College Football Week 5 Review

(AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)
Just give this man the Heisman already. Geno Smith has already thrown 20
touchdowns this season without throwing a single interception.

Wow! What a week in college football as only three teams in the AP Top 25 lost this week. (8) Stanford lost to Washington in a game that went down to the wire last Thursday night. (25) Baylor lost to (9) West Virginia in a historic game for quarterback Geno Smith. Additionally (20) Michigan State barely lost to (14) Ohio State, losing by only a single point.

New AP Top 10:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Oregon Ducks
3. Florida State Seminoles
4. LSU Tigers
5. Georgia Bulldogs
6. South Carolina Gamecocks
7. Kansas State Wildcats
8. West Virginia Mountaineers
9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
10. Florida Gators

Top Three Performances by Team or Player:
1. West Virginia QB Geno Smith- Not only was Smith's performance a top of the week, it could go down as one of the best games played by a quarterback in the last decade. Smith threw for 656 yards and eight touchdowns, helping the Mountaineers fight off the Baylor Bears 70-63.
2 Georgia Bulldog RB's- Keith Marshall and Todd Gurley combined for nearly 300 yards and 5 touchdowns in Georgia's 51-44 win over Tennessee. With lead receiver Michael Bennett out for the year, it's a good sign that the two backs are stepping up.
3. Oregon RB Kenjon Barner- Honestly, if Geno Smith somehow didn't win the Heisman, could Barner and his teammate De'Anthony Thomas just split the award. The two lead the nation's best rushing attack and put simply, they can't be stopped. Last week, Barner rushed for 194 and three touchdowns while catching another one, totaling for four scores on the day.

Top Three Disappointments by Player or Team:
1. Baylor Bears- How in the world do you give up 70 points when you're a Top 25 team? And for crying out loud, how do you allow the opposing quarterback to throw for over 650 yards and eight touchdowns. You'd think that after a while they'd realize that all this team does is sling the ball down the field, but you'd be surprised to find out that they didn't adjust at all and just continued allowing Baylor to score. Real big disappointment.
2. Stanford Cardinal- The Cardinal blew a game last week to unranked Washington 17-13. Is Stanford actually any good this year, or was their win versus USC just a fluke? I guess we will soon find out.
3. Virginia Tech Hokies- The Hokies failed to bounce back from their loss two weeks ago after losing to Cincinnati on Saturday. The Hokies had high expectations this year and failed to live up to them.

Game of the Week: (9) West Virginia vs. (25) Baylor

Clearly this was the Game of the Week, heck it might have even been Game of the Year! It would be very repetitious to repeat the scoring drives since their were over 130 points scored between the two teams, so I'll keep it to specific stat-lines. Geno Smith had the game of his lifetime, and is now the Heisman frontrunner after throwing for over 650 yards and eight touchdowns (as mentioned multiple times already in this article). Where the credit isn't given to is the Mountaineer's run game. West Virginia still ran for over 150 yards, totaling their overall offense at 807 yards. Despite the loss, Baylor's offense still played an incredible game, scoring 63 points on a Top 25 team. Nick Florence was spectacular again under center for the Bears, throwing for 581 yards and five touchdowns. For the most part, Baylor kept themselves in the game, but the Mountaineers clinched the win when Smith threw his eight and final touchdown with five minutes left in the fourth quarter to put his team up by 14.

Next Week's Five Intriguing Matchups:
1. (4) LSU vs. (10) Florida- Definition of SEC football. If you don't watch this game, don't call yourself a college football fan.
2. (2) Oregon vs. (23) Washington- Washington is coming off an upset win against Stanford. Can they prove that they are for real, and be the first team to shut down the most notorious running game in the country?
3. (5) Georgia vs. (6) South Carolina- Week 5 is judgement week in the SEC. Which teams are making BCS bowl runs, and which teams are pretenders.
4. (8) West Virginia vs. (11) Texas- Not even kidding, I typed Geno Smith before West Virginia and didn't even think it was a typo. Will the Heisman frontrunner single handily hook the longhorns?
5. (9) Notre Dame vs. Miami- Ten years ago this game would be a must see. Five years gao this game would be overrated. Now, it's back to being a must-watch game. Old time classic rivalries are back, baby!