College Football Cheat Sheet: Week 5

The college football sprint is off and running. After a fun opening four (or five if you count Week Zero) weekends, we have shifted to Week 5. Conference play is heating up as more games with legitimate stakes are on the slate.

KSR’s College Football Cheat Sheet is back to set the table. Full schedule, top games, matchups to watch, and much more. Let’s football.

The Slate

Virginia Tech at No. 7 Miami	7:30pm ET (Friday)	ESPN
Washington at Rutgers	8:00pm ET (Friday)	FOX
Minnesota at No. 12 Michigan	Noon ET	FOX
Nebraska at Purdue	Noon ET	Peacock
Buffalo at UConn	Noon ET	CBS Sports Network
WKU at Boston College	Noon ET	ACC Network
Maryland at Indiana	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
No. 22 BYU at Baylor	Noon ET	FS1
No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State	Noon ET	ESPN
Kentucky at No. 6 Ole Miss	Noon ET	ABC
South Florida at Tulane	Noon ET	ESPNU
Navy at UAB	Noon ET	ESPN2
Northern Illinois at NC State	Noon ET	The CW
Ball State at James Madison	1:30pm ET	ESPN+
Texas State at Sam Houston	3:00pm ET	ESPN+
Louisiana at Wake Forest	3:30pm ET	ACC Network
Arkansas vs. No. 24 Texas A&M	3:30pm ET	ESPN
Wisconsin at No. 13 USC	3:30pm ET	CBS
TCU at Kansas	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Western Michigan at Marshall	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Georgia Southern at Georgia State	3:30pm ET	ESPNU
San Diego State at Central Michigan	3:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Akron at Ohio	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Liberty at Appalachian State	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Fresno State at UNLV	3:30pm ET	FS1
No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame	3:30pm ET	Peacock
Colorado at UCF	3:30pm ET	FOX
Eastern Michigan at Kent State	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
No. 21 Oklahoma at Auburn	3:30pm ET	ABC
UMass at Miami (Ohio)	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
UTSA at East Carolina	4:00pm ET	ESPN+
North Carolina at Duke	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
Mississippi State at No. 1 Texas	4:15pm ET	SEC Network
Old Dominion at Bowling Green	5:00pm ET	ESPN+
Louisiana Tech at FIU	6:00pm ET	ESPN+
No. 18 Iowa State at Houston	7:00pm ET	FS1
ULM at Troy	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Tulsa at North Texas	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Charlotte at Rice	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Stanford at No. 17 Clemson	7:00pm ET	ESPN
Middle Tennessee at Memphis	7:30pm ET	ESPNU
No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State	7:30pm ET	NBC
No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State	7:30pm ET	Peacock
No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama	7:30pm ET	ABC
South Alabama at No. 14 LSU	7:30pm ET	SEC Network
New Mexico at New Mexico State	8:00pm ET	ESPN+
Cincinnati at Texas Tech	8:00pm ET	ESPN2
Air Force at Wyoming	8:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Florida State at SMU	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
Washington State at No. 25 Boise State	10:00pm ET	FS1
Arizona at No. 10 Utah	10:15pm ET	ESPN
No. 8 Oregon at UCLA	11:00pm ET	FOX

Top Games

1. No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama
2. No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State
3. No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State
4. No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame
5. Arkansas vs. No. 24 Texas A&M
6. Washington State at No. 25 Boise State
7. Wisconsin at No. 13 USC
8. Colorado at UCF
9. Washington at Rutgers
10. North Carolina at Duke

College Football Gambling Corner

Want spread plays? We got spread plays.

— Luckett’s Locks: Road Dog Saturday

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Game of the Century (probably not)

Whoa, nelly. This feels like a big one. At Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, top-five Alabama will host top-five Georgia in what could be a preview of the SEC Championship. Kalen DeBoer‘s first big moment as Bama’s head football coach has arrived.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has solved every college football riddle outside of the Alabama puzzle. That solution could be easier to find without Nick Saban on the sideline. The monstrous SEC matchup does not have the stakes it would’ve had in the BCS or College Football Playoff era, but this still feels like a monster game.

After a sluggish performance in a 13-12 road win against Kentucky in Week 3, Smart has been able to feed his team anti-rat poison for two weeks. That could end up mattering in this matchup, but UGA had a rough time dealing with Jalen Milroe back in December.

A heavyweight fight is coming to Tuscaloosa. It’s a prize fight that we could see later this season between two bonafide national championship contenders. Welcome to college football’s new normal in the expanded Big Ten and SEC.

Elimination game in the Big 12

The new Big 12 is a toss-up game attrition test. Two preseason contenders suffered some really ugly league losses in Week 4. Now we could have an elimination game in Manhattan.

For the second road game in a row, Kansas State looked very bad on the road, and that turned into a humbling loss to BYU. At home, Oklahoma State’s run game woes continued against Utah and put too much pressure on a passing game against a good defense.

