Joel Klatt
Lead College Football Analyst
What a weekend it was in college football.
There were thrilling finishes on both Friday and Saturday. Colorado made a major statement in its win over UCF, possibly throwing a wrench in the Big 12 race. Some things are starting to shake out with the Big Ten race as well. We have a better sense of who Michigan is and its slim margin for error, while USC picked up an impressive win over Wisconsin. You can catch all my thoughts on those things in the latest episode of my podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.”
But the Georgia-Alabama game was spectacular. That game, along with the rest of the exciting slate, has me so amped up that I had to wear my Rose Bowl hat while recording my podcast for the first time this season.
Before we get into my top 10, I just want to hit on why that Georgia-Alabama game was so awesome. There were so many emotions and storylines behind it, with an incredible atmosphere at Bryant-Denny Stadium serving as the backdrop. The game also wasn’t being lost as much as it was being won. We gravitate toward the games where the plays are being made as opposed to the ones where plays aren’t being made. We saw what each team was made of because of that.
The stars in that game really rose to the occasion. That’s one of the big elements of a great game, and we got that on Saturday. We also saw two teams that could win a national title but could also lose on any Saturday — within reason.
Even with great teams in college football, you have high highs and low lows. We saw both of those from each team in the same game. We don’t see that happen often. But we saw that each team could either win out or lose multiple games for the remainder of the season, and that’s great for the sport.
That said, let’s get to my top 10.
1. Alabama (Last week: 6)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Defeated Georgia, 41-34
A pair of Alabama’s stars rose to the occasion on Saturday. QB Jalen Milroe had nearly 500 yards of total offense and four touchdowns. Hello, New York! Wideout Ryan Williams was out there making incredible plays on the biggest stage, recording six receptions for 177 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
Alabama got the biggest and best win of the season on Saturday. By virtue, I put the Crimson Tide at No. 1.
Alabama beats Georgia in an instant classic
That doesn’t mean this team is flawless. There were some warts shown in that game. In fact — and I know this will be controversial — coming out of that game, I feel better about Georgia than Alabama moving forward. I feel like that’s an obvious conclusion, too.
I get it, Alabama won, which is why it’s No. 1 this week. However, I also believe that the cream rises to the top in this sport. As time goes on, one team will show it’s clearly the better team or reveal itself to be the better team than the other. That’s what I thought was happening in the second half of Saturday’s game.
If you’re an Alabama fan, you’re probably incensed by that thought. You deserve to feel that way because your team won that game. Remember, I also said that if Bama plays well, it has a national championship ceiling. There is no doubt the Crimson Tide can win a title if they play to their ceiling.
But as that game went along and the emotion from the first quarter-plus wore off, we saw Georgia’s defense figure out Alabama’s offense. We saw Georgia pick apart Alabama’s biggest weakness, its secondary, in the second half.
If I’m Alabama, I’d feel that we kind of escaped that game with a win. Georgia had it and Alabama wasn’t doing anything offensively in the second half. Maybe Alabama was conservative, or Georgia knew how to attack Milroe and its run game. Regardless, if I’m Alabama, I might be thinking, “Man, can we beat Georgia again? I don’t know.”
That secondary is going to be an issue moving forward for Alabama. It gave up six plays of 30 yards or more on Saturday, with last season’s loss to Texas being the only time it’s allowed that many such plays in a game over the last 10 years. That’s an issue for Alabama.
2. Texas (Last week: 1)
Record: 5-0
Week 5 result: Defeated Mississippi State, 35-13
I had Texas at No. 1 for three weeks in a row following its dominant win at Michigan. Alabama usurped this past week just because of the magnitude of that game. Texas looked impressive again without QB Quinn Ewers, defeating Mississippi State in its SEC debut. Arch Manning was also terrific, throwing for 324 yards and two touchdowns. As I’ve insisted, though, there won’t be a quarterback controversy in Austin.
3. Ohio State (Last week: 2)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Defeated Michigan State, 38-7
Jeremiah Smith went bonkers on Saturday. We have already touched on how special fellow true freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams is, but Smith is wild. He had two of the best catches we’re going to see in the entire season on Saturday night. He already has six total touchdowns in the first four games of his career. Physically, he’s the most gifted player on the field whenever he’s on the field. He’s fast (which you saw on his end-around touchdown), has incredible body control, is a great worker, has a phenomenal attitude and his hands are unreal.
If I were a general manager in charge of forming a college football roster right now, he’d be my first pick at wide receiver. With all due respect to the other great receivers in the sport, Smith is totally different. He’s better than all the first-round wide receivers Ohio State has produced in recent years. It’s blowing my mind.
Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith makes UNREAL one-handed TD catch
4. Tennessee (Last week: 4)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Idle
Tennessee was off Saturday, but I waxed poetic (maybe not as much as Colin Cowherd, though) over its win against Oklahoma last week. This Tennessee team is great and among the elite group of teams so far this season. The Vols can beat Georgia if we see the Bulldogs team that played in the first half of Saturday’s game.
