Trent's Touchdown: Six Week 5 College Football Games to Watch

Welcome to Week 5 of the college football season. So, after four weeks, we’ve seen suspensions, sanctions, conference switching, ref’s admitting blowing calls, and a whole host of wild finishes. While I’m trying to forget most of that list, I love the wild finishes. Looking at some of the games this week, we should be in store for some good ones. Anyway, on to the Touchdown:


1) No. 8 Nebraska at No. 7 Wisconsin – 8:00 PM on ABC

If you’re going to open up play in your new conference, this is the way to do it. This game could even be a preview of a Big Ten Championship Game. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Either that or I need to turn on the heat.

So far this season, neither team has faced any competition. I’m not sure if this is the best way for either team to jump into Big Ten play. Both teams are going to get a challenge in this one.

When you talk about the best quarterbacks in college football right now, Russell Wilson from Wisconsin needs to be near the top of the list. He has a completion percentage over 75 percent and doesn’t make dumb mistakes. He makes the defense stop him and his offense.

Of course, passing is easy when every defense is going to be keyed to the backfield duo of Montee Ball and James White. They will be there to punish the Nebraska defense and open up the air to Wilson, as you’re going to need eight guys in the box to think about stopping the Badger’s potent run game.

While Nebraska has beaten up on their opponents, they haven’t looked that great. While they have an athletic defense that can make plays, they are vulnerable to the balanced offensive attack of a team like Wisconsin.

Taylor Martinez has also been less than stellar. While is completion percentage about 50 percent, his true talent is running the ball. He leads the team in rushing, but has a nice compliment in Rex Burkhead to take some of the carries.

If Wisconsin can contain Martinez and make him have to throw the ball, it’ll be a long day for the Cornhuskers. While I don’t think they can do it all game, I feel that Martinez is going to have to throw effectively to slow down the Badger defense. Wisconsin wins this one, but Nebraska keeps it close.


2) No. 3 Alabama at No. 12 Florida – 8:00 PM on CBS

I could steal my own line from above and say how this could be a preview of the SEC Championship Game, but with the strength of the SEC, you never know what could happen. My only problem in writing about this game is the two teams are pretty much mirror images of each other.

Worse yet, the winner will be giving a blue print to the rest of the SEC on how to beat them. Part of me just wants to use the ambiguous “they” when describing the two teams, just to save time. But that would be lazy of me.

While both teams have very impressive defenses, you need to give the nod to Alabama, as they have beaten two ranked teams, while the only moderately good team Florida has beaten was Tennessee. The Tide shut down the high powered offensive of Arkansas last week, making them look average.

Offensively, both teams boost great running backs. However, in order to win this game, the quarterback is going to have to make some plays. I know this is shocking, but I actually trust John Brantley more than I do A.J. McCarron. While their numbers are virtually identical, I think Charlie Weis will put Brantley in more of a position to win, offensively speaking.

All that said, I think the Tide win this one. This is a defensive match and it’ll come down to which defense makes the mistake that costs their team the game. I feel the Alabama defense is just too good to make that mistake. Expect this to be a hard fought game. Roll Tide!


3) No. 13 Clemson at No. 11 Virginia Tech – 6:00 PM on ESPN2

As a Clemson fan, last week I was looking forward to the Florida State game because I knew that FSU was a paper tiger. This week, I’m dreading the Virginia Tech game, because I know that the Hokies are for real.

The thing that mainly scares me is the fact that Clemson’s young offensive stars get their first game on the road against a physical, athletic defense. If you haven’t heard what Tajh Boyd and Sammie Watkins have been doing over the last two weeks, watch College Gameday on Saturday morning for a quick recap.

Virginia Tech, on the other hand, relies mainly on Logan Thomas handing the ball off to David Wilson. What VT is going to do once they get into the main portion of the season is try and emulate LSU from last year.

Virginia Tech is going to let their defense win the game for them by covering for the inadequacies of their quarterback. They will run the ball as much as possible and play a field possession game and hope for a turnover deep in their own territory.

Virginia Tech is just nowhere near as good as LSU was. The Clemson offense is going to make mistakes and that will keep this game closer than it really should be. The only thing the Clemson defense can do is stop the run and thankfully that is all Virginia Tech does. Clemson pulls it out on the road and people start gushing even more over Boyd.


