College Football Tournament Week 5 - The Heat Is On

Week 4 Recap

We had some solid elimination games in the early slate, featuring a huge comeback by Cincinnati and Toledo pulling away from Nevada in the 4^th quarter. Later, Army put a scare into the Sooners on Twitch, Herm Edwards played to almost win the game, and Kliff got a stay of execution with a dominating win in Stillwater. Otherwise it was a straight-forward week for the Tournament: favorites mostly rolled, while Zombie teams only reached up to spoil one season (UNC over Pitt). The chalky week helped get our reader picks off of a losing streak – at least we had something positive after another tough week on the field. Week 4 gave us 14 eliminations and left us with a nice field of 69 remaining teams.

FOW reader picks: Week 4: 6-2; Season: 18-14 (56%)

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Week 5

Well folks, here we go. Our Frogs have now fallen into elimination territory and will need to win out to remain in the Tournament. We now join the swarm of squads below the top-10 trying to survive and advance while eliminating as many obstacles along the way. It will take some unexpected turns to climb back atop that mountain, but here in the College Football Tournament, Chaos is Common. Take care of business, win by one, and let the dominoes fall. I am expecting a bit of an exodus this week as the heat really turns up on some Power 5s – we have seven major teams in possible elimination games against top contenders, six of which are on the road, underdogs by an average of 12 points. Yikes. Guaranteed Elimination games will also claim six victims, including contenders from the ACC and Pac12. Who will keep it chill and survive into Week 6?

1. Coastal Carolina @ Troy (-14) – Having both vanquished Louisiana foes in Week 4, these two have been the picture of persistence thus far in the Tournament, each surviving three elimination opportunities and each eliminating two former contenders. One will be mounted as another prize on the victor’s trophy room wall

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 2:30 PM, ESPN3

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2. Florida State (-6) @ Louisville – We’ll have our first Major P5 elimination with this matchup. Louisville barely garnered the Major designation, but deserved it with a grueling overall schedule, which if navigated would have built a strong résumé…however the Cardinals narrowly escaped with a win over a down WKU and got embarrassed in Charlottesville last week. On the other side, Willie Taggart has gotten off to such a bad start at his dream job that most of the signs at GameDay in Eugene, the place Taggart spurned for the Seminoles, were making fun of FSU’s early season woes.

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 2:30 PM, ESPN2

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3. Arkansas State (-3) @ Georgia Southern – Another Fun Belt elimination showdown. When it comes to quality losses, these two are top of the list: the Red Wolves fell to Alabama and the Eagles lost to Clemson. Both teams still have Appalachian State in the conference schedule, but Arkansas State could avoid Troy until the Sun Belt conference championship, giving them the best shot for a deep run through the Tournament

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 5:00 PM, ESPN+

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4. Utah @ Washington State (Pick) – This is one juicy matchup, thankfully it is on at a reasonable hour so the nation will be awake to enjoy…wait, what, it’s on Pac12 Network so literally no one can see it? Good job Pac 12. Someone Twitch this so we can actually partake in the Whittingham-Leach slugfest. These two are responsible for two of the best moments in Amon G. Carter Stadium history – in 2006 Gary Patterson made Mike Leach proclaim that he “coached the worst offense in America” after being held without a TD for the first time in six years, in a game that also gave us The Great White Hit (side note: TCU games used to be on something called Outdoor Life Network…we’ve come a long way, y’all). In 2009, the Frogs made another leap with GameDay on campus for the first time and the hated Utes coming to town to spoil BCS hopes for the 2^nd consecutive year…Andy Dalton, Jerry Hughes, Jeremy Kerley, Tank Carder and crew put that notion to bed with a dominating victory on the national stage

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 5:00 PM, Pac12 Network

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5. Louisiana Tech @ North Texas (-7.5) – Mason Fine and the Mean Green return to Apogee as the C-USA’s only undefeated team entering conference play. The UNT season will likely come down to the November matchup with Hokie-killer ODU and the short week Thursday showdown with Lane Kiffin. Even at this early stage, it is feasible that UNT will find itself alive in the tournament beyond the regular season. They will get the best shot from conference mates looking to quell the Mean Green uprising, starting with a capable Bulldog squad coming off a hard-fought loss in Baton Rouge.

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 6:30 PM, beIN Sports

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6. Toledo @ Fresno State (-7.5) – Toledo will look to take down another Mountain West foe after eliminating Nevada last week, but may find a much stiffer test heading on the road. This is probably unfair, but I most associate Fresno with that one Reggie Bush play and that one Gangland episode. As good as Mitchell Guadagni has been for the Rockets in this young season, I do not think Toledo has anything near the firepower of a Heisman winner or organized crime to keep up with these Bulldogs.

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Where to watch: Saturday 9/29, 9:30 PM, ESPNU

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