College football’s Week 5 had a little bit of everything: a Miami team that keeps stacking wins without really getting tested, an Alabama offense that is humming like a machine, and a Missouri breakthrough that finally matched the noise around it.
The Hurricanes are the toughest team to place right now. Miami keeps looking the part, but the schedule has not forced any real stress test yet.
Wake Forest? Not much of one.
Clemson? Some offense to Clemson.
Even Darian Mensah having all day to throw doesn’t tell us a lot about the Hurricanes as a whole. Miami’s slate is weaker than Notre Dame’s, and that’s the comparison being used to judge contenders.
The truth is, the Hurricanes may not face a real ACC challenge the rest of the way. Maybe Pitt.
Maybe Duke. But the clearest measuring stick still appears to be Notre Dame in South Bend, and that’s where we’ll learn the most about how elite Miami actually is.
Alabama, though, looks easy to trust on offense. This is what a Kalen DeBoer team is supposed to feel like.
The comparison to Michael Penix Jr. and those loaded Washington groups makes sense: creative, dangerous, and built to spread the ball around to receivers who can change a game in a snap. This version of the Crimson Tide has that same kind of energy, with Keelon Russell steering the attack.
Alabama has scored at least 45 points in each of its first five games, the first time the program has opened a season that way since 2018.
Saturday also brought a wide range of results for coaches carrying heat. Mike Norvell got a big one, with Florida State rolling past Virginia, 38-7, after starting the year on the hottest seat in the country and then losing his athletic director in mid-September.
Luke Fickell had a much-needed bounce as Wisconsin beat Michigan State, 31-3, to move to 4-1. That seat has cooled a lot, and this Badgers team looks better than it has in a while.
On the other side, Shane Beamer and Mike Locksley watched leads slip away in painful losses, South Carolina in overtime and Maryland in an eventual blowout. And if you’re building a new hot-seat list, Cal first-year coach Tosh Lupoi deserves a look. It’s only his first season, but after a loss to UNLV, the Bears are 2-3, and their offensive coordinator had never been an OC or play-caller at the college or pro level before.
Missouri’s win over Florida was the one that changed the conversation most. All week, the debate centered on whether the Tigers belonged in the rankings.
I didn’t have them ranked. I do now.
Missouri completely shut down a Florida offense that had been explosive and prolific, while Austin Simmons carved up a Florida defense that looked shaky all day, throwing for 340 yards and two touchdowns. It was also Eli Drinkwitz’s first regular-season win over a top-10 team in 11 tries.
“It’s a good win against a really good team today. That’s all it was,” Drinkwitz said.
“Nobody in our locker room could care less about that. I couldn’t care less about that.
I really couldn’t care less. The SEC is a hard league, and yeah, I’m done with that.”
Friday night belonged to Northwestern, and to Chip Kelly. The coordinator hire has changed the look of the offense, and the results were impossible to ignore in the Wildcats’ 34-13 win over Penn State in the new Ryan Field opener.
Northwestern ran for 413 yards and held Penn State to 48 on the ground, a flat-out beating that showed this team can win in more than one way. The Wildcats also went toe-to-toe with the defending national champs a couple of weeks ago, and they’ve now shown they can be a real problem in Big Ten play.
“I tried to tell everybody Northwestern was a good football team, but nobody was buying that,” Curt Cignetti said after Indiana beat the Wildcats by six points. “Two years ago, if people said Indiana was a good football team people weren’t buying that stock either.”
That compliment landed because it fit. And after Week 5, it looks earned.
In Other News...
Alabama Found Two Reasons To Feel Better Before Georgia
Before Alabama turns its attention to Georgia, there were a couple of encouraging signs worth noting from the latest game. Keelon Russell gave the offense a lift by throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns while adding a score on the ground, and the run game got meaningful help from a deeper group of backs, including Traeshawn Brown and EJ Crowell.
Xavier Griffin also stood out on the other side of the ball, leading the team in tackles and helping make several key defensive plays. Just as important for a defense looking to steady itself, Alabamas run front was much firmer against Mississippi State, holding the Bulldogs to 18 rushing yards and giving the Tide something concrete to carry into a bigger test. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Underwoods Struggles Leave Michigan With An Uncomfortable Week 5 Reality
Keelon Russells rise has become one of the more notable developments around Alabamas early-season start, and the quarterbacks recent stretch has only sharpened the attention. After throwing four touchdowns in the spring game and then piling up 10 passing touchdowns and 970 yards over three games, he has helped steady a team that rolled to a 56-23 win and moved to 5-0.
For Alabama, that kind of production matters not just in the standings but in the broader SEC picture, where quarterback play can change the feel of a season quickly. Around the country, other programs were dealing with their own storylines in Week 5, but Russells emergence has given Alabama a promising answer at the position and left the rest of the league watching what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Has A Real Shot To Climb After Saturdays Top 25 Chaos
Saturdays college football slate did Alabama a favor, even before the next AP Top 25 poll gets posted. USC barely survived an upset scare, Ohio State and Missouri both had results worth watching, and a few teams around the country did enough to create the kind of weekend that tends to shake up the middle and upper tiers of the rankings.
For Alabama, the bigger point is simple: the Crimson Tide have a real path to move up if the voters decide the chaos mattered as much as the resumes. The poll will be refreshed soon, and with conference play still unfolding, there is a decent chance the order gets jumbled in a way that opens the door for Alabama to climb if enough teams ahead of it wobble. [Read more 🡒]