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By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog<\/strong> The pride, the passion and pressure of college football was on full display in week 5 of the 2018 college football season as the stakes start to get raised in the race for the college football playoffs.\u00a0 In a week that provided virtually no upsets,\u00a0 we are starting to see teams calcify themselves in the top spots and others start to fall back in the pack.\u00a0 Here’s what I saw in week 5 of the college football season.<\/p>\n You often wonder why things happen the way they do in life (boy do I ever) but they do and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has to be in that boat on this day.\u00a0 The rock at the top of the Clemson program made a big boy decision last week and named the freshman Trevor Lawrence his starter\u00a0 at quarterback.\u00a0 This move sent previous starter Kelly Bryant to the bench and essentially out of the program.\u00a0 The Twitter and media debates raged on last week as Bryant announced his intentions to leave the program.\u00a0 This essentially left the Tigers thin at the quarterback position but what does that matter,\u00a0 Lawrence has shown himself to be a future star at the position and likely capable to take Clemson far this season.\u00a0 What could possibly go wrong?\u00a0 Upon thinking this you can just see the devil rubbing his hands together Birdman style.\u00a0 Midway through the 2nd quarter in a game in which Lawrence wasn’t exactly lighting it up,\u00a0 he got lit up along the Syracuse sidelines with Clemson down 13-7.\u00a0 The hit sent Lawrence to the showers early and left redshirt freshman quarterback Chase Brice with the task of bringing the Tigers back from their deficit.\u00a0 Somewhere,\u00a0 Kelly Bryant had to be getting a chuckle.<\/p>\n Ultimately,\u00a0 Clemson got the job done in their home stadium thanks to some pretty staunch second half defense and timely throws for the unsuspecting Brice.\u00a0 My thoughts on the whole situation going into the game were that Swinney would have done well to keep Bryant as the starter,\u00a0 find ways to insert Lawrence at times in games and have both available in case somebody gets almost decapitated on the sidelines during a game. There’s little substitute for experience but it seems more and more in society,\u00a0 we are casting aside that element to chase shiny new objects.\u00a0 I guess it’s part of our ever increasing short attention span.\u00a0 I don’t know where Bryant is going to go and neither do I know where Clemson’s seasons is going to go either.\u00a0 I think it just took a hit.<\/p>\n Saturday night we were treated to one of those college football thrillers that we all know and love.\u00a0 Ohio St. vs. Penn St. had all the build up of a Rose Bowl championship game when in truth it was just a midseason battle for Big Ten supremacy.\u00a0 While the outcome was ultimately what I expected,\u00a0 the lead up to the end was not.\u00a0 Penn St.’s coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for the game plan they came up to neutralize the superiority that Ohio St. had on both sides of the line of scrimmage.\u00a0 Defensively,\u00a0 the Nitanny Lions dialed up some exotic blitzes to get in the face of young QB Dwayne Haskins and limit his effectiveness.\u00a0 Offensively,\u00a0 they used the most lethal weapon they had and that was the legs of Trace McSorely.\u00a0 The talented signal caller threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns but more deadly were his 175 rushing yards.\u00a0 McSorely’s runs kept the chains moving and changed everything the Buckeyes had to do defensively.\u00a0 As a result,\u00a0 Penn St. kept a lead for most of the game and kept us fans on the edge of our seats.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 we were all knocked off our seats in the closing minutes of the game.\u00a0 Penn St. opted to take the ball out of the hands of the most productive player in the entire game and hand it to a back in Miles Sanders on 4th and 5.\u00a0 This was a classic case of a coach out thinking himself (I’ve been there).\u00a0 One thing my coaching has taught me is that in crucial moments it’s often players that make play not calls.\u00a0 When you get in the red zone or in crucial third or fourth down situations,\u00a0 it’s time to dial up your best players not necessarily your best plays. McSorely accounted for a school record 461 total yards at the point.\u00a0 Sanders had accumulated all of 45 yards.