5 by 5: An Unconventional College Football Review and Outlook in Five Lists (Week 2)

After a tremendous week one of the college football season, Week 2 appeared to be a let down on paper. As we learned once again, sports are NEVER played on paper, and this week was fantastic. Without further ado, the latest edition of 5 by 5:

MUST SEE VIDEOS OF THE WEEK (Link is all of the words):

1-I know there is controversy on whether or not this counts, but did you see Central Michigan?! What an incredible finish, they did it once again. (throwback link here to last miracle CMU play).

2-Unlike a certain NFL backup quarterback, I think that public displays of patriotism shown at sporting events are incredible, as I have the utmost respect for the military and the greatest country on Earth. The scene at Bristol this weekend was amazing. God Bless America.

3- Arizona State's Kalen Ballage tied the FBS single-game record with eight touchdowns against Texas Tech Saturday night/Sunday morning. Here is his final score of the evening.

4- LSU's Tre'Davious White provided a huge spark for LSU Saturday night to put this game out of reach. The ability to change field on a punt return drew crazy reactions from my roommates and I.

5-In the weekly non-college football spot, how awesome was this drive by the Lions? If only they didn't need these late game heroics to win after blowing a 21-3 lead...

GROUP OF FIVE TOP FIVE
1-Houston: Ranked #6/7, the Cougars are in the driver's seat until they get dethroned. The health of Greg Ward Jr. lingers in question however as the Cougars will play Cincinnati on Thursday.

2-Western Michigan: Row the Boat. The Broncos blew out North Carolina Central 70-21 Saturday night. With one B1G win under their belts, they are FAVORITES at Illinois on Saturday.

3-San Diego State: In a shootout 45-40 win over Cal, the Aztecs increased their winning streak to twelve games, trailing only Alabama for the nation's longest win streak. The MWC Title game against Boise State could be for the G5 spot if the two teams continue to win this fall.

4- Central Michigan: I know there is controversy on whether or not this counts, but did you see Central Michigan?! What an incredible finish, they did it once again. (throwback link here to last miracle CMU play). The Chippewas are a legitimate threat to the Broncos in the MAC this fall.

5-Boise State: The Broncos, the original "BCS Buster" and inspiration for the G5 berth, held on for a close victory late Saturday night against Washington State. The MWC Title game against San Diego State could be for the G5 spot if the chips fall the right way.

WEEK 2 G5 PREDICTIONS:
Houston @ Cincinnati: In a Thursday night game that is better than the terrible "Color Rush" product the NFL forces upon us, the Cougars will need Greg Ward Jr to escape with a road W.

W.Michigan @ Illinois: As of Monday morning, the Broncos were four point favorites on the road at a B1G program. That speaks volumes to the respect PJ Fleck has earned. WMU with another B1G W

San Diego State @ N.Illinois: In a battle of two top G5 teams the past few years, the Aztecs find themselves heavy favorites as a result of NIU's slide this fall. SDSU wins yet again.

Central Michigan v UNLV: UNLV is not very good yet, as Tony Sanchez needs time to build his program similar to the way he did at Bishop Gorman. CMU with the W to go to 3-0.

Boise State is idle this week.

FIVE FCS UPSETS TO FOLLOW
Last week, in the five FCS upsets I listed, two of them emerged victorious (Eastern Illinois and North Carolina A&T), and a third lost when their game-winning two point conversion attempt was unsuccessful (North Dakota). This week, there are only twelve FCS matchups, so the picks are slightly harder to make. The five most intriguing:

1-Liberty at SMU: The Flames gave Virginia Tech a run for their money two weeks ago, and this SMU team is reeling off a blowout loss to Baylor last week. Perhaps the perfect storm?

2-Monmouth at Kent State: My apologizes to my friends at Kent State, you're on the list yet again. But you lost last week, and Monmouth is 2-0...watch out, lightning occasionally strikes twice.

3-North Carolina A&T at Tulsa: Speaking of lightning striking twice, NCA&T is coming off a win at Kent State, and they play a Tulsa team that has looked inconsistent in their two games.

