The college football season barrels into Week 5, and Sporting News is ready for the action.
The Week 5 college football schedule features three top-25 matchups, and one of those is on Friday between No. 5 USC and No. 16 Washington State. No. 13 Auburn plays No. 24 Mississippi State, and No. 2 Clemson travels to No. 12 Virginia Tech in primetime on Saturday night. That closes September in style, and we'll be on to the College Football Playoff rankings before you know it.
MORE: Week 5 schedule for top-25 games
We'll get you ready for Week 5 with five things to watch:
Heisman Watch
Alabama's Jalen Hurts is hovering around with 20-1 odds for the Heisman Trophy, and he continues to lead the Crimson Tide in an efficient manner.
Hurts is 45 of 70 with 550 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions. He has totaled 360 yards and three rushing scores. The growth continues with new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, and even with Tua Tagovailoa getting reps as a backup, Hurts still can put up big numbers.
Alabama is the only FBS team that does not have a single interception or fumble lost this season.
— Ben Jones (@BW_Jones) September 26, 2017
That starts this week at home against Ole Miss. As long as Hurts continues to make good decisions in the passing game and tacks on the rushing stats, then his Heisman case will grow a little bit with each passing week.
Coach on the Spot
Tennessee coach Butch Jones delivered a speech — it's not a rant — at the end of his news conference on Monday that caused the latest stir heading into Saturday's matchup against No. 7 Georgia. Jones is right about one thing when he says, "negativity can be overwhelming."
Jones has helped rebuild the Tennessee program, but now the impatience is there because the Volunteers haven't played for a SEC East championship, haven't beat Alabama and face the threat of losing to both Florida and Georgia before the end of September.
At that point, the season feels like it's over before it even starts, and overwhelming doesn't begin to describe the negativity at that point. Jones can silence some of that by knocking off the Bulldogs on Saturday, and recent history suggests it will be a tight game no matter what. If the Vols lose, however, the spotlight will be on the next news conference.
WEEK 5 PICKS: Straight up | Against the spread
Upset alert
Florida State, generally considered the best threat to Alabama in the preseason, is 0-2, unranked and still breaking in its new starting quarterback in James Blackman. It's going to go one of two ways when they travel to face a 3-0 Wake Forest team playing with a ton of confidence on Saturday.
Option 1: The Seminoles take out their frustrations and rout the Demon Deacons to get back on their feet in the ACC after a month in which they had a three-week layoff because of Hurricane Irma.
Option 2: The Demon Deacons, led by dual-threat John Walford, make things interesting right away. FSU beat Wake Forest 17-6 last season and 24-16 in 2015, so we're kind of leaning that way.
There's no way FSU is going 0-3. Are they?
Over/under
Texas Tech is off to a 3-0 start and meets No. 15 Oklahoma State in another ready-made Big 12 shootout with an over set at 81. Take the over, right?
The Cowboys can't afford to lose a second Big 12 game, but the Red Raiders won't be a pushover here. Texas Tech quietly beat FCS power Eastern Washington, along with Arizona State and Houston in nonconference play.
"We know the competition will ramp up way up this week with a top-10 type opponent coming in Oklahoma State here," Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said on the Big 12 teleconference on Monday. "I was proud of the way we fought. Those were some tough well-coached nonconference teams we played, and we found a way to win."
This is another big-time quarterback showdown. Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph and Texas Techs' Nic Shimonek have combined for 24 touchdown passes and four interceptions, and they both average more than 10 yards per attempt. The Cowboys won 70-53 in the last matchup in Lubbock in 2015.
Like we said, take the over.
MORE: Week 5 Heisman watch: Saquon Barkley makes a statement
Think about it …
The fastest way between two points remains a straight line, and the two best teams in the country still do that better than anybody. Clemson and Alabama literally will run you over.
Defending national champion Clemson has 17 rushing touchdowns this season, tied for second most in the nation. Quarterback Kelly Bryant leads the team with seven, but the committee of Travis Etienne, Adam Choice, C.J. Fuller and Tavien Feaster have combined for 10 more. The Tigers have backs at their disposal who could probably start at most Power 5 programs.
Ditto for Alabama, which ranks fifth in the FBS at 303.3 rushing yards per game, and that's behind Georgia Tech, Navy, Army — all triple-option offenses — and Tulsa. Hurts, Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris and Najee Harris all average 5.0 yards per carry or more.
