B/R's 2025 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 5
The loaded Week 5 slate did not disappoint.
Starting with Virginia's upset of eighth-ranked Florida State on Friday, college football treated fans to a fantastic weekend.
After a few huge comebacks early on Saturday, marquee games took the spotlight. Ole Miss converted a bold fourth down to clip LSU in the afternoon, providing a tasty appetizer to the biggest pair of games on the schedule.
In the prime-time window, Alabama held off Georgia as Oregon overcame the frenzied White Out crowd at Penn State.
This piece was updated Saturday night.
Winner: Journeyman Chandler Morris
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No, he wasn't perfect. Three interceptions in the box score show that.
But as Virginia knocked off No. 8 Florida State on Friday night, Chandler Morris made key play after key play. He threw for 229 yards, rushed for 37 more and totaled five touchdowns in the 46-38 upset.
The evening assuredly was cathartic for Morris, whose six-year college journey has included four different stops.
After spending the 2020 season at Oklahoma, he transferred to TCU. Morris won the starting job in 2022, but an early injury sidelined him before Max Duggan propelled TCU to a national title appearance. Morris started half of 2023 at TCU, all of 2024 at North Texas and headed to UVA this offseason.
Morris has guided the Cavaliers to a 4-1 start—with a 2-0 mark in ACC action—and might find himself in the spotlight more often soon.
Loser: 17-Point Leads
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I'm not saying it's a bad advantage, but apparently 17-point margins are the worst possible lead in college football.
Friday evening, TCU coughed up a 17-0 edge on Arizona State. Star wideout Jordyn Tyson caught eight passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns for the Sun Devils, who notched a 27-24 victory on a late field goal.
In the earliest window on Saturday, two ACC teams followed suit.
Louisville fell behind Pitt 17-0 in the opening frame, and 16th-ranked Georgia Tech trailed Wake Forest 20-3 in the third quarter. Miller Moss threw for 339 yards and three scores as UL roared back to win 34-27, and Tech survived a two-point conversion attempt in overtime to clip Wake 30-29.
It's a quirky thing. It doesn't mean anything significant. But it nevertheless was a strange trend to begin the weekend.
Winner: Notre Dame's Offense
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Notre Dame yielded 27-plus points in each of its previous three matchups, so the offense probably felt pressure to excel on Saturday at Arkansas.
Mission accomplished.
Though the defense stepped up anyway, CJ Carr and the backfield duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price carved the Razorbacks. Carr passed for 354 yards and four scores, including a pair to Love out of the backfield. Love totaled 127 yards and four touchdowns, while Price had 121 yards and two trips to the end zone.
By halftime, the scoreboard showed a 42-13 advantage in favor of the Fighting Irish. They exited Fayetteville with a 56-13 rout.
Notre Dame, now 2-2, faces an uphill slog in its College Football Playoff chase, but that was a very impressive performance.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Loser: Lincoln Riley, USC's Top 25 Record
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I would assume the Fighting Illini burned the tape of their 63-10 dismantling at Indiana. They'll look at Saturday's result more fondly.
USC fought back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter, taking a 32-31 lead thanks to a pair of touchdown catches from Makai Lemon. However, the Illini put together an eight-play drive in the last two minutes to earn a 34-32 win. David Olano drilled a 40-yard field goal as time expired for U of I.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are dealing with a bad trend.
Lincoln Riley, in his third year at USC, holds a 4-11 record against AP-ranked opponents. Three more Top 25 programs loom for the Trojans, including both Michigan and Notre Dame following their off upcoming weekend.
Riley's enormous buyout means he's not truly on a hot seat, but continued issues in the biggest games are a source of exasperation around USC.
Winner: Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
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Are you jumping aboard the Vandy bandwagon?
Boasting a 5-0 record for the first time since 2008, the Commodores are certainly an intriguing team. They rolled to a 55-35 triumph over Utah State behind a sparkling performance from quarterback Diego Pavia.
The veteran QB completed 26-of-34 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns, adding 79 yards and a score on the ground.
Next up, however, is the gauntlet.
Vandy travels to Alabama next Saturday, then follows an open weekend with LSU, Missouri and Texas consecutively. I'm not saying Vandy is about to threaten for an SEC crown, but maybe the 'Dores can pull off a couple disruptive upsets.
Pavia's playmaking ability makes them a dangerous team to face, even if Vandy's upside is more of a spoiler than a contender.
Loser: LSU's Offense
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I'm old enough to remember when Brian Kelly uncorked a rant because a reporter asked him about the LSU offense not playing well.
My friends, the latter thing happened again.
In a 24-19 loss at Ole Miss, the Tigers mustered a 2-of-11 mark on third down and lacked an effective running game. They trudged to just 65 yards on 21 non-sack carries with a long run of only 10.
Garrett Nussmeier once again had a mediocre game against top competition. Yes, the injury exit of wideout Aaron Anderson stung, but Nussmeier managed 197 yards on 34 attempts—a subpar 5.8-yard average per throw.
Look, it's simply one setback. The expanded CFP means LSU is not dead.
Kelly, though, boasted this offseason about this roster being the "best" of his tenure in Baton Rouge. Saying that, for better or worse, immediately placed championship expectations on LSU in 2025.
And this doesn't look anything close to a title-worthy offense.
Winner: Top 15 Survivals
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One quality of a great team is the ability to consistently win ugly games.
During the mid-afternoon window, three Top 15 programs—Texas A&M (ninth), Indiana (11th) and Tennessee (15th)—dealt with a nerve-wracking test. And each of them survived an ugly game.
Indiana made the first escape, navigating a trip to ever-dangerous Kinnick Stadium with a 20-15 win. Fernando Mendoza hit Elijah Sarratt on a slant, and he shed one tackler to break free for a 49-yard touchdown. IU improved to 5-0, setting up a Big Ten showdown at Oregon in two weeks.
A few minutes later, A&M defenders Dayon Hayes and Daymion Sanford converged on Auburn QB Jackson Arnold to force a turnover on downs. That clutch play helped the Aggies clip Auburn 16-10 and jump to 4-0.
Tennessee needed overtime to handle Mississippi State, but DeSean Bishop's touchdown run and a defensive stand sealed a 41-34 win.
It's not always pretty. It just has to be effective.
Loser: James Franklin, Again
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Well, the narrative persists.
Penn State put together a valiant comeback, clawing out of a 17-3 hole to even the score and force overtime. It should not be overlooked that the Nittany Lions genuinely competed with Oregon.
But there is also no space for moral victories at this point. James Franklin is coaching his 12th season at Penn State, and he's now 4-21 against Top 10 opponents.
Four and 21.
I still believe the Nittany Lions will be part of the College Football Playoff, given the remaining schedule. This is not to suggest Penn State's season has been derailed. The goals are still within reach.
Once again, however, Penn State faltered in a headliner.
Winner: Alabama in CFP Race
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Lose in Athens, and we might have a different conversation. That would've been two setbacks in the opening month for Alabama.
Instead, the Crimson Tide pulled out a 24-21 victory.
The simmering anger in Tuscaloosa has cooled, even if only briefly. The defense took control in the second half, protecting a 10-point lead despite the Bama offense not adding anything to the scoreboard.
Alabama is formally a contender, though the schedule is hardly relaxing. Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee—all ranked teams—are next on the slate.
But if the Tide can beat Georgia on the road, they're in good shape.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
