Week 5 Preview

September 24, 2019 by Dave Congrove

Week 5 of the college football season has some decent Top 25 matchups, so it's a bit of a head-shaker that ESPN's College GameDay crew selected Lincoln as the site of the Saturday morning show in advance of the Ohio State-Nebraska game.

The Buckeyes, ranked No. 1 in the Congrove Computer Rankings,  are a 24.87-point favorite over the 42nd-ranked Cornhuskers. Of course, Ohio State was an almost identical 24.99-point favorite last year in Columbus when the Buckeyes had to rally from a 21-16 halftime deficit for the 36-31 win. Learn how to choose the best casino site.

Three games pit two Top 25 teams against each other as 25th-ranked Mississippi State journeys to 7th-ranked Auburn, 12th-ranked Notre Dame hosts 18th-ranked Virginia,  and No. 19 Iowa State is at No. 22 Baylor.

Georgia, LSU, Oregon and Texas are among the 24 teams on sabbatical this week.

The schedule also has a good many duds with top teams playing pitifully out-manned opponents. Alabama (-28.43) hosts Ole Miss, Clemson (-28.87) visits UNC, Florida (-54.76) welcomes FCS member Towson, Iowa (-26.46) hosts MTSU, Michigan (-33.98) welcomes Rutgers, and Oklahoma (-24.64) hosts Texas Tech. For these and more games, find the best au online casinos.

Not nearly as bad are Wisconsin (-8.91) entertaining Northwestern, and Penn State (-8.12) visiting Maryland.

Undefeated

23 teams are undefeated with 12 of those at 4-0, 10 at 3-0, and 1 (Navy) at 2-0.

Only 1 game this week matches undefeated teams against each other and that's Friday night's AAC tussle that sends Navy to Memphis.

However, 5 other teams are predicted to draw their first loss this week.

• UAB (+2.75) at Western Kentucky
• Baylor (+4.55) vs. Iowa State
• California (+1.25) vs. Arizona State
• Kansas State (+3.29) at Oklahoma State
• Virginia (+17.18) at Notre Dame

Winless

5 teams have yet to pocket a win - Akron, Massachusetts, New Mexico State, Rice and Vanderbilt.

That number is sure to be reduced to at least 4 as Akron visits UMass in the "Bottom 10 Game of the Week". Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is favored at home over Northern Illinois.

FBS vs. FCS

114 games this year pit FBS teams against FCS schools. That's two more than a season ago when FBS teams won 105 of 112 games.

There are just 4 such games this week, all of which are on Saturday, as Florida hosts Towson, Pittsburgh entertains Delaware, Syracuse welcomes Holy Cross, and Texas State hosts Nicholls State.

FBS teams were 9-0 a week ago and are 94-3 (.969) for the season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS schools are 1,418-127 (.918).

FCS victories over FBS teams in 2019:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

FCS victories over FBS teams in 2018
August 29: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 31
September 1: Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 (OT)
September 2: North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Streaks

CLEMSON - Won 19 straight over-all (FBS longest). Won 21 straight regular season games.
Last: 52-10 home win over Charlotte on September 21.
Next: at North Carolina on September 28.

UCF - Won 18 straight conference games including consecutive AAC titles (FBS longest). Had won 25 straight regular season games (was FBS longest). UCF had won 27 straight if you include conference championship games and exclude bowl games.
Last: 35-34 loss at Pittsburgh on September 21.
Next: Hosts Connecticut on September 28.

ALABAMA - Won 28 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: 49-7 home win over Southern Miss on September 21.
Next: Hosts Ole Miss on September 28.

OKLAHOMA - Won 21 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last:: 48-14 win at UCLA on September 14.
Next: Hosts Texas Tech on September 28.

RUTGERS - Lost 13 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: 30-16 home loss to Boston College on September 21.
Next: at Michigan on September 28.

Akron - Lost 9 straight overall (FBS longest).
Last: 35-7 home loss to Troy on September 21.
Next: at Massachusetts on September 28.

CONNECTICUT - Lost 18 straight vs. FBS teams (FBS longest).
Last: 38-3 loss at Indiana on September 21.
Next: at UCF on September 28.

RICE - Lost 13 straight road games (tied FBS longest).
Last: 21-13 home loss to Baylor on September 21.
Next: Hosts Louisiana Tech on September 28.