Going into week 5 we heard that it was going to be a dud of a weekend. While it maybe wasn’t the greatest weekend of college football, there were still some big games. Let’s take a look around the country at some of the bigger games that were played this weekend.
Ohio State 31 Iowa 14
Jeremiah Smith continues to show that he is the best player in the country. Ohio State’s offensive identity this season has been Jeremiah Smith or bust. So for Iowa, if you can shut down Jeremiah Smith you have a chance. Surely Phil Parker can figure out a way to slow him down. Wrong. Iowa tried everything. Jeremiah Smith can’t be guarded. I’m convinced it’s impossible at this point.
Iowa got off to a terrible start to begin this game. Hank Brown fumbled on the 2nd play of the game giving Ohio State amazing field position, and of course they took advantage of it. The game was basically over from there. Iowa’s defense could not get off the field. Ohio State dominated the time of possession with 38 minutes. Jeremiah Smith finished with 11 catches 206 yards and 2 TDs. Iowa’s offense as a whole finished with only 238 yards. He himself nearly out gained Iowa as a team. This will come as a shock to absolutely nobody, but Iowa has struggled offensively this year. They’ve had their moments slinging the ball, but against P4 teams they’ve had no success running the ball. 39 yards on the ground and less than 2 yards a carry in this game. The run game is a complete mess.
Looking at the rest of the season for both teams, Ohio State still has Indiana and Oregon on the schedule. Iowa, however, has a much more manageable road ahead. They’ve got Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, and Nebraska. Every one of those games is winnable for the Hawkeyes. 11-1 and a playoff birth is not impossible.
USC 25 Washington 21
Do you like ugly football? If so, this was the game for you. Washington’s offense continues to be a disaster. Luckily for them, USC’s defense has been a disaster as well. There was sloppy play from both teams throughout this game. Washington may have lost the game, but we are all losers for having watched it.
Washington actually had a lead for quite awhile in this one. They were up 21-10 very early in the 2nd half. USC was able to claw their way back, believe it or not, with a little help from their defense. Demond Williams did Demond Williams things to keep Washington in the game, as well as preventing them from winning. He had some moments that had you say “No way he just did that”, and some moments that left you shaking your head in a bad way.
Say what you want about Washington’s offense. It’s bad. We can all see it. The defense, defense, however is not bad. Since Ryan Walters took over as DC, only one team has scored 27 against his defense. That would be the Minnesota Gophers. So it shouldn’t be shocking that USC’s offense only scored 19 against this Washington defense. I think the shocking part is that Minnesota could do it and USC couldn’t.
Looking ahead for Washington, they have games against Iowa, Indiana, and Oregon. I’m not saying they don’t have a chance to win at least one of those, but it’s unlikely. Every week they look more and more like a 6-6, maybe a 7-5 team. USC also has a tough road ahead. The only difference is they are sitting at 5-1 instead of 3-2. They’ve got a lot to clean up on the defensive side of the ball if they want to make a real push for the Big Ten Title and a playoff birth.
Missouri 45 Florida 17
This is what I was afraid of. All week we heard about how Missouri doesn’t deserve to be ranked, and how Eli Drinkwitz can’t be the good teams. It was said so much, that it was inevitable that Mizzou would pull off the upset. Now we have to listen to Eli Drinkwitz run it in everyone’s faces that they did in fact deserve to ranked.
This was an ass whoopin’ all the way through. We knew Florida’s defense was suspect, but their offense is supposed to make up for that. One of the nation’s best rushing attacks got held to 42 yards and less than 2 ypc. Mizzou’s defensive front just manhandled Florida all day long and they could not get a single thing working on the ground. On defense we knew that Florida’s secondary was leaky, but I did not think the run defense was just as leaky. Jamal Roberts ran for over 200 yards and 3 TDs at nearly 9 yards a carry. If that wasn’t bad enough, Austin Simmons was 23/30 340 yards and 2 TDs. The Gators had 0 answers on either side of the ball.
Moving forward for the Gators, maybe top 10 was a bit too much. They are still a good team, but not a top 10 team. There will still be plenty of chances for them to prove themselves with games against Texas and Georgia coming up. As for Mizzou, maybe they did deserve to be ranked after all.
Alabama 56 Mississippi State 23
This weekend we learned that Mississippi State is not a contender for the SEC, and that it’s a 3 team race at the top. Just because Mississippi State is not a contender though, does not mean they are turning back into pumpkin. They are still a very good team, it’s just that Alabama is a much better one.
It’s hard to win a game against a great team when you turn the ball over 4 times, and that’s exactly what Mississippi State did. They turned it over early and often, and could not recover. Those 4 turnovers turned into 21 Alabama points. The Bulldogs had absolutely no run game. Fluff Bothwell left the game after just 1 carry. Kamario Taylor did not have his best game running or throwing. He was responsible for 3 of the 4 turnovers. The concerns as to whether or not the offensive line could keep Kamario upright proved to be real. Alabama finished with 5 sacks on the day.
To add to Mississippi State’s struggles on offense, the defense got lit up. Keelon Russell looked amazing. 16/22 285 yards 3 TD and a rushing TD. The offense is absolutely rolling with him at the helm. On top of that, Alabama’s run game is back. After it went missing all of last season, it has found its way home. They are running the ball effectively again which only makes this offense scarier. Alabama showed that it’s a 3 team race between them, Georgia, and Texas for the SEC. Mississippi State is a good team, they just ran into a buzzsaw.
Pitt 35 Virginia Tech 33
A couple weeks ago we had what we thought was an ACC Title elimination game between SMU and Louisville. Turns out we/I may have been a little premature with that. Going into this meeting both Pitt and Virginia Tech were 4-0. The winner would set themselves up nicely at the top of the ACC.
Virginia Tech was up 14-0 only 5 min into the game. Pitt fought their way back with the help of 4 Tech turnovers. They eventually would lead 35-24 early in the 4th. After a lot of craziness Virginia Tech had the ball down 2 with only 3:44 left in the game. Here’s where I have a problem with Tech. They settled. Instead of trying to score a TD and settling for a FG if that didn’t work, they intentionally played for the FG. They were in FG range, they had it set up where their kicker wanted it, and they put their trust in a college kicker to win them the game. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but I hate when teams do that. Use the kicker as your back up if your original plan does not work. Do not use your kicker as your first option. Tech used their kicker as their “Plan A” and they lost the game. Now there was a ton of controversy over this kick. The kicker thought he made it. The fans behind the goal posts thought he made it. I even thought he made it. Instead it was wide left by inches. Tough break for Virginia Tech. They could not get out of their own way all game.
After this win, Pitt is in a great spot towards the top of the ACC, but at what cost. Mason Heintschel left the game with an injury and never returned. It has since come out that he’s done for the season with a torn ACL. For Virginia Tech, this loss has to be so frustrating. this was a game they very easily could’ve won. There’s still a ton of season left, but that doesn’t mean this loss didn’t hurt.
Again this maybe wasn’t the greatest weekend of college football, but it was entertaining nonetheless. There were still some great games that I didn’t go over. Minnesota beating Michigan, the shootout between WVU and Iowa State, or the dominating wins from top teams like Miami and Georgia. Was week 5 a dud, or did it exceed the dud expectations placed on it?
