College Football Playoff Outlook: Week 5

Story posted September 26, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Camden Tofil

Week four of the college football season saw some very exciting games that included a near upset by Army over Oklahoma and a historical win by Old Dominion over Virginia Tech. The top ten held serve last week as we enter the last weekend of September.

1. Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama continues to roll in 2018 as they took care of business this past Saturday with a win over No. 22 Texas A&M. The game really turned on the Aggies in the second to third quarters where the Tide outscored A&M 31-9.

Sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa continued his historic start to his career. He threw for 387 yards and accounted for five total scores. Tagovailoa has continued to prove that he is the right man for the job at Alabama and has become the frontrunner for the Heisman trophy.

The Crimson Tide have a cupcake opponent this week with Louisiana Lafayette coming in to face Nick Saban’s team. This will be the last FCS opponent for the Tide before five straight SEC games including a matchup at No. 5 LSU on November 3rd.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Urban Meyer made his return to the sideline for the Buckeyes as they improved to 4-0 this season with a 49-6 win over Tulane. The Buckeyes dominated the whole game en route to an undefeated non-conference play slate.

Sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins continued his outstanding play this season against Tulane. Haskins threw for 304 yards and five scores and has now thrown 16 touchdown passes to only one interception in his first season as the Buckeyes' quarterback.

Meyer’s return to head coaching came at the perfect time with Ohio State now having to face No. 9 Penn State this Saturday in Happy Valley. The “whiteout” isn’t the ideal first road test for Haskins and company this season, but we will know a lot more about the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions after Saturday’s showdown.

3. Clemson Tigers

Clemson began ACC play with a solid 49-21 win over Georgia Tech. But, the bigger news that came out of the Tigers team this week was the announcement that freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence would get the start over senior Kelly Bryant. Bryant subsequently announced that he will transfer from the program, which leaves the Tigers thin at quarterback.

Lawrence came off the bench on Saturday and threw for four touchdowns, while Bryant struggled, throwing for 56 yards on ten attempts. The running game was strong for the Tigers as they combined to run for 248 yards and two scores in route to dominating the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

Clemson gets their first ACC game at home this weekend with a matchup with Syracuse, which beat Clemson at home last season in arguably the biggest upset of the year. The Orange have been an underrated team this season as they have started off 4-0. While this should be a game Clemson wins it could be closer than people think.

4. Georgia Bulldogs

Kirby Smart and company got their second SEC win of the season with a 43-29 win at Missouri. This game was competitive throughout, but the Bulldogs were too much to handle for the Tigers.

Sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm was strong for the Bulldogs as he threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns. The key for Georgia this game was the rushing combo of junior Elijah Holyfield and sophomore D’Andre Swift. The two backs combined for 161 yards and controlled the tempo of the game.

Georgia will look to continue its hot start this weekend with a matchup against Tennessee in Athens. The Bulldogs are clearly the superior team and look to get better each week as they get into the meat of their SEC schedule including a matchup with No. 5 LSU in two weeks.

5. LSU Tigers
6. Stanford Cardinal


Camden Tofil is a sophomore majoring in advertising. To contact him, email camdentofil@gmail.com