4- UC Davis at Wyoming: The Aggies nearly led Oregon for a whole quarter (UO scored with 25 seconds left in the first). Wyoming's defense is giving up an average of 38 points per game.

5-North Dakota State at Iowa: Iowa is a really good team, I have respected them as a legitimate threat since last year, but NDSU has won five straight FCS titles, and you cannot ignore that fact.

FIVE PLAYERS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
In 2015, Christian McCaffrey had one of the better seasons in recent college football history, yet he did not win the Heisman Trophy. Many attribute this to the fact that he plays on the West Coast and as a result, his games are not watched as frequently by the voters due to late kickoff times. In this section, I list five of college football's best players that for one reason or another, you have not heard of yet.

1- Patrick Mahomes (QB Texas Tech) Kliff Kingsbury's pass-heavy offense has Mahomes leading the FBS in passing yards with 1023 yards and nine touchdowns on 68/96 passing.

2- Davis Webb (QB California) Perhaps my favorite FBS QB, Webb also benefits from a pass-heavy system as he is second in passing at 963 yards and nine touchdowns on 79/126 passing.

3- Corey Davis (WR Western Michigan) The Broncos star player (who has a Heisman Trophy campaign page linked here), is the FBS 16th all time leading receiver. When he goes, they go.

4- Donnel Pumphrey (RB San Diego St) Pumphrey is coming of back-to-back 1600+ yards rushing, and is already poised to break the 1000 yard mark this year, as he has 379 yards in just two games.

5- Marcus Cox (RB Appalachian State) Cox is another running back with two straight 1400+ yard seasons, and he was a reason they hung around Tennessee. If they expect to do the same against Miami Florida this Saturday, Cox will need his fifth straight game of 100+ rushing yards.

TURN YOUR TV TO THIS:

Weekday: Houston at Cincinnati (TH 7:30, ESPN), Arizona State at UTSA (FRI 9:30, ESPN2)
Sat Early: Florida State at Louisville (12:00, ABC), Miami FL at App State (12:00, ESPN)
Sat Mid: Oregon at Nebraska (3:30, ABC), Alabama at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS)
Sat Prime: Michigan State at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC), Ohio State at Oklahoma (7:30, FOX)
Sat Late: UCLA at BYU (10:15, ESPN2), Texas at California (10:30, ESPN)

An interesting note here is that ESPN got a weak draw this week as three of the four matchups between ranked teams are not on the network. CBS, NBC and FOX all got one matchup, and the only matchup ESPN gets between ranked teams is the noon kick between Florida State and Louisville.

WEEK 3 PICKS:
Houston over Cincinnati: As noted in the G5 section, the Cougars can win if they have Ward Jr.
Arizona State over UTSA: If you stayed up Sunday morning, you found out ASU can score...wow.
Florida State over Louisville: Lamar Jackson, meet the first legit defense you've seen. Show's over.
Miami FL over App State: The Mountaineers hung with Tennessee, and will do the same here.
Nebraska over Oregon: Brady Hoke and a Pac-12 defense? This has shootout written all over it.
Alabama over Ole Miss: The Crimson Tide always struggle in this one, may be best game of the day.
MSU over N.Dame: The Spartans are coming off a bye, ready to get a big road victory.
Ohio St over Oklahoma: Isn't it awesome that the B1G actually has good teams this year?
BYU over UCLA: In another late night shootout, Taysom Hill and Josh Rosen will score in bunches.
Texas over California: I love Davis Webb, top QB in FBS, but Texas is too good. Longhorns close.

PARTING WORDS: Last week, the Arizona State Sun Devils took on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a 10:00 kick. In a ridiculous display of offense, I found myself disgusted at the product that they called football. Growing up in Big Ten country, most teams use multiple tight end sets, fullbacks still exist, and in most games, the teams score less than thirty points. In this contest, it was 37-34..AT HALFTIME. The offensive numbers in this game are sickening. The 68-55 final produced 123 points, 1264 combined yards of offense including 891 through the air. Do these schools even recruit defensive players? No wonder Brady Hoke can coordinate a defense in the Pac 12, a majority of the Big Twelve and the Pac-12 (it must be in the league name) both cannot play defense to save their lives, and shootouts like this happen all of the time. How people can possibly enjoy this style of football played by their own team confuses me, it's painful to watch. I cannot wait for the Big Ten season to start so I can see Michigan State and Wisconsin bashing each other's heads in on the ground, playing real, true, physical football. Three yards and a cloud of dust forever.

