Last weekend, college football aired a bit of its controversial side.
Vulgar celebrations (Colin Simmons and Raleek Brown of Texas), nasty hits (USC’s Desman Stephens II on Oregon’s Dante Moore), an ill-timed punch and subsequent meltdown (South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart) and a bizarre blood-smearing ritual – though P.J. Fleck’s act in the immediate aftermath of Minnesota’s road win over Washington might be better off being deemed as just outright weird.
We also got answers, while being left with the usual share of questions.
The Longhorns beat Tennessee on the road, further asserting their hold on the top spot in AP Poll, albeit behind another less-than-convincing performance from Arch Manning. Moore left with a concussion, but Oregon regained momentum behind Dylan Raiola in a two-score win over the Trojans that certainly did its part in further warming Lincoln Riley’s seat at USC.
There was drama, and perhaps some karma, depending on which side of the fence you were sitting on following Michigan’s “extra second” win over Western Michigan in Week 1, with Iowa walking off the Wolverines with an improbable game-ending touchdown to cap a 91-yard drive within the final two minutes.
Indiana looked vulnerable in a regular-season game for the first time in nearly a year, and Ohio State reintroduced itself as the favourite in the Big Ten behind a career game from Jeremiah Smith.
Georgia finally played someone, but it was Oklahoma, and we’re not sure if the Sooners are any good anymore. Florida, on the other hand, is, and Ole Miss isn’t looking quite as invincible as a result.
Oh, and Kamario Taylor and Keelon Russell are still exceptional.
On that note, a look at storylines for Week 5:
Two breakout stars meet in Starkville
You might’ve circled this as a matchup of two of the most intriguing prospects in college football prior to the season, but did anyone anticipate Taylor and Russell being this impactful through one month?
Alabama and Mississippi State are both undefeated, and their electrifying second-year starting quarterbacks are two of the most talked-about players in the sport, with Taylor having flipped the trajectory of a program that’s been pushed around for last three years in the SEC and Russell leading an offence that’s scored 45-plus points in each of its four games.
Watch Alabama vs. Mississippi State live Saturday on TSN2 at noon ET, 9 a.m. PT.
Last Saturday was about what we’ve come to expect from Taylor, who passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns and led a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in a win over Missouri – Mississippi State’s first in a ranked-versus-ranked matchup since 2014. Through four games, Taylor is tied with Darian Mensah and Jayden Maiava for the FBS lead with 14 touchdown passes, and has done it against considerably harder competition, with the Bulldogs having already knocked off three Power Four opponents.
Mississippi State is 4-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time in 81 years, and already has more wins in the SEC this season than it did in Jeff Lebby’s first two seasons combined (two, after going 1-15 in 2024 and 2025).
Kalen DeBoer named Russell his starter over Austin Mack largely because of his upside, and he flashed more-and-more of it with each passing week in September.
After three first-half turnovers against Kentucky in Week 2, Alabama scored 32 unanswered points over the final two quarters and Russell accounted for nine total touchdowns without an interception in wins over Florida State and South Carolina the past two Saturdays. He was near perfect in last week’s 49-18 demolition of the Gamecocks, completing 21-of-27 passes for four touchdowns and a career-high 365 yards.
With Alabama and Mississippi State now a protected annual rivalry, we’ll likely get a chance to see Taylor and Russell meet again next year in Tuscaloosa, assuming Taylor stays in Starkville following this season – something he continues to claim its faithful doesn’t need to concern itself with.
For now, the focus is on getting a signature win – one that would be the Bulldogs’ first over the Tide since Nick Saban’s first year in 2007, and would likely vault them into the AP Top 10 for the first time in 12 years.
Jeremiah Smith is making his case to go first overall
Manning is up one week, down the next. And now Moore is sidelined indefinitely after that dirty hit in last week’s win over USC left him in concussion protocol. With both their teams on bye in Week 5 and with this year’s quarterback class in what seems like a week-to-week flux, it might be Smith’s turn to submit his case for going first overall next April.
Last week’s masterclass against Illinois certainly won’t hurt his cause. Smith finished with career highs of 12 catches and 217 receiving yards and tied an Ohio State record with four touchdowns — a performance that was the last straw for Illini defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck, who stepped down on Sunday morning, and according to Bret Bieleman, walked into the head coach’s office and admitted the position “wasn’t working for (him).”
Smith isn’t likely to run anyone out of town this weekend in Iowa, after the Hawkeyes stormed into Michigan and won on Hank Brown’s walk-off touchdown pass in Week 4, a result that bumped them up to 14th in the AP Poll and adds a ton of intrigue to a Big Ten matchup that already had some pretty high stakes.
Ohio State has lost each of its past three games against ranked opponents dating back to last year’s conference title game, and still has meetings with Indiana and Oregon and a trip to USC on its schedule with that Week 2 loss to Texas on its record. There’s plenty up for grabs for Iowa as well — it’s undefeated to this point, and has a potential playoff path with a remaining schedule that doesn’t include a team that’s currently ranked following this week.
Brown has been a pleasant development at quarterback for the Hawkeyes, with six total touchdowns and no turnovers in four wins after securing the starting job in fall camp. And though its passing offence has been notoriously joyless for the better part of the past two decades under Kirk Ferentz, Iowa does have a precedent for success in this particular matchup, having picked apart Ohio State in its last visit nine years ago. It embarrassed the sixth-ranked Buckeyes 55-24 in that game, exploding for 487 yards of total offence while forcing four turnovers.
Steady CJ Carr might be the top quarterback in this class
For all the fluctuation, there does seem to be one constant in this year’s QB1 carousel.
