We know enough….to know what we don’t know…but want to know. After a week where so many of the top teams in the country played out-of-conference patsies, it’s time to get down to real business with some big games this week. It’s time to find out what we want to know about some of these teams as the season is already one-third of the way through. It’s time to step up or step off for some teams so that we can know more after Saturday. Let’s put on our thinking caps:
Week 5 College Football Preview
West Virginia @ Oklahoma; Sat 12noon EDT Fox Sports 1: No one talked about West Virginia winning the Big XII when the season started and they are still on the outside looking in. But the Mountaineers have a defense that has given up only 23 points in three games this season. To be fair, WVU has played a soft early schedule so we still need to know if this defense is for real. Oklahoma is going to get us answers, because quarterback Baker Mayfield has thrown ten touchdown passes in three games, bringing back the more wide open offense that head coach Bob Stoops has always wanted. The Mountaineers may still be suffering whiplash from watching Sooners running back Samaje Perine run for 331 yards and four touchdowns in his debut last season against WVA.
Alabama @ Georgia; Sat 3:30pm EDT CBS: What we know here is that Alabama is probably going to spend the next seven weeks playing for a bowl game that has nothing to do with the playoffs if they lose this game. Coach Nick Saban has been sniping at offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin on the sidelines and the offense lacks a rhythm with two quarterbacks. Bama has been living off its defense, which is giving up only 56 yards rushing per game. Enter the Georgia Bulldogs and one of the best running backs in the nation, Nick Chubb. He is just one big performance away from tying Herschel Walker’s school record of 13 consecutive 100-yard rushing games. Bulldogs quarterback Greyson Lambert is also completing 76 percent of his passes, and Bama has been getting burned by the passing game. While Georgia seems to be in control of the SEC East, they need to prove they belong in the big picture. If the Bulldogs lose, we know it won’t take long for the Twitter world to explode all over coach Mark Richt and his perceived inability to win clutch games. The last time Bama started 0-2 in conference, Gene Stallings was the head coach.
Baylor @ Texas Tech; Sat 3:30pm EDT ABC/ESPN 2: Finally get to see Baylor play a real game. Week five of the season and this is the first Power Five conference team the Bears have faced. Baylor can put up video game numbers against Rice, SMU and Lamar, but it’s time to play for real and we know with the non-conference schedule as it is, they are going to have to get people’s attention in the Big XII games to have a shot at the playoffs. Baylor quarterback Seth Russell is averaging five touchdown passes per game, but the defense is giving up 23 points a game to subpar competition. Enter the high flying Texas Tech offense, which is one miracle play by TCU away from being undefeated. Last year Texas Tech had a tough loss to Oklahoma and lost five of its last six. We want to know if Texas Tech is a legitimate contender in the Big XII or the annual flash-in-the-early-season pan. We want to know if quarterback Patrick Mahomes is as gritty as he looked playing with an injured hip last week. We want to know if Baylor is up to the task of being a top ten team.
Ole Miss @ Florida; Sat 7pm EDT ESPN: We know Jim McElwain has decided Will Grier is his quarterback for the season now after the Tennessee win. We know Grier has decent passing numbers but also owns four turnovers in four games. We know that Florida plays three top 10 teams in the next four weeks, so that by the end of October we will also know what the immediate future of Gators football looks like. As for Ole Miss, this season is a reclamation project for quarterback Chad Kelly. The nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly has gone from getting thrown off the team at Clemson in 2013, to being arrested for a bar fight in Buffalo in 2014 to finding his place in Oxford where he leads the SEC with more than 1,200 yards passing. He has shown the skills Ole Miss was lacking at the position last year. With Auburn in the tank and Alabama on its heels, the SEC West is there for the taking but we know it’s going to mean Kelly has to come up big Saturday for the Rebels to stay in the hunt.
Arizona State @ UCLA; Sat 7:30pm EDT, Fox: We know the Bruins are getting a lot of national love after a blowout win over previously over-ranked Arizona last week. What we don’t have an answer to is the weekly question of which Josh Rosen UCLA will get at quarterback. The one who pilloried the Virginia and Arizona defenses, or the one who struggled against UNLV and BYU? One thing we have learned is that UCLA’s offensive line has been dominant in opening holes for the running game and giving Rosen protection. The rest is up to him to learn. We also now know that when some picked ASU to win the Pac 12 South, they were horribly wrong. We know the fans have also given up as displayed by the half empty student section at halftime of the blowout loss to Southern Cal last week. We know that ASU is wearing new “Desert Hammer” uniforms Saturday. What we will learn is if the hammer turns out to be like the rubbery cartoon one Wiley Coyote had in the desert.
Mississippi State @ Texas A&M; Sat 7:30pm EDT SEC Network: We knew that new Aggies defensive coordinator John Chavis would be a difference maker and we were right. Texas A&M is second in the country with 17 sacks. We know this week that the defense will get its biggest test of the season going up against Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott who has completed 75% of his passes the last two games and has not thrown an interception all season. Ironically, it was Chavis’ old team, LSU, that was the one team that put pressure on Prescott this season and held him to negative yards rushing. We don’t know, but we will guess, that Chavis has watched a lot of tape of that game from three weeks ago.
Notre Dame @ Clemson; Sat 8pm EDT ABC: Here is what we know. With the ACC being what it is and Notre Dame not having a conference title game, this could well be a playoff elimination game for the loser. We know that Clemson is 5-2 since 2009 when playing a top ten team and being lower ranked. We know Notre Dame has been battered by injuries but still playing excellent football. We know the game will be played in terribly wet weather. We know the game is so popular that Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney says he couldn’t get Jesus a ticket to the game if he wanted one. We can only assume Jesus wouldn’t need Dabo’s connections if he really wanted to see it.
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