College Football Ratings Week 5 2023
Week 5 was light on big upsets but heavy on entertaining games. Ole Miss/LSU took the cake for me- the two teams combined for 1,343 yards, severely damaging LSU’s SEC title hopes.
Michigan (+1)
Georgia (-1)
Texas (+2)
Ohio State (-1)
Washington (-1)
Oregon (+1)
Notre Dame (-1)
Texas A&M (+4)
LSU (+1)
Florida State (-1)
Alabama (+2)
Clemson (-1)
Oklahoma (+1)
Tennessee (+1)
Penn State (+1)
Miami (+1)
USC (-9)
Oregon State (+8)
North Carolina (-1)
Louisville (+2)
Kentucky (+9)
UCLA (+1)
Duke (+1)
Ole Miss (-3)
Wisconsin
Michigan claims the top spot in my ratings for the first time ever. The Wolverines’ defense has been outstanding. They haven’t played an offense worth a damn yet, but they’ve allowed 30 points through 5 games. Unfortunately the Big Ten is so shallow this year that they won’t play a top 50 team until November. I thought Texas A&M would be a disaster without Connor Weigman but they really impressed me against Arkansas and they’ll be SEC West favorites if they beat Alabama this weekend.
Moving Up
I was a week early on Bowling Green- I bet on the Falcons last week against Ohio, this was the week they broke out as they shocked Georgia Tech as a three touchdown underdog. Colorado looked very impressive in a loss to USC, I still have serious questions about their line play but they showed real grit to nearly come back from three scores down. Purdue dominated Illinois in a game that I thought would be a coin flip, they might be the second best team in the Big Ten West despite being 2-3.
Moving Down
Nebraska was ground into a fine paste by Michigan. I was hopeful that their offense would be better without Jeff Sims but it has been paleolithic at best so far this season. San Diego State is off to a shocking 1-4 start and Air Force ran for 287 yards against them this week. UMass has cemented themselves as one of the worst teams in FBS after allowing 50 points at home to a moribund Arkansas State team.