The State of College Football – Week 5 Edition

Another huge weekend with unpredictable upsets. Iowa State beats Oklahoma for the first time at home since 1960! Texas and Auburn both looked “turrible” as well and were dominated by conference rivals. On the other hand, Clemson and Alabama look poised to meet again in the CFB Playoff. 

Top 25:
1 Clemson
2 Ohio State
3 Alabama
4 Florida
5 Georgia
6 Penn State
7 Notre Dame
8 Minnesota
9 Oregon
10 Michigan
11 Miami
12 Cincinnati
13 Tennessee
14 Arizona State
15 North Carolina
16 USC
17 BYU
18 Wisconsin
19 Virginia Tech
20 LSU
21 Oklahoma State
22 SMU
23 Louisiana
24 Auburn
25 Coastal Carolina

Weekly Awards
Offensive Player of the Week: Max Duggan, QB, TCU
Defensive Player of the Week: Andrew Booth Jr, CB, Clemson
Freshman of the Week: Eli Ricks, CB, LSU
Coach of the Week: Kirby Smart, Georgia

Where I was Right – Where I was Wrong
Right: Welcome to my TED Talk on Breece Hall. While all of draft twitter was trying to make Brock Purdy into a prospect they’ve been sleeping on Breece Hall, a true draft prospect. Hall had the tough job of taking over for David Montgomery in the Iowa State backfield and since doing so I haven’t heard any complaints coming out of Ames, Iowa about running backs. After an impressive 155 yards and 3 touchdowns against TCU, Hall was at it again this weekend but this time against the Big 12’s top team – Oklahoma. Hall went off AGAIN for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns. Folks, it’s time to start taking this kid for real. Put him on your draft boards, put him on your Doak Walker lists, hell put him on everything because he is carrying Iowa State to the top of the Big 12. 

Wrong: *WARNING! Explicit material ahead*

Fucking fuck Texas. It has been YEARS since I’ve had my hopes shattered like this. No, I didn’t believe it when QB Sam Ehlinger said Texas was back. No, I didn’t get excited when Texas played OU for the Big 12 Championship. But I got my fucking hopes up this year and they ripped my fucking heart out. This is a veteran led team with talent all over the field and I truely, and unbiasedly, believed Texas could win the Big 12 and make the CFB Playoff. Are they going to? Nope. But at least OU sucks worse. I still love Texas. I don’t care if they’re not “back” and yes, I cried myself to sleep while watching How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days Saturday night. I fucking love McConaughey too.  #HookEm

$100 Handshakes – Underclassmen that stood out or draft eligible players improved their draft stock

Quarterbacks:
Mac Jones, Alabama
Zach Wilson, BYU
Shane Buechele, SMU

Running Backs:
Breece Hall, Iowa State
Khalil Herbert, Virginia Tech
Travis Etienne, Clemson

Receivers/Tight Ends:
Reggie Roberson, SMU
Kearis Jackson, Georgia
John Metchie III, Alabama

D-Line/EDGE
Joseph Ossai, Texas
Zachary Carter, Florida
Azeez Ojulari, Georgia

Linebackers
Nick Bolton, Missouri
Anthony Butler, Liberty
Mike Rose, Iowa State

Defensive Backs
Richie Grant, UCF
Arquon Bush, Cincinnati 
Joe Foucha, Arkansas

Final Thoughts:
The Big 12 is dead. With OU having two losses, Texas playing like shit I just don’t think the Big 12 will be represented in the playoff. Two SEC schools or a seven win Pac 12 school will most likely get the fourth spot. Oklahoma State is the only unbeaten team in the Big 12 but they haven’t played Oklahoma or Texas yet and without Spencer Sanders I don’t see OSU being undefeated by season’s end. 

The Georgia offense is out of the Dawg house. Former walk-on Stetson Bennett looked very good against Auburn and may even hold onto the starting job after JT Daniels is cleared. Did Stetson Bennett run off Jamie Newman? I guess we’ll never know. Zamir White has emerged as the newest Georgia running back and proved he can carry the offense to a win in the SEC, especially if the defense is holding teams to single-digits. Newcomer Kearis Jackson looked excellent at receiver – a converted high school quarterback – and can compliment George Pickens very well in the passing game. It’s still Kirby Smart’s defense that leads Georgia and the young offense knows they can rely on the defense to keep games low scoring. The November 7th game with Florida is going to be one of the best games this year as one of the top offenses takes on one of the top defenses. 

Week 6 Preview:
Florida @ Texas A&M, 11:00 AM, ESPN
Virginia Tech @ North Carolina, 11:00 AM, ABC
Texas Vs Oklahoma, 11:00 AM, FOX
Coastal Carolina @ Louisiana, 11:00 AM, ESPN2
Tennessee @ Georgia, 2:30 PM, CBS
Miami @ Clemson, 6:30 PM, ABC

Scouting Notes and Questions

Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida – Pitts is off to a crazy start with 6 touchdown catches in two games and is taking the draft world by storm. However, he has left me wondering where he plays in the NFL. The Evan Engram experiment isn’t working, and much like Engram, Pitts cannot block and doesn’t seem to have the speed to separate from defenders in the SEC. He could still be a huge redzone threat in the NFL but we may need to pump the breaks on who Pitts is. It is still early in the season and Pitts has been electric – will probably even win the Mackey Award – but stop box score scouting and watch his plays. Huge catch radius and plays above the rim better than most, but what does he do other than be 6’6”?

Kyle Trask, QB, Florida – I’m ready to make it official – Trask is QB4 in this class and a first round talent. I love his arm and ability to move around in the pocket. Let’s take a look at the teams that should be looking at quarterback in round one – Jets, Giants, Washington, Jaguars, Steelers, Colts, Bears, and Saints. BUT, you can also add the Eagles, Falcons, Patriots, Broncos and Panthers to teams that could explore quarterback early in the draft. That’s 13 teams that could realistically be looking at a quarterback in the first two or three rounds of the draft. Trask value is going to increase based off of that whether you like him or not. 

Joseph Ossai, EDGE, Texas – After spending two years being wasted playing off ball linebacker, the Texas defense moved their best defender into the position he should play – edge. Ossai was able to beat the hell out of TCU with speed, power, and the ability to lineup and rush from all over the field. I was beyond excited when I learned Ossai was moving to edge and after three games he is emerging as a top edge rusher in this draft class – unless he stays another year at Texas. 

Everyone, Alabama – I’m not an Alabama fan and I’ve been very vocal about how much I hated Tuscaloosa, but my god their guys are playing well. Quarterback Mac Jones has been playing so well that we haven’t heard anything about Tua in T-Town, Najee Harris is a walking, or hurdling, highlight and Jaylen Waddle has gone off for 100+ yards in both games so far. Not to be forgotten, Devonte Smith made an incredible catch on Saturday and is playing much bigger than his 175 lbs frame.