Around the CFB World Week Five

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1. Good Teams, Stay Good

It was a pretty calm weekend for most of the top-10. Alabama, Auburn, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Ohio State all crushed their respective opponents. The only game featuring a top-10 team versus a ranked opponent was Notre Dame against Virginia, which the Irish won 35-17, after trailing 17-14 at the half, only to score 21 unanswered second-half points.

2. Boats & Baylor

Two Power-5 teams that are sitting at 4-0 through the early part of the season are Baylor and Minnesota. The Bears are fresh off a last second 23-21 home win over Iowa State. More impressive is PJ Fleck taking the Gophers on the road beating Purdue 38-31. Of the two, Minnesota is probably the one that has a chance to extend its undefeated streak with the next four games including home against Illinois, Nebraska, at Rutgers and home to Maryland.

3. Good Teams, Stay Perfect

The Group 5 looks to have a promising crop of teams this year. At the top, are four undefeated teams. Things look particularly promising over in the AAC where both SMU and Memphis remained undefeated, with both also having wins over Power Five teams.

Taillines

1. Clemson Confusion

The ongoing storyline this season with Clemson is that for a team returning many good starters coming off an amazing title game win, the Tigers have been under-performing, despite being undefeated. This past weekend was particularly dicey as the Tigers only escaped North Carolina 21-20 on a failed Tar Heel two-point conversion, that would have given UNC the lead with just over a minute left.

2. Other California Happenings

California became the next school in the Pac-12 to drop its first game of the season, at home, and as the favorite. The 24-17 came at the hands of Arizona State, that scored ten unanswered points in the final five minutes of the game. Leagues that currently have more undefeated teams than the Pac-12 now include the AAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.

3. Best to the Bottom.

Akron and UMass squared off as a battle featuring two winless, and possibly worst, teams in the country. UMass would walk away with the 37-29 win. The Zips had four different players make at least one pass attempt in the game, with two of them throwing a pick. Running the ball was not much more effective, with Akron posting just 71 yards on the ground.

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Notes

• Although much has been said about the Pac-12 and its struggles, the ACC is not looking too hot right about now. Virginia Tech, UNC and Boston College. VaTech looked particularly bad losing 45-10. Don’t forget about Georgia Tech scoring a lone safety in its 24-2 loss to Temple.
• A team that perhaps should be given more credit is Penn State. After a 59-0 beat down on Maryland, the Nittany Lions sit at 5-0 and have a pretty manageable schedule, minus a road game at Ohio State at the end of the season.
• Chris Ash’s final game at Rutgers saw the Scarlet Knights fall 52-0 at Michigan. Rutgers has yet to score a point against a Big Ten team this year.