10 observations from Week 5 in college football

Dan Wolken USA TODAY

Published 12:41 AM EDT Sep 30, 2018

Here are 10 key observations from Week 5 in college football:

Big Ten landscape comes into focus: Somehow, some way, Ohio State is still the team to beat in the Big Ten. But perhaps the margins aren’t as big as we thought. While the Buckeyes made some huge plays to win 27-26 in Happy Valley, Penn State’s meltdown in the last eight minutes had a lot to do with the final result as well. The Nittany Lions defense missed critical tackles on a pair of touchdown receptions, and coach James Franklin lost his nerve and aggressiveness down the stretch. While it was a coin-flip call whether to go for it on fourth-and-5 with about 4:30 left in Ohio State territory rather than give the ball back to Dwayne Haskins, everyone will be scratching their head about how the game ended. On another fourth-and-5 with the game on the line, Penn State had two timeouts and came up with a handoff, taking the ball out of the hands of Trace McSorley and running a play that had no chance of success.

Now, Ohio State is in the driver's seat, and the schedule is laughably easy until the Buckeyes face Michigan on Nov. 24. Unless something absolutely crazy happens, Penn State won’t win the Big Ten. But maybe Michigan could. Ohio State is very good, but it’s not unbeatable. Heck, Penn State practically had the Buckeyes beat until they stopped tackling.

More: No. 4 Ohio State escapes Beaver Stadium with dramatic victory over No. 9 Penn State

More: Penn State WR Juwan Johnson nabs one-handed catch of the year nominee vs. Ohio State

Notre Dame playoff hype is real: Outside of Alabama, no team in the country is as good a bet to be in the College Football Playoff as of today than Notre Dame. Yes, you heard that right. Now, a disclaimer. Things may change. Upsets happen. Injuries kill seasons. Weird stuff changes the landscape every year. But at this moment, it’s all laid out for Notre Dame after crushing Stanford, 38-17

With top-25 wins in the bank over Michigan and Stanford, the Irish already have some heft on their resume. And given what's left on the schedule, they’ll be favored in every remaining game. If Notre Dame goes 12-0, it’ll be in the Playoff. The real question is, can the Irish afford a loss? After all, it’s hard to go 12-0. The Irish may get clipped somewhere, and next Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech seems like a logical stumbling block. Maybe at Northwestern or Southern Cal to end the season. Other than that, are they really going to lose to Pitt, Navy, Florida State or Syracuse? Nothing’s guaranteed, but this couldn’t be setting up better for the Irish.

More: No. 8 Notre Dame blows way past No. 7 Stanford behind four touchdown throws by Ian Book

Clemson finally showed some fire: I’ll admit, I kind of gave up on Clemson’s chances of coming back against Syracuse when backup quarterback Chase Brice, a third-stringer as recently as last week, threw an interception midway through the third quarter with the Tigers already facing a nine-point deficit. It wasn’t just that Clemson’s offense had stalled out with Trevor Lawrence on the sidelines, it was the overall lack of juice and passion on the sideline and in the players’ body language. This wasn’t the kind of day Clemson could kind of go through the motions and win because it was the far more talented team. It needed to dig deep, and Clemson finally showed that sense of urgency in the fourth quarter in a 27-23 comeback victory.

More: Winners and losers from college football's Week 5 headlined by Clemson's close shave

Given the way the week played out, with former starter Kelly Bryant transferring and Lawrence suffering a concussion early in his first career start, Brice will be hailed as a hero. And if Clemson makes the Playoff, the fourth-and-6 pass he converted will be remembered as a season-saver.

But regardless of the quarterback situation, this game brings some of the same concerns about Clemson back to the surface that have been in the background all year. Had the Tigers lost, they would have had to pin just as much blame on sloppy penalties, a massive special teams mistake and middling play in the secondary. If they really want to be a contender, they need to be better and play cleaner football. Maybe that fourth quarter will light a fire under them.

More: Clemson loses quarterback before rallying past Syracuse on late drive

More: Clemson's Trevor Lawrence knocked out of game after taking big hit against Syracuse

Jimbo Fisher’s helmet shove shouldn’t have happened: The line between “old school coaching” and abusive behavior toward players can be a very thin, subjective distinction. But for coaches at all levels, keeping your hands off the players is a rule that should be pretty black and white. It doesn’t matter how upset Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was at linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who had been involved in some pushing and shoving on the field against Arkansas. It doesn’t matter what message you’re trying to send. You can make your point without shoving the guy’s facemask, as Fisher did with two quick, angry jabs.

While some fans will undoubtedly ascribe this controversy to the softening of America, plenty of former NFL players like Sean Salisbury, Mark Schlereth and Emmanuel Acho who now work in the media were critical of Fisher on Twitter.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: If grabbing a facemask isn’t allowed in the game, it shouldn’t be acceptable on the sideline. Fisher lost his cool, and going after a player in that manner isn’t a good look.

