The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From Week 5 In College Football
We are already through five weeks in college football and conference play is in full force. The number one team in the land was pushed to the brink, Kansas is 5-0 and is Clemson back? Let's break down what we saw over the weekend in college football.
The Good:
Clemson- I talked early this week in my betting nuggets blog about how good I think this Clemson team is. The offense has made a complete 180 but I wanted to see a big time win and a bounce back defensively off a tough performance in a high scoring win against Wake. Well they came back Saturday and made massive strides giving up just 20 to a really good NC State offense in a huge win that vaults them into the national title picture. There odds went from 20/1 to 16/1 and I think it only continues to drop. This team is the best the ACC has to offer by a wide margin. The Tigers look like they have their swagger back.
TCU- The Horned Frogs are 4-0 and absolutely demolished Oklahoma over the weekend. They dropped 55 on the Sooners, 668 yards and NINE yards per play. It was an absolute clinic by Sonny Dykes and crew. Through four games, they have the highest yards per rushing attempt in the country at nearly 8 yards per carry, 7th in total yards per game and 5th in points scored per game at 45. Another reason for their success? No turnovers… through four games, they haven't turned the ball over. The bigger story though has been on defense. Generally it's bend but don't break for Sonny Dykes teams but this year has been different. TCU is allowing just over 23 points per game and have been really solid against the run. The win on Saturday will set up a big showdown in Lawrence Saturday against undefeated Kansas.
UCONN- The Huskies beat Fresno as 23 point underdogs. They were +1115 on the money line and held Fresno under 200 total yards. A damn good performance by a college football doormat over the last couple years. Things are good in Uconn for the first time in awhile. Yesterday was the first time they won something of value in awhile. Things could actually bet better as they face one of the worst teams in college football next week in FIU.
The Bad:
Pittsburgh- What the hell was that yesterday? It may have been lost to some, but Pitt lost to lowly Georgia Tech, a team who just fired their coach and are bad. I was blown away people though Pitt would just be right back where they are last year even after losing Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison. This team has issues and turnovers and they can't seem to protect Kedon Slovis. This team right now is boring and seem hard to motivate. Back to the drawing board after an embarrassing loss at home.
Auburn- I mean, it's time to fire Bryan Harsin right? I feel like I say that every week, but what more do we need to see? This team is lackluster, can't move the ball and never seem prepared. Saturday they actually started out playing pretty well and had a 17 point lead, only to blow it to LSU. They have lost 7 of their last 10 overall dating back to last year and continue to blow lead after lead. If they fired Harsin today or before the end of the year it would cost almost 16 million bucks. At this point that might be closer than we think. The natives are restless in Auburn.
The Ugly:
Wisconsin- The Badgers simply just can't move the ball. It all culminated in a pathetic 34-10 drubbing against Illinois at home. Wisconsin had just TWO total rushing yards and made it worse with three turnovers. Illinois is now the second team to beat Wisconsin that should probably not beat Wisconsin and officials in Madison had their last of it over the weekend firing head coach Paul Chryst on Sunday. This is another team that seems stale and needed a shakeup. The defense should be fine but they need some new energy and a renewed sense of urgency. The one saving grace coming up for the Badgers is they have Northwestern on deck.
Colorado- Yet another loss for the Buffaloes. This time they got buried by Arizona 43-20 and allowed almost 700 total yards. I'm not kidding, this team may not win the rest of the year. They are also hoping for a switch up as they fired their head coach and defensive coordinator over the weekend. Colorado is allowing over 43 points a game and 7 yards per carry. I don't know who they will go after but this group needs another Mel Tucker type.
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Oklahoma- I talked very glowingly about their opponent above but for the Sooners, this is bottom of the barrel stuff. They per usual can't stop a nosebleed and have now lost two in a room. They are no longer the best team in the Big 12 and now face the possibility that QB Dillion Gabriel may be out for awhile after a hit to the head. Oklahoma has now allowed 96 points over the last two games and they now have to face the prospect that the CFP is dead and buried. It's low point time for Oklahoma. They actually could lose three in a row as Texas awaits. Is it buy low time on the Sooners?