2011 College Football: Grading the Top 25 Teams' Performance for Week 5

It's time once again to grade the performances of each of the Top 25 college football teams in the nation. We had some great showdowns this past weekend and some fantastic performances. What transpired has provided some shakin' and bakin' in the polls, as you might expect.

No. 8 Nebraska traveled to Wisconsin for its first ever Big Ten game against the No. 7 Badgers. The No. 3 Crimson Tide went into the Swamp to take on No. 12 Florida. No. 11 Virginia Tech played host to No. 13 Clemson—the upstart team of the early season.

Those are just a handful of the marquee matches we got to witness this past weekend, and what a weekend it was!

All of the hype that went into the beginning of the season is starting to give way to reality. The overrated teams are getting exposed, while the woefully under-appreciated teams are stepping up and proving their worth.

The polls will shake out as the season progresses, and the kinds of games played this weekend go a long way toward clarifying conference pecking orders and pinpointing who really belongs in the national title discussion.

Without further ado, the grades for Week 5 are as follows.

No. 25 Arizona State

Opponent: Oregon State

Outcome: Won 35-20

I'll warn you now: There are no A's coming out of this performance, if that's what you're looking for. It was a messy and ugly affair that eventually came out in a win for Arizona State.

The Sun Devils allowed Oregon State (0-4) to get the upper hand early, falling behind 13-0 before they finally found a way to score. A big second quarter allowed ASU to head into halftime with a 21-13 lead, but by mid-third quarter it had closed to 21-20.

The Sun Devils finally put the thing away, but it wasn't pretty.

Brock Osweiler completed nearly 65 percent of his passes and tossed a couple of touchdowns, but also threw up three interceptions. Luckily, Sean Mannion (40-of-66, 341 yards, one TD) gave up four interceptions.

In total, this game saw nine turnovers and over 200 penalty yards. It was sloppy, to say the least.

Luckily for Arizona State, the Beavers gave up one extra turnover and 65 more penalty yards than the Sun Devils did.

Grade: C-

No. 24 Illinois

Opponent: Northwestern

Outcome: Won 38-35

It wasn't particularly pretty. Still, the Illini got it done against a feisty Northwestern team that welcomed QB Dan Persa back for the first time since late last season.

Illinois more than doubled Northwestern's passing numbers, putting up 391 yards to the Wildcats' 163. However, they also gave up 169 yards on the ground while only gathering 82 of their own.

The story of the game was the sloppy play. The Illini committed eight penalties for 70 yards and gave up three turnovers. Meanwhile, Northwestern only committed four penalties for 48 yards and didn't turn the ball over once.

Northwestern is a scrappy little team. You can't give it extra opportunities. Illinois not only did that, but penalties gave up more yardage to the Wildcats and made Illinois' job harder than it needed to be.

The last series or two were pretty exciting though, so I'll give a tinge of extra credit for hanging tough and pulling out the win.

Grade: B-

No. 23 Florida State

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

The Seminoles got a much-needed break after a rough start to the 2011 season. In the two weeks leading up to this bye, they had to take on No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 13 Clemson—the latter on the road. They lost both of those matchups, somewhat derailing a very promising season.

This break comes at a terrific time, giving the Seminoles a chance to catch their breath, regroup and refocus before things get out of hand.

Starting next week, they've got a couple of road games at Wake Forest and Duke before coming back home to take on Maryland and NC State.

November lays out like this:

at Boston College

vs. Miami (FL)

vs. Virginia

at No. 12 Florida

Grade: N/A

No. 22 West Virginia

Opponent: Bowling Green

Outcome: Won 55-10

Last week was a disappointing letdown against No. 1 LSU. This week was a much different story.

Bowling Green had nothing substantial for West Virginia. The Falcons came out hot and jumped up to a 10-3 lead over the Mountaineers in the first quarter, but then it was lights out. West Virginia went on a 52-point run and buried the Falcons.

The Mountaineers put up 643 yards of total offense to the Falcons' 217. They out-passed them, put up three times as many yards on the ground, had only one 10-yard penalty and didn't commit a single turnover.

Oh yeah, and Dustin Garrison had a 32-carry, 291-yard day rushing the football. Not bad for a day's work, huh?