4) No. 14 Texas A&M vs. No. 18 Arkansas – 12:00 PM on ESPN (in Arlington, TX)

Nothing says fun on a Saturday like watching an SEC West throw down. Oops, sorry, I’m already looking into the future. Right now, both teams are in different conferences. Not to worry, I’ll use this line next year.

Both of these teams are coming off of a loss, but the games were completely different. Texas A&M had a complete choke-job (also known as Red Sox-itis) against Oklahoma State, losing 30-29 after being up 20-3 at halftime. Arkansas, on the other hand, got manhandled by Alabama. The Tide defense limited the Arkansas offense to 226 yards, which is over 200 yards fewer than their average.

If you vanish the second half of last week’s game, this looks like a cake-walk for Texas A&M. However, you need to realize that the Aggie defense got absolutely lit up by Brandon Weeden. While Tyler Wilson is not Brandon Weeden, he is reasonable substitute. However, Wilson is going to need help from his running game, which he didn’t against Alabama, in order to slow down the Aggie pass rush.

Texas A&M will need better running from Cyrus Gray, who got a staggering 35 yards rushing against Oklahoma State. The Aggies have no issues at quarterback. As long as Ryan Tannehill can find Ryan Swope, everything will be fine.

This game will dissolve into a shoot-out before the end of the first half. I think the Aggies defense redeems itself and actually steps up and makes a stop when needed. It’ll be close and high scoring and the Aggies get back on track.


5) Auburn at No. 10 South Carolina – 3:30 on CBS

While watching South Carolina this year, you just keep wondering when the wheels are going to come flying off. Seriously, South Carolina is a team I think everyone is just waiting for them to lose.

Amazingly, all of South Carolina’s issues can be found on offense. I think Stephen Garcia has finally decided to stop alternating between being good and bad and just stuck with bad. He threw four interceptions against Vanderbilt last week. I knew he would get picked off, but four! Can we just get Connor Shaw in there and end everyone’s misery?

To make matters worse, Marcus Lattimore finally proved he was human by only rushing for 77 yards last week. The only good thing going for South Carolina is the fact that Auburn’s defense is pretty poor. The Tiger defense gives up way too many yards and way too many points. South Carolina should be able to get back on track offensively.

Offensively, Auburn hasn’t been that great either. Barrett Trotter has been holding his own and Michael Dyer is a good running back. The problem is the fact that the South Carolina defense has been what has been saving the Gamecocks week in and week out. Expect Auburn to have issues moving the ball.

I’m always scared when picking a South Carolina game because they can play amazing one week and putrid the next. I’ll pick South Carolina, but their own ineptitude will keep it close.


6) Michigan State at Ohio State – 3:30 on ABC

This is the last game for Ohio State before the “tattoo suspensions” are lifted. It doesn’t really matter though, considering the Buckeyes will get tattooed in this game and the three following it. Come on, that was funny!


Extra Point:

If you’ve followed Big Ten football this year, you know that Russell Wilson has been lighting the world on fire. Now, if you’re an ACC fan like me, you might be asking yourself why that name sounds familiar. Well, until last year, Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback for the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

But wait, don’t transfer students have to sit out year? That is very true, except there is a little loophole there. If the player graduated and still had eligibility left, he doesn’t need to sit out. Wilson graduated from North Carolina State, yet still had one year of eligibility.

Now you have to be wondering why NC State would let Wilson leave? He did throw for over 3000 yards in the past two seasons. Well, this is where the Colorado Rockies come into the picture. Wilson, also a baseball star at NC State, was drafted last year by the Rockies. He made the choice to skip spring and summer drills to play in the Rockies minor league system.

NC State decided that Mike Glennon was now their starting quarterback. They released Wilson from his scholarship and he transferred to Wisconsin, enrolling in their graduate program in order to play. So, is this good for college football?

Personally, I do not see the harm in it. The main thing everyone always brings up when talking about college football, whether it be an argument about a playoff system or paying athletes, is that the kids are at college for an education.

Wilson worked his butt off to graduate early and decided that he wanted to explore his opportunities in professional baseball so as not to have to commit to football. NC State wanted him to commit fully to football (although this wasn’t an issue when he was playing baseball for the Wolfpack).

While I don’t think there should be ease of transfer for undergrads, when it comes to graduate students, the player should be able to transfer if he wants. These are good kids looking for another year to prove their worth to scouts, not someone jumping for school to school looking for playing time and headlines.