\u00a0 If it were a stock,\u00a0 you would not have picked Sanders. It’s a decision that Penn St. offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne will no doubt grow from and one that Penn St. fans will lament for some time to come.<\/p>\n If you are a Florida Gator fan and not delusional,\u00a0 you were nervous entering into Saturday’s game on the road vs. Mississippi St.\u00a0 Here was the factology leading into the game.\u00a0 This was a tough road game vs. an opponent off of a loss with a team full of players feeling a certain type of way about their coach walking out on them to go coach another SEC team.\u00a0 Not to mention that up until this point,\u00a0 Mississippi St. appeared to be the more physical team more prepared for the rigors that this game would provide.\u00a0 Did I get that right?\u00a0 Well yes I did.<\/p>\n In much the same fashion that Penn St. did in their game vs. Ohio St.,\u00a0 Florida walked into the game with confidence but coached it like an underdog.\u00a0 Like Penn St.,\u00a0 Florida was at a disadvantage along both lines of scrimmage.\u00a0 Florida’s game vs. Kentucky earlier this season showed that their defensive line can get pushed around in a fist fight.\u00a0 Offensively,\u00a0 any honest Florida fan will tell you that upfront is not the strength of this squad.\u00a0 Mississippi St. is a heavy run team that is built on trench play and thus appeared to have an advantage coming in.<\/p>\n You have to give credit to the game plans for Florida.\u00a0 Instead of banging his head against the wall,\u00a0 Florida head coach Dan Mullen used a beavy of wide receiver screens as his outside run game forcing Mississippi St. to widen some of the activity in the box.\u00a0 When they did,\u00a0 Mullen attacked the middle with the numbers in his favor.\u00a0 Essentially Mullen fed the area where he had an advantage to weaken an area where the opponent had a strength.\u00a0 While the scoreboard will not say that Florida’s offense went off,\u00a0 the numbers speak volumes.\u00a0 Florida out gained Mississippi St. 357 to 202 in total yards and held the edge in time of possession.\u00a0 What was most surprising was the Gators outgaining the Bulldogs on the ground 118 to 104.\u00a0 All of this happened despite Florida having 11 pentalites to Mississippi St.’s two.\u00a0 Unlike the Penn St. game,\u00a0 with the game on the line,\u00a0 Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham went with what they do best and sent a safety blitz that hit home to salt the game.\u00a0 Maybe the ole Engage 8 Madden defense will get you your ass kicked online but in Davis Wade Stadium on a Saturday Night it can get you a big road victory in the SEC.<\/p>\n We can no longer ignore this.\u00a0 UCF has built itself a hell of a program.\u00a0 College football fans living outside of the Orlando \/ Kissimmee area clowned the Knights last year when they crowned themselves king and trumped up a mythical national championship.\u00a0 They ushered in further shade when UCF defeated Auburn in the bowl game citing how the Tigers could careless about the game and the opponent.\u00a0 Perhaps that was true but there’s no denying what UCF has been doing for the last two years.\u00a0 The Knights’ 17 game win streak is the longest in college football currently and not a place for you to cast your petty scorn.\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 Pittsburgh is not having one of their finer 1980 type seasons but they are an ACC opponent that got melted like a forgotten Now N Later in a car’s back seat.<\/p>\n UCF is not just beating teams,\u00a0 they are destroying them.\u00a0 The Knights’ closest game this season was their “showdown” with in-state upstart FAU.\u00a0 That was a 20 point win for UCF.\u00a0 The average margin of victory is 32 points on the season and they are yet to have a game in which they have not put up over 500 yards of offense. It would have been nice to have seen them play their game vs. North Carolina to have a measuring stick against fellow in-state competitor Miami but that has not happened.\u00a0 In all likelihood,\u00a0 UCF will go undefeated through their regular season.\u00a0 The way this playoff thing is set up,\u00a0 UCF will again be on the outside looking in and end up in a bowl game against a dejected big name who fell just outside of playoff consideration.\u00a0 Y’all folks are going to have to endure another trip to the jewelers for these Knights.<\/p>\n One of the mysteries so far this season is the strength of Notre Dame.\u00a0 I am not even sure why it’s a mystery.