5 by 5: An Unconventional College Football Review and Outlook in Five Lists

Spartan Football is back in East Lansing, as shown above in the first game this past Friday against Furman.

College Football, a sport with so many dynamics, captured millions of fans each and every Saturday for so many reasons. There is pageantry and tradition unlike any other sport. The rivalries between schools, even more between fans of those schools, span across generations (unless your UCONN/UCF). On game days, hundreds of thousands flock to college towns to not only cheer on their favorite team, but spend hours before (and after depending on the result) tailgating with fellow fans, recalling memories of past games, grilling out and being a part of one big college family. Unlike its professional counterparts, college football has so many hidden treasures, whether it is a quarterback nobody heard of until he carved up your defense for a win (thank you CJ Bacher and Dan LeFevour), or that small school you just beat 28-13 that the average fan cannot locate on a map (hello Furman). In this weekly college football post, I am not going to discuss the mainstream college football news in a similar fashion to major media outlets. Instead I want to focus on a different side of college football, and so I will compile five lists of five each week. These may include smaller conferences or usually unrecognized players amongst others. Some will be mainstays, such as the Group of 5 Top Five or the Turn Your TV to This television guide, but others will change each week. So without further ado, here is a look back at Week 1 and a look ahead to Week 2.


MUST SEE-VIDEOS OF THE WEEK:
1-Nebraska Football suffered through the tragic passing of punter Sam Foltz this offseason. In their season opener, they paid tribute to him during the game in the single greatest way possible. Wow.

2-LSU lost to Wisconsin 16-14 at Lambeau Field. As great as the Lambeau Leap would be, this hit (albeit very dirty and he was rightfully suspended) will be the moment everyone remembers.

3-Western Michigan defeated Northwestern 22-21, though it was not without controversy. What exactly was going through the mind of the Broncos defender? There was no need to do this....

4-Two great field goal/extra point related plays here for Notre Dame and Houston. As we all have learned, especially the past few years, special teams play a huge part in winning ball games. (Respective links on words Notre Dame and Houston)

5-It's not college football related, but Hudsonville High School's JV team had this happen, and I couldn't leave this out.

GROUP OF FIVE TOP FIVE:
1-Houston: The Cougars were the top G5 team a year ago and they won the Peach Bowl over Florida State. This year, Houston is the preseason favorite to earn that spot again as well as potentially reaching the College Football Playoff. In Week 1, the Cougars defeated #3 Oklahoma 33-23, a huge win for the program to prove its legitimacy. I do not expect Houston to be challenged prior to Louisville on November 17, and if there are no more than three undefeated P5 champions, the Cougars can reach the College Football Playoff.

2-Western Michigan: In a wild finish in Evanston, PJ Fleck and the Broncos pulled out a 22-21 victory over Northwestern. The Broncos are the favorites to win the MAC and can contend for the G5 bid as well. Western has another chance to defeat a P5 school in two weeks when they travel to Champaign to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini.

3-San Diego State: The Aztecs are riding the country's second longest winning streak at eleven games, including a 31-0 win over New Hampshire on opening weekend. The Aztecs face Cal this week in their lone battle against a P5 school, and they avoid Boise State in the regular season, so their schedule is very favorable. If Houston loses and the Aztecs take on Boise State in the MWC Title Game, it could have G5 implications.

4-Boise State: Boise State has perhaps the toughest schedule of the five teams in this week's G5 Top Five as they take on two Pac-12 teams (albeit Oregon State and Washington State, two of the weaker teams) along with BYU in the non-conference. The Broncos topped Louisiana-Lafayette 45-10 this weekend, a team that finishes near the top of the Sun Belt each year. With a potential for three big non-conference wins and a matchup against SDSU in the MWC Title Game, you cannot count out the original BCS Busters for this year's G5 spot.

