Week 5 college football winners and losers: Oklahoma implodes, Alabama shows resolve
Saturday was all about the race for 62.
Aaron Judge? Nice guess, but wrong sport.
TCU made a run at 62 points but dialed things back in the second half, settling for an eye-opening 55-27 win against No. 16 Oklahoma that ends the Sooners’ major-bowl hopes and raises serious concerns about how the rest of this season will go for OU and new coach Brent Venables.
Ranked as high as No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll just two weeks ago, the Sooners have dropped two straight to open conference play for the second time in three seasons and will need to roll off eight wins in a row to land in a New Year’s Six bowl.
Preseason favorites to win the Big 12 despite some major changes in coaching and personnel, OU is now at the bottom of the conference standings, doomed by an ineffective offense and a shockingly inept defense.
Given Venables’ background as one of the top coordinators of the century, this sort of collapse is enough to raise eyebrows across the Bowl Subdivision: TCU racked up 668 yards, with an incredible 361 coming on the ground, and had four touchdowns of 60 or more yards in scoring the most points OU had allowed in a Big 12 game since a 59-56 win against West Virginia in 2018.
Every Top 25 result from college football’s Week 5
The offense didn’t fare much better against TCU. Even before losing starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel to injury — he left the field under his own power after taking a violent blow to the head while sliding — the Sooners were unable to keep pace with the Horned Frogs, who remain unbeaten under new coach Sonny Dykes.
It could get even worse for Oklahoma.
The Sooners are 0-2 in Big 12 play before even taking on the toughest parts of this year’s schedule. That includes rival Texas, upstart Kansas and Iowa State in October. In November, OU hosts No. 14 Baylor and No. 7 Oklahoma State.
Alabama QB Bryce Young leaves game with shoulder injury
Clemson
That’s two wins against Top 25 competition in as many weeks for No. 5 Clemson. After topping Wake Forest in a shootout, the Tigers played a more grind-it-out, physical style for a 30-20 win against No. 10 North Carolina State to basically put a lock on the ACC Atlantic. Torn to shreds by the Demon Deacons, Clemson’s pass defense fared much better against Devin Leary, holding the junior to 245 yards on just 5.2 yards per attempt. The Tigers have earned a spot in the top five and a place among the top contenders for the playoff with these two victories.
Kansas
The story of the season keeps getting better. Every weekend is predicted to be the Jayhawks’ last as an unbeaten; every weekend, Kansas finds a way to beat teams and make a case for the Top 25. While a perfect September was built on a potent offense, Saturday’s 14-11 win against Iowa State was pulled off by the program’s best defensive performance in almost a decade. The Jayhawks allowed just 313 yards on 4.2 yards per play — both totals the best against a Big 12 opponent since 2014 — and are a lock for next week’s Coaches Poll.