Week 5 - The Call Sheet

10-men turmoil – Ten men? Really Marcus Freeman? Are you for real Notre Dame? Man, that’s a tough way to lose. Really inexcusable for that to happen.

A round of applause – A round of applause for Oregon’s social media team. They’re having a helluva content week. Good for them.

Without a paddle – I still can’t get over the fact that Minnesota lost to a dogshit Northwestern team. What a horrific loss for PJ Fleck.

America’s team – I have yet to hear the fate of our beloved Texas State band member who stole Nevada’s Turnover Trident and launched it at a group of Wolfpack players. Wherever he is, I hope he’s happy and doing good.

Cowboy Up! – This kind of got lost in the shuffle last week, but Wyoming snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with 15 second-half points to beat Appalachian State 22-19. That’s three wins in four for Wyoming. Keep an eye on them in the MWC title race.

Buyout blues – Indiana needed 4 OTs and some whacky playcalls to beat Akron at home on Saturday. Man, what a bad scene in Bloomington. And Tom Allen has a…wait for it..$20 million buyout. YIKES.

A Sundevil hat tip – Credit to a banged-up ASU team for making things interesting against USC at 1 AM central time on Saturday.

Utah vs. Oregon State

A freaky Friday game! In a matchup of two of my most beloved, ass-kicking teams, this one should be a really fun one. Weirdly enough, it feels very must-win-y for the Beavers after getting beat up by Washington State last week.

Last week, Utah out-toughed and just ground the UCLA offense into a fine powder en route to a 14-7 win. Rumors are flying that Cam Rising is splitting reps this week–and if they can somehow get him on the field, that would be a huge boost for their offense.

I like the Beavers, and I like a DJ Uiagalelei bounce-back game. I think this game will be close and a real grind-it-out type victory for one of these teams. I think OSU wins something like 21-14 and the Beavers stay firmly in the hunt in the Pac 12.

Florida vs. Kentucky

You wanna see a rock fight? I present you with a rock fight.

This game is going to be some nasty, ultra-physical SEC football. Buyer beware: If you’re coming for huge plays and clever offense, I think you’ve come to the wrong place.

Florida has shown they can get up for big games, and they looked pretty good against fellow SEC East-foe Tennessee. That said, their offense, by and large, has struggled to get going and I think Mark Stoops is going to have a little something something for Graham Mertz.

On the other side, UK has sort of slept-walked its way through its schedule thus far, but this game starts a pretty brutal stretch for them. Transfer QB Devin Leary only has a 9:5 TD-INT ratio thus far. He’s sort of been underwhelming for the Wildcats. Overall, this game feels very low-scoring and a bit of a mid-off between the quarterbacks.

Kansas vs. Texas

There’s no way Kansas could pull this off, could they? I don’t think so.

In a bit of a polar opposite of that SEC East game we just discussed, this one feels very points-y and should feature lots of offense. Sark and Leipold are both really smart offensive innovators and I think that’ll be on full display on Saturday.

While I think Jayden Daniels can make things interesting (especially in the first half), I’d be pretty surprised if Texas messed around and kept the Jayhawks in the game. This is the type of game that an old Texas and old Sarkisian-led team would let be far too close and possibly lose. This Texas team feels different and I like them to handle business.

LSU vs. Ole Miss

Every year, it feels like we collectively talk ourselves into Ole Miss scalping a big dog team and pulling a big upset in a marquee matchup. But how often does it really happen? Not nearly enough for all the hype they get, in my opinion.

LSU has looked much more like a top-10 in recent weeks and I think if things go to plan, they’re just much better than Ole Miss. I mentioned last week that Lane did a lot of nipple-twisting and ball-bustin’ to only score 10 points against Saban and Alabama, and I still believe that.

I have questions about whether Ole Miss can pull themselves off the mat and go again against another really tough SEC West team.

Notre Dame vs. Duke

Speaking of pulling yourself off the mat…whew buddy. How are ya feeling, Notre Dame?

If it wasn’t enough of a kick in the balls to lose the biggest game of the weekend last Saturday because you only had 10 men on the field on the two most crucial downs, now you’ve got to get up and take on a feisty Duke team who’s looking for a College Gameday scalp.

Headlines aside, I’m having a really hard time nailing this one down. I think the only thing that would totally surprise me is a blowout. Notre Dame will try to do a much better job of running the ball this week and getting their offense out of first gear. On the other side, I really like the meal that Mike Elko and Riley Leonard are cooking. They kicked Clemson’s ass and they’ll surely look to do it to Notre Dame, too.

Notre Dame should be too big, too fast, too good for Duke. But watch out! If Notre Dame starts slow and Duke gets a little momentum, things could get dicey on the road for the Irish.

-3 Lousiville vs. NC State – Lowkey kind of like what Jeff Brohm is cooking this year with a relatively easy schedule.

Indiana vs. -14 Maryland – I really like Maryland by a comfortable margin here.

NIU vs. -13.5 Toledo - NIU is stinky, stinky bad and I think they struggle to score points.

New Mexico vs. Wyoming OVER 41 - Wyoming is legit good and I think they rack up some points.