Week 5 College Football: The Fall to the Unranked

#1USC@Oregon State (21-27). USC had no answer for the Rodgers brothers and were consistently beat at the line—both lines. Maybe they did lose something last year when seven of their players were chosen in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft? They only returned 4 starters on offense and 7 starters on defense. Mark Sanchez was pressured all night and he struggled all night. But most importantly, Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns behind a strong offensive line and slippery moves that evaded the USC defenders. Yes, this was the same Oregon State team that was demolished by Penn State just one week ago 45-14.

And now that Duke beat UVA 31-3, it puts USC’s win over UVA in Week 1 into perspective. Perhaps if people had realized earlier this year that Virginia’s team had been completely depleted, they wouldn’t have put so much value on USC’s 52-7 victory over them and wouldn’t have moved them to the number one spot and then the number one team in the nation wouldn’t have been defeated by an unranked opponent this week. This is why pre-season rankings and early season rankings are so meaningless.

Maryland@#20Clemson (20-17). Last year in their three losses, Clemson was held to a net of 30 yards rushing per game. And in their loss to Alabama this year, they had a net of 0 rushing yards. It seemed that the key to winning was making sure James Davis and CJ Spiller could run. Unfortunately, that was not the answer as today Spiller and Davis each had over 100 yards rushing in their 20-17 loss to Maryland. Part of the problem was Clemson’s three turnovers. And Cullen Harper passed for just 151 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. On the year he has just three touchdowns to five interceptions. For Maryland, this was their 4^th straight win over an AP ranked opponent.

Ole Miss@#4 Florida (31-30). Last year 13 top 5 teams fell to unranked opponents. This week so far we have #1 USC and now #4 Florida thanks to a missed extra point, three turnovers (for 10 points) and a huge stop on 4^th and 1. Then again, Florida has done this 6 of the past 7 years—in six of the last seven years they were ranked yet fell to unranked opponents (including twice to Ole Miss):

2007 lost to Auburn

2005 lost to South Carolina

2004 lost to Mississippi St.

2003 lost to Ole Miss

2002 lost to Ole Miss

#9 Wisconsin@Michigan (25-27). Wisconsin was beating Michigan 19-0 but allowed the Wolverines to come back—their biggest comeback in the Big House ever. Michigan won 27-25 thanks to a failed two-point conversion by Wisconsin. Initially it was successful but called back due to an illegal man downfield.

Navy@#16Wake Forest (24-17). Wake Forest entered this game #1 in the nation in turnover margin. They had six turnovers in this game, good for 17 Navy points.

Houston@# 23East Carolina (42-21). After beating two ranked opponents in weeks one and two and starting off the season 3-0, ECU has now lost two in a row.