\u00a0 Is it because we hate Notre Dame and don’t want to believe it or is because they don’t have the big marketable names that make us gravitate to them?\u00a0 Or is it because we just hate them? Yea we hate them but you can’t hate the game.\u00a0 Saturday Night,\u00a0 the Irish took apart another top program from a top conference.\u00a0 Stanford got their heads handed to them under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus.\u00a0 Lord Touchdown was likely producing a few fist pumps as Notre Dame wandered their way into the endzone five times during a 38-17 win over their nemesis.<\/p>\n I am sure college football fans can opine about the lack of quality in Notre Dame’s schedule but the truth is that their five wins do include two against Michigan and Stanford.\u00a0 We can argue that those wins were at home and 2017 showed us that the Irish dominance doesn’t necessarily fit in the overhead compartment when they travel.\u00a0 I am not sure that we will get a chance to find out in 2018.\u00a0 There is no trip to Miami this year and the toughest remaining road game is against a disheveled USC program at the end of the year.\u00a0 So what we’ll be faced with it come playoff time is a possible undefeated Irish team lurking around that top 4 ahead of teams with one loss against a killer.\u00a0 Oh the controversy.<\/p>\n On Some Smaller Matters<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lethal Comebackery. Yes I made up a word but Wille Taggert made up a saying and like my word,\u00a0 his offense did not exist until Saturday.\u00a0 On their way to another embarrassing performance,\u00a0 Florida St. grew a pair and snatched a win away from a struggling Louisville football team.\u00a0 Don’t look now but the Seminoles have improved since their face hiding performance vs. Syracuse three weeks ago.\u00a0 I have been saying all season long that Deondre Francois has been a bright spot for FSU and it was he who led the revolt vs. the Cardinals.\u00a0 Left for dead with flies everywhere,\u00a0 Florida St. shined like a 20 wall in the final 20 minutes of the contest.\u00a0 Led by Francois’ 294 yards passing and four TDs,\u00a0 Florida St. found something to feel good about heading into their annual showdown with the Miami Hurricanes.<\/p>\n So how did the Canes do in their lead up to the showdown?\u00a0 It was pure dominance on a national television stage vs. North Carolina.\u00a0 The Canes forced six turnovers with three of them being TDs enroute to a 47-10 win over conference foe North Carolina.\u00a0 These type of things lead to set up point spreads and we see the Canes have marched out as 11 point favorites in their meeting with FSU.\u00a0 It’s the largest line in favor of the Canes in quite some time.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 considering the results of games thus far,\u00a0 is this line high enough?\u00a0 Common fans may rush to the betting window in favor the Canes but Vegas always holds a little reverence for rivalries.<\/p>\n The struggles for first year coaches Chip Kelly at UCLA and Scott Frost at Nebraska continue and they aren’t getting better.\u00a0 Kelly’s bunch took it on the chin yet again this week when Colorado cold cocked them 38-16 in Boulder. Things remained frosty for Scott when Purdue came to Lincoln and put up half a four score on the Huskers 42-28.\u00a0 The fortunate thing for both of these coaches is that they are in places that will have patience.\u00a0 People don’t care as much about UCLA football in Los Angeles like they do in Tuscaloosa, Gainesville or Columbus so Kelly can fumble his way through these performances for a little while longer.\u00a0 They most certainly care about football in Nebraska but Husker fans have shown themselves to have that good Midwestern patience especially for a son come home.\u00a0 However, patience has an expiration date everywhere even in Westwood and Lincoln.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog Twitter: @GridironStuds The pride, the passion and pressure of college<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[829,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-football","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n1 Wait…\u00a0 Comeback!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
2 You searched the whole playsheet and came up with that?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
3 Think Like an Underdog But Act Like a Big Dog<\/strong><\/h2>\n
4 ICU UCF<\/strong><\/h2>\n
5 Well How Good Are They?<\/strong><\/h2>\n