CFB Week 5 Delivers: Groundhog Day For Penn State, Alabama Sends A Message And Unbeatens Fall
Ducks flying, Alabama’s shocking win in Athens, Illinois’ last-second stunner, Week 5 delivered drama across college football.
ATHENS, GA -Hopefully, you had a chance to enjoy Saturday’s college football slate. If not, and you were dragged to some event with your significant other, you missed one of the wildest weekends of the season.
We learned a lot—starting with James Franklin once again coming up short in a big home game, this time against Oregon in overtime. And how about Ty Simpson leading Alabama into Athens to snap Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak?
Alabama Reminds College Football World It Hasn't Gone Anywhere In Streak-Ending Win Over Georgia
Be honest—nobody saw that one coming after the Tide dropped their opener to Florida State. But Kalen DeBoer has Alabama finding its identity, even while going scoreless in the second half.
The weekend was filled with plenty of "wait, did that just happen?" moments. Ole Miss handed LSU its first loss, Tennessee survived a scare from Mississippi State, and Illinois stunned USC at the buzzer with a walk-off field goal.
Oregon Snatches Win From Penn State. What's Up, Illinois?
There was a moment during the third quarter of the Alabama game where I glanced down at my phone to check social media, and a plethora of posts about Penn State fans booing the offense were coming in hot.
Yes, it was bad for James Franklin and the Nittany Lions, who looked lifeless on offense until a wild ending to the fourth quarter. Dan Lanning had seemingly gone for the jugular on a 4th down call that resulted in a Ducks touchdown. Heck, I thought it was over at that point, with Oregon leading 17-3.
But, Penn State clawed their way back, as the boos reigning down from the fans turned into cheers after Devonte Ross scored a touchdown to send the game into overtime.
If you felt like you had seen this movie before as a Penn State fan, you most certainly had. After forcing a second overtime, Oregon's Dillon Thieneman secured the win with an interception thrown by Drew Allar that sent fans clad in white into despair.
This also added to the misery for James Franklin, who is now 4-21 against AP Top 10 teams during his tenure at Penn State.
What was going on with Illinois and USC on Saturday? Big Ten Slate
- After the embarrassing loss to Indiana last week, Illinois came out against USC looking for some respect. While they did give up a 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter, with the Trojans taking the lead with 1:55 remaining, it didn’t last long. Luke Altmyer drove his team 51 yards to set up the game-winning kick from David Olano as time expired.
- Oh, and UCLA is still very bad at football, losing 17-14 to Northwestern. No. 11 Indiana scraped out a 20-15 win over Iowa, while No. 1 Ohio State took care of Washington 24-6 in a trip to the Northwest.
The SEC Had Itself A Wild Day, Outside Of Athens
I'll go ahead and get this one out of the way by saying Sam Pittman will not be the head coach at Arkansas next season, with the nail coming at the hands of Notre Dame and its 56-13 win over the Razorbacks.
Sam Pittman's Strange Buyout Looms As Arkansas Needs To Move On After Notre Dame Loss
Ok, that part is done.
- Has anyone seen Auburn's offense lately? They probably could've used a few extra plays against Texas A&M, who suffocated them in the 16-10 win. How in the world are the Tigers only managing 177 yards of total offense? Hugh Freeze certainly has a problem on the plains. I think Texas A&M coach Mike Elko summed it up best, while taking a shot at the media.
- As for No. 15 Tennessee, they found itself staring down the barrel of a loss to Mississippi State, but somehow managed to get out of Starkville with the win. I guess that's what 466 yards of offense will do. Turns out, it was the defense that actually provided points at one of the most important times in the game.
The Vols obviously have things to work on, but going on the road in the SEC is never easy. Credit to Mississippi State as well, with Jeff Lebby having this Bulldogs team playing well in his second season in Starkville.
Next up for the Vols? A visit from Arkansas, who could possibly have an interim coach on the sidelines, and that might be Bobby Petrino. I'm just forecasting, because Sam Pittman's buyout is pretty tricky, as previously discussed.
- It's probably a tie for ‘win of the day’ between Alabama and Ole Miss. Not only did Lane Kiffin secure the win over Brian Kelly, but he continues to roll with Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback, who nobody outside of Ferris State knew before the season started.
Now, Ole Miss moves to 5-0 on the season, with Washington State headed to Oxford next weekend. Yes, I know that is a weird matchup.
- I kept telling you all that Vanderbilt was going to be 5-0 when Alabama week arrived, and the Commodores did not let me down after beating up Utah State. Now, we get the rematch, which might be the biggest game next weekend. Can you imagine Diego Pavia strolling into Tuscaloosa and leading the Commodores to a win? I know it's going to be tough, but we've seen crazier things. Oh, and Clark Lea's team is a problem.
- Oh, and Kentucky is just bad. South Carolina exercised some demons against the Wildcats, especially on defense. The Gamecocks had back-to-back touchdowns on a fumble and interception return, helping them bounce back with a 35-13 win.
The College Football Weekend Lived Up To Hype
Heck, I didn’t think Friday night's slate of games could be topped from a comeptive standpoint. Virginia thumped No. 8 Florida State 46-38 in double-overtime, while Arizona State defeated No. 24 TCU on a field goal.
But, you didn’t let us down, college football. Plenty of thrilling games that needed additional time, along with plenty of drama for the fifth week of the season.
As for the fans, I hope you enjoyed the ranked matchups, because next Saturday will need some chaos to make up for the lack of premier games. But, I'm telling you now, don't overlook No. 18 Vanderbilt traveling to No. 17 Alabama. I know a lot of you want to think the Dores will be rolled all over, but there's something about this 5-0 Commodores squad led by Diego Pavia.
I guess we can also get excited to see what Arch Manning can do against the Florida Gators defense, though this one already feels like a dud waiting to happen.
Oh, and we do get No. 2 Miami visiting previously ranked No. 8 Florida State in the primetime slot. Yes, this one lost some luster due to Virginia's win, which was wild, but this now turns into a perceived ‘must-win’ for the Seminoles.
Well done, everyone. We got to enjoy another great weekend of college football, and were treated to a number of entertaining games. Let's take this same energy into week six!