Week five is in the books and my trusty cohost is tied up this evening, so I’m here to take a look back what transpired around America this past Saturday. If there was ever a theme to this week, it has to be that the national herd is being thinned out, conference by conference. We’re getting to the bottom of who belongs and who doesn’t in the playoff conversation and while we’re at it, we’re about to hit the juicy part of the season. I know you’ll roll your eyes but let’s take a detour to South Bend to talk about my Fighting Irish and their 37-26 win over UNC.

Notre Dame

This past Saturday the Irish took the show on the road to Chapel Hill to face Bill Belichick, Jordan Hudson and the Heels. It seemed like it was going to be another one of those blowouts we’ve gotten used to as they took a 21-7 lead and were going into the end zone looking to blow the game wide open. But a bad play call on third down and a failed conversion on fourth down set up a Carolina rally. Giving up a touchdown before the half was bad enough but following it up by giving up a kickoff return house call was worse. All of sudden it was 21-20 thanks to a missed extra point and the Irish had to dig a hell of a lot deeper.

That’s when the most positive development of the game appeared, as out of the shadows of the running back room came Jonaz Walton to seize control of the lead back role and take the team on a drive. The ensuing 17 play, 75-yard march through the rain saw Walton become the bell cow and the Irish did a beautiful thing they haven’t done much this season called RUN THE DAMN BALL!!! This wasn’t some slouch defense they did it against either, if you’ve seen any of Carolina this season, you’d know the best feature of their team is their defensive line, so this was a statement effort from the o-line and running back room. They’re so much more explosive with Walton in the backfield and it is time Freeman ride him with Nolan James Jr. backing him up and Aneyas Williams being used a receiving option.

The running game aside this was more business as usual for CJ Carr, but not for the defense who wasn’t their usual sharp self. Maybe they slept walked into this one, maybe Belichick found something to exploit in their game, maybe some of the injuries they picked up played a part in the performance. Regardless of the reason, they have to play better all the way around and I’d imagine they will. Speaking of injuries, KVA, Leonard Moore and Matt Augustine are all banged up after this one and we may not see them against Stanford this week. The good news is they should be able to hammer the Cardinal without them, after they just lost by 54 points to Wake. No excuses, get these guys healthy and go to work this week ready to dominate. If you want to walk around the facility with “leave no doubt” everywhere then walk the walk. I’ve said for months this is going to be the most unsatisfying Notre Dame regular season in some time due to the expectations placed on this group, and it’s been that way at times for sure. The “satisfaction” is still a long way off so let’s keep finding ways to win and improve, Go Irish!

The Rest of the Country

The SEC

Alabama 56 Mississippi State 23: Rolllllllllllllllllllll Tide Roll. It was all Bama in Starkville this past weekend as they smacked Kamario Taylor and the Dogs back to reality. This game just spoke to the gulf in quality between the two programs, and I don’t say that to crush State, they’re a good story. But Kalen has the goods this year in Tuscaloosa and it starts with star freshman QB Keelon Russell. Big one coming this week for the Tide at home as Georgia comes calling at Bryant Denny.

Florida 17 Missouri 45: There are beatings and then there is what the Tigers did this weekend to the Gators in Columbia. Florida came into this matchup riding high off of upending the Rebels and got an upset minded Missouri squad mad at them. The Tigers hit Summerall’s team with a dump truck and man oh man Austin Simmons looks good. Give coach Drink credit, Missouri looks the best they have in years.

Auburn 14 Tennessee 24: This was a sleepy affair in Knoxville really, but the headline within this contest is that the Vols put freshman Faizon Brandon on the bench. George MacIntyre took over under center and was better than Brandon though that wasn’t hard to do as he went just 3/8 for zero yards and an interception. Tennessee is a pretender…and man Auburn doesn’t look good at all.

Kentucky 35 South Carolina 24: Another blown lead, another embarrassing performance for the Gamecocks. Just put Shane Beamer out of his misery already and rebuild this program. On a different note, nice job by Will Stein and the Wildcats who continue to have an impressive season.

The Big Ten

Ohio State 31 Iowa 14: Congratulations Ryan Day, you didn’t take Iowa’s bait and play your way into a trap. Instead of worrying about how physical his team is, Day had Julian Sayin let it rip to the tune of three touchdowns and 324 yards through the air. Shocker Jeremiah Smith caught two of those balls and the Buckeyes closed out a dominant win in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes, as fun as their grind it out style is at times, don’t really matchup with their big ten peers, keep an eye on them from here and let’s see if they can recover.