Grade: A+

No. 21 Georgia Tech

Opponent: North Carolina State

Outcome: Won 45-35

Don't be fooled by this score. It was much more lopsided for Tech than that score would indicate.

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 21-0 lead before the Wolfpack crawled back in to make it 21-14 early in the third. Once again, Georgia Tech pulled away, running up to a 42-14 lead.

NC State put up a score to make it 42-21, and then Tech answered with a field goal. With just 34 seconds left in the game, State scored a touchdown, and then it recovered a fumble and returned it for another score with just 20 ticks left on the clock.

Those last two scores made the game look much tighter than it was. The outcome wasn't in doubt for most of the second half.

Orwin Smith led the Yellow Jacket ground attack with three rushing scores and 74 yards on just nine carries. Smith, David Sims, Roddy Jones and Embry Peeples all averaged over six yards per carry as Tech racked up 296 yards of rushing.

The pass attack wasn't much, putting up just 117 yards, but Georgia Tech is a triple-option team—the pass isn't a big part of its offense anyway. Tevin Washington still notched two touchdowns in his four completions and didn't give up an interception.

If there's any knock against the GT performance, it would be that it only converted four of 12 third down conversions, but does that really matter? Well, and then there was that fumble that was returned for a touchdown at the end of the game...

Grade: A-

No. 20 TCU

Opponent: SMU

Outcome: Lost 40-33

So long TCU. Is there any doubt that it'll fall out of the Top 25 on the heels of this loss? This is the second time in five games that the Horned Frogs have taken a loss and the first time since 2008 that they've had more than one loss in a single season.

SMU went right at TCU and jumped out to a 17-0 lead by early in the second quarter. The Horned Frogs were able to battle back and make it 17-10 by halftime but fell behind 27-10 again.

Eventually, SMU went up 33-17.

It took a furious fourth quarter for the Horned Frogs to tie the game at 33-all. However, it was for naught, as the Mustangs put up a touchdown in overtime when TCU couldn't do the same.

The Horned Frog defense that used to be so dominant has been anything but this year. They gave up 461 yards to SMU. They allowed 349 through the air and gave up an average of 4.7 yards per carry on the ground.

Making matters worse, TCU committed nine penalties for 115 yards and lost a fumble (which was covered for a touchdown by SMU).

Casey Pachall did have a pretty good day, though. He completed 30 of 42 passes (71 percent) for 304 yards and three touchdowns. Ed Wesley also averaged 8.5 yards per carry on 11 hauls.

Offensively, TCU was fine, but defensively it was a mess, and it didn't play cleanly or mistake-free.

With all respect to an SMU team that is now 4-1, that was not a great showing for TCU.

Grade: C-

No. 19 Michigan

Opponent: Minnesota

Outcome: Won 58-0

When you start conference play, it's supposed to be a step up in competition. Obviously, not this week.

Michigan had more trouble with Eastern Michigan and San Diego State than it did with Minnesota. At least those two teams combined only allowed the Wolverines to put up 59 points, and they both managed to score points on Michigan.

Minnesota allowed pretty much the same number of points and couldn't score so much as a field goal.

Denard Robinson completed 15 of 19 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball six times for 51 yards and another score.

Fitzgerald Toussaint hammered out 108 yards on just 11 carries and a score, as four different Wolverine runners averaged better than seven yards per carry and all of them averaged better than five.

Michigan put up 580 yards of total offense while allowing just 177 in return. It had three penalties for 24 yards and didn't turn the ball over.

It was as solid a performance as one could expect, and Minnesota had no answer.

Grade: A

No. 18 Arkansas

Opponent: No. 14 Texas A&M

Outcome: Won 42-38

It doesn't get much more exciting than this. Two Top 25 teams dueling it out, down to the final two minutes when one pulls ahead to sneak away with the win. That's testosterone-driven male soap opera drama for you there.

This wasn't a perfect performance by the Razorbacks, but it sure was a good one.

The Aggies jumped up early on the Razorbacks and held them down, going into halftime with a 35-17 lead. However, the Razorbacks battled back in the second half, going on a 25-3 run to pull out the win.

