Week 5 Recap

Week 5 saw some big shake-ups in college football. Four top 10 teams lost, 3 of them by double digits. My two teams had big road wins this weekend: Arkansas beat Tennessee and UNLV beat Nevada. I have yet to see a team really stand out as the best in the country, but TCU and Baylor both made strong statements this week. This is already shaping up to be a crazy year in college football.

How I Fared: (3-3 this week, 16-14 overall)

Conference Overviews
SEC: Florida and Alabama both crushed their top 10 opponents by a score of 38-10 this week. Florida took down an Ole Miss team that seemed to be one of the best teams in the country. Alabama went to Georgia and was able to halt the passing attack. Georgia’s Nick Chubb was still able to notch his 13th consecutive 100-yard rushing performance, breaking Herschel Walker’s record. Texas A&M and Missouri each got wins at home in conference play. The Aggies started fast and won 30-17 over Mississippi State and Missouri was able to overcome a slow start and shut out South Carolina in the second half to win 24-10. Arkansas went into Neyland and came out with a huge 24-20 win over Tennessee. This keeps the Hogs’ bowl hopes alive and gives them some momentum going into Tuscaloosa. The Volunteers ran the opening kickoff back for a TD and had a 14-0 lead in the 1st quarter, but once again, couldn’t hold on. LSU and Auburn each got double digit wins over their out of conference opponents. Vanderbilt needed a fourth quarter comeback to beat Middle Tennessee. RB Ralph Webb rushed for a 39-yard TD with 1:12 remaining to take the lead. Kentucky had to score 2TDs in the final 5 minutes of their game against Eastern Kentucky to force OT, where they were able to escape with the win. Next Week: 7LSU vs SCAR (game moved to Baton Rouge because of the flooding in SC), 19UGA at TENN, ARK at 8BAMA, 11UF at MIZZ, NMST at 14MISS, Troy at MSST

Big 10: Both Ohio State and Michigan State got unimpressive wins this week. The top ranked Buckeyes beat Indiana 34-27 after beginning in a 10-0 hole. Ezekiel Elliott was the MVP for the Buckeyes, rushing for 274 yards and 3TDs. Michigan State hosted Purdue and only won 24-21. The Spartans allowed 14 points in the 4th quarter. Iowa was able to come out of Camp Randall Stadium with a 10-6 win over the 19th ranked Badgers. All of Iowa’s points came in a two-minute span in the second quarter. Wisconsin QB Joel Stave threw an INT that was returned to the WIS31 then 5 plays later Iowa scored on a short pass. Joel Stave was then sacked and fumbled on his next play, leading to an Iowa FG. The Badgers had 4 turnovers in this game. Illinois scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to beat Nebraska 14-13. The game winning score came with just 10 seconds remaining. Northwestern shut out Minnesota 27-0 and Michigan went to Maryland and shut out the Terps 28-0. Penn State was able to hold on to beat Army 20-14. The Black Knights made it to the Penn State side of the field late, but a sack on 4th and 5 sealed the victory for the Nittany Lions. Next Week: MD at 1OSU, IND at PSU, ILL at 22Iowa, 13NW at 22MICH, WIS at NEB, MINN at PUR, 4MSU at RUT

Pac 12: Arizona State was able to go to UCLA and get a big conference win. The Sun Devils won 38-23 over the 7th ranked Bruins. ASU’s defense was able to hold UCLA RB Paul Perkins to just 63 yards and a TD. The Bruins only had the ball for 22:13 in this game. Stanford and Oregon got big wins this weekend. The Cardinal blew out Arizona 55-17 and Oregon beat Colorado 41-24 despite the score being tied at the half. California had a close call with Washington State. They were down 21-13 at the half but scored 21 in the 3rd quarter and held WSU to just a TD in the second half to win 34-28. The Cougars turned the ball over 3 times in the 4th quarter. Next Week: WASH at 17USC (Thurs), ORST at ARI, WSU at ORE, COLO at ASU, 23CAL at 5Utah

Big 12: There was only one close game in the Big 12 this weekend. Oklahoma State survived Kansas State in a 36-34 win. For the second straight week, The Cowboys needed a late FG to win the game. This week it was a 37-yarder with 32 seconds remaining. The rest of the games in the conference were blowouts: TCU beat Texas 50-7, Baylor beat Texas Tech 63-35, Oklahoma beat West Virginia 44-24, and Iowa State beat Kansas 38-13. Both Baylor and TCU are making strong cases as being the two best teams in the country. Next Week: 3BAY at KU, 10OU vs TEX (Cotton Bowl), ISU at TTU, 21OKST at WVU, 2TCU at KSU

ACC: The ACC saw a lot of close game in week 5. This weekend was also a bad one to be the home team. 11th ranked Florida State went to Wake Forest and won 24-16. The Demon Deacons got to the FSU20 on their final drive, but QB Kendall Hilton threw an INT in the end zone to seal the Seminole victory. Pittsburgh went to Blacksburg and held on to beat Virginia Tech 17-13. The Hokies’ QB got picked off deep in his own territory to give the Panthers the win. Louisville went to NC State and came out with their second win of the season. Neither team scored in the 4th quarter of the Cardinals 20-13 win. Duke’s 3 FGs in the first half were enough to get a 9-7 over Boston College. BC missed a 45-yard FG and turned the ball over on downs on their final two drives. North Carolina handed Georgia Tech their 3rd straight loss by scoring 21 consecutive points. The Yellow Jackets got within one score, but their last second Hail Mary was picked off. Cincinnati beat Miami on Thursday. The Bearcats led 27-20 at the half, but only 10 more points were scored. Clemson took a 21-3 lead into the 4th quarter against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish score 19 points in the final 15 minutes, but failed to convert on two 2-point conversion attempts. Notre Dame turned the ball over 4 times in this game. This was ND’s first loss of the season. Next Week: NCST at VT (Fri), UVA at PITT, WF at BC, GT at 6CLEM, MIA at 12FSU, Duke at Army, SYR at USF

