2018 e-Systems College Football Pool – Week 5 Results

As the college football season enters its second full month, we begin to see the cream rise to the top. Only 14 unbeaten teams remain in FBS, so let’s take a quick look at each of them.

#1 Alabama is the most un-Nick Saban team in the history of Nick Saban teams at Alabama. The Tide, known for running the ball and superb defense throughout Saban’s tenure, finds themselves #1 in the country in scoring…offense, at 54.2 points per game, and #10 in the country in passing offense, at 335.8 yards per game. For perspective, no team at Alabama under Saban has ever finished higher than #28 nationally in passing offense. Best win to this point: 45-23 against Texas A&M.

#2 Georgia hasn’t missed a beat in the running game with the departures of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. The Dawgs average 250.4 yards per game on the ground; Georgia averaged 258.4 per game last year. Losing Roquan Smith hasn’t hurt too much, either: UGA is 6th in total defense, at 275.6 yards per game. Best win: 41-17 at South Carolina.

#3 Ohio State didn’t miss Urban Meyer too much during his three game suspension, winning all three by double digits. Dwayne Haskins leads an offense averaging 557 yards per game, good for fourth nationally. The Buckeyes own two of the most impressive victories of all the unbeatens by virtue of their win in Happy Valley over Penn State last week and a 40-28 win over TCU in a neutral-site game. Best win: 27-26 at Penn State.

#4 Clemson is playing with fire. The Tigers sneaked by Syracuse in their last game and potentially lost their newly-crowned starting quarterback in the process. This seems to be a constant with Clemson under Dabo Swinney, however; since 2015, Clemson is 15-3 in games decided by single digits. Sometimes just continuing to win is good enough; the Tigers went 7-1 in such games in their national championship year of 2016. Best win: 28-26 at Texas A&M.

#5 LSU is the only team that has beaten two other teams that were ranked in the top ten at the time they played them: then-#8 Miami and then-#7 Auburn. This despite only ranking 77th in the country in total offense (396.6 yards per game) and 32nd in total defense (333.8 YPG). Can the Bayou Bengals keep it up? The next four games will tell the tale: at Florida, then home against Georgia, Mississippi State, and Alabama. Best win: 22-21 at Auburn.

#6 Notre Dame is for real. The Irish have already beaten Michigan and Stanford, neither of which has lost otherwise. One problem: the Irish have only played once away from Notre Dame Stadium to this point. The schedule appears manageable, however; among the teams left to play, only Virginia Tech is ranked. Could the Irish find themselves in the College Football Playoff for the first time? Best win: 38-17 against Stanford.

#7 Oklahoma isn’t exactly saying “Baker who?”, but it’s a lot easier to handle Baker Mayfield’s moving on to Cleveland when you have the second-rated quarterback in the country in Kyler Murray, with a passing efficiency rating of 231.6. For perspective, Mayfield’s passing efficiency rating last year (which not only led the nation, but set a NCAA FBS record) was 198.9. Just sayin’. Best win: 66-33 against Baylor.

#9 West Virginia is regretting losing that non-conference matchup with NC State due to Hurricane Florence. Without it, the non-conference schedule doesn’t look nearly as good (a win against Tennessee this year doesn’t hold nearly the cache it would historically). That being said, the Mountaineers have done well in conference thus far, but everything points to the end of the schedule: at Texas, TCU, at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma. Best win: 42-34 at Texas Tech.

#12 UCF has the longest winning streak in the country, at 17 games. The Knights lost their entire coaching staff, but the nucleus remains from last year’s unbeaten squad. UCF is winning games by an average of 32 points per game, third-highest in the country. Again, it appears that the schedule will be what holds the Knights out of a realistic shot at the playoff; none of their wins are over teams with a winning record, and of the remaining teams on the schedule, none are currently ranked. Best win: 45-14 against Pittsburgh.

#13 Kentucky is winning with a solid defense. The Wildcats are 2nd in the country in passing efficiency defense, which leads to only giving up 12.6 points per game, tied for third nationally. The Cats also have Benny Snell, who is 7th in the country in rushing yards per game (127.8). With three conference wins already under their belt, Big Blue Nation is headed for their best SEC East finish (they’ve never been higher than 3rd since divisional play began in 1992). Best win: 27-16 at Florida.

#21 Colorado is waiting for someone to play. Of the Buffaloes’ four opponents, they’re a combined 1-16. The standout for CU has to be wide receiver Laviska Shenault; he leads the country in receptions per game (9.5) and receiving yards per game (145.3), and is fifth in receiving yards despite having only played in four games thus far (all players above him have either 5 or 6 games). Best win: uh…let’s say 33-28 at Nebraska.

#23 NC State is wishing they’d played West Virginia (see the Mountaineers’ entry above). A win over them would probably have moved the Wolfpack into the top 15. NC State is ninth in the country in passing offense (342.3 ypg), and is surprisingly good at third-down conversions (59.3%, third nationally). Defensively, they stiffen their necks in the red zone (T-5th in the country in red zone defense), which leads to only giving up 15.3 points per game. Best win: 35-21 against Virginia.

Cincinnati is extremely stingy. The Bearcats are only giving up 12.2 points per game, second-best in the nation, and are 7th in total defense, at 276 yards per game. But again, this is a team whose biggest tests lie in front of it, especially in November, when back-to-back games against USF and UCF loom… Best win: 34-30 against Ohio.

South Florida has two wins over Power 5 schools (Illinois and Georgia Tech). Coach Charlie Strong (remember him, Texas fans?) and grad transfer QB Blake Barnett (remember him, Alabama fans?) lead a team that doesn’t do anything flashy, but gets the job done. Perhaps their best trait is their pass defense, where they rank 13th in raw passing yards per game, and 4th in pass efficiency defense. Best win: 49-38 over Georgia Tech.

In small-school news, we go back to the Dakotas for a game that has been played more times than all but four rivalries. The Black Hills Brawl is the annual matchup between the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (with the awesome mascot name of the Hardrockers) and Black Hills State University. The teams have met 132 times, with the first official meeting in 1900. The series stands 62-59-11 in favor of South Dakota Mines, although Black Hills won last year’s game 25-24 and has dominated the series in the past 30 years, going 25-9 in that span. A little mental arithmetic will tell you that must mean the schools sometimes play twice in one year, and this has been the case several seasons, including most recently in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2011. In 1917, the teams played three times against each other!

Congratulations to Bamarock, who wins week 5 with 187 points! Crimson Gator was second with 183, and Jeff4Bama and AllySun tied for third with 182.

Standings after five weeks:

This weekend features twenty games and three ranked-versus-ranked games, including the famous “Red River Rivalry” between Oklahoma and Texas at the Cotton Bowl. The first games are Saturday, October 6 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!