5. Georgia (Last week: 5)
Record: 3-1
Week 5 result: Lost to Alabama, 41-34
If I’m QB Carson Beck, I’m saying, “Please, give me another chance against Alabama.”
After a poor first half, Beck really answered the bell in the second half. He was brilliant, taking some shots down the field. Seventeen of his 50 passes were over 20 yards down the field, with 14 of them coming in the second half. Georgia saw the same weakness I saw with Alabama and said, “We’re driving it downtown.” Those 14 passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the second half are the most thrown by a quarterback in a half in the Kirby Smart era at Georgia.
Granted, Beck only completed five of those 17 passes, but all five were in the second half. There were also some drops in there that could’ve made life easier for Georgia, too.
Carson Beck threw for 439 yards and three touchdowns but had three interceptions and a lost fumble in the loss to Alabama.
Even though I came out of that game feeling better about Georgia, its schedule is a bit more difficult than Alabama’s the rest of the way. Georgia still has games at Texas, at Ole Miss and at Tennessee. UGA also doesn’t have the tiebreaker with Alabama for a possible spot in the SEC Championship Game.
6. Penn State (Last week: 8)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Defeated Illinois, 21-7
We’re starting to see some of the forest through the trees in the Big Ten. That’s partly because Penn State is starting to look like a contender. Entering the year, that was one of our big questions with the conference, whether Penn State could challenge the top-end teams in the Big Ten. Even though the Nittany Lions played some competitive games against Michigan and Ohio State in the last few years, they didn’t win. It was clear that those two teams were a level above Penn State.
Now, it might be different. Penn State thoroughly defeated Illinois on Saturday, and I was impressed with the Fighting Illini entering that matchup. The score was not indicative of how the game went. I thought Penn State handled the line of scrimmage, its run game played really well (Nicholas Singleton looks like the true freshman version of himself) and the defense was flying around (Abdul Carter is an absolute manchild, in a good way, of course).
The offense is throwing the ball down the field, too. When I watch Penn State on tape, I see the Drew Allar I’ve been hoping to see as of late. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is really making things work.
Penn State is looking like the team I hoped it would. I think this group can challenge the top end of the conference. They’ll get a chance to prove that when they host Ohio State on Nov. 2.
7. Oregon (Last week: 9)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Defeated UCLA, 34-13
Oregon looked impressive again at UCLA late on Saturday night. QB Dillon Gabriel threw for 278 yards and three scores in the win as the Ducks have started to quell some of those concerns from the first couple of weeks of the season.
No. 8 Oregon Ducks vs. UCLA Bruins Highlights
8. Miami (Fla.) (Last week: 3)
Record: 5-0
Week 5 result: Defeated Virginia Tech, 38-34
I bought in to all the Miami and Cam Ward stock through the first few weeks of the season, but that game on Friday night really showed us how low of a floor Miami has. That game really signified the old saying, “If you don’t play your best, you can be beaten.” That’s especially true when you’re up against a conference rival, even at home.
Miami’s defensive front wasn’t up to par against Virginia Tech. I still think Cam Ward is incredible, and he’s currently one of my top three candidates for the Heisman. He’s great, but the team around him played poorly. In fact, Ward played his worst game of the season before willing his team to a win.
As for the controversial Hail Mary call at the end, do any of us really trust the call that Virginia Tech didn’t come down with that catch? First, I don’t know how you call that a touchdown so far after the play. It was like they called a touchdown with the, “I’m Ron Burgundy?” cadence. Then, they overturned the Ron Burgundy touchdown. Somehow, I think both of those calls were incorrect. I’m not sure how you initially called that play a touchdown and how you came away with conclusive evidence to call it an incomplete pass after a review.
9. Missouri (Last week: Unranked)
Record: 4-0
Week 5 result: Idle
Missouri is sneaky. Brady Cook and Luther Burden III make up one of the best quarterback-wide receiver duos in the country. As I’ve stated since the preseason, I love Missouri’s schedule. They have one of their few tough games this weekend at Texas A&M.
10. Clemson (Last week: Unranked)
Record: 3-1
Week 5 result: Defeated Stanford, 40-14
Suddenly, Clemson is quietly getting better and better. It’s been like a slow boil since the Georgia game. At 210 degrees, nothing happens. At 220 degrees, you can power a locomotive. Clemson’s bubbling, especially that offense and Cade Klubnik. The Tigers are averaging 55 points per game since they lost to Georgia, which is the best mark in the country in that span.
I think the ACC is now a two-team race. You can’t convince me that Clemson is incapable of beating Miami, especially after what we saw on Friday. We saw Clemson’s floor in Week 1. Now, we might be seeing Clemson’s ceiling, and it might be higher than Miami’s.
Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.
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