A field goal off the post got Week 5 started, that should have been the omen we needed for a strange weekend. There were undefeated matchups, and more times then not they weren’t even close. And it all culminated with some major upsets, and some closer than expected games too.
Let’s start with the AP rankings though, I don’t think there’s any doubt in the top 3: Alabama, Georgia, and Iowa take the top spots. All three teams dominated in their battle of the unbeatens matchups over the weekend. Cincinnati though is getting disrespected. They beat down Notre Dame on the road, sure the score looked closer than the game actually was, but it wasn’t even close. It was almost boring to watch because of how dominant the Bearcats were over the Irish. Penn State beat a bad Wisconsin on the road and an average Auburn at home. Sure they have the same matchup as Cincinnati in Indiana – and Penn State’s defense owned Indiana the whole night, but it was on their field as well. Cincinnati had to beat them on the road, and had a 14 point win in that one.
Next on the AP list we’ve got the first of our next section: the favorites that underperformed. Oklahoma walked into Manhattan as 12 point favorites and had to recover an onside kick to escape a last second K-State comeback. Oklahoma has the most to prove of any of the unbeatens in the top 10. Oregon, Florida, Texas A&M, Fresno State, Clemson, and I’ll even throw in Vanderbilt into this category. Only Clemson and Vandy were able to escape with a win, even though they were in disappointing fashion. Oregon somehow though didn’t get hurt too bad and still remains in the top 10. But their playoff chances are all but officially dead now. Fresno State went even further out west and had a long flight home saying goodbye to their New Years 6 Bowl chances. Clemson got lucky and a bad snap they were able to recover saved them from completely falling apart this season. Vandy though. It’s hard to say the worst Power 5 team can put together a disappointing game, but they did just that. They narrowly beat the worst team in all of the FBS.
Teams we learned are for real this weekend: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Cincinnati, Michigan, and Oklahoma State
Games that didn’t disappoint: Clemson-Boston College, Nevada-Boise State, Navy-UCF, Syracuse-Florida State, Oklahoma State-Baylor, Oregon-Stanford, Texas A&M-Mississippi State, and Florida-Kentucky
My Top 10
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Cincinnati
- Penn State
- Oklahoma State
- BYU
- Michigan
- Oklahoma
- Kentucky