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

The first weekend of October should bring plenty of excitement, as several ranked opponents are set to square off in a slate that will have conference and national championship implications.

Three matchups will occur within the Top 10 of the Week 5 Associated Press poll, including a Top Five clash between No. 3 Louisville and No. 5 Clemson in Death Valley. In addition, No. 7 Stanford will pay a visit to Husky Stadium to take on No. 10 Washington on Friday night, and No. 4 Michigan hosts No. 8 Wisconsin.

Other teams in the Top 25 also have tough challenges. Take a look below at the schedule for ranked schools in the AP poll, as well as odds and predictions for the matchups. Continue reading for a brief breakdown of the three most notable games of the weekend.

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	Pick Against the Spread
Thursday, Sept. 29	8 p.m.	UConn at No. 6 Houston (-28.5)	Houston
Friday, Sept. 30	9 p.m.	No. 7 Stanford at No. 10 Washington (-3.5)	Stanford
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	Rutgers at No. 2 Ohio State (-38)	Ohio State
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	No. 13 Baylor (-16.5) at Iowa State	Baylor
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	No. 14 Miami (-6.5) at Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	Alcorn State at No. 20 Arkansas (Spread Unavailable)	Arkansas
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	No. 22 Texas at Oklahoma State (-3)	Oklahoma State
Saturday, Oct. 1	Noon	No. 23 Florida (-9.5) at Vanderbilt	Florida
Saturday, Oct. 1	3:30 p.m.	No. 8 Wisconsin at No. 4 Michigan (-10)	Michigan
Saturday, Oct. 1	3:30 p.m.	No. 11 Tennessee (-3) at No. 25 Georgia	Tennessee
Saturday, Oct. 1	3:30 p.m.	North Carolina at No. 12 Florida State (-11.5)	Florida State
Saturday, Oct. 1	3:30 p.m.	Illinois at No. 15 Nebraska (-21)	Nebraska
Saturday, Oct. 1	4 p.m.	No. 9 Texas A&M (-17) at South Carolina	Texas A&M
Saturday, Oct. 1	5 p.m.	Oklahoma (-2) at No. 21 TCU	Oklahoma
Saturday, Oct. 1	6 p.m.	No. 14 Utah at California (-1)	California
Saturday, Oct. 1	7 p.m.	Memphis at No. 16 Mississippi (-14.5)	Mississippi
Saturday, Oct. 1	7 p.m.	Kentucky at No. 1 Alabama (-34.5)	Kentucky
Saturday, Oct. 1	8 p.m.	No. 3 Louisville at No. 5 Clemson (-2)	Louisville
Saturday, Oct. 1	8 p.m.	No. 17 Michigan State (-7.5) at Indiana	Indiana
Saturday, Oct. 1	8 p.m.	No. 19 San Diego State (-20) at South Alabama	San Diego State
Saturday, Oct. 1	10:15 p.m.	Utah State at No. 24 Boise State (-20.5)	Utah State

Odds are courtesy of Odds Shark as of 8 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 26. Rankings are based off the Week 5 AP poll.

Stanford at Washington

In what is undoubtedly the top Pac-12 game of this early season, it will be the old guard against the new as conference stalwart Stanford travels to face a Washington team looking to break into the conversation as one of the league's elite teams.

Although it is featuring plenty of new faces in more significant roles, Stanford and its coaching staff still hold tremendous experience for a program that has won at least 11 games in four of head coach David Shaw's first five seasons. Washington boasts a strong young core, led by quarterback Jake Browning, but Friday presents arguably the biggest contest in the lives of every player on the Huskies roster.

Yet, these two teams play similar styles of football and rely on the same strengths to win.

Both teams rank in the top 15 nationally in points allowed per game, with Stanford sitting at eighth with 12 and Washington at 15th with 14.5. Offensive efficiency is also key, as each school prides itself on avoiding turnovers. 

Stanford quarterback Ryan Burns has been solid, but he does have two picks in three games while only completing 61.4 percent of his passes for 395 yards and three scores. On the other hand, Browning has been efficiently explosive, boasting a 70.5 percent completion rate with 904 yards, 14 touchdowns and two picks in four games.

Washington does not have Christian McCaffrey, though, as the Heisman Trophy hopeful shredded the Huskies last season for 300 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. Washington needs to slow him down this time around, and it will need its own rushing attack with Lavon Coleman and Myles Gaskin to perform well to limit Stanford's offensive possessions.

It will surely be a tight one at Husky Stadium. With these teams so evenly matched, the safe pick would be to take Stanford with the points.

Wisconsin at Michigan

This early Big Ten showdown is the most lopsided of Week 5's three Top 10 matchups in terms of the spread, and for good reason.

Michigan has looked dominant, particularly defensively where the team ranks 11th nationally in yards allowed per game with 270 and 13th in points allowed per game with 13.8. The team is fresh off a 49-10 thrashing of Penn State in a game that saw the Nittany Lions muster a mere 191 yards of total offense.

Wisconsin does not make it look pretty, but the Badgers have played well enough to win their two toughest games this season:

However, both of those notable wins have lost some luster, as LSU is 2-2 in a state of turmoil, and Michigan State's best win now looks pedestrian with Notre Dame sitting at 1-3. Saturday's trip to Ann Arbor will be Wisconsin's tallest task thus far.

The Wolverines are extremely powerful up front and phenomenal in the secondary. They allow 3.4 yards per carry while boasting two of the Big Ten's top defensive backs in Jourdan Lewis and Jabrill Peppers. This is not good news for Corey Clement and inexperienced signal-caller Alex Hornibrook.

Wisconsin has a strong defense as well that has only allowed three total touchdowns this season, so the Badgers should be able to keep it close for a while. However, Michigan has a personnel and home-field advantage that gives the team an edge, but Wisconsin still has a solid shot of covering such a lofty spread.

Louisville at Clemson

In a clash with massive ACC implications, Louisville will travel to Clemson in star quarterback Lamar Jackson's first major road test of this season.

Jackson already has 25 total touchdowns this season, but he has his toughest challenge of 2016 with Clemson's defense. The Tigers rank sixth nationally in total defense while only allowing 11 points per game.

Clemson has a potent offense led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, running back Wayne Gallman and stud receiver Mike Williams. However, Louisville is putting up video game numbers with its current average of 63.5 points scored per game.

Home-field advantage is likely what gives Clemson its current status as the betting favorite, but ESPN's College GameDay is coming to Death Valley, which is something Louisville usually enjoys, per SB Nation's Mike Rutherford:

This game is almost too close to call, but Louisville has given little reason to doubt it this season, so the Cardinals look like the better pick here while receiving two points.

Statistics are courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.