Elms' Essentials: Week 5

Week 5 really lived up to its billing, don’t you think?

There were several marquee showdowns in the Top 25 this week, and pretty much all of them lived up to their hype. We learned a lot about some teams (I feel like I say that every week, but it does, in fact, ring true every week), and we gauged further which teams are legitimate College Football Playoff contenders and which are, well, um…pretenders.

Of course, nothing is set in stone until the regular season is over. But that’s what makes the regular season so incredibly entertaining. And the simple fact that college football is unmatched when it comes to entertainment. It’s the greatest sport in the world, right?

Anyway, let’s dive into some takeaways!

Iowa State is one of the most underrated teams in the country

Bet you didn’t think I would start this stacked slate by talking about Iowa State, did you?

Well, that’s where you’re wrong. The Cyclones have established themselves as a legitimate Big 12 contender and one of the most underrated teams in the country. And following their win over Arizona at home, Iowa State is now 5-0.

Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht may very well be the most underrated quarterback in the entire nation. He has posted just over a thousand passing yards so far this season (1,103), along with seven touchdown passes, and five rushing touchdowns, three of which came in Iowa State’s victory over the Wildcats.

He didn’t have an incredibly gaudy day throwing the ball against Arizona, but he found the end zone three times, and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day, right? Not to mention, the Cyclones put up 39 points and their defense held Arizona to just 14 points and just 107 rushing yards as a team.

I get a certain whiff of last year’s Arizona State team in this Iowa State team. That iteration of the Sun Devils made the College Football Playoff and very nearly beat Texas. If Iowa State keeps winning, they could very well be a team to watch as the year goes on.

Illinois is not dead in the water

It seemed like the public opinion was that Illinois, following their 63-10 demolition at the hands of Indiana last week, were completely cooked and had no chance at a potential berth in the College Football Playoff.

Well, not so fast. First, it’s college football, and literally anything can happen.

Secondly, Illinois looked good for the most part in their thrilling 34-32 win over a solid USC team in Champaign this past Saturday. It took a walk-off field goal to secure the victory, but the Fighting Illini recovered from that poor showing in Bloomington.

Luke Altmyer bounced back from his struggles last week in a big way, as he went 20-for-26 for 328 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a score on the ground and did not turn the ball over.

The running game for Illinois only managed to rack up 172 yards, but the passing game was in sync all afternoon. The receiving group tallied 331 total receiving yards and three touchdowns, and one of them even came from Altmyer, who passed for, ran for, and caught at least one touchdown. How about that?

But regardless, Illinois should be respected a tiny bit more. I understand they were blown out against Indiana, but this is the kind of game that good teams win. Illinois is not some pushover like they used to be. They are a legitimately good team, and deserving of their Top 25 ranking, particularly after this game.

Ohio State’s offense is still leaving something to be desired

Is it bad? No.

But it is clear that they are still working through the kinks, so to speak, to open up this season. In the Buckeyes’ 24-6 win over Washington in Seattle, it was a decent game offensively, but this contest was a bit of a slog until about halfway through the third quarter. Even heading into the fourth quarter, Ohio State was only up 14-6.

But in the fourth quarter, the offense finally opened up a little bit, and it culminated in quarterback Julian Sayin connecting with CJ Donaldson for a touchdown, which eventually led us to the final score of 24-6.

But a couple of things are clear following this game: 1) the Buckeyes have a quarterback in his very first year as a starter, who was formerly a five-star recruit, but is seeing his first Big Ten action of the season. Ohio State is only four games into the season, and they have a new offensive coordinator (Brian Hartline) following Chip Kelly’s departure to the NFL.

It is reasonable to assume that the offense will eventually open up over the course of the season. But Sayin is clearly feeling things out at this point (still), and it is worth monitoring how the unit looks as the season progresses, particularly when two of their next three games are away from The Shoe.

LSU did not deserve their No. 4 ranking in the Top 25

Notice I said, “did not.” Not “does not.” Context is key here. Because while LSU was considered one of the top teams in the nation going into their game on the road against Ole Miss, there were…questions…about how elite they actually were.

Well, those questions just got a whole lot louder following the Tigers’ 24-19 defeat at the hands of the Rebels this past Saturday.

There was not a lot to like about LSU’s performance in this game. The offense, once again, was sluggish and erratic. Garrett Nussmeier only managed 197 yards through the air and the Tigers only managed 59 (yes, 59!) rushing yards as a team. For a team with supposed national championship aspirations, that’s unacceptable.

