We were really close to having 3 teams drop hard down our rankings. As it happened, a Big Ten team made a furious late-drive comeback and survived in a tough road environment. A team from the SEC and Big 12 were far less fortunate.

Top 11

1 Alabama (+2, 4-0, 59-0 W at Vanderbilt)

Tide back in the top spot after a historic win over a decent Vanderbilt defense.

2 Clemson (-1, 4-0, 34-7 W vs. Boston College)

Actually tied 7-7 in the 4th quarter before a 27-point explosion to finish the game.

3 Oklahoma (-1, 4-0, 49-41 W at Baylor)

Dangerously close to losing to the Bears and also dropping in the polls.

4 TCU (NR, 4-0, 44-31 W at Oklahoma State)

The Frogs shoot up the rankings with what should be one of the best road wins of the year.

5 USC (-1, 4-0, 30-20 W at California)

The Trojans continue to look very beatable and yet continue to win football games.

6 Georgia (+5, 4-0, 31-3 W vs. Mississippi State)

The Dawgs get a nice bump following a thorough defeat of week three’s darling team.

7 Washington (E, 4-0, 37-10 W at Colorado)

As is the MO of Chris Petersen they calmly dispatch a decent Colorado team on the road.

8 Penn State (-2, 4-0, 21-19 W at Iowa)

THIS close to losing to Iowa but survive with an epic game-winning drive and touchdown pass.

9 Michigan (-1, 4-0, 28-10 at Purdue) 

The signature Jeff Brohm victory is denied but this one was close until late.

10 Ohio State (E, 3-1, 54-21 W vs. UNLV)

Jumped out to a 44-7 lead by halftime and set things into cruise control from there.

11 Auburn (+1, 3-1, 51-14 W at Missouri)

The Tigers are holding on here mostly due to a quality loss at Clemson.

Next 2

Oklahoma State (-7, 3-1, 44-31 L vs. TCU)

Kind of a bad loss at home that might ruin a magical season for the Cowboys.

Virginia Tech (NR, 4-0, 38-0 W vs. Old Dominion)

The Hokies come into the rankings based mostly on looking quite good in all of their games so far.

Dropped out: Miss State, Oregon

G5 Top 3

San Diego State (E, 4-0, 28-24 W at Air Force)

Gutted out a comeback win in Colorado Springs to just retain their spot atop the non-Power 5 rankings.

South Florida (NR, 4-0, 43-7 W vs. Temple)

Took advantage of a bevy of Owl turnovers for an easy victory.

UCF (NR, 2-0, 38-10 W at Maryland)

Called this upset pick last week but didn’t expect quite this level of a beat down.

Dropped out: Memphis

You Were Bad

UConn

East Carolina looked like an 0-12 team this year until they visited Storrs this weekend.

Boise State

Lost by 19 at home to Virginia in what could be a future “oh yeah that’s when the Broncos reign of dominance started to end” type of game.

Vanderbilt

My “closer than you think” game saw the Commodores gain 78 yards against Alabama.

Florida State

Not necessarily bad per se but worth noting their first 0-2 start since 1989.

Missouri 

This program looks dead after a 37-point loss to Auburn.

Pitt

Third straight loss and averaging 42.3 points surrendered in those defeats.

UTEP

Blown out again and staring at 0-12, currently -140 in point differential this season.

UCLA

Threw the ball 60 times to 12 running back carries, lost by 24 points to Stanford.

Week 5 Preview

Enemy Watch

#14 Miami (-6.5) at Duke
#5 USC (-3.5) at #16 Washington State
Houston (-13.5) at Temple
North Carolina (+9.5) at Georgia Tech
Syracuse (+13) at NC State
Central Michigan (+8) at Boston College
#7 Georgia (-7.5) at Tennessee
Florida State (-7.5) at Wake Forest
Navy (-6) at Tulsa
Arizona State (+16.5) at Stanford
Iowa (+3.5) at Michigan State

Here’s a nice collection of opponents games starting off with Miami (playing just their third game) visiting an undefeated Duke team that has beaten Northwestern, Baylor, and North Carolina in consecutive weeks.

USC visiting Pullman on Friday has loss written all over it for the Trojans. Look at the Cougars almost inside the Top 15 already!

Georgia has looked mighty good so far and that line in Knoxville makes you think they’ll be in a good fight against the Vols.

Arizona State is coming off a nice win over Oregon–the Ducks first defeat of 2017–and are getting a ton of points against Stanford. That is a very tempting line, friends.

Too Close for Comfort

Baylor (+16.5) at Kansas State

Hard, hard whiff here last week (Alabama) but Baylor showed plenty of life, seemingly out of nowhere, last week taking Oklahoma near the wire. Manhattan is a tough place to play yet here’s plenty of points to work with on a betting slip.

Upset Pick of the Week

Colorado (+6.5) at UCLA

One reason not to pick Colorado is that their offense has struggled so far. In their two toughest games they’ve combined for 27 points. That’s not good when UCLA can score a lot (averaging 45 per game) with Rosen. The Bruins are giving up 43 per game, though. Weakness against weakness.

National Spotlight

Indiana (+17) at #4 Penn State
#24 Miss State (+9.5) at #13 Auburn
Memphis (+3.5) at UCF
#2 Clemson (-7.5) at #12 Virginia Tech
#15 Oklahoma State (-9.5) at Texas Tech

Man, the Hoosiers have looked pretty decent and Penn State is due for a let down game for sure. This is in my national spotlight but also a too close for comfort game, as well.

I feel like not much has been going on with Auburn in recent weeks and this is a game they cannot afford to lose. They have Georgia and Alabama to look forward to in the future.

UCF replaced Memphis on my G5 list and has the opportunity to get right back in immediately.

I thought Virginia Tech would struggle mightily breaking in a new quarterback and it’s been untrue. Redshirt freshman Josh Jackson has been on fire and faces an enormous test this weekend. Darkhorse Heisman moment, perhaps?

Texas Tech is currently undefeated with decent wins against Arizona State and Houston. The latter was the Cougars’ first home loss in forever. Anyone giving the Red Raiders a shot this weekend?