WEEK 5 REVIEW

So it’s week 5 and we still haven’t had a boring college football weekend yet! This seriously might be the best stretch in a long while of exciting finishes and shocking plays! I mean there’s multiple games each week that keep you on the edge of your seat so yea, no better time to be a college football fan then now! Then of course, you get GREAT games like Clemson and Louisville on Saturday night that go down to the wire. More on that later! And of course, when you inch closer to midseason you start hearing about coaches who may get fired. Les Miles was already an early season casualty. Who’s next? Here’s my “3 and out” for this week!

1^st Down

Fantastic Finishes

Tennessee lucks up AGAIN! What a finish though. After picking Georgia to win this game, I thought I was  a lock to get it right when they jumped out to a big lead early. But in true Tennessee 2016 fashion, they came back. Georgia QB Jacob Eason made some bigtime throws in this game especially the one that gave Georgia the lead with around 10 seconds to go, but his fumble in the end zone was HUGE! Somehow Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs was able to find Jauan Jennings on a game ending Hail Mary with no time remaining! Wow…truly incredible way! A Walk Off win for the Volunteers as they stay put themselves in control of their own destiny in the SEC East.

Another Walk Off win took place in Tallahassee when North Carolina kicker Nick Weiler drilled a 54 yarder as time expired to give the Tar Heels a huge win on the road! Full disclosure, I’m not a FSU fan at all so seeing them lose definitely brightens my day but I respect them for coming back as they were down by 21 early and came back to take the lead! North Carolina keeps getting better and better as Larry Fedora continues to show he can really coach!

Those are just a couple of the great contests we got to witness. Other exciting games featured:

Oklahoma winning the shootout with TCU 52-46. 

Iowa State blowing a chance to knock off Baylor and losing to a walk off field goal! I wanted Iowa State to win soooo bad! One, for personal reasons of not liking the Baylor program, and two, just to see them finally win a big game! It’s been awhile!

And the game with Wisconsin and Michigan wasn’t particularly exciting, but it was close and the one handed interception by Jordan Lewis that sealed it, might have been the catch of the year and Michigan won 14-7.

2^nd Down

ACC Showdown

Wow, what an atmosphere and what a game between Louisville and Clemson Saturday night. 2 great teams, and 2 Heisman contenders put on a show for the world to see. Clemson contained Lamar Jackson enough to get the late win 42-36! James Quick definitely didn’t help him out any when he stepped out of bounds half a yard shy of getting the needed first down. Deshaun Watson threw 5 touchdowns in this game. Yea, he had 3 picks, including one from a tipped ball but he made plays when needed! 2 HUGE touchdowns in the last 7 minutes of the 4^th quarter as Clemson rallied for the win in Death Valley. Early on it looked like Clemson would run away with this thing as they led 28-10 in the 2^nd quarter before Lamar who is still the unquestioned leader in the Heisman race, led a huge Louisville comeback to take the lead. Wayne Gallman had one of this best games of the year in rushing for over 100 yards to assist in the win, while Watson rushed for 91. It was clear everyone was fired up for this game as it might have been the best of the year. Clemson controls its own destiny in the ACC Atlantic race now, and still must be leery of a game in Tallahassee later this year. Louisville showed they were definitely still a top 6 team in the country by the way they played though and if they win out, they will definitely give the committee something to think about! The ACC keeps ascending and I look forward to seeing how it plays out!

3^rd Down

State of Texas

So for anyone who was wondering who would be next to go after Les Miles was sent packing by  LSU last week, Charlie Strong may be a pretty good candidate. Even though reports came out yesterday that he would not be fired during the year, I still would not be surprised if he’s sent the door soon. There’s a lot riding on this Oklahoma game this weekend. If it goes bad, I could see a firing happening! It’s not that I want him fired but I didn’t think Charlie was a great fit when he was originally hired. Things have just gone bad there. People were hype when Texas beat what we now see is an average Notre Dame team but it seems like any team can wake up and score 40 on Texas and that’s the main problem. Charlie has demoted his defensive coordinator and now he will make the calls! His fate is truly in his hands! Even though I don’t think Charlie should have been hired, he must close the year tremendously strong to keep his job. I mean even losing 2 games the rest of the way and he’s probably gone. We wish him the best!