Tyler Wilson completed 30 of 51 passes for 510 yards and three touchdowns. It'll be a wonder if the guy's arm hasn't fallen off by the time this article is published. Those are sick numbers, any way you cut it.

The run game was virtually nonexistent, but that was at least partly due to falling behind so far so early. Also, it wasn't really necessary in the end.

Jarius Wright had 281 yards receiving and picked up a fumble in the end zone for a score, adding insult to injury for A&M.

While the Razorbacks didn't turn the ball over, they did have 14 penalties for 112 yards. That hurt them more than it should have and is something they'll have to clean up going forward.

It wasn't necessarily the cleanest victory, but the comeback was impressive, and the Wilson-Wright connection was something to behold.

Grade: B+

No. 17 Texas

Opponent: Iowa State

Outcome: Won 37-14

I have to admit that this one surprised me a little. I actually picked Iowa State to win. I know, I know. Really?

Yes, really. While I didn't necessarily think Iowa State was going to be a great team this year, I did think its offense would be a nice match against Texas, and I was banking on the Longhorns still having some issues with their own offense.

I'm man enough to admit that I was terribly, terribly wrong.

The Longhorns ran up a 34-0 start before finally allowing the Cyclones to put a couple of scores up in the fourth quarter. They forced two turnovers in the first quarter alone and put the Cyclones on the ropes early.

The Longhorns found success both through the air and on the ground, putting up 255 yards passing and 145 yards running.

Interestingly enough, they didn't dominate the stats though. Iowa State put up nearly identical passing numbers (251) and similar rushing numbers (129). Texas just wouldn't allow it to do anything with those numbers.

David Ash and Case McCoy both completed seven of 12 passes with Ash picking up 145 yards and two scores while McCoy grabbed 110 yards.

The Longhorns spread out their run game between several different runners. Iowa State gave up at least four yards per carry to four of them.

Texas had zero turnovers while taking away three from the Cyclones. However, it did commit 10 fouls for 74 yards. The yardage isn't necessarily terrible, but the number of penalties could be cleaned up.

Beating Iowa State isn't exactly a statement game, but the Cyclones were undefeated coming into this game, and Texas thrashed them soundly. It was a dominant win on the road and leads the Longhorns into the Red River Rivalry on a high note.

Grade: A

No. 16 South Florida

Opponent: Pitt

Outcome: Lost 44-17

Can you hear it? That would be the sound of a bunch of Pitt fans screaming, "Ov-er (clap clap clap) rat-ed (clap clap clap)."

In light of this performance, they're probably right. Don't worry—the polls will reflect it.

Pittsburgh controlled the stats in just about every category. They out-rushed the Bulls, were within seven passing yards of South Florida, had fewer penalties, had fewer turnovers and controlled the game clock.

The Bulls had a couple of decent running performances from Darrell Scott and Demetris Murray. Both averaged over six yards per carry, and Murray added a touchdown.

Unfortunately, that's the only score the two could put together (B.J. Daniels had another), and the pass attack didn't do enough. Daniels was 18-of-36 for 223 yards but didn't get a passing touchdown.

The Bulls were just outplayed, plain and simple. A pair of fumbles hurt them, but you can't blame two fumbles for a 27-point differential.

It just wasn't a good showing for the Bulls.

Grade: D

No. 15 Baylor

Opponent: Kansas State

Outcome: Lost 36-35

Kansas State is putting together a good start to its 2011 season. Though it started kind of slowly, the Wildcats are 4-0 with their last two wins coming at Miami (FL) and now at home over this Baylor team.

I say that because this loss may not be quite as bad as it looks at first glance.

Robert Griffin III's passing numbers are still somewhere in the stratosphere, but they came down a touch, as he finally has more incomplete passes than touchdowns. That wasn't the case coming into this game.

Griffin completed 23 of 31 passes for 346 yards and five touchdowns. He finally threw an interception. It's impressive that something as inane as a single interception is such big news.

The Bear offense was a little less impressive this week than in previous performances. As mentioned, Griffin's numbers were good, but the ground game struggled mightily. In fact, their most prolific carrier on the day only gained 38 yards (Terrance Ganaway).