Now Kansas State and Oklahoma State will meet in what feels like an elimination game in the Big 12 title race. The winner will become a real playoff threat and the loser likely ends up having a disappointing season.

We’ve got real stakes in this matchup.

How good is Illinois?

Bret Bielema‘s Illinois squad has already won twice outright as an underdog and is off to a 4-0 start. After a big overtime win over Nebraska, momentum is building for the Fighting Illini. Quarterback Luke Altmyer looks like one of the most improved players in college football and the defense keeps creating takeaways.

We could find out how good Illinois is this weekend.

Penn State gets this game under the lights at Beaver Stadium and you can expect this to become the unofficial white out game in State College. The Penn State offense looks improved and the defense almost always plays at a top-15 level. The Nittany Lions are likely a consistent playoff program under James Franklin in the 12-team era.

Illinois could prove that they could be a threat in the playoff race with a good performance on Saturday night with NBC on the call.

Measuring stick in South Bend

Notre Dame has passed two power conference tests with flying colors. The Irish stuffed Texas A&M’s offense in a locker in Week 1 and then delivered the biggest beatdown of the season in a Week 3 road beatdown of Purdue. However, Marcus Freeman‘s team has struggled in two home games against MAC competition.

Who are the Irish?

Louisville beat up on two bad teams to start the season but were out-gained by Georgia Tech and likely lose the game without two non-offensive touchdowns. Now Jeff Brohm‘s team will head on the road for the first time.

How good is Louisville?

We should get the answers to both questions on Saturday afternoon in South Bend. A Notre Dame win makes the path to 11-1 very easy to see. That gets the Irish in the playoff. A Louisville win starts to make it look like the Cards have a legitimate chance to win the ACC.

This is a big game for both sides.

Degenerate Under: Minnesota at Michigan Under 34.5

Michigan has given up on passing the football. The Wolverines might be a run-only offense from now moving forward. Minnesota has scored 17 points or less in four consecutive games against power conference competition.

In the battle for the Little Brown Jug, you can expect for Michigan to run for a lot of yards and for the Minnesota offense to struggle. A low under might have a great chance to cash at the Big House.

The rest of the college football card

— Virginia Tech might be the most disappointing team in college football this season and Miami looks like a bonafide top-five team. Could Friday night’s matchup at Hard Rock Stadium get ugly?

— Rutgers is off to a quick 3-0 start and gets Washington at home on a Friday night. There is a clear path to a 9-3 season for Greg Schiano‘s program. The Huskies are playing their first Big Ten road game and they can expect to face a physical team that wants to run the football and play good defense.

— Indiana is rolling in year one under Curt Cignetti but Saturday’s home contest against Maryland will be their first true test. The Terps are good on defense and could be the first unit to slow down quarterback Kurtis Rourke in this underrated Big Ten matchup.

— Arkansas and Texas A&M will meet in Arlington for their annual neutral site contest. The Hogs have been tormented in this series over the years but enter this year’s contest with a ton of confidence. This one feels like a toss-up game that could be a huge win for Sam Pittman.

— A very cool jersey game will take place between Wisconsin and USC out in Los Angeles. However, the Badgers are struggling and Miller Moss looks like Lincoln Riley‘s next star quarterback. We likely do not see the Badgers repeat Michigan’s run-first approach. This one could get ugly.

— Colorado found a way against Baylor and now travel to UCF to face a hot team with one of the best rushing attacks in college football. However, the Knights have a very bad pass defense. That could mean a big day for Shedeur Sanders. The Buffs could be a very live dog if they found a way to slow down the Knights on the ground.

— Oklahoma and Auburn will be playing in a huge swing game on the Plains. The losing coach could start feeling some legitimate heat as both these fan bases have extremely high expectations. Oklahoma looks like a disaster on offense and Auburn cannot stop turning the football over. This one could be a roller coaster.

— Duke is quietly undefeated and North Carolina was embarrassed last week. Manny Diaz will face his old boss in the battle for the Victory Bell. The Heels really need a win as Duke has a chance to send UNC’s season into a tailspin.

— Ohio State’s first test occurs this weekend when the Buckeyes travel to East Lansing. We’ve seen the Buckeyes earn this series under Ryan Day but new Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith will attempt to change that.

— Looking for a shootout? Cincinnati and Texas Tech have a chance to deliver that. Both offenses have passing games that can really roll and the defenses are questionable. There could be some fireworks in Lubbock in a big swing game in the Big 12.

— Speaking of shootouts, Washington State and Boise State both have top-15 yards per play offenses facing below-average defenses. The after dark window could give us a track meet in this future Pac-12 game.

— The last time we saw Arizona, they got flattened on the road against Kansas State. Now the Wildcats head to Salt Lake City to face Utah in a revenge spot. Brent Brennan could be looking at consecutive blowout conference losses to begin his tenure in Tucson.