College Football Week 5
A wise man once told me “watching Leonard Fournette run is like watching Leonardo da Vinci paint.” Three straight 200-yard rushing games — are you kidding me? If he keeps this up, he’ll be the best running back to come out of college since Adrian Peterson came out of Oklahoma. In other news this week, we had some pretty fun upsets and huge shake-ups in the AP and coaches polls.
The Upsets
No. 3 Ole Miss 10 vs. No. 25 University of Florida 38
A few weeks ago, after Ole Miss beat Alabama, I said the game was a bit of a fluke. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not a bad team, but they have too many weaknesses to be No. 3 in the country. The Gators found every weakness that Ole Miss had to offer and exploited them all game long. Ole Miss is going to have a few more losses this year so be ready for them to lose again and potentially drop out of the rankings. Florida, on the other hand, is a good team that has the potential to make it to a top bowl game.
No. 8 University of Georgia 10 vs. No. 13 University of Alabama 38
Was this truly an upset? Probably not. Alabama is obviously one of the best in the country, and losing one crazy game isn’t going to change the quality of their team. However, this game was important because it shows us that Alabama can be the best team in the country on any given day. Despite how good Alabama is I still thought Georgia would have played better than they did. How does the starting quarterback of an SEC powerhouse, ranked No. 8 in the country, not even complete 50 percent of his passes? I don’t really know, but it might have had something to do with Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert’s girlfriend appearing during halftime to be presented the title of Miss Georgia (following the ex Miss Georgia who became Miss America).
No. 6 Notre Dame 22 vs. No. 12 Clemson 24
Ah, finally to the big game of the weekend. Think about the atmosphere at the end of this game. You’re in Death Valley, one of the craziest and most energetic places to watch college football. You’ve been at the stadium since 5 a.m., waiting for game time and then tailgating again afterwards. It’s pouring the kind of rain South Carolina hasn’t had in decades.
Notre Dame has been trialing the whole game, but makes a comeback and scores a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put them within two. All the Irish need is the two-point conversion to put the game into overtime. Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer tries to run it to the end zone, only to be stopped short by Tigers’ defensive tackle Carlos Watkins.
Heartbreak.
Every Notre Dame fan is staring off, watching Clemson cheer and yell their hearts out in celebration of upsetting the No. 6 team in the country. This, my friends, is college football at its finest. Watching two national powerhouses fight it out brings hundreds of thousands of fans to college stadiums every Saturday. Both of these teams are going to have great seasons and we should expect them both to make top bowl games.
Afterthought and AP Poll craziness
A few teams such as Florida, Texas A&M and Clemson made huge jumps in the AP poll this week. The biggest surprise to me was Utah jumping up another five spots after not playing this week. How does that even happen? I’m actually a huge Utah football fan and I don’t truly understand the ranking. Yes, they did absolutely embarrass an awful Oregon team, but that doesn’t make them deserve No. 5 in the country. The only win that’s really helping them right now is Michigan, who still hasn’t really beaten anyone that impressive. How do you just put them over teams like LSU, or Clemson that just beat a Top 10 team? Oh well, I’ll take it. Hopefully Utah is the real deal and makes the playoffs.
