Week 5 Stock Report: Revved up for Red River, USC doesn't look like a championship contender, is there a clear-out No. 2 conference?

Week 5 didn’t have the pizzazz or star-studded matchups of Week 4, but a solid slate of games still delivered plenty of interesting and notable results. 

Each Monday, I take note of whose stock — be it team, head coach, player, assistant, unit, Heisman candidacy, preseason narrative, etc. — is trending upward, whose is down and whose is holding.

Here’s the Week 5 Stock Report:

📈 STOCK UP: The Red River Showdown 

Fire up the deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos because Red River looks like it’s going to be fun as hell this Saturday. In the final showdown as Big 12 members, Texas and Oklahoma enter the matchup as two of the hottest teams in the country. I know Texas is good. And after enough of a sample size, I think Brent Venables‘ Sooners are, too.

The Longhorns already beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa and just trucked Kansas 40-14 behind 336 yards rushing. Quinn Ewers and AD Mitchell (10 catches for 141 yards and a score) got clicking again, too. 

Meanwhile, Dillion Gabriel is doing his best Baker Mayfield impression with the Sooners, stuffing the stat sheet every Saturday. In the rout over Iowa State, OU’s quarterback had 400 total yards and five touchdowns. 

There are a ton of awesome matchups in this game — and considering the rest of the Big 12 in 2023 it’s probably the first of two meetings — but one strength on strength: Oklahoma’s third down offense (55% conversion, 6th nationally) vs. Texas’ third down defense (just 27% conversion against, 10th nationally). 

📉 STOCK DOWN: USC as a championship contender 

During the USC-Colorado broadcast, FOX announcer Joel Klatt declared that at least 18 different NFL teams would take Caleb Williams over their starter right now. And he was probably selling Williams short! 

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner looks like he’s playing a different sport in 2023, but unless the Trojans are able to dramatically solve multiple issues midseason, Williams doesn’t look like he’ll be playing for anything of substance by the end of the year. 

Lincoln Riley remains unserious about fixing USC’s defense. The Trojans aren’t a complete tire fire like they were in 2022, but they’re still not good enough to seriously compete for a Pac-12 title much-less a national championship. It’s more than a trend at this point: Riley’s teams — whether it’s at Oklahoma and or the last two seasons at USC — blow big leads and can’t come up with timely stops.

The Trojans survived Colorado’s furious rally, but they may be the team playing catchup in games against Washington and Oregon. 

STOCK HOLDING: The ACC vs. The Big Ten vs. SEC as the No. 2 conference in the country

In terms of 2023 P5 conference power rankings, the Pac-12 currently reigns supreme, while the Big 12 absolutely takes up the rear. But five weeks into the season, you could make an argument for all three remaining leagues as the No. 2 conference in the country so far in 2023. 

Despite a down year per typical standards, the SEC has a Top 5 team in the country in Georgia, with another six schools still ranked in the AP Poll Top 25. Notably, the SEC has not fared well in several marquee non-conference matchups (especially against the ACC), but if you power-ranked each league then those games wouldn’t have shaken out evenly. 

Even with Clemson already carrying two losses, the ACC has a solid core of Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville and Clemson. The problem is the conference’s bad — Georgia Tech, Pitt, Boston College, Virginia and Virginia Tech — is really, really bad. Like the dregs of most P5 teams in 2023. 

The Big Ten is always top-heavy with Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, but all three schools look like legitimate CFP contenders. Maryland is also 5-0. Can anyone in the Big Ten West show something, though? Iowa and Wisconsin are uninspiring, while the rest of the division is gross. 

📈 STOCK UP: Neal Brown, West Virginia 

Kudos to Neal Brown and the Mountaineers, who are now 4-1 with a third-straight upset win — this time going on the road and beating TCU. Their four-game winning streak overall is a first under Brown, too. 

Brown entered the season on the sizzling hot seat, and while it’s been a bit of smoke and mirrors, West Virginia has found a way to scratch and claw its way to wins each Saturday. The Mountaineers’ offense is toothless (just 19 points per game against non-FCS opponents), but they can run the ball just well enough (201 yards on 43 carries against the Horned Frogs) and they play really salty defense (No. 3 in the Big 12 in yards per play allowed). 

For a team picked to finish last in the Big 12, they’ve been fueled by an “us against the world” mentality all season, and they’ve proven to be the more physical team late in games. The Mountaineers came up with timely turnovers to beat Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. They held Texas Tech to 2 of 18 on third down and blocked a field goal to seal the win over TCU. 

It no longer looks like Brown’s job security is in question. If WVU can survive all its injuries in the secondary, it’s what bowl game will the Mountaineers be going to in December?

📉STOCK DOWN: Georgia’s run defense 

The Bulldogs still have some issues offensively (particularly run-blocking from the right side of their banged-up OL), but quarterback Carson Beck answered a lot of questions with his second-half performance against Auburn. UGA might have the best player in the country not named Caleb Williams in tight end Brock Bowers, too. 

But the preseason concerns about UGA’s run defense finally feeling the talent drain of so many stars leaving for the NFL has proved legit.

Despite Auburn’s inability to throw a forward pass, the Tigers still gashed the Dawgs for over 200 yards — the first time a Kirby Smart defense has allowed as much in six seasons. Georgia, which now ranks 67th in yards per carry allowed, has thrived playing in light boxes, but it’s ends and outside linebackers are struggling to set the edge and the interior DL aren’t getting as much penetration. Now the Bulldogs must tangle with a Kentucky run game that just rolled up over 300 yards on a then-Top 10 Florida run defense.