And when the LSU offense is performing like that, the defense did, quite literally, all they could. But they couldn’t stop the Rebels’ offense when they needed to. Starting quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw for 314 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Running back Kyren Lacy was arguably the main catalyst as to why Ole Miss was able to squeeze out the win, as he ran for 87 yards and a score on 13 carries.

I felt that this game was less about how Ole Miss performed, because they played fine, but more so as to how underwhelming LSU looked. Like I mentioned, there were questions about this team heading into this game, but we might have seen what kind of team they truly are. The way the offense was playing and the team still managing to win games was simply not sustainable.

I’m not necessarily writing them off, but this effort was massively disappointing. There’s a reason they dropped nine spots and are now No. 13 in the newest AP Poll.

Alabama proved a lot of people wrong

Coming into this game, I was skeptical about Alabama and their chances this weekend. While they had picked up a pretty solid win over Wisconsin at home the week prior, heading into Athens to play a top-five team in the country on their home turf is an entirely different monster altogether.

Yeah, well, apparently no one told Alabama that.

The offense was clicking for most of this game, as the first two drives of the game for the Crimson Tide were touchdowns. One of the best moments of the game came when offensive lineman Kayden Proctor received a pass from quarterback Ty Simpson and trucked over what seemed like the entire Georgia defense en route to an 11-yard gain that set up a touchdown for the Tide.

And before anyone knew it, Alabama was up 24-14 at halftime.

There was a brief moment early in the third quarter where it looked like Georgia was going to get back into the game following the break, as running back Josh McCray scored a touchdown from a yard out in the third quarter to cut the Tide’s lead down to three.

However, Georgia’s next three drives went as follows: punt, turnover on downs, and another punt. Alabama did not score again, and with the way their defense was playing, they didn’t really need to.

It was an effective and efficient day for the Tide’s offense, as quarterback Ty Simpson looked impressive against a really good Bulldogs defense. He went 24-for-38 for 271 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also took good care of the ball and did not turn it over.

It almost felt as if Alabama did not have many believers heading into this game, and there was a legitimate reason for that sentiment. Last season was incredibly disappointing in their first year under a new head coach. It seemed like the issues that plagued the Tide last season had not disappeared this year; rather, they had gotten worse.

But games like this are how Kalen DeBoer and company dispel the noise, quiet the haters, and spin the narrative in the other direction. There’s still a lot of season left, and nothing is guaranteed in the vaunted SEC. But for now, this was one of the most quality wins of the season for anyone.

And last but not least…

Oregon is officially a bonafide national championship contender

If you didn’t know before, it’s officially official now.

In what was billed as the game of the week, it sure didn’t start out that way. In what was eventually a 30-24 win for the Ducks over Penn State, it was largely a slog through the first three quarters or so. The score was tied at 3 at the halftime break, but Oregon’s offense then got going a little bit and scored a couple of touchdowns, making the score 17-3 heading into the final quarter.

Penn State saw that, and decided it was time for their offense to show out, too!

The Nittany Lions stormed back in the fourth quarter, as they scored touchdowns on their first two drives in the quarter to knot the game at 17. And after the Ducks turned the ball over on downs on their final drive of the fourth quarter, the game headed into overtime.

In the overtime period, Penn State got the ball first and it seemed like before you could blink, the offense was in the end zone. Penn State had their first lead all game, and the raucous crowd in Happy Valley seemed like they were going to make the stadium explode.

Oregon just chuckled to themselves (not really, but you get the gist) and did precisely what the Nittany Lions had just done, driving into the end zone with pinpoint efficiency to tie the game up once again. The question was now…how would Penn State respond?

This is how they’d respond, apparently.

Oregon snatched the victory away from Penn State, and left an absolutely heartbroken and deflated crowd for the Nittany Lions’ highly-anticipated “white-out” game. For all the outstanding plays in this game, the MVP of this one has to be Oregon quarterback Dante Moore.

Moore completed 29 of his 39 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. He also did not turn the ball over, which was critical against this tough Penn State defense. Moore also added 35 yards on the ground. But even more than that, Moore consistently looked poised and confident in the pocket. And when the Ducks needed him to make a play, he came through time and time again.

If Moore continues to play at this level, Oregon should absolutely be considered a legitimate threat to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff.

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