In this early and weird season, the usual suspects from the South have jumped out to an early lead as the teams to beat nationally. During week 5 we witnessed favorites generally hold serve at home. However, not every team was so lucky! In the back end of the rankings we have a pretty big shakeup–and with roughly half of the country not playing at the moment–this is good news for those ranked in the middle as they are zooming up the poll.

Top 10 Tennessee, Cincinnati, and BYU? Sure, why not?

Note: We are only including teams who have taken the field in 2020.

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

OUT: UCF, Miss State, Baylor, Pitt

UCF saw their 21-game home winning streak snapped by plucky Tulsa (who also handed UCF their last loss going back to last year), Mississippi State somewhat predictably had a letdown in a loss to Arkansas (who snapped their long SEC losing streak), Baylor lost in double overtime at West Virginia, and Pitt gave up a game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds left to visiting NC State.

IN: SMU, Iowa State, TCU, LSU

SMU becomes the nation’s only 4-0 team, Iowa State upset Oklahoma except this time it wasn’t in Norman, TCU went into Austin and grabbed a win, while LSU got back on track and looked good against a weaker opponent.

Week 5 Recap

I debated moving Alabama up to No. 1 in the country but will hold off another week. The Tide have looked quite scary, and even better news for them, new quarterback Mac Jones is the top-rated passer in the country and is looking like a strength for their offense. This weekend’s win looks good, but again I didn’t have A&M ranked going into Saturday.

Clemson had a workmanlike victory over Virginia. Statistically, their 18-point win flattered the Tigers a little bit as Virginia managed 3 more first downs and was only out-gained by 49 yards.

Auburn forgot to bring their offense into a not-very-socially-distanced Georgia home game. The results were predictable. The Dawgs slowly choked their opponents and put the game away a lot earlier than most expected.

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask has thrown 10 touchdowns in 2 games but the Gators drop behind their divisional rivals.

Cincinnati didn’t exactly blow out a weak USF team that we saw the Irish demolish a couple weekends ago. South Florida threw 5 picks, too!

Tennessee has now tied Notre Dame for the joint longest winning streak in the country and are probably the best team in the country no one is talking about.

I was sure UNC would drop in our poll following a lackluster win on the road at Boston College. However, too many teams around them lost.

BYU doesn’t have much of a schedule strength right now but through 3 games they are an impressive +124 in point differential.

I have to say it was incredibly difficult to pick the final 4 or 5 teams in our poll this week. Without two major conferences to use teams for each week the pickings are slim, indeed. That’s how a Memphis team that lost, a LSU team whose loss last week now looks even worse, and a Texas team who hasn’tt proven much have been able to stay in our poll.

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AP Top 25: Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, North Carolina, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Oregon, Auburn, Tennessee, BYU, Wisconsin, LSU, SMU, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Texas A&M, Texas, Louisiana, Iowa State, Minnesota.

SP+ Top 25: Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Penn State, Wisconsin, Florida, Miami, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Oregon, USC, Washington, Auburn, BYU, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, LSU, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Utah, Pittsburgh.

Week 6 Games to Watch

Florida at Texas A&M

Is it me or does A&M, more than any other SEC team, always seem to be playing someone ranked? I just want to remind everyone that Mike Elko received a new 3-year deal last year. Jimbo Fisher has 7 more full seasons remaining on his contract with an outrageous buyout. Good luck.

Texas vs. Oklahoma [Dallas, TX]

Suddenly, this game doesn’t matter all that much. Despite losing twice already, this feels less urgent for Oklahoma who has much more recent success to continue goodwill. Texas on the other hand enjoys no such thing.

Virginia Tech at North Carolina

We’ve got ourselves a quality ACC game that doesn’t involve Clemson. Tech was supposed to be best by personnel issues to start the season but has looked pretty good so far. The Tar Heels looked shaky at times this weekend but remain dangerous. This is a big one for both programs.

Tennessee at Georgia

Here’s a moment that’s been far too big for the Vols for years and years. However, they get Georgia in a classic letdown (from the Auburn win) and look ahead (to the Alabama game next weekend) sandwich. I bet this will be a close game.

Miami at Clemson

Now we figure out how real Miami is this year and if Clemson is mortal in this ACC world. The Canes are coming off a bye and should be fresh. For such an experienced program it feels like we don’t know a ton yet about this Clemson team. This could be super intriguing.