College Football Picks Week 5: Predictions and Odds for Top 25 Schedule

The 2014 college football season continues to be chock-full of surprises, and after a bevy of upsets in Week 4, the nation's Top 25 teams have been shaken up once again. 

It all began on Thursday, when No. 5 Auburn was given plenty of trouble by No. 20 Kansas State. On Saturday, No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Oregon barely escaped with wins. Finally, No. 8 LSU and No. 18 Missouri were defeated by unranked teams.

Those results just reaffirm the fact that no team—no matter its ranking—is safe on a weekly basis. Week 5 is sure to continue the trend, as several Top 25 squads are set to face off, and others may have some sneaky competition. The question now may not be in regard to if we'll see another upset, but rather when we will see one.

With the new Associated Press poll released and the nation's top teams reordered, Vegas oddsmakers have already been hard at work creating game lines for these impending contests. Let's take a look at the odds for each matchup and decide which teams will be coming out on top this time around, followed by a preview for the game of the week.

Home	Away	Odds	Pick
North Carolina State	(1) Florida State	FSU -23	FSU, 56-27
(5) Auburn	Louisiana Tech	AUB -33	AUB, 47-3
*(6) Texas A&M	Arkansas	TAM -12.5	TAM, 51-31
Iowa State	(7) Baylor	BAY -22	BAY, 37-17
*(8) Notre Dame	Syracuse	ND -14	ND, 34-17
(9) Michigan State	Wyoming	MSU -32	MSU, 45-7
(10) Ole Miss	Memphis	MISS -21	MISS, 46-20
(15) Arizona State	(11) UCLA	UCLA -3	ASU, 33-28
(12) Georgia	Tennessee	GU -17.5	GU, 34-20
(13) South Carolina	Missouri	SC -6	SC, 42-28
Washington	(16) Stanford	STAN -5.5	STAN, 29-24
(17) LSU	New Mexico State	LSU -43	LSU, 48-12
(18) USC	Oregon State	USC -13	OSU, 27-26
(19) Wisconsin	South Florida	WISC -32	WISC, 38-6
(21) Nebraska	Illinois	NEB -18	NEB, 32-21
(22) Ohio State	Cincinnati	OSU -13.5	OSU, 41-24
(24) Oklahoma State	Texas Tech	OKST -14	OKST, 35-17
(25) Kansas State	UTEP	KSU -30	KSU, 33-10

All game odds are opening lines, via OddsShark.com, and current as of September 21.

*Game played at neutral location.

Game of the Week

(15) Arizona State vs. (11) UCLA

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

It doesn't get much better than when two undefeated, ranked teams that still have plenty to prove face off in the early portion of the college football season. That's exactly what's in store when No. 11 UCLA travels to Sun Devil Stadium to take on No. 15 Arizona State on Thursday.

The Sun Devils got off to a hot start this season, torching Weber State and New Mexico with ease. They followed it up in Week 3 with a nice win over Colorado; however, dual-threat quarterback Taylor Kelly was injured in the process.

Kelly has already been ruled out of Thursday's game, according to ESPN College Football:

With Kelly missing time, junior quarterback Mike Bercovici will take the reins. A highly touted backup, Bercovici has a strong arm and is capable of scrambling when necessary. The offense will look different with him at the helm, but it should be just as prolific.

Offensive coordinator Mike Norvell complimented the signal-caller's arm, via a tweet from Fox Sports Arizona:

Coming into Thursday's contest, the Sun Devils are already 12th in the nation in rushing offense and seventh in points for. With Bercovici under center, the team can create more of a balanced attack when combined with talented running back D.J. Foster.

UCLA is 3-0 as well; however, the team has yet to produce a decisive victory. Through three weeks—against three unranked opponents—the Bruins have won by a total of just 18 points. In Week 3, the Bruins offense was stifled by Texas, winning by a score of 20-17 after UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley left with an injury.

Hundley has been limited in practice since leaving that game, and he hasn't been cleared to start on Thursday just yet, according to Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News:

Backup quarterback Jerry Neuheisel was efficient in Hundley's absence, but against a far superior opponent, the team may have to rely on its ground game featuring Paul Perkins. That could be an issue for the Bruins, as their ground game has been wildly inefficient this season, ranking 73rd in the nation.

Certainly, the quarterback situation for each team will be a big factor once this impending contest rolls around; however, the nod in this contest must go to the team that's shown greater efficiency no matter who is at the helm.

In this instance, that would be Arizona State.

With a solid running game and a defense that is only giving up an average of 20.3 points per contest, the Sun Devils have a squad more than capable of winning games without its primary signal-caller on the field. Expect this to be a close one with Arizona State emerging victorious in the end.

Prediction: Arizona State 33, UCLA 28