Mr. CFB: What We Learned, Week 5
Oh my goodness. Things are starting to get interesting.
Let’s remember that the first set of College Football Playoff rankings wont’ be released until Tuesday, Nov. 1 Until then, none of the current rankings really matter.
But we’re still going to talk about them. Why? Because it's fun.
After the first week in October, it’s pretty clear that the selection committee will have a lot to ponder when they convene in Grapevine, Tex., at the end of the month.
Here are just five things we learned—and the selection committee learned--on Week 5 of the college football season.
1—Alabama can beat Texas A&M without Bryce Young. Tennessee on Oct. 15 could be another matter.
Alabama was most impressive on the road at Arkansas because of what the Crimson Tide overcame. They lost their quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, to an injury. Arkansas reeled of 23 straight points and closed within five, 28-23, in the third quarter.
But Alabama went to backup quarterback Jalen Milroe who, looking like Jalen Hurts 2.0, led the Crimson Tide to a 49-26 win over Arkansas.
Young was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder and it is not known if he’ll play Saturday against Texas A&M (8 p.m., CBS).
It won’t matter. Alabama will win comfortably on Saturday if Milroe is the quarterback.
But on the third Saturday in October Alabama goes to Tennessee, which leads the conference with 48.5 points per game. And the Volunteers are starting to play better on defense.
Here’s the thing: Young is the guy who lifts Alabama from very good to great. Alabama won't need great this Saturday. But it will need great before this season is over.
2—Georgia deserved to be dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 after almost losing at Missouri:
The Bulldogs have not looked like the No. 1 team in the nation in its last two games against Kent State (39-22) and Missouri (26-22).
Georgia, a 28-point favorite, saw its offensive line manhandled by Missouri and, as a result, quarterback Stetson Bennett took a beating in the first half.
But, to Georgia’s credit the Bulldogs took control of the line of scrimmage in the second half with a 23-6 scoring run. Georgia’s superior depth wore Missouri down. Georgia outgained Missouri 299-100 in the second half. Bennett had 312 yards passing.
If you’re a Georgia fan it was both an ugly and beautiful thing to watch.
'They played really physical and really hard and whipped us up front, but I'm really proud of us,'' Coach Kirby Smart said. ''We always talk about rising to the competitive nature of the opportunity and we did that tonight.''
As a coach once told me: “If you’re playing an SEC road game, take a one-point win, get on the bus and go home.”
Georgia (5-0) has Auburn and Vanderbilt the next two weeks before taking a week off to get ready for Florida on Oct. 29.
3—Ole Miss is better than I thought they were:
Ole Miss forced two turnovers with the game on the line as the Rebels beat Kentucky 22-19 in Oxford. I picked Kentucky to win this game straight up because I wasn’t convinced that Lane Kiffin’s team was as physically tough as the Wildcats of Mark Stoops.
They were.
'Our defensive guys really showed up with those two turnovers at the end to win it,'' Ole MIss coach Lane Kiffin said. ''At the end, our team found a way to come through.''
Ole Miss, ranked No. 9 in Sunday’s new AP poll, plays Vanderbilt and Auburn the next two weeks and has an excellent chance to be 7-0 going to LSU on Oct. 22.
Now it should be pointed out that Kentucky basically gave the game away with two failed extra points, a missed 39-yard field goal and two forced fumbles by Kentucky quarterback Will Levis in the red zone.
Levis is getting a lot of NFL Draft hype and it is deserved. But you have to take care of the football in those crucial situations.
“We certainly had our opportunities,” said Stoops.
4—A heads up to the rest of the SEC West: LSU is getting better every week:
You think that LSU would like to have its opening game with Florida State back?
LSU lost to Florida State 24-23 way back on Sept. 4 in a game where the Tigers made a ton of mistakes and looked, quite frankly, poorly coached.
But now the Tigers have won four straight after Saturday’s 21-17 win at Auburn. LSU passed another big test in Brian Kelly’s first SEC road game.
LSU trailed 17-0 before mounting its comeback.
“We just found a way to win the game,” said Kelly, in his first year after a long stint at Notre Dame. . “Was that our best performance? I hope not. But it was gutty, it was gritty and I was proud of our guys with the way they hung in there.”
But now it gets really interesting for LSU as the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers come to Tiger Stadium on Saturday (Noon, ESPN).
5—Jimbo Fisher—and all coaches for that matter—talk about getting better each week. I’ve never been quite sure what that means. But I do know this. Texas A&M ain’t getting better. If anything, the Aggies are getting worse.
What other conclusion is there to be drawn after watching Mississippi State force four turnovers—three inside the red zone—on the way to beating the Aggies 42-24?
“We just didn’t play well enough,” said Fisher, whose team was in everybody’s preseason Top 10.
Of course, that’s on us folks in the media for drinking the Texas A&M Kool Aid. Because once the games started in 2022, it was pretty clear that the Aggies were not a top ten team. With a second loss Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1 SEC) is now out of the Top 25.
So what’s next?
The Aggies have to go to No. 1 Alabama. There will be a lot hype about the dust up between Nick Saban and Fisher earlier this year. Means nothing. Then Texas A&M gets a much-needed week off before starting a home stretch that includes Ole Miss, Florida, and LSU—all in College Station.
At best this is a team that has 8-4 written all over it.