October 6, 2016 v3 p55
Week five of college football was hyped as being the biggest weekend of the year. It didn’t disappoint me, here’s what I took away.
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Michigan – The Wolverines faced their toughest opponent of the year in the Wisconsin Badgers and came away with hard fought 14-7 victory. Their defense showed why this team has been ranked at the top all season and will carry this team a long way. It’s good, because if they can’t figure out how to kick a field goal then they may have to rely on that defense even more.
Michigan State – The Spartans went to Bloomington Indiana and did what can only be described as laying an egg. The Spartans may have been still reeling from a poor performance in their B1G opener last week, or maybe 2016 is going to be more of a rebuilding year than they were expecting. Either way I’m confident that head coach Mark Dantonio knows what he’s doing in East Lansing.
Ohio State – The Buckeyes rolled through over Rutgers 58-0. Either Ohio State is really good, or Rutgers is really bad. I think it’s a little bit of both.
Wisconsin – Despite losing on the road to Michigan, the Badgers proved that they aren’t as fraudulant as they have been in the past. Their defense is certainly the stronger point of this team, and that will take them a long way. The experience their young quarterback is getting this year will be extremely helpful for this program over the next few years.
Alabama – The Crimson Tide hosted SEC basketball powerhouse Kentucky, too bad they were playing football. They started out slow and were tied at the end of the first quarter. After they got warmed up they didn’t have any problem dominating in the middle two quarters on both sides of the ball.
Notre Dame – The Irish traveled to norther New York to take on Syracuse, a team who was able to score pretty much at will against Louisville. Their defense allowed 33 points to that team, so what does that say about the Cardinal defense? Luckily Notre Dame was able to hang on to the ball and put up 50 points of their own.
Clemson – The Tigers showed why they started the season off with the number two ranking in the country. Deshaun Watson threw three interceptions to only one touchdown, a flurry of turnovers resulting in 21 points for Clemson in the middle of the second quarter really set the tone for their victory. Dabo Swinney is making a strong case for the Tigers making a return trip to the college football playoff.
Washington – In the first match-up of top ten teams the Huskies faced off against the Stanford Cardinal on Friday night. The stout Washington defense kept Christian McCaffrey in check, which pretty much shut Stanford down. The Huskies look to be the favorite to head to the conference championship from the North division, but will either team have shown enough to make it into the college football playoff?
Baylor – The Bears escaped Iowa State on Saturday by outscoring them 17-0 in the fourth quarter. It’s going to be tough to continue to win games against almost any opponent if you keep falling into big holes. I’m finding it difficult to watch any games that involve teams from the Big 12 conference, they’re all a mess.
Western Michigan – Coach Fleck rowed his boat northward on US 131 to Mount Pleasant for the Broncos biggest rivalry game against Central Michigan. What was hyped locally with the promise of a good game turned out to be anything but that as the Broncos crushed the Chippewas 49-10. Western continues to roll and is still undefeated as they prepare to hose 1-4 Northern Illinois in their first game as a nationally ranked team!
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The games this week were just as expected, great match-ups between great teams, except Stanford and CMU. The top teams around the country are starting to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. October is in full swing on the calendar, in the weather forecast, and on the football field. Be sure to check back next Thursday to see what I took away from week six in college football.
The Sporting Dad 