LSU football has its College Football Playoff hopes crushed by Ole Miss, plus winners and losers from College Football Week 5.
Few college football teams got more hype this offseason than the LSU Tigers. But after a second loss in five games, the Tigers’ hopes of making the College Football Playoff have gone by the wayside.
It’s still possible that LSU could make the SEC title game. Alabama has zero losses. Ole Miss has one and LSU could do what it did last season.
LSU could beat Georgia, which could give it a path to the College Football Playoff. However, that’s a tall order and it feels like the Tigers playoff hopes ended with the win by Ole Miss on Saturday night as the Rebels rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers led by nine points with 8:34 left in the game. But Jaxson Dart led two touchdown drives — one ending with a rushing touchdown by the former USC transfer — before he tossed the game-winning touchdown with 43 seconds left.
It was a defining moment for Dart and a massive win for Ole Miss. But, the biggest takeaway is that armed with Jayden Daniels, and a talented defense, Brian Kelly and the LSU football team couldn’t make it to October before their playoff hopes came crumbling down.
That makes LSU football the biggest loser of College Football Week 5.
College Football Week 5 winner: Jaxson Dart and Ole Miss
Jaxson Dart held off a quarterback competition this fall and finally proved that Lane Kiffin was right on Saturday night as he led two scoring drives to rally Ole Miss to a massive win.
The Rebels laid an egg last week against Alabama. A loss to LSU would have knocked Ole Miss out of the SEC West race for good and amped up the pressure on Kiffin and everyone else.
Now, the 4-1 Rebels might control their playoff destiny again. Georgia is on the schedule, but every other game is winnable. They should be favored in the others. If Ole Miss could somehow win in Georgia as well as the rest of their games, what happens in the SEC West might not matter.
Regardless, that was probably the biggest win of Kiffin’s tenure, and you have to be impressed with the way Ole Miss closed out the Tigers on Saturday.
Winner: Kentucky
Ray Davis might have run his way into the Heisman conversation on Saturday as the Kentucky running back gained 280 yards and scored three touchdowns in a rout of Florida.
Following the win over Tennessee, it seemed like the Gators might be the team ready to push Georgia in the SEC East, but Kentucky had other things in mind and communicated that in a 33-14 win.
The Wildcats scored the first 23 points of the game and built a 30-13 lead over the 22nd-ranked Gators in the second half. Mark Stoops’ team came into the game undefeated, but the Wildcats are now 2-0 in the SEC East and 5-0 overall.
Kentucky will find out a lot about itself in the next two weeks with games against Georgia and Tennessee. But the Wildcats should be ranked and it will be fun to see Davis go head-to-head against the Georgia defense.
College football Week 5 loser: Colorado
Colorado football put together a valiant effort and nearly rallied from 28 points down to upset sixth-ranked USC on Saturday.
Yet, the Trojans still did a pretty good job of exposing the Buffaloes, who were better than they were a week ago against Oregon, which probably says more about the Ducks than the Trojans.
USC football fans were calling for the firing of DC Alex Grinch after the game. Colorado football got a lot of praise after the game and it was deserved. But college football isn’t about moral victories.
Colorado football got exposed the past two weeks as a fun team, but not one to take seriously as a college football contender yet. The Buffaloes should make a bowl game. That’s the first goal, however, there is work to do and CU isn’t a top-25 team just yet.
College Football Week 5 winner: Sam Hartman and Notre Dame
You could also see the columns being written criticizing Hartman, Marcus Freeman, and Notre Dame football late in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s win over Duke.
But instead of falling short again and seeing Notre Dame football’s national title dream end so quickly, Sam Hartman ran for 18 yards on 4th-and-16 to keep the season alive. Audric Estime scored a rushing touchdown to put Notre Dame in front, but Hartman got them in field goal range.
Instead of a loss, Notre Dame football fans were chanting, “Marcus Freeman, Marcus Freeman” in a merry way after the game so loud it could be heard on the ESPN broadcast.
Notre Dame still has a lot of work to do. In fact, it can’t lose a game if it wants to make the College Football Playoff. But the Irish kept their hopes alive and if they beat USC, as well as everyone else on their schedule, a playoff berth is possible, especially if Duke finds a way to win 10 games.
College Football Week 5 loser: Florida
It has to feel like one step forward, two steps back for Florida football fans. The win over Tennessee seemed like a real step in the right direction.
However, the Kentucky Wildcats made that feel like forever ago as Ray Davis ran for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Kentucky rolled to a 33-14 win and Napier’s heat is probably feeling much warmer after that performance.
College Football Week 5 loser: USC DC Alex Grinch
It’s never a good thing when fans are calling you, especially when one of those guys is O.J. Simpson who said that DC Alex Grinch was going to cost the Trojans a national title on X.
Shedeur Sanders threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns, while Colorado football also ran for 197 yards. The Buffaloes scored 41 points and if they had gotten the ball back, you don’t get the feeling that USC could have stopped them.