College Football Week Five: What to Watch For This Weekend

College football is really starting to heat up after last week, although Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State and Oregon all made it known that they're going nowhere from their positions in the top 5 in the country. Alabama showed just how good they were by coming back against Arkansas in Fayetteville, and making Ryan Mallett look kind of mediocre in the second half. The Buckeyes won convincingly (as expected) at home against Eastern Michigan, while Boise State and Oregon had no problems with solid Pac-10 teams in Oregon State and Arizona state respectively. While these four have emerged as the top teams, a few more are looking to push into that category as well.

Stanford, Nebraska, and Auburn are the three teams that I believe could contend for a national championship if they keep up the way they're playing. Stanford dissected the defense of my Notre Dame Irish, and have possibly the best QB in the country in Andrew Luck. Nebraska appears to be the class of the Big 12 after Texas and Oklahoma looked iffy on Saturday, while Auburn won a huge game at home against a good South Carolina team. Teams like these put a lot of pressure on the big boys who may not be able to afford to lose a game this season.

Anyways, let's see what we have in store for us this week.

Thursday, Texas A&M (3-0) at Oklahoma State (3-0) (7:30, ESPN)

Thursday night presents an interesting contest between two Big-12 teams that look to remain undefeated despite somewhat shaky starts so far.

The Aggies looked dominant against opponents Stephen F. Austin and Louisiana Tech in their first two games, but needed a 21-0 4th quarter to comeback from a big deficit against a win-less Florida International team. Jerrod Johnson has the potential and raw athletic ablility to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, but throwing four interceptions against FIU is not acceptable.

There is no way he will be able to get away with that against the dynamic offense that Oklahoma State puts out there. Every time the Aggies turn the ball over they will give more time for Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter to find the endzone like he already has done six times this year. While Hunter is the most marquee name in the Cowboys offense, 26 year old ex-minor league baseball player Brandon Weeden has emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the big-12. Weeden threw for six touchdowns last week in a rout against Tulsa, and the Cowboys are 2nd in the country in passing yards, mostly from Weeden.

Prediction: Texas A&M: 28, Oklahoma State: 35

Unfortunately, the Friday night game this week (BYU at Utah State) is terrible. So we'll skip ahead to Saturday.

Saturday,  Vanderbilt (1-2) at Connecticut (2-2) (12:00, ESPN3)

UConn started to look like a whole new team in the 2nd half of last week's game against Buffalo when Randy Edsall finally made the change to replace the Alex Smith of the Big East (Zach Frazer), with Cody Endres. This week they have to start to prove that they have a chance to win the Big East by taking care of business against Vanderbilt at the Rent.

It would look pretty good for the Huskies, and the Big East Conference, if they can score a victory over an SEC opponent (albeit, a very weak one), like they did to South Carolina last bowl season. Vanderbilt is coming off of a fairly impressive SEC win against Ole Miss in Oxford, and will have some momentum coming into this contest. The Commodores will need this victory to have much chance to get the six wins needed for bowl eligibility, as the rest of their SEC schedule is obviously very difficult.

Prediction: Vanderbilt: 14, Connecticut: 25

#11 Wisconsin (4-0) at #24 Michigan State (4-0) (3:30, ABC)

Thank goodness Big Ten conference play is beginning this week because watching all of the conference powerhouses beating up on FCS teams was starting to get old.

The Badgers are coming off of ridiculous 70-3 win over Austin Peay State University, while Michigan State had no difficulties with Northern Colorado, winning 45-7. Both of these teams, though, had difficulties pulling off a victor the week prior, as Wisconsin barely held off Arizona State and Michigan State needed the infamous fake field goal to beat Notre Dame.

The Spartans will be extra motivated due to the home field atmosphere and the semi-return of their head coach, as Mark Dantonio will be coaching the team from the press box, just two weeks after suffering a minor heart attack. They will need to find something to hold off Scott Tolzien, John Clay and the Badger offense that made Austin Peay look like a high school team. Big Ten play is finally underway and this is a great way to start it off.

Prediction: Wisconsin: 21, Michigan State: 18

There's also Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas at this time slot, but neither of these teams have impressed me much this season. I find the Big Ten game to be much more intriguing.

#9 Stanford (4-0) at #4 Oregon (4-0) (8:00, ABC)

After last week my Notre Dame Irish no longer deserved to be mentioned in this writeup. That being said, they're opponent, the Stanford Cardinal does, especially when they are playing at the number four team in the country.

Andrew Luck, in my opinion, is far and away the best quarterback in college football. There's just about nothing that this guy does wrong, and I expect to see him in the NFL Hall of Fame one day. The Stanford defense, led by Jim Harbaugh, is pretty darn good as well. Much better than anything the Oregon Ducks have seen so far this year.

But, beating Oregon in Eugene isn't ever an easy task even considering how good of a football team Stanford is. The Ducks have been possibly the most dynamic team in college football so far this year, as Lamichael James, Darron Thomas and company have made fools out of inferior opponents in all of their first four games. The Ducks lead the country in scoring, while they are third in rushing yards and points allowed. The question is, though, are they ready to play a team like Stanford after beating up on Tennessee, New Mexico and Portland State.

Prediction: Stanford: 35, Oregon: 31

Alabama will host Florida during this time slot as well. I fully expect Alabama to win that game in a rout, and will be mostly focusing my attention on the Stanford game and the Irish contest with BC. Alabama's only two chances for a loss this season, in my opinion, are next week in Columbia against South Carolina, and the Iron Bowl against Auburn, as well as the SEC championship.

Some other games worth watching:

#16 Miami (FL) (2-1) at Clemson (2-1) (12:00, ESPN2)

#19 Michigan (4-0) at Indiana (3-0) (3:30, ESPNU)

Virginia Tech (2-2) at #23 North Carolina State (4-0) (3:30, ABC)

#21 Texas (3-1) at #8 Oklahoma (4-0) (3:30, ABC)

Washington (1-2) at #18 USC (4-0) (8:00, ESPN2)

Notre Dame (1-3) at Boston College (2-1) (8:00, ABC)

#7 Florida (4-0) at #1 Alabama (8:00, CBS)

#22 Penn State (3-1) at #17 Iowa (3-1) (8:05, ESPN)