Notre Dame’s CJ Carr has been as good as he was last year as a freshman, with nine passing touchdowns and just one interception in the Irish’s 4-0 start. Carr is leaning on star pass-catcher Jordan Faison for the second straight season, and has what’s looking like a breakout deep threat in Micah Gilbert, who has 253 receiving yards over the past two games and is 12th in the FBS with 22.3 yards per catch through the first month.
In the age of dual threat quarterbacks, Carr is a throwback. A prototypical pocket passer – a rhythm thrower, at the program that produced one of the greatest of that kind in Joe Montana.
And while Manning and Moore and Drew Mestemaker and even Trinidad Chambliss have had bumps in the road through the season’s first month, Carr has been steady for an entire calendar year, having won each of his past 14 games by double digits after losing to Miami and Texas A&M in the first two starts of his career. After being held without a touchdown pass in a 27-10 win over Michigan State two weeks ago, he responded with three through the air and another on the ground in a blowout against Purdue in West Lafayette in Week 4.
The knock on Notre Dame is its schedule, and though we likely won’t learn a lot this weekend on the road against North Carolina, it’s still an interesting matchup against a team that allowed just 13 points in its first two games and only lost to Clemson in Week 3 after surrendering a fourth-quarter lead following a two-and-a-half hour weather delay.
Bill Belichick’s defence has a breakout star in interior lineman Xavier Lewis, who has two sacks in each of the Tar Heels’ three games, and it’s expected to return senior edge rusher Melkart Abou Jaoude, who finished second in the ACC with 10.5 sacks last year but hasn’t played since injuring his wrist against TCU in Week 0.
Carr’s two major tests this season are a visit to Provo to play BYU in two weeks, and a rematch against the Hurricanes in South Bend on Nov. 7 – a pair of games that Notre Dame likely needs to split at worst, after having its playoff fate in 2025 decided by those two losses to open last year.
Jadan Baugh’s Heisman case is getting more real every week
If you bought stock in Florida in its first year under Jon Sumrall, then congratulations are in store.
The Gators have steamrolled through their first four games, averaging 53.5 points and punctuating their September with a 52-28 landslide win over Ole Miss in Week 4 at The Swamp. Suddenly, Florida has moved up to eighth in the AP Poll – its highest ranking since 2020 – and is beginning to look elite again following a stretch of four seasons out of five with a losing record.
Jadan Baugh burst onto the scene late in his true freshman season in 2024 and evolved into one of college football’s best runners last season, and he’s morphed into the most-feared back in the sport this fall under Sumrall and new offensive coordinator Buster Faulker.
Against Ole Miss, Baugh rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 600 and 11 through four games to open the season. Baugh has rushed for 866 yards and 13 touchdowns dating back to the final game of 2025, and is just the third player in program history to rush for over 100 yards in five straight games, joining Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor.
Baugh’s burgeoning Heisman case feels genuine, even if a running back hasn’t won since Derrick Henry in 2015, who also happens to be the last player prior to Baugh to run for two-plus touchdowns in five straight games.
Ashton Jeanty was neck-and-neck with Travis Hunter two seasons ago while shredding the Mountain West, and Baugh can bolster his case if he does something that at least resembles that in SEC – though that’s easier said than done with a schedule that includes a three-game stretch against Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma beginning in two weeks. The last Gators player to win the Heisman was Tim Tebow in 2007.
Florida is in Columbia on Saturday for a meeting with Missouri, whose defence held up fine in three non-conference wins but was gashed by Taylor and running back Fluff Bothwell in Week 4, with Bothwell rushing for a season-high 122 yards on nearly five yards per attempt.
First-time starting quarterback Aaron Philo hasn’t been nearly as prolific as Taylor, but is still a dual threat and has operated Faulkner’s offence with ease after following him from Georgia Tech, completing over 72 per cent of his passes with 10 total touchdowns (seven passing, three rushing).
Dabo Swinney is an unprecedented underdog against Miami
All things considered, things could be worse right now for Dabo Swinney and Clemson after getting thumped by LSU in “the other” Death Valley in Week 1.
The Tigers bounced back with unconvincing wins over Georgia Southern and North Carolina before travelling cross-country to beat Cal by two touchdowns last Friday. They’re in business in the wide open ACC, though that could change Saturday night against Miami – a game Clemson enters as a home underdog for just the fourth time in Swinney’s 19-year tenure as head coach.
Watch Clemson vs. Miami live on TSN2 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. PT.
Clemson isn’t just an underdog this weekend, it’s a colossal underdog. The 16.5-point spread is the widest that Swinney has faced in his career, and it’s just his sixth time ever facing one of double digits, with the Tigers having lost the previous five by a combined 104 points. Miami enters at 4-0 with two conference road wins under its belt already, including one against Wake Forest two weeks ago that gained a bit of prestige after the Demon Deacons shocked Louisville on the road last Saturday.
Miami has Mensah and Malachi Toney and still boasts the fourth-best scoring defence (nine points per game allowed) in the nation, despite losing Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor to the NFL.
Mensah is currently in the conversation with Smith and Baugh and the rest of quarterback class for the Heisman, and is gaining steam in the QB1 conversation ahead of next year’s draft, benefitting from his transfer to Miami similarly to how Cam Ward did two seasons ago. Through four games, Mensah still has more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12), and has already connected with Toney 34 times for 564 yards and six touchdowns.
Tait Reynolds has been serviceable as Swinney’s starting quarterback after taking over Christopher Vizzina, joining Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson as the only true freshmen to win each of their first two starts with Clemson. But he might be overwhelmed against a Hurricanes defence that already has 10 sacks and six interceptions through four games.