The defense couldn't do enough to stop the Wildcats either. Kansas State only gained 146 yards through the air but scored a couple of touchdowns and added 210 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

Making the situation worse, Baylor turned the ball over three times while only gaining one interception in its favor. Plus, it gave up 103 yards on eight penalties.

Those were costly mistakes that very much cost Baylor the win.

Grade: C

No. 14 Texas A&M

Opponent: No. 18 Arkansas

Outcome: Lost 42-38

For the second game in a row, Texas A&M squandered a big first-half lead and blew the game. For that reason alone, I'm almost inclined to grade it with a D or lower. But I'll be a little more fair about it.

The Aggies offense put up great numbers. They gained 628 total yards, 381 of them coming on the ground.

Christine Michael carried the ball 32 times, picking up 230 yards and three touchdowns. Those are crazy numbers! Add to it the fact that Cyrus Gray carried the rock 17 more times for 95 additional yards and two more scores.

The Aggie defense held the Razorback rush attack to just 71 yards on 30 attempts. They couldn't do a darned thing against Tyler Wilson, though, who passed for over 500 yards.

Then there are the two turnovers—one of which resulted in an immediate score.

The offensive production went away in the second half of the game, and the defense folded like a house of cards. The whole thing resulted in a second half that saw the Aggies get outscored 25-3.

So how do you grade the whole thing? The first half was brilliant. The second half was ugly.

Grade: C+

No. 13 Clemson

Opponent: No.11 Virginia Tech

Outcome: Won 23-3

Clemson just won't go away, will it? The Tigers weren't really supposed to beat Auburn. They did. They couldn't beat Florida State. They could.

Okay, but go on the road to take on No. 11 Virginia Tech? No problem.

It was a tougher battle than the score might indicate, but Clemson was up to the task. The first half was a back-and-forth battle that saw the teams tied at 3-3 at the break.

The second half was an equally tough battle, but Clemson's defense did a bit more than Virginia Tech's.

Tajh Boyd's numbers were less Heisman-like, as he completed just 13 of 32 passes for 204 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The ground game struggled with just one big run by Mike Bellamy that accounted for another score.

The rest was all defensive, as both teams kept the other from getting anything really meaningful going.

Clemson won the turnover battle, giving up just one turnover while taking two away. Not a real game-changer, but it made a difference all the same.

The Hokies controlled the clock, out-rushed Clemson and were only marginally out-passed by the Tigers (125 yards to 204 yards), but Clemson wouldn't let them find the end zone.

It was a strong statement game, winning on the road against a tough defense.

Grade: A-

No. 12 Florida

Opponent: No. 3 Alabama

Outcome: Lost 38-10

Florida was looking for a big statement game, particularly for its defense that was highly rated coming into this game. The Gators didn't quite get it.

It's no easy task to take on Alabama, regardless of where the game is played. Florida got the benefit of playing the Tide in the Swamp, but it didn't really help them.

The Gators only put together nine first downs the entire game and managed just 15 yards of rushing offense. This with Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps putting up Heisman-like numbers in recent weeks. Rainey was held to four yards on 11 carries, and Demps put together just four yards on three carries.

The passing game fared somewhat better. John Brantley completed 11 of 16 passes for 190 yards, a touchdown and an interception before an injury took him out of the game.

Jeff Driskel and Trey Burton came in to try their hands at the pass game but could only manage 17 yards between the two of them on three completions.

The Gator defense that had looked so strong to this point couldn't contain Trent Richardson, who rumbled for 181 yards and two scores.

A pair of turnovers didn't help Florida, as it rarely does against a team like Alabama.

Florida couldn't get anything going, especially after Brantley went down. The defense was largely ineffective, and it didn't look like the No. 12 team in the nation.

Grade: C

No. 11 Virginia Tech

Opponent: No. 13 Clemson

Outcome: Lost 23-3

The Hokies had an opportunity to grab the clear lead in the ACC title race. Clemson had just beaten Florida State last week—the other front-runner for the conference crown—and was coming to Lane Stadium this week.

Obviously, things didn't turn out as hoped.

