Most of us missed it as Pac-12 After Dark provided an absolutely bonkers 67-63 comeback win for UCLA over Washington State. The Cougs’ quarterback Anthony Gordon famously throwing 9 touchdowns in a loss. Chip Kelly is back, baby! That’s a tough, tough loss for Mike Leach who led by 32(!!) and blew a precious league win while at home. That feels like it’ll be tough to overcome. But the Dread Pirate moves on to the next opponent below in our games of the week.

The Week’s Biggest Loser: Michigan Wolverines

I’m going to say something unpopular; there’s no way Michigan fires Jim Harbaugh any time soon. Just absolutely no way. He’s owed $15 million in a buyout after this season (actually not a terribly high figure) and he’s won 40 of 55 games with the Wolverines. Fire him after a 5th season and that job is radioactive. Who wants to step into that situation? He’s going to be around for a while, unless Harbaugh does something absolutely crazy off the field which I think still is the more likely route of him being fired at any point over the next couple years.

The blowout loss to Wisconsin was truly bad but Michigan is suffering from hyped expectations (7th pre-season was utterly ridiculous) in an obvious rebuilding year and the fact that they are nowhere near being an elite program. It’s fun to read about the dysfunction which continues to point to Michigan never getting over the hump (or at least not until 2021 at the earliest) yet at the same time it’s a long season and plenty of football left to play. We better not lose to them.

The Week’s Biggest Winner: Boise State Broncos

By virtue of UCF falling to Pittsburgh this vaults the Broncos up to the top of the Group of 5 food chain for that coveted major bowl spot. And perhaps, a matchup with Notre Dame in the future.

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

OUT: Michigan, Utah, UCF, Washington State, Arizona State

IN: California, Boise State, Washington, Kansas State, USC

We still appear several weeks away from the top of the rankings getting shaken up as we move towards what should be an amazing November for college football.

Welcome Washington back to the rankings after a swift defeat of BYU. In last week’s article we wondered how the Cougars could keep their momentum going and as we suspected a rested Washington took major advantage.

We’re right at the part of the season where those 16 through 20 slots are really tough to fill out. You have either a really flawed team with an okay resume (hello, USC) or a team with a couple nice wins but nothing spectacular it’s just they haven’t lost yet (looking at you, California).

Some fun and random stats through week 4…

LSU leads the country in scoring at 57.8 points per game. They’ve scored 30 touchdowns in 4 games! In 2009, the Tigers won 9 games scoring 39 touchdowns in 13 games.

Northwestern has scored 5 touchdowns in 3 games and is the lowest scoring Power 5 team.

25 teams are averaging at least 300 yards passing so far (including Notre Dame). Recent history suggests that number will eventually get cut in half.

Coming off a bye week, Oklahoma currently has a +1.66 YPP advantage over the rest of the country. Last year, the Sooners led offensive YPP by a +0.88 margin.

Wisconsin gave up points this past weekend but still leads the country in defensive scoring at 4.7 points per game. Technically, Michigan scored in garbage time according to SP+, too.

In the “you’re probably getting hurt soon” category Oklahoma State sophomore Chuba Hubbard has 103 carries through 4 games. He leads the country in rushing yards, rushing attempts, rushing yards per game, and rushing touchdowns.

Somehow, Michigan State receiver Darrell Stewart, Jr. is tied for the national lead with 10 plays of at least 20+ yards from scrimmage despite the Spartans offense being pretty average.

Rondale Moore is on pace for 2,336 all-purpose yards.

Former USC 5-star recruit and current Illinois defensive end Oluwole Betiku is tied for the national lead with 7 sacks.

Week 5 Games to Watch

Navy (+10.5) at Memphis – The AAC is making noise for the redshirt/transfer/sitting out situation of Houston quarterback D’Eriq King but watch out for this divisional battle featuring Navy (up to 47th in the SP+ rankings!) and a Memphis program looking like it is in the drivers seat to get to the league title game. Navy won this matchup last year, remember. Tigers 32-27.

Penn State (-6.5) at Maryland – Both teams are coming off bye weeks. Obviously, a much more important game for Penn State who will be looking not to trip up before a really challenging October. I think this one gets super fun. Nittany Lions 50-45.

Arizona State (+4.5) at California – Surely the Cal Bears aren’t a top 20 team this year? Justin Wilcox is DGT™ defensively but they are struggling on offense. The good news is that ASU has been struggling just as much if not more on offense. Slap fight! Bears 21-17.

USC (+10) at Washington – As of this writing the quarterback situation for USC is still up in the air. The Trojans stepped up in a big way last week taking down Utah and inserted themselves into the Pac-12 South division race. Meanwhile, Washington can’t afford to look ahead to a showdown with Oregon in a few weeks which could very well decide the conference overall. I’m betting Petersen & Co. put together a solid defensive gameplan for USC’s quick passing game. Huskies 34-23.

Miss State (+10.5) at Auburn – So, according to SP+ this is a matchup between a pair of Top 15 teams. That’s pretty wild. Last week, I thought Auburn would go down in a tough road game at A&M but they prevailed. This schedule is so brutal for the Tigers it’s going to get them eventually. Bulldogs 29-27.

Kansas State (+4.5) at Oklahoma State – A loss here likely knocks Okie State out of the Big 12 race. There’s no way Gundy let’s that happen just yet. Also, K-State has been intriguing but I think they will be the next team to enter our rankings only to fall out the next week. Cowboys 39-29.

Ohio State (-17.5) at Nebraska – Hooray, the ESPN GameDay location of the week for 3-1 Nebraska hosting the Big Ten-title favorite. To date, the Huskers have not been impressive and one would think this should be pretty easy day for Ohio State. Yet, I can’t help but think this will be a big moment for Scott Frost, even in a loss. Buckeyes 42-35.

Washington State (+5.5) at Utah – This is a huge game for both teams coming off really disappointing losses last week. It’s also an awesome contrast in styles. I think home field will be the difference maker as Utah remains in the thick of their divisional race after seceding ground to USC. Utes 31-30.