Independent: BYU bounced back after last week’s big loss to Michigan. The Cougars beat Connecticut 30-13 by scoring 20 points in the final 15 minutes. Army lost to Penn State 14-20. They made it to the PSU43 on their final drive but QB AJ Schurr was sacked on 4th down. Notre Dame suffered their first loss of the season against Clemson, but they didn’t go down without a fight. The Irish scored 19 points in the 4th quarter but were unable to complete the 2-point conversion after scoring with 7 seconds remaining in the game. Next Week: Duke at Army, Navy at 15ND, ECU at BYU

American: Memphis moved to 5-0 with their 24-17 road win over USF this weekend. Houston went to Tulsa and won 38-24 to remain undefeated on the season. East Carolina blew out SMU in Dallas 49-23 to get above .500 for this season. Tulane beat UCF 45-31, handing the Knights their 5th loss of the season. Cincinnati got a big out of conference win against Miami on Thursday. It was a high scoring first half but only 10 combined points were scored in the 2nd half. The Bearcats won 34-23 and gave Miami their first loss. Temple crushed Charlotte 37-3 and Navy didn’t have any trouble with Air Force, winning 33-11. Connecticut lost big on the road at BYU 13-30 and they allowed 20 points in the 4th quarter. Next Week: SMU at HOU (Thurs), TUL at TEM, UConn at UCF, SYR at USF, Navy at 15ND, ULM at TULS, ECU at BYU

Mountain West: The biggest game of the weekend in the Mountain West was UNLV’s 23-17 win over Nevada in Reno. The Rebels never trailed in the game and started the game with a 6-minute TD drive. The Wolf pack made it to the UNLV43 on their final drive, but 4 incomplete passes gave the ball back to the Rebels with 35 seconds remaining. Utah state got a 33-18 win over Colorado State, Boise State climbed back into the top 25 after their 55-0 win over Hawaii, and San Diego State cruised to a 21-7 win over Fresno State. Air Force went on the road to Navy and suffered a 11-33 loss, Wyoming got beat 13-31 at Appalachian State, and San Jose State fell to Auburn 21-35. New Mexico scored the final 24 points of the game to get a 38-29 victory of New Mexico State. Next Week: 25BSU at CSU, UNM at UNR, SJSU at UNLV, WYO at AF, USU at FRES, SDSU at HAW

MAC: Ohio’s two first half TDs would end up being enough to beat Akron 14-12 on the road. The Zips turned the ball over on downs on their final drive. Toledo beat Ball State 24-10 thanks to a big 24-point 2nd quarter. This win bumped the Rockets into the top 25. Central Michigan got a nice 29-19 win over Northern Illinois in their MAC opener. Bowling Green was able to survive a late rally from Buffalo to win 28-22 on the road. After Buffalo got within a score, the Falcons put together a 10 play, 5-minute drive to end the game and secure their win. Kent State got the win over Miami of Ohio 20-14. The Red Hawks scored the final 14 points of the game, but an INT deep in Kent State territory ended their rally. Eastern Michigan lost to LSU 22-44 and Massachusetts got a 24-14 win over FIU. Next Week: CMU at WMU, UMass at BG, MOH at Ohio, KENT at 24TOL, AKR at EMU, BALL at NIU

C-USA: Marshall cruised to a 27-7 win over Old Dominion, Western Kentucky crushed Rice 49-10, Southern Miss equaled their win total from last season (3) with their 49-14 win over North Texas, and UTSA went on the road and beat UTEP 25-6. Charlotte lost big at home to Temple 3-37, FIU went to UMass and lost 14-24, Middle Tennessee gave up a 13-3 lead over Vanderbilt at home and lost 13-17, and Louisiana Tech beat ULL 43-14. Next Week: USM at MRSH, UTEP at FIU, MTSU at WKU, Rice at FAU, LT at UTSA, Port St at UNT

Sun Belt: South Alabama was able to hold on to their early lead on the road at Troy for a 24-18 win, Arkansas State won 49-35 over Idaho in their conference opener, and Georgia Southern went on the road to ULM and won 51-31. The two teams combined to score 34 points in the 4th quarter. Appalachian State beat Wyoming 31-13, handing the Cowboys their 5th loss. Georgia State fell to FCS Liberty 33-41 and only ended up with 11 rush yards. ULL fell to Louisiana Tech 14-43 on the road and New Mexico State led New Mexico 29-14 but allowed 24 consecutive points and lost 29-38. Next Week: APP at GAST, TXST at ULL, NMSU at 14MISS, Troy at MSST, ULM at TULS

Top 25
1Ohio State 34 Indiana 27
2Michigan State 24 Purdue 21
25Florida 383Ole Miss 10
4TCU 50 Texas 7
5Baylor 63 Texas Tech 35
12Clemson 24 6Notre Dame 22
Arizona State 38 7UCLA 23
13Alabama 38 8Georgia 10
9LSU 44 Eastern Michigan 22
11Florida State 24 Wake Forest 16
14Texas A&M 30 21Mississippi State 17
15Oklahoma 44 23West Virginia 24
16Northwestern 27 Minnesota 0
18Stanford 55 Arizona 17
Iowa 10 19Wisconsin 6
20Oklahoma State 36 Kansas State 34
22Michigan 28 Maryland 0
24California 34 Washington State 28

Stats and Scores from ESPN.com