The Tech defense performed relatively well. Clemson had scored no fewer than 35 points in each of its four games leading into this one. RB Andre Ellington was held to his lowest yardage total of the season, as was WR Sammy Watkins.

Really, the offense wasn't terrible either. RB David Wilson averaged 6.2 yards per carry as he racked up 123 yards. QB Logan Thomas completed more than 50 percent of his passes and amassed 125 yards.

The problem was the offense couldn't cap off its drives with points, and Thomas tossed up an interception. They just couldn't finish what they started.

The Hokies controlled the clock by nearly 10 minutes but turned the ball over twice and could only convert four of 16 third downs.

It was a great game, if you're a defensive fan. However, Tech just didn't have enough closing power to do much with Clemson.

Grade: B-

No. 10 South Carolina

Opponent: Auburn

Outcome: Lost 16-13

Luck finally ran out for South Carolina. It had come out on the upper end of two three-point games (at Georgia and vs. Navy) and had needed all four quarters to put away East Carolina in the season opener.

It wasn't able to put away Auburn.

The Gamecocks were only able to convert two of 10 third down conversions and gave up four turnovers. Stephen Garcia completed just nine of 23 passes for 160 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Marcus Lattimore grabbed just 66 yards on 17 carries (3.9 average) but did score a touchdown.

The defense held Barrett Trotter to just 112 yards passing and grabbed two interceptions but also gave up a touchdown. It couldn't consistently hold down Michael Dyer, who put up 141 yards on 41 carries and also scored a touchdown.

As mentioned, the Gamecocks gave up four turnovers but grabbed four interceptions as well, so this performance can't be blamed solely on turnovers, and both teams gave up 55 yards in penalties.

South Carolina just couldn't get it done down the stretch. It allowed Auburn to take the ball down the field and put up the go-ahead score with just 1:38 left on the clock and couldn't manage to get even a field goal to take them to overtime.

The Gamecocks ran out of luck—or they ran out of skill. However you prefer it, their narrow-miss run has ended.

Grade: C-

No. 9 Oregon

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

The Ducks catch something of a break. They got to sit down and watch everyone else play this week and now get to stay put in the polls for their non-effort.

We could argue all day whether or not it's fair that they get leapfrogged by Clemson when they didn't even play this week. Look at Stanford a week ago. The same thing happened to them. At least the Ducks didn't lose ground.

Oregon is currently on a three-game winning streak and has a fairly favorable schedule in front of it. The rest of the season looks like this:

vs. California

vs. No. 22 Arizona State

at Colorado

vs. Washington State

at Washington

at No. 7 Stanford

vs. USC

vs. Oregon State

Grade: N/A

No. 8 Nebraska

Opponent: No. 7 Wisconsin

Outcome: Lost 48-17

Welcome to the Big Ten conference. The good news is that's likely the toughest game you'll play during your regular season. The bad news is you were manhandled the entire time.

With all due respect to a Big 12 conference that is looking very good this year, Nebraska hasn't faced a team like Wisconsin in a very long time. No, not even Oklahoma or Texas has fielded a team like this Badger team in quite a while.

The Cornhuskers couldn't seem to get a blitz to work. They couldn't get a straight-up defense to work. They couldn't get consistent production out of their offense. They couldn't get trick plays to work.

Not all of that was the work of the Badgers. The Cornhuskers did a fair enough job of shooting themselves in the feet. Of the three interceptions thrown by Taylor Martinez, at least two of them didn't need to happen. A young quarterback made youthful mistakes, and Wisconsin's veteran defense made him pay.

RB Rex Burkhead averaged respectable yardage (5.3 yards per carry) and picked up a touchdown in his 96 yards. Martinez also scored a touchdown on the ground.

But those two scores aside, Nebraska's offense couldn't find ways to finish drives despite picking up 20 first downs on the day.

Nebraska was out-paced in both the pass game and run game, but not necessarily in completely dominant fashion. It was roughly 150 yards short of Wisconsin—fairly evenly distributed between the run and pass—but that wouldn't account for a 31-point margin of defeat.

What hurt Nebraska worse were the three turnovers given away versus just one picked up, plus the 80 yards sacrificed on nine penalties.

Those things combined helped Wisconsin control the football a good 10 minutes longer than Nebraska did.