5-Western Kentucky: One of the country's most explosive offenses, the Hilltoppers scored 46 points and racked up 649 yards of total offense in their season-opening win over conference foe Rice. In a weak C-USA, the Hilltoppers are the heavy favorites to win the league, perhaps with an undefeated record. For WKU to earn the G5 berth however, they will have to at least split against Alabama and Vanderbilt, a task easier said than done.

WEEK 2 PREDICTIONS:

Houston over Lamar
Western MI over NC Central
Houston and Western Michigan get easy wins over FCS teams after P5 wins a week ago.

California over San Diego State: The eleven game win streak ends for the Aztecs and Davis Webb and the Cal Bears offense is too much for San Diego State to handle.

Boise State over Washington State: Boise State gets a P5 victory over an awful Washington State team that could not beat Eastern Washington in their season opener. 

Alabama over Western Kentucky: Alabama is the top team in the country yet again, and Western Kentucky should put up some points, but they are simply not as talented as the Crimson Tide.

FIVE FCS UPSETS TO FOLLOW:
Last week, FCS programs went 4-41 against their superior league the FBS. On Friday night, Albany scored the lone touchdown in the fourth quarter to top in-state foe Buffalo 22-16. Richmond traveled to Virginia and dominated the Cavaliers all afternoon in a 37-20 win. Northern Iowa spoiled Matt Campbell's debut at Iowa State with a 25-20 win in Ames on Saturday, and Eastern Washington topped Mike Leach's Washington State Cougars as they won 45-42.

This week, there are 29 matchups between FCS and FBS football programs. The following are the five games that the FCS has a real chance to win this weekend.

1-Portland State at San Jose State: Portland State had two FBS wins a year ago (Washington State and North Texas) and they return their quarterback yet again. San Jose State lost last week to Tulsa 45-10, they are one of the weaker MWC teams.

2-Elon at Charlotte: Charlotte is in their fourth season of football ever. This team is inexperienced and has constantly struggled against everyone so far. Expect Saturday to be no different.

3-NC A&T at Kent State: The reigning Celebration Bowl champion Aggies pose a legitimate threat to Kent State this Saturday in the Golden Flashes' home opener.

4-Eastern Illinois at Miami Ohio: Miami Ohio is slowly rebuilding under coach Chuck Martin, as they increased their win total to three in 2015. Eastern Illinois, the college known for producing Cowboys QB Tony Romo, reached the FCS playoffs a year ago and will give Miami all they can handle.

5-North Dakota at Bowling Green: North Dakota finished 7-4 a year ago, including a win over Wyoming. Bowling Green is coming off a 77-10 blowout loss to Ohio State, and they are still trying to find a solid answer to replace Matt Johnson at quarterback.

HEISMAN HOPEFULS:

First a disclaimer, I believe that the Heisman Trophy has started to lose its luster. It has started to turn into an award given to the best player on the best team, or the player who garners mass media attention for his unconventional play (Johnny Manziel, RG3). I think that it should truly be given to the nation's best player, and last year I feel that Christian McCaffrey and Keenan Reynolds were far more deserving than Derrick Henry. Can you imagine either one of them running behind Alabama's offensive line? Their stats would be so unreal that they would be shoo-in winners. With that being said, here is my top 5 in the Heisman race.

1-Christian McCaffrey (Stanford): McCaffrey should have won the Heisman in 2015, and his explosive play in the Rose Bowl showed East Coast fans his true ability. He had 210 all-purpose yards (126 rushing) and two touchdowns in Friday's win over Kansas State.

2-JT Barrett (Ohio State): Barrett accounted for seven total touchdowns in Saturday's blowout against Bowling Green. He threw for 349 yards and six touchdowns, while adding 30 yards and a touchdown with his legs.

