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What many of us expected did not happen. USC did not embarrass Colorado. Notre Dame did not come back and show its ACC dominance against Duke. Kansas did not even keep it close against Texas.
But there were a lot of fun games. An upset in the SEC, an almost upset in the SEC, and Florida really does stink.
Let’s look at some of the best or most important game results of Week 5 in the NCAA College Football Week 5 Review. Presented by, well, only me. Rankings based on Week 6 Coaches Poll.
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No. 4 Texas Longhorns: 40, Kansas Jayhawks: 14
After Jalon Daniels was ruled out for Kansas, this game had blowout written all over it. The articles were right as Kansas was never close.
Texas jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished its grip.
Although Quinn Ewers only had one passing TD, this is all he needed as running back Jonathon Brooks found the end zone two times on 20 carries for 217 yards in the game. This has been a meteoric rise in recent weeks for Brooks, and the Longhorns will need him this week as Texas will take on Oklahoma in the Red River showdown on Saturday.
Jonathan Brooks had himself a day against #24 Kansas 💪 pic.twitter.com/SngBiUfTdz
— Texas Football Life (@txfblife) September 30, 2023
While this loss was a disappointing one for Kansas, Daniels will be back at QB in the coming weeks and the Jayhawks' goal of getting to a second straight bowl game is well within reach. If Kansas can put this game behind it, and not let it linger, the team will be fine.
No. 7 USC Trojans: 48, Colorado Buffaloes: 41
Many Colorado skeptics expected what happened in Eugene last Saturday to happen again this week against USC in Boulder. For the first half of this game, the skeptics were right. A 20-point halftime lead was supposed to just expand as the game went on.
Shedeur Sanders again managed a minuscule number of yards early. This week, he had just 120 yards before finding himself late.
What truly helped Colorado make a massive comeback in the second half was the USC defense -- a defense that played solid in the first half but still lacks depth.
Coach Lincoln Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch decided to make substitutions and take the foot off the peddle after halftime. The lack of depth and talent showed as Colorado clawed back to score 27 points while USC kept Caleb Williams in and only scored an additional 14 points. Williams, who finished with 403 yards and six touchdowns, proved again why he is the frontrunner to win his second Heisman Trophy.
Caleb Williams is awesome. Colorado is in BIG trouble early pic.twitter.com/cxgdbkufCb
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) September 30, 2023
Sanders finished with 371 yards and four touchdowns but the true surprise was the Colorado run game -- something which was non-existent in recent weeks. The Buffaloes finished the game with 193 rushing yards and were able to average 4.3 yards per carry against the Trojans.
Colorado will have an easier time next week as it heads to Tempe to take on Arizona State. USC must find a defense as it heads into the most difficult stretch of its schedule. A trip to Notre Dame is in just two weeks.
No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats: 33, Florida Gators: 14
This was supposed to be the game in which the Florida Gators stopped the bleeding. Instead, it was the game in which the wound got deeper. As did the calls for the job of Billy Napier.
Kentucky was able to win its third straight game against the rival Gators after losing 31 straight before this streak began.
Although Devin Leary, the quarterback transfer from NC State was supposed to lead this Wildcats offense, the run game performed in this game with Kentucky almost breaking a single-game SEC record with 329 yards on the ground, compared to just 69 for Florida.
"SWEET BABY RAY‼️"
Ray Davis takes it 75 yards to the HOUSE 🏠 pic.twitter.com/Q6JnFGBboO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 30, 2023
Kentucky averaged 9.1 yards a carry on the day, and it was able to use this to control the ball for over 28 minutes -- six minutes more than their average in the season.
As Florida continues to flounder, Kentucky must take on its toughest test of the season Saturday as No. 1 Georgia will host the Wildcats in a battle of SEC East undefeated teams.
No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs: 24, Auburn Tigers: 17
Thank goodness for Brock Bowers. The best player in the nation led the Bulldogs to this win as the defense failed to put pressure on Auburn, who was able to use three different QBs to control the pace.
Brock Bowers everyone.
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) September 30, 2023
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck had a late-game drive to secure the seven-point win over the rival Tigers. But Georgia, as it has been doing all year, started slowing and remained flat for the remainder of the game.
The Bulldogs miss the pass rush of Jalen Carter immensely and have not found a replacement yet.
While this should not hurt them in conference play, it could become a factor against a good team in the playoffs such as Ohio State or Penn State.
Auburn now has a bye week to prepare for a wounded LSU team and Georgia will return home to battle Kentucky on Saturday with the winner taking control of the SEC East.
No. 15 Ole Miss Rebels: 55, No. 23 LSU Tigers: 49
If you like playground football, this was the game of the day.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 14-point lead, and it needed every one of those points as it gave up the lead and had to come back to score the six-point home victory.
The 104 points scored Saturday was the most scored between two power five teams this season. It was also the most scored in the 112-game history of this series. While the offenses performed to an elite level, the defenses struggled to cover anyone at any time.
Being interviewed going into halftime, coach Lane Kiffin said this was going to be a battle. He said field goals would not win and only touchdowns and two-point conversions would do it. He was right and after battling back all second half, he led the Rebels to the win.
Both quarterbacks showed out as Jayden Daniels had 414 yards and four touchdowns for LSU and Jaxson Dart finished with 389 yards and four touchdowns for Ole Miss.
Jaxson Dart LEAPING over the defender 🤯@JaxsonDart | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/RFdlmArT3Q
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 1, 2023
Brian Kelly and Kiffin will both need to get their defenses fixed before more tough battles ahead.
LSU will be taking on Missouri on Saturday while the Rebels will be matched up against Arkansas in a game that Ole Miss won 52-51 in 2021 and lost 42-27 in 2022.
No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 21, No. 21 Duke Blue Devils: 14
This should not be a game in which Notre Dame should have to make trick plays to win. But this is what happened on Saturday as Notre Dame scored a touchdown after a fake punt to jump out to a 7-0 lead. This was the highlight of the game as both defenses began to clamp down and Duke was able to come back to lead the game 14-13 in the fourth quarter.
Sam Hartman, the Notre Dame QB, has had a solid season for the Irish. This game, he finished with 222 passing yards but zero in the touchdown column as the Irish were dealing with injuries to three of its top receivers. This led the Irish to lean on the run game of star tailback Audric Estime, who finished with 81 yards and scored a late touchdown to seal a victory.
AUDRIC ESTIME TO THE CRIB
NOTRE DAME TAKES THE LEAD AND IS CURRENTLY COVERING THE -5.5 pic.twitter.com/kvNHKjzxes
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) October 1, 2023
Duke's Riley Leonard led both teams in rushing with 88 yards. But this was not enough. A late-game injury to his ankle looked serious as well. Duke remains ranked after this loss, but if Leonard is lost for any significant amount of time, this could be the end of the line for any big hopes for the Blue Devils.
Notre Dame remains dominant against the ACC with a 34-1 record in its last 35 games. Next week brings another ACC opponent for Notre Dame as it will take on Louisville. Meanwhile, Duke will have a needed bye week to hopefully get Leonard healthy before taking on NC State in two weeks.
