TWIF Notes 10/5/26

Welcome Back!

This was one of those sleepy weekends with not a lot of great matchups, but we still had several interesting results which should make us question what we thought about several teams. 

Here are my thoughts from Week 5.

1. WKU was one of my favorites to make the CUSA Title Game, but they seem far from a championship team at 1-4/0-1. But New Mexico State may be one of the better CUSA teams, but their game on Wednesday at FIU could be big for both of their seasons. 

2. Pitt had a big win at Virginia Tech, eking out a 35-33 victory over the Hokies. The downside is that Panther QB Mason Heintschel is out for the rest of the season, leaving backup Holden Geriner to take over. 

3. Northwestern ponded Penn State 34-13, and the Wildcats have a good chance to be 6-1/3-0 when they travel to Oregon for a game on Halloween. The Nittany Lions are searching for answers, but they aren't likely to find them soon as USC at home and Michigan in Ann Arbor are next on the schedule.

4. The Tar Heels may be improved, but it's doubtful their record will be any better than last year's 4-8. UNC played Notre Dame tough, only losing 37-26, but 3 of their next 4 games are at Pitt, at Duke, and Miami at home. As has been mentioned many times before, the Fighting Irish weren't likely to be challenged anytime before they travel to BYU on Oct 17. 

5. Alabama went on the road and just steamrolled Mississippi State 56-26, ending all of the good feelings in Starkville. Though the Bulldogs had their hopes dashed, they get an off week before taking on the tough stretch of games at LSU, vs Oklahoma, and at Texas. 

6. Wake Forest just walloped Stanford by a score of 57-3, and the Demon Deacons have the schedule to win out, if they can avoid an upset. The remaining games? At NC State, at Cal, off week, UVA, FCS team, at SMU, at Ga Tech, and Duke. None of those FBS opponents are easy wins, but there is also no one who really scares you either.

7. There were 3 OT games, with North Texas defeating Tulsa 45-44 on Thursday Night, Syracuse outlasting UConn 42-41, and Kentucky squeaking by South Carolina 35-34. None of these games will affect the CFP in any way, but they were exciting nonetheless.

8. Minnesota pulled their 2nd straight upset and downed Michigan 20-14. The Golden Gophers are now 4-1/2-0, and have a chance to finish the regular season 9-3. Meanwhile, the Wolverines are imploding, as they are now 0-2 in the Big Ten.

9. Air Force won the 1st leg of the CIC Trophy by stopping Navy in their tracks in a low-scoring 14-9 game. The Midshipmen began the season with high hopes of even making the playoff, but their 1-3 start makes that moot.

10. Georgia is another team that hasn't really been challenged as they rolled over the Vanderbilt Commodores 38-14. It was another odd game, as the Dawgs were sloppy, but never really in any danger of losing. They'll get their challenge this weekend in Tuscaloosa when they take on the Crimson Tide.

11. Ohio State squashed Iowa 31-14, and after a home date with Maryland, the Buckeyes go on the road to try and break Indiana's winning streak, which could be 22 games if the Hoosiers get by undefeated Nebraska this weekend.

12. The SEC has started a round robin of teams winning big, and then immediately after just losing big. While that may be entertaining, it sure makes it difficult to put the teams in any kind of pecking order. Hopefully, each week will give us a little more clarity, but I'm sure there will be a lot of confusing results from here on out.

13. UNLV bested Cal 39-31 in Las Vegas, giving the G6 just its 3rd victory against P4 opponents in 73 tries. 

14. One of the most misleading early result may be UVA pounding NC State 34-8 in Week Zero. Since then, the Cavaliers are just 2-2 and 0-1 in the ACC, while tha Wolfpack should be 4-0, but blew the end of the Vandy game in a loss. 

15. North Dakota State is bidding to win the Mountain West Conference in their 1st season at the FBS level as they shut out Wyoming 28-0. The Bison have 3 tough road games ahead as they travel to UNLV this weekend, go to New Mexico 2 weeks after that, and then go to Hawaii 3 weeks later. How they do against the Rebels will go a long way in determining where NDSU fits in within the conference.

16. The MAC had some interesting results, as CMU demolished Akron 41-17, Eastern Michigan ended the undefeated hopes of UMass 38-14, Ohio held off Kent State 13-10, and Bowling Green got their 1st win of the season with an upset of Miami. 

17. Georgia State may actually be decent this year, as they are now 4-1/1-0 after routing ODU 42-10. James Madison is still the top team in the Sun Belt, and the Dukes are GSU's next opponent, after their off week. 

18. Purdue ended a 13-game FBS losing streak and a 19-game Big Ten losing streak with a 24-17 victory over Illinois. There aren't many more opportunities left for wins for the Boilermakers. The Fighting Illini had a couple of exciting seasons, going 19-7 over the last 2 years, but that seems to be over. 

19. Rice is 1-4, but 2 of their losses have been by 7 points or less, and another was a 2 TD loss on the road at Fresno State. Unfortunately for the Owls, the schedule maker did them no favors, as they still have games at ECU, vs Tulsa, at FAU, at UNT, vs Tulane, at Temple, and Army at home. UTSA has had a few close results, but they are still one of the favorites in the American Conference.

20. Clemson was blown out 41-13 by Miami, and the Tigers lost to the Canes and LSU by a combined 92-23. This is not National Championship Clemson. It's not even ACC Champion Clemson. The Tigers may not lose another game, though I wouldn't be surprised if they did, but they have no chance of making the CFP outside of winning the conference. And nobody wants to see a rematch between CU and the Hurricanes.

21. Temple upended USF 17-13, knocking the Bulls from the ranks of the unbeaten. The Owls earned their first FBS win of the season, but their schedule eases up quite a bit. Temple may still get to 6 wins and a bowl bid, which would be their 1st since the 2019 season.

22. 115 of 138 teams played this past weekend, 14 fewer than last week. That's just too many teams to name.

That's it for this week! Come back tomorrow for my updated Power Rankings!

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!