College Football Week 5: 5 bold predictions

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Jordan Luth breaks down five bold predictions for this week’s college football games.

Week 5 of the college football season is already here, and it looks to be a great week of action. In the past week, Michigan State fell, Lamar Jackson racked up more touchdowns and Les Miles was fired. Week 5 is sure to be another great week of college football

There are three games this week that feature match ups of top 10 teams. Those match ups are:

No. 7 Stanford vs No. 10 Washington

No. 8 Wisconsin vs No. 4 Michigan

No. 3 Louisville vs No. 5 Clemson

All three of these match ups could be down to the wire games and will all have major impacts on the final rankings for the college football playoff. With that being said, here are five bold predictions for Week 5 of the season.

Sep 3, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Bo Scarbrough (9) scores a touchdown during the second half against the USC Trojans at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

5. Alabama covers the spread and then some

Alabama goes into Week 5 with a matchup against Kentucky. To put this bluntly, Alabama could play their backups and probably still cover the spread of 35 points. Kentucky has one of the worst defenses in college football. They are allowing 463 yards per game. Alabama is only allowing 280 yards per game. Kentucky allows more points than they score. Alabama scores over triple what they allow. Hard to argue with the facts isn’t it?

Alabama holds a 36-2-1 record against Kentucky all time. Kentucky has never won at Alabama either and that’s where this game will be played. With this game, it’s very simple. Alabama is going to score and they are going to score a lot. Just how much they score in all honesty will be up to Nick Saban. Kentucky won’t be able to dictate that.

Alabama will win by 35 points and should win by more. The only thing bold about this bold prediction is that I’m bold enough to actually put Alabama destroying Kentucky as one of my bold predictions.

Sep 17, 2016; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Mitch Trubisky (10) looks to pass in the first quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

4. North Carolina upsets Florida State

When your quarterback and top wide receiver are both in the top 10 for passing and receiving yards, you are doing something right. That happens to be the case for North Carolina. North Carolina QB Mitch Trubisky has thrown for 1306 yards, 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Not even Lamar Jackson can say he has thrown zero picks through four weeks. Meanwhile UNC WR Ryan Switzer has 429 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Florida State may be in for a tougher game then they know. Their defense hasn’t exactly been top class. Even to USF they gave up 35 points. North Carolina could capitalize on that.

Mitch Trubisky is silently putting together an amazing season. He is completing 75 percent of his passes thrown well over 1,000 yards and the zero interceptions are truly amazing. With that type of offensive firepower on your side of the field going up against a defense that has been in question all year, I’d feel pretty good about myself going into this match up. For Florida State, it only took four games, but Dalvin Cook finally had his coming out party. He ran for 267 yards and two touchdowns.

This game will be an offensive show case. Yet I believe that a key defensive play will be what wins it for one the teams. With Florida State’s defense not really being where they want it to be, North Carolina will have a chance to make a defensive play to win the game.

North Carolina’s offensive, much like their QB, is sneaky good. Not much attention has been brought to them. Maybe that’s because it isn’t basketball season yet. This team has the ability to win a big game like this. It will hard to win on the road, but their offense is prime and ready to show what they can do behind Trubisky.

Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Alvin Kamara (6) runs the ball against the Florida Gators during the first quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

3. Tennessee continues the dream season by beating Georgia

After making a huge 21-point comeback to finally beat Florida, Tennessee will look to continue that success against Georgia. The Bulldogs flat-out got embarrassed by Ole Miss. It was 31-0 at halftime. Nick Chubb also got banged up in the early stages of the game which only hurt Georgia. Tennessee finally showed everyone what they have wanted to see from them for so long, a will to fight. They showed that they weren’t going to roll over when facing a huge defect. They finally showed up.

They may still be 3-1, but Georgia’s loss to Ole Miss last week may have shown some cracks in the team. Nick Chubb got hurt early and from that point on the offense never got off the ground. What I take from that is that their offense revolves around Nick Chubb. That’s not good. If they can’t do anything without him then this will be a long year. Also, their defense got torched for 45 points. This spells trouble for Georgia as Tennessee’s offense will be hyped up after beating Florida for the first time since 2004.

Tennessee looked very shaky in their first game of the year against Appalachian State. Since then they have been great. They have scored 111 points in three games. I don’t see Georgia being able to stop Tennessee. The Vols are riding high and Georgia still has stars circling their heads from the beat down they took from Ole Miss.

It won’t be a blow out, but Tennessee will win by a decent margin. Nick Chubb still a little banged up, Georgia probably won’t want to force him into anything. Which means that their offense will look stagnate. Tennessee will continue to climb the rankings with another Top 25 win.

Sep 10, 2016; Bloomington, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Leon Thornton III (21) hands the ball off to Indiana Hoosiers running back Devine Redding (34) during the first half of the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

2. Indiana pulls the upset on Michigan State

Just like last week, Michigan State could be on upset alert. A team that was lost so much in the past year got exposed last week in an embarrassing lost to Wisconsin. The Spartans offense couldn’t even muster up a single touchdown. Wisconsin proved their point while Michigan State was left looking for answers, and the end zone. Meanwhile in Bloomington, Indiana, the Hoosiers took their first loss of the year to Wake Forest. Quarterback Richard Lagow threw five, count em, five interceptions. Although in all reality three were his fault. The other two were tipped. Both teams will be looking to rebound this week under the lights in Bloomington.

In their last five games, Indiana has scored 30 or more points in every game. In Michigan State’s last five games, they have only scored over 20 twice. Indiana’s offense is currently average just less than 520 yards per game. QB Richard Lagow has already thrown for over 1,000 yards on the year. With the injury to IU’s number one WR, Simmie Cobbs, Nick Westbrook has turned up his game. He has 332 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile Michigan State QB Tyler O’Connor has only five touchdown passes on the year and he has passed for 655 yards. O’Connor has pulled from last week’s game after throwing three interceptions, in a 30-6 loss to Wisconsin.

With Michigan State possibly also missing their top two linebackers, Indiana’s explosive passing offense could be set to go off. I’m not sure if Michigan State has found themselves yet. For that reason I see this as an upset. If Indiana can avoid turnovers in the passing game, they should pull out the win.

Sep 22, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) celebrates with fans after their game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Tigers won 26-7. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

1. Clemson stand tall against Louisville

Quite possibly the hottest team and hottest player in college football come rolling into Death Valley for a showdown with the national runners up, Clemson. Louisville vs Clemson is sure to be a great match up. This game reminds me of Clemson vs Notre Dame from last season. This will be a game that defines these teams. Is Lamar Jackson and Louisville as good as advertised? Is Clemson serious about making another run for the championship?

As it goes, defenses win championships, and Clemson has a great defense. Clemson currently ranks fifth in points allowed per game with 11.0 points allowed. They rank third in total yards allowed per game. They allow 219 yards per game through four games. What makes this game so great is that Louisville is number one in points scored and yards per game. A top-five defense against the number one offense.

What this game will come down to is how well Clemson can contain Lamar Jackson’s running ability. If Lamar Jackson is able to escape the pocket and makes plays with his legs then Clemson will be in for a long night. On the other hand, if their defense can stand tall then Clemson may just be able to pull out the win.

In the end, I see Clemson winning this game. Some may see it as an upset based on rankings, but that’s not how I see this game. Clemson is the home team. They are ranked fifth in the nation. This isn’t going to be an upset either way. Clemson’s defense will stand tall at home and Lamar Jackson will finally be slowed down.