More: Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher yanks his player by facemask after scuffle against Arkansas

Keep an eye on Justin Fields: For most of the season, Georgia’s highly-touted freshman quarterback has been somewhat of an afterthought. Kirby Smart has put him in the game here and there, but it never felt like a thing because Jake Fromm has been quite good and Georgia’s wins have been fairly straightforward. But the Bulldogs’ usage of Fields seemed more purposeful in a 38-12 win over Tennessee. While he still was shuffled in and out of the game in various spots, it looked like Georgia is figuring out more and more how to use his dynamic ability to run the ball. Though Georgia made the score look good with a couple late touchdowns, this was only a 12-point game with 11 minutes left and the Dawgs looked kind of flat with their offensive execution. If that trend continues, don’t be surprised if Georgia starts giving Fields more opportunities to make things happen.

More: Georgia scores wild touchdown after its own quarterback fumbles on sack

Bad old days return in Mississippi: Four years ago at this time, the country was marveling at how the Mississippi schools had risen to the top of college football. But now it feels like we’re in the middle of a market correction back to the historical norm. Ole Miss’ issues are well-documented at this point, but nobody really expected the coaching transition at Mississippi State to go this poorly. When Dan Mullen left for Florida, the consensus around college football was that Joe Moorhead would slide in rather seamlessly — at least for this year — because he was inheriting a lot of returning pieces from a 9-4 team including quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, who seemed like a fit in the offense he brought from Penn State.

Instead, Mississippi State has been absolutely inept on offense and is now effectively out of the SEC race at 0-2 after a 13-6 loss to Florida. This loss was painful for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, Mississippi State fans were thirsting for the opportunity to extract revenge on Mullen for abandoning the program he built for the Gators. Instead, Mullen reminded them just how special of a coach he is, as the Gators look significantly improved from what they were last year under Jim McElwain.

But the biggest issue for Mississippi State is that it only managed 202 yards of offense, one week after getting similarly manhandled by Kentucky (seven points, 201 yards). There’s no way to spin or excuse that, particularly with such a veteran team. While Fitzgerald’s shortcomings as a passer have been exposed a bit, the Bulldogs’ offensive line and receivers are also playing below expectations. To say Mississippi State fans are panicking right now be an understatement.

Shea Patterson needs to be more accurate: We can say with certainty that Patterson, the Ole Miss transfer, is a significant upgrade at quarterback over what Michigan has had previously under Jim Harbaugh. Still, is he enough of an upgrade to do what Michigan aspires to do? It was obviously important for the Wolverines to dig out of a 17-0 hole Saturday and beat Northwestern, 20-17. A team with no margin for error already couldn't afford that kind of loss.

Still, they could use more precision from Patterson, who completed 15-of-24 passes for 196 yards but left some points on the field because he just flat-out missed open receivers a few times in key situations that could have either kept drives going or turned field goals into touchdowns. Michigan can’t give away points when it plays Penn State or Ohio State.

More: No. 15 Michigan spots Northwestern a big lead before rallying for win late

Makes no sense: A week after Old Dominion’s epic upset of Virginia Tech, we got a regression to the mean. While Old Dominion lost to East Carolina, 37-35, the Hokies redeemed themselves somewhat by blowing out Duke in Durham, 31-14. Sometimes, fluky things happen in this sport.

Bobby Petrino has lost his touch: If you thought Oregon coach Mario Cristobal’s decision last week to run the ball rather than take a knee against Stanford was bad, Petrino said “Hold My Playbook” on Saturday in the closing minutes against Florida State with a three-point lead. Before the most inexplicable bit of playcalling malpractice this season, Louisville seemingly had the game won. After earning a first down at the Seminoles’ 21-yard line with the clock winding below two minutes remaining, things looked quite simple. With Florida State possessing only two timeouts, Louisville had to just run the ball twice and then, at worst, kick a field goal with about a minute left.

Instead, Petrino inexplicably called on his quarterback Jawon Pass to roll out and throw the ball on first down. It turned into an interception, and the Seminoles — whose offense had put up just 289 yards up until that point — took advantage of the gift as Nyqwan Murray out-ran the Louisville secondary for a 58-yard touchdown.

“I look back on it and I guess I should have ran the ball,” Petrino, whose playcalling genius has long been his best trait, told reporters after the game.

Simply put, this feels like it could be a turning point in the Petrino era. The fact Louisville has fallen off a cliff this season from a top-5 offense with Lamar Jackson to 125th (prior to this weekend) without him was causing a lot of consternation around the program.

Even though Florida State is in a pretty tattered state right now (it may only win one or two more games itself this season), it looked like there was some improvement for Louisville, particularly with an offense that converted 10 of 19 on third down and finished with 306 passing yards. But when you blow a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead and get gut-punched like this, the bad may outweigh any progress.

West Virginia should be taken seriously: Though the game got a little weird and uncomfortable at the end, the first half West Virginia put together at Texas Tech was exactly what a good team is supposed to do. As the Mountaineers took a 35-10 lead, their defense was spectacular, allowing just one big play (a 40-yard touchdown) and a 14-play drive that resulted in a field goal. Though Texas Tech kind of got back in it very late thanks to some third-and-long and fourth-and-long conversions, West Virginia passed its first test against legitimate competition and mostly looked good doing it. Quarterback Will Grier played a clean game, too, completing 27-of-41 for 370 yards and three touchdowns. He would have had even more if not for some drops by his receivers. I was skeptical of the preseason love for this team, but the way they’re handling business has brought me onto the bandwagon. The way the schedule shapes up, West Virginia should be 7-0 going to Texas on Nov. 3.

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