It's tough going into Camp Randall and taking on these Badgers. Nebraska would have needed a near-flawless performance to take this one away from the Badgers. It certainly didn't give that kind of performance.

Grade: C

No. 7 Wisconsin

Opponent: No. 8 Nebraska

Outcome: Won 48-17

Now we know that this Wisconsin team is for real. Sure, we suspected it, but who did the Badgers play in their first four games to prove it? Nobody.

Through comfortable victory after comfortable victory, I was impressed with their play. Still, there was this nagging question in the back of my mind: Would the Badgers look this good against a real opponent?

Yes, they would, and yes, they did.

At times, it appeared as though QB Russell Wilson and his receivers were locked in some kind of mind meld. When he was in trouble, they made the right breaks and grabbed clean passes. When he needed them to grab just a half-step past their defenders, they obliged.

Nebraska tried blitzes, but Wilson avoided them with his legs or dumped the football in the nick of time and delivered it perfectly to receivers that were able to grab positive yardage.

RB Montee Ball was a workhorse, running 30 times and picking up 151 often hard-fought yards and four touchdowns.

WR Jared Abbrederis and WR Nick Toon seemed to be everywhere Wilson needed them to be, as they combined for 189 yards and two touchdowns.

Wisconsin was clean, giving up only 39 yards on penalties, and it was efficient, turning over just one fumble.

All around, it was a great performance against a good Nebraska team to make a strong statement. For the Badgers' efforts, they were rewarded with a new No. 4 ranking in this week's AP Poll.

Grade: A

No. 6 Stanford

Opponent: UCLA

Outcome: Won 45-19

Want to talk about a balanced attack? How about this: Stanford threw for 240 yards, rushed for 202 more and didn't commit a single turnover on its way to taking good care of UCLA.

The Cardinal converted 10 of 14 third down situations and were 1-of-1 on fourth down attempts.

Andrew Luck continued his Heisman campaign, completing 23 of 27 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

Stepfan Taylor gained 112 yards on the ground on 17 carries and scored two more touchdowns.

UCLA obviously didn't represent the toughest competition Stanford will play all year. The Bruins are 2-3 on the year and have two big losses to the two ranked teams they've played this year.

Often, however, the mark of a good team isn't just how it plays against the good teams, but how cleanly it plays against the not-so-good teams.

As mentioned, the Cardinal didn't turn the ball over and were very efficient on offense. However, they did give up 80 yards on seven penalties. Obviously, it didn't hurt them, but it's something to work on for the future.

Defensively, the Cardinal weren't quite so dominant. They allowed RB Johnathan Franklin to run for 96 yards on just 12 carries (8.0 average) and gave up 343 yards of total offense to the Bruins.

Of course, on the other hand, they didn't really allow the Bruins to do much with that, and they did force a pair of fumbles that the Cardinal recovered.

It wasn't a flawless performance, but it was a good one. The Cardinal took care of business and put away the Bruins.

Grade: B+

No. 5 Oklahoma State

Opponent: Idle

Outcome: N/A

The Cowboys have had a great start to the 2011 year. They've started 4-0 and had a tremendous come-from-behind win over No. 24 Texas A&M a week ago.

This week, they were sitting down, letting everyone else shake things up a bit. They might have preferred that this break come a week later in the season, but such things can't really be controlled.

They were bumped a spot while they were down, but they probably would have been anyway, as the Wisconsin-Nebraska game would have bumped the Badgers into the Top Five regardless of what the Cowboys had done to Kansas.

The rest of their schedule looks like this:

vs. Kansas

at No. 11 Texas

at Missouri

vs. No. 25 Baylor

vs. No. 20 Kansas State

at Texas Tech

at Iowa State

vs. No. 3 Oklahoma

Grade: N/A

No. 4 Boise State

Opponent: Nevada

Outcome: Won 30-10

A win is a win, right? Right, and that's what Boise State got.

It wasn't even close to being their best performance though. Nevada is 1-3 on the year and, despite a near-miss loss to 4-0 Texas Tech, hasn't had a really remarkable start to its year.