Out

Week 5 was even better than expected! Great finishes and great games all around. It’s always good to see what players will step up in the big games and what players won’t. It was great seeing LSU play so well in Orgeron’s first start, and I look forward to seeing how that plays out! I’ll be putting out my first top 6 rankings next week and I really can’t wait to see how it changes between now and December! Week 6 is full of huge matchups and again this Saturday, I don’t plan to leave my couch.

Pick 6

So yea, another frustrating week of 3/6! Thank you Georgia for not understanding how to knock the ball down! Thank you Wisconsin for appearing as you’ve never ran a successful offense in life! And of course, where would we be if TCU pretended to play defense one day in life. Moving on..

LSU VS Florida (18)

LSU had their best offensive game of the season after getting rid of Les Miles and Cam Cameron. Leonard Fournette also missed that game. Florida’s offense has struggled the last 2 games with Austin Appleby at the helm, but Luke Del Rio should be returning this week. I think he will be limited in his mobility which may hurt Florida. As good as the defense is, I expect Orgeron to continue to push LSU and give them the edge! I don’t trust Florida’s offense even with Del Rio back, yet limited. Close game but for some reason I’ll go with LSU.

LSU 20

Florida 17

Tennessee (9) VS Texas A&M (8)

I think this is when Tennessee’s luck runs out! A road game at College Station is no easy task and I expect A&M to continue their surge this Saturday. A&M can and should expect to run on the Volunteers. It’s not that I don’t respect Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurd but I just don’t see them winning this game. Even though A&M has some guys banged up, I think they have enough talent to where if those guys don’t play, they can still get the win.

Texas A&M 34

Tennessee 20

Texas VS Oklahoma (20)

Oklahoma bounced back with a big win in a shootout with TCU this past week. This is a game that Texas and Charlie Strong desperately need to win. I don’t think Charlie taking the defensive play calling duties over will be a major difference. Oklahoma showed a lot of fight coming back from the early deficit and I think they showed me they can win this game. People who bought into the early “Texas is Back” theme after they beat Notre Dame are now seeing why I there was cause to pause! I hate it for Charlie but I don’t see this one going his way.

Oklahoma 33

Texas 24

Washington (5) VS Oregon

Look, I like Oregon. Always have, but I can see that this team isn’t the same team we have been. Helfrich might be on the hot seat if this thing doesn’t get turned around. Now I’ll also be realistic. Oregon should’ve beat Nebraska if they didn’t go for 2 every time, and a 3 point road loss to a young up and coming Colorado team isn’t terrible but being blown out by Washington State showed tons of flaws in this team. New DC Brady Hoke was supposed to correct those issues but it almost looks like their even worse. He changed the scheme to guys that simply don’t fit it. Washington is coming off a BEATDOWN of Stanford and looked the part on both sides of the ball. As much as I want to pick Oregon, I think Jake Browning will make enough plays to win this one.

Washington 47

Oregon 37

Alabama (1) VS Arkansas (16)

I’m only looking forward to this game because of the amount of Razorback fans I know who will be disappointed once this game ends! As far as on the field, I expect Alabama to be dominant on both sides of the line. Arkansas is a solid team but they’re not as they were last year in the trenches. Their offensive and defensive lines have both taken steps back as they haven’t been able to create major holes to run, as well as stop the run. Their bright spot has been quarterback Austin Allen who continues to show he was the right guy to replace his brother. Alabama has a good secondary with guys who make plays so he needs to be extremely careful with ball placement in this game. It’s kind of crazy that Arkansas is ranked 16^th with wins over Texas State, Alcorn State, a 1 point win against Louisiana Tech and a fluke win against 2 loss TCU. They will probably be unranked after this weekend though. Bama with a mobile quarterback in Jalen Hurts will be tough to stop!

Alabama 47

Arkansas 20

Florida State (23) VS Miami (10)

Great seeing my Hurricanes back in the top 10! This year’s team has been impressive but there’s still work to be done. Miami has back to back games against Florida State and North Carolina so it’s definitely a tough stretch. Florida State has 2 losses and come off a deflating defeat to UNC. Miami is led by Brad Kaaya who is rising on draft boards and a ground game of 2 really good running backs. The defense has also been very opportunistic this year forcing turnovers.  This will be a tough game for DeAndre Francois on the road and I’m not sure how he will handle it. Dalvin Cook ran all over Miami last year but this year’s line has not allowed him the same holes to run in between as before. The Florida State defense is shaky to say the least and I expect Kaaya to be able to have his way.

Miami 36

Florida State 24