Week 5 of College Football delivered some really good games including one of the best football games of all time between Alabama and Georgia. Let’s jump into the winners and the losers of the week.
Winners of Week 5:
1). The best game of the day on Saturday was the game between Alabama and Georgia. Alabama prevailed with a 41-34 win over Georgia in what turned out to be a nail-biter. The story of this game is the Alabama offense and the quick start they got off to led by Jalen Milroe. Led by Milroe, the Tide jumped out to a 28-0 nothing lead before you ever even able to blink. Milroe had an impressive day totaling 374 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air, while also adding 117 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. With that performance, Milroe put himself right up there with Cam Ward atop the Heisman leaderboard. Leading receiver Ryan Williams put up a monster game as well. 6 catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was the game-winning 75-yard reception to give Bama the lead with 2:18 remaining. The best part about Williams is that he is only 17 years old and should still be a senior in high school right now. To be able to dominate on the biggest stage, at his age, is really impressive. Bama is now 4-0 with Vanderbilt and South Carolina on deck before their massive showdown with Tennessee in Knoxville. That matchup will likely be a top 5 matchup and will most likely determine who will be going to the SEC Championship.
2). Kentucky pulled off the upset in Oxford and knocked off the number 6 ranked Ole Miss Rebels. The score only being 20-17 does not do justice to the fact that Kentucky was dominating Ole Miss on the line scrimmage. Kentucky’s defense also shut down Ole Miss’ offense for the most part. Outside of 3 or 4 big plays, Ole Miss was not able to move the ball consistently. On the other side of the football, Kentucky’s offense was able to get plenty of push up front and was to run the ball as much as they wanted to. They did not rack up a ton of yards but they dominated the time of possession 39:43 to 20:17 and picked up 22 first downs. They were able to keep Ole Miss’ offense off the field and keep them out of rhythm. Kentucky’s passing attack had not been what people expected going into the season, but in this game they found something. They were able to hit on a couple of big plays and showed the potential they have through the air. With Dane Key and Barrion Brown at receiver, you have to get them involved because they are two very good playmakers and they showed it Saturday. My expectations for this Kentucky team were low after the South Carolina loss. Now my expectations are changing a little bit. This can definitely be a 7-8-win team if they are able to play the style of football that they played today.
3). This is a team that I have not talked about yet so far this year. The new look Indiana Hoosiers are 5-0 and 2-0 in conference play. Bringing in Kurt Cignetti in the offseason was the best thing that could possibly happen to this Indiana team. He made the team fun and exciting to watch. QB Kurtis Rourke is one of the reasons for that. On Saturday went 22-33 for 359 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has played great all year for the Hoosiers and has them set up to be potentially undefeated going into a matchup with Ohio State. There is a real possibility that Indiana can be a playoff team this year. The toughest games remaining on their schedule are at home against Michigan and at Ohio State. If they can possibly split that they have a real chance of getting in. Indiana is 5-0 for the 1st time since 1967. The buzz is not going to die down anytime soon.
Losers of Week 5:
1). The Ole Miss dropped a game at home to Kentucky as 15.5-point favorites. I do not think anyone in the world expected Kentucky to even keep this game close, much less win it. The sad and scary part is that Lane Kiffin went in the transfer and built up his offensive and defensive lines to be able to compete in the trenches against a team like Kentucky and Georgia. The way Kentucky dominated Ole Miss physically, I can’t wait to see what Georgia does to them physically. Lane Kiffin definitely misevaluated some players. Ole Miss kind of deserved this loss after playing 4 cupcakes to begin their season. When you play the cupcakes, you are not able to see how good you team actually is, and the weaknesses that you thought you fixed do not show weakness still until they actually get tested. The good thing for Ole Miss is that the only tough game remaining on their schedule is Georgia at home. If they take care of business everywhere else they can still finish the season 11-1 or 10-2. Both of which would still have Ole Miss in contention for a playoff spot.
2). Utah loses at home to Arizona 23-10. Yes, they lost without their starting quarterback Cam Rising. But they won a top-15 matchup on the road last weekend against Oklahoma St without him. The loser is the Big 12. Every team in the Big 12 is just an average team. No team is good in the Big 12. It is honestly really sad that they going to get rewarded with an automatic spot in the playoff and get an automatic bye as well. As of right now, no team from that league even deserves to be around playoff talk. The only exception might be BYU. They are slightly better than everyone else, but still they are not some top 12 team either. The Big 12 has a problem. And the problem is going to keep getting worse when they keep cannibalizing each other every week. Going back to Utah, they were in the clubhouse to win the Big 12 after beating Oklahoma State and now they are just bunched in with 6 other teams in that league.
3). Auburn blew an 11-point lead in the 4th quarter and lost to Oklahoma at home 27-21. They lost the game in the least shocking way imaginable for this Auburn team. Their QB turned the ball over. That has been the biggest problem for this Auburn team all year. Does not matter who they have at QB, all they do is turn the ball over. Before the pick-six that lost Auburn the game, Payton Thorne had actually been playing a good, turnover-free game for Auburn. Then when it mattered most, he put the ball in harm's way and threw the game losing 63-yard pick-six. It was 3rd and 4 on the other side of the field and you had gotten down the field running the football. Why would you risk throwing the ball in that situation when you know you have a Quarterback problem? The main issue is that Hugh Freeze was reluctant to address his QB problem in the transfer portal when everyone in the country knew what they had was not going to work. Hopefully, Freeze sees now that he needs a QB next year or his job is on the line. The sad part is that this could actually be a really good football team if they didn’t have a QB holding them back.
Honorable Mention Winners:
1). Army
2). BYU
3). Notre Dame
Honorable Mention Losers:
1). First Half Georgia
2). Oklahoma State
3). Florida State
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