While Boise State jumped out to a big 30-0 lead before putting things on cruise control, it wasn't a particularly clean performance, as the Broncos gave up two turnovers and 98 yards on 10 penalties and were just 6-of-14 on third down conversions.

Kellen Moore was 19-of-33 in pass attempts for just 142 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. It wasn't the kind of performance we're used to from the Heisman hopeful.

RB Doug Martin put up a strong performance, grabbing 126 yards and a pair of scores on 21 carries.

The defense was also pretty good, holding the Wolf Pack to just 59 yards rushing and 123 yards passing and not giving up a point until the fourth quarter.

The outcome was never in doubt, and Boise certainly controlled the game throughout. It just wasn't the cleanest, most impressive performance we've seen from the Broncos.

Grade: B

No. 3 Alabama

Opponent: No. 12 Florida

Outcome: Won 38-10

This was a really good win. While the Crimson Tide were obviously a favorite in the SEC, the conference was still something of a toss-up as to who would emerge as a clear leader.

South Carolina had kept winning, however ugly it might have sometimes been. LSU took over the No. 1 spot in the country a couple of weeks ago and has failed to release its grip on that position. Florida was also undefeated and looked strong on both sides of the ball.

Something had to give, and Florida obliged.

Thus, a victory over an SEC East opponent on the road was a good statement for the Tide. A comfortable victory was an even better one.

The first quarter was real tight with the teams coming out all knotted up at 10. After that, though, it was all Tide, as they put up the final 28 points of the day.

RB Trent Richardson picked up 181 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns in a very impressive display of running. It was a Heisman-worthy performance and should help propel him strongly into the discussion.

The Crimson Tide were smart and clean, committing no turnovers and giving up only 29 yards on penalties.

Strong all-around performance leading to a good win.

Grade: A

No. 2 Oklahoma

Opponent: Ball State

Outcome: Won 62-6

So, what do you do when the SEC is busy pitting ranked opponent vs. ranked opponent and you're stuck playing a MAC team that's nowhere near the Top 25?

If you're Oklahoma, you destroy it 62-6.

The Sooners put up over three times as many total yards as the Cardinals (655 to 214). They more than quadrupled Ball State's passing yards (447 to 95), and they put up almost 100 more rushing yards (208 to 119).

QB Landry Jones passed for 425 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. RB Dominique Whaley averaged over seven yards per carry and picked up a pair of touchdowns. WR Jaz Reynolds snagged 141 yards on just five catches and also put up a score.

A pair of turnovers wasn't great to see, but the Sooners grabbed four of their own and controlled the game from beginning to end. As the clock ticked into the fourth quarter, things were already looking awfully ugly for Ball State fans, and even though Oklahoma let up to a degree, it just kept packing on the points.

You've got to make some kind of statement when everyone else seems to be playing top-notch opponents, and the Sooners did the only thing they could—they dominated.

Grade: A-

No. 1 LSU

Opponent: Kentucky

Outcome: Won 35-7

Facing Kentucky (2-3) may not have been as sexy as Alabama traveling to the Swamp to take on Florida or Wisconsin hosting Nebraska. It didn't matter. LSU has already been there and already done that. It's arguably already played one of the toughest schedules of the young season.

That didn't mean the Tigers could sit on their laurels and take a day off. It just meant they got to do what everyone else has been doing for weeks: showcase their wares against a lesser opponent—except they got to grab a conference victory in the process.

The Bayou Bengals held Kentucky to just 66 yards passing and 89 yards rushing. All the while, they grabbed 348 yards of their own.

The offense wasn't completely impressive. QB Jarrett Lee completed just eight of 21 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown.

RB Alfred Blue ran for a respectable—though not awe-inspiring—4.5 yards per carry and a score.

However, offensive prowess hasn't really been LSU's modus operandi this season. It's been all about the defense taking control and the offense doing enough to pick up the win.

Against Kentucky, that offense didn't have to do much, so its so-so statistics really aren't important. The defense once again did its job, and the offense kept putting points on the board until it was a runaway.

The Tigers only allowed Wildcats to score in the last 4:22 of the game.

I still would have liked to have seen a little better flash from the offense, but LSU did what it was expected to do. It took control of the game and put away the Wildcats early.

Grade: B+