By Anthony Wootton
College football does not fail to deliver, with yet another incredible weekend of action. The Oklahoma State Cowboys continue to rise and the Utah Utes maintain their run up the rankings. A tough loss for the Kentucky Wildcats sees them fall.
Here are my risers and fallers from Week 5 in the NCAAF.
Week 5 CFB Risers
Oklahoma State Cowboys (7th, up from 9)
The Cowboys’ offense is pretty good. They were 16-3 up at Baylor, with two points coming courtesy of a safety, before halftime. Quarterback, Spencer Sanders, completed 20 of 29 pass attempts for 181 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 75 yards and a score. Sanders now has over 1,000 passing yards for the season, with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Oklahoma State came out of the traps even quicker in the second half, with Jaden Nixon returning the kick-off for 98 yards. Baylor soon brought it to within a score, but never managed to regain the lead after their early field goal gave them the go-ahead in the game.
The 36-25 victory takes the Cowboys to 4-0 for the season and was a statement win against a defense-first team within the Big 12.
Utah Utes (11th, up from 12)
The Utes only jump one spot, but they annihilated their PAC-12 rivals, Oregon State, 42-16 on Saturday. Since their surprise defeat on opening day, the Utes have outscored their opponents 184-43, and have won four on the bounce.
Utah quarterback, Cameron Rising, has been influential for them this season. The junior has over 1,100 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. He threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns, plus 73 yards rushing yards and a touchdown on Saturday.
Utah’s defense was just as impressive, holding the Beavers to 3 of 10 on first downs, and setting up their offense for their first 14 points off two takeaways.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (15th, up from 22)
What a win for Wake Forest. They went on the road to the 4-0 FSU, who were ranked for the first time since 2015, and beat them by a double-digit score, 31-21. They made the most of a porous Seminoles defensive line, rushing for 171 yards and two touchdowns.
Quarterback Sam Hartman also had success through the air, completing 22/34 pass attempts for 234 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Seminoles failed to get their ground game moving, mainly because of the strength of Wake Forest’s defense.
They held FSU to 112 yards and no rushing touchdown, which was a season-low. The Deacons benefitted from a bad day at the office for the Noles’ special teams, but this was a big conference win.
Fallers
Kentucky Wildcats (13th, down from 7)
This is a game that Wildcats’ quarterback Will Levis will want to forget in a hurry. Kentucky could be 5-0, but they shot themselves in the foot at Ole Miss on Saturday, going down 22-19. Levis fumbled twice in the final three minutes, the final one coming with 55 seconds remaining as the Rebels’ Jared Ivey stripped him off the edge as he attempted a pass.
This defeat wasn’t all on Levis, though. Kentucky’s kicking game was an issue. UK kicker, Matt Ruffalo, missed a 39-yard field goal attempt early in the game as well as an extra point. Another extra point attempt was thwarted after a mix-up with the snap.
That’s five points squandered, although the positive to come from the game will be the performance of wide receiver, Barion Brown, who had three kick returns for a total of 164 yards.
Washington Huskies (21st, down from 15)
Washington quarterback, Michael Penix Jnr. had the worst game of his season so far on Friday. UCLA’s pass rush dominated him. Penix was pressured on 15 dropbacks, forcing his first two interceptions of the campaign. The Huskies were down early, and they struggled. Penix wasn’t dreadful, he threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns, but he clearly struggled under pressure.
Their defense struggled also. They hadn’t given up more than 28 points in a game this season, but their pass rush failed to get at Bruins’ quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson for most of the night. He was sacked once, throwing for 315 yards and three touchdowns.
UCLA’s ground attack rushed for 184 yards. It was a tough road loss, going down 40-32. The 0-4 Arizona State head to the Pacific Northwest this weekend.
Minnesota Golden Gophers (N/R, down from 21)
This game was ugly. There were mistakes aplenty from both teams, but the go-ahead score for Purdue in the fourth quarter set them on their way in this 20-10 defeat of Minnesota. Both teams combined for five turnovers before halftime. The Gophers’ offense was stagnant.
They’re a team that’s built to run the ball, but their ground attack disappeared on Saturday. They mustered a total of 47 yards and a touchdown all afternoon. The Gophers averaged over 290 yards per game on the ground before the weekend. They were without their leading running back, Mohamed Ibrahim, who has 567 rushing yards on 89 carries this season.
They needed to find a way to win without him. But the best they could do was 257 yards through the air for three interceptions and no touchdowns. This was the 4-0 Gophers’ homecoming, unfortunately, they were made to look like a one-trick pony.