3-Nick Chubb (Georgia): Chubb is a workhorse back, and he led Georgia to victory on Saturday with 222 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 32 carries. After losing most of the 2015 season to injury, Chubb looks healthy and ready to go in 2016.

4-Greg Ward Jr. (Houston): Ward and the Cougars got a huge win over Oklahoma Saturday. He threw for 321 yards and 2 touchdowns, and more importantly, his MRI showed no serious injury.

5-Deondre Francois (Florida State): After the first half, I was thinking Chad Kelly here, but after the second half Francois is the man. 33/52 for 420 and 2 scores with 59 yards rushing in his debut.

TURN YOUR TV TO THIS:
In this segment, it will serve as somewhat of a TV guide, as I will list the two best games and their channel for all of the TV windows (Friday, Saturday Early, Mid-Day, Primetime and Late) this week. These are the games that I believe are the best in terms of competitiveness and entertainment.

Friday: Maryland at Florida International (7:30, CBSSN), Louisville at Syracuse (8:00, ESPN2)
Sat Early: Penn State at Pittsburgh (12:00, ESPN), Cincinnati at Purdue (12:00, ESPN)
Sat Mid: UCONN at Navy (3:30, CBSSN), Middle Tennessee State at Vanderbilt (4:00, SECN)
Sat Prime: Arkansas at TCU (7:00, ESPN), Virginia Tech vs Tennessee (8:00, ABC)
Sat Late: Texas Tech at Arizona State (10:00, FS1), California at San Diego State (10:30, CBSSN)

Being a fan of the full-day of college football watching, I am slightly disappointed in this week as the best games are in the late/West Coast spot. The Mid-Day spot is brutal, so if you have anything to get accomplished on Saturday, do it between 4-7PM. After last week's Mega-Weekend, this week definitely is a let down, especially since Michigan State is off and Michigan hosts lowly UCF.

WEEK 2 PICKS:
Maryland over Florida International: FIU loses for the second straight week at home against B1G.
Louisville over Syracuse: This is the second game because there is only two. Louisville wins big.
Pittsburgh over Penn St: Pat Narduzzi has experience against PSU and their weak offensive line.
Cincinnati over Purdue: This was a 35pt win three years ago, have I mentioned this week stinks?
Navy over UCONN: AAC opener for both teams, I'll take the Midshipmen's triple option by four.
Middle Tennessee over Vandy: Vanderbilt loses one game to a bad team yearly, here it is.
Arkansas over TCU: TCU couldn't stop a parked car right now. Bielema wins the old-SWC battle.
Tennessee over VaTech: This game is at Bristol Motor Speedway, that's why its primetime. Bleh.
Texas Tech over AZ State: Kliff Kingsbury once again has an explosive offense at Tech. Shootout W.
California over SD State: Davis Webb is one of the nation's top passers that nobody talks about.

PARTING WORDS: The SEC has been the cream of the crop in college football over the past decade winning eight of the ten National Championships. Despite Alabama blowing out USC (who I believe was overrated per the norm), I believe that the league as a whole is no longer the best in the country. As you can see in the graphic below, the SEC turned out one of the worst Week 1 records of all conferences in the FBS. While I give them props for playing zero FCS teams, this is taken somewhat lightly because 13 of the 14 schools (good job Missouri) have an FCS team schedule for later on in the season. Not only did they lose six games this week, it was nearly nine as Tennessee escaped in OT against Appalachian State, Arkansas narrowly escaped against Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M needed overtime to top UCLA. Even Florida was up less than a touchdown until the eight minute mark against Massachusetts. Ole Miss had an embarrassing collapse against Florida State on Monday night to add to the league's misery. While the SEC may once again have America's top team, I believe that the league as a whole is down, however their inflated reputation continues to keep their teams ranked higher than they deserve.

The B1G led the country in wins through week one.

Also, I have taken a job covering West Michigan high school football for Michigan Sports Radio, a site that broadcasts select high school football games each week. I still am continuing my writing at isportsMSU as well, though my football work will be lesser than baseball and basketball. Check both of these sites out in addition to this blog, I appreciate the support and feedback.