During a weekend full of upsets and convincing victories, week five showed us the true nature of college football and its lessons to be learned. Just because a conference is stacked does not mean they will get a team into the playoff. Every team has bad weeks, and the No. 1 team in the country might not necessarily be the best team.
SEC top dogs slip up
After Alabama and Auburn dropped games early in the season, it was fair to say Georgia and Ole Miss were in the Southeastern Conference’s driver’s seat. Instead, both teams looked like the two worst teams in the conference after recording 38-10 losses.
Granted the teams faced Alabama and Florida, but neither the Bulldogs nor the Rebels looked interested in playing at all. Georgia couldn’t stop Alabama as it scored in almost every way possible on a football field, while Ole Miss gave the ball away more times then anyone could keep track of.
The Gators and Crimson Tide are now strongly in contention for the SEC title, while it’s going to take a lot of work for Georgia and Ole Miss to not only get back into SEC contention, but in the College Football Playoff as well.
Pac-12 stand outs
If one were to think that Utah and California would be the top teams in the Pac-12 Conference midway through the season, they would have been deemed crazy. Yet here we are, as College GameDay will make a stop in Salt Lake City this week for Utah and Cal, two teams that have simply shown what it takes to win, or at least compete for, a conference title. The Utes and Golden Bears have both made great arguments to be in this season’s playoff.
Cal, led by junior quarterback Jared Goff, has led the Golden Bears back from the dead in the Pac-12 to be one of its perennial contenders. Utah, on the other hand, had high expectations this season but has snuck up on the rest of the country and is now ranked No. 5.
We haven’t seen a Utes team this good since the team went undefeated in 2008 and won the Sugar Bowl over Alabama. One thing is for certain; with these two teams, GameDay is in for a big treat this week.
Roar, Tigers, roar
Clemson entered the season favored to win the ACC and as a playoff dark horse. Coming into its matchup against Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish were also considered a playoff dark horse, so something had to give.
The Irish fell to the Tigers as quarterback DeShone Kizer failed to convert a game-tying, two-point conversion in the final seconds of play.
Clemson has shown all the makings of a playoff team, as sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson has developed into a complete quarterback. Now, with only Florida State standing in its way, Clemson could very well finish the season undefeated and make a run at the playoff.
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