Michigan 14 Minnesota 20: Justice continues to be served in America’s heartland the most overrated group of villains going went into the Minnesota state capital and got popped by the Gophers. In what was another defensive struggle, Minnesota made Bryce Underwood look bad, sporting another sub 50% completion percentage day while throwing two picks. Minnesota has a really solid team, and they look like a good bet to continue to spoil the party in the Big Ten while Michigan sinks to the bottom.

Washington 21 USC 25: USC needed a bounce back and they found a way to get it here against UW at home. This one wasn’t particularly pretty but more importantly…I’ve had it with Demond Williams and the Huskies who never really deliver on their promise.

Penn State 13 Northwestern 34: It was a huge night for the Wildcats on and off the newly minted Ryan Field as they buried Penn State in Evanston. Full marks to this coaching staff, OC Chip Kelly included who dusted off the wing-T offense from Barry Switzer’s Sooners playbook. Northwestern is off to a really solid start and things are ugly right now in State college as Matt Campbell’s first season in charge is going off the rails.

Maryland 23 Nebraska 48: Big Red makes it to 5-0 in this surprisingly good start to the season. Its impressive work by Rhule who feels like he’s backed into a corner this season with the fan base and the national media. Their road is about to get a heck of a lot harder, but in the meantime…can we move on from Mike Locksley please Maryland?

The ACC

Pitt 35 Virginia Tech 33: This tilt from Friday night was a thriller between these two undefeated teams in front of an incredible crowd in Blacksburg. The Panthers held a comfortable lead into the fourth quarter until the Hokies roared to life, eventually lining up for a game winning field goal attempt…that looked awfully good until it was ruled as a miss. Tough moment for the young man on the field and for Hokie nation off the field. The loss drops VA Tech to 4-1, while the Nard Dog and Pitt keep on rolling at 5-0…maybe Pitt and Mason Heinschel are a threat afterall this year.

Stanford 3 Wake Forest 57: As we know, Stanford has a loooooooong way to go to get back to the upper levels of the sport, and this was further emphasized by the beating they took this week. Wake Forest has been excellent so far this year under second year head coach Jake Dickert. Dickert has done some job so far in Winston Salem and the Demon Deacons are back on the rise after a tough few years. The only problem for Wake is, they won’t have Dickert for long if he keeps this up.

Virginia 7 Florida State 38: I’m just gonna be blunt here…what the hell happened to UVA? They got off to a nice start this year and looked good doing it. Almost as soon as we started hyping up Tony Elliot for other jobs, they’ve hit a wall and dropped two in a row. It’s a great win for FSU who is off to a better start than most imagined they could be, but it feels like this Cavs let down is the bigger story.

The Big 12

Baylor 55 Arizona State 19: Baylor didn’t have high hopes in the preseason and after losing the opener to Auburn those expectations sank even lower. But the Bears have responded by winning four straight, a streak that was capped by the hammering of the Sun Devils from this past week. DJ Lagway is the trigger man of this offense and he’s playing the best ball of his college career thus far. Dave Aranda may be climbing off the hot seat with this turn around and the Bears look poised to play spoiler in the Southwest.

BYU 17 TCU 10: It was another classically ugly win for the Cougars in Fort Worth, and while a wins a win, they aren’t exactly inspiring confidence in their chances of winning big this year. This BYU offense isn’t explosive and they’re going to have tougher defenses to face in the weeks ahead. If they don’t figure it out, they’re going to waste a golden chance to win this conference.

West Virginia 42 Iowa State 45: The more you think you understand this sport the faster it changes. The Mountaineers got a huge win just three weeks ago over UVA, and since then not only did they lose OK State (who is better than them) but they followed that up with a loss to Iowa State on the road in Aimes. The Cyclones haven’t looked particularly good so far so this win is extra valuable to them as they look to get this program rebuilt in the wake of Matt Campbell’s departure. A great day for the program to say the least.

Before we get to the picks, let me introduce you to Jesse Legree, the star receiver at Oregon State making some major waves after putting on a clinic this week against Colorado State.

The Picks

Game	Nick	Mike
Stanford @ Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
Indiana @ Nebraska	Indiana	Indiana (by a lot)
Houston @ Kansas State	Kansas State	Kansas State
Texas vs Oklahoma (Red River)	Texas	Texas
UCLA @ Oregon	Oregon	UCLA
LSU @ Kentucky	LSU	LSU
USC @ Penn State	USC	USC
Georgia @ Alabama	Georgia	Georgia

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