Utah is Iowa west. Their defense is ferocious and will keep them in games. Their offense is going to keep them out of games. Oregon State is coached well enough that it was able to put together a few scoring drives against an excellent Utah defense. Utah was lucky to put a touchdown on the board. I’m not even sure Cam Rising will be enough to save their attack this year. I do not expect Utah will be repeating as Pac-12 champions.
Plays Of The Week (Good and Bad)
I know I was lacking last week. I believe I have redeemed myself this week.
This is from a high school game. I just love how slow and lumbering this touchdown is.
Love the concetration on this catch. BYU 35 - Cincinnati 27.
No idea what the quarterback saw to make him think this was a good idea.
Here is the counter to when teams finally figure out how to stop the Eagles quarterback sneak play with Jalen Hurts (if possible).
I do love when a punt gets blocked and the player that blocked the punt gets to catch the bounce and score.
Caleb Williams doing his thing. Its made easier when there are no defensive backs in the same zip code as the receiver.
Just a great catch.
Somehow this pass found its way through two Coastal Carolina defenders.
One of the few things that went right for Kansas in a 40-14 loss to Texas.
My favorite play of the day. You can see this interception coming as soon as Max Johnson threw the ball. The Arkansas defender had this one sniffed out from the beginning.
Two plays from South Florida’s 44-30 victory over Navy. Neither of them are good plays for Navy.
Need the ball to pull off whatever this play was supposed to be.
The best part of this play is the two South Florida defenders honing in to crush the Navy holder rather than the ball that is just floundering on the ground.
College Football Moment Of The Weekend
I did not come across any single fantastical sequence or play that is worthy of this award. I do have a couple of items that made me chuckle.
We’ll start with Oregon State’s coach, Jonathan Smith, with an interesting way of signaling to his players that they need to milk the clock.
East Washington’s scoreboard efforts to distract the opposing kicker.
That’s all folks! See you next week. I will try to get around to issuing a new top 25 ranking this week. I’ve been updating mine weekly, I just haven’t had time to publish a post on it.