College Football Preview: Week 5
The College Football Preview will be an ongoing weekly series every Saturday morning, previewing the top games of the week and eligible players for the upcoming NFL draft.
Top Games
8 pm – CBS – #7 Florida at #1 Alabama – In a rematch of the past two SEC Championship games both team will look to assert their dominance atop the SEC. A lose tonight, though not ideal in any situation, doesn’t spell season-ending doom. Florida got off to a slow start this season, but now looks to be more comfortable. While Alabama had been without RB Mark Ingram, but now that he is back, it appears that he has not lost a beat. Not a whole lot more needs to be said about this match-up.
8 pm – ABC/ESPN/ESPN 3 – #9 Stanford at #4 Oregon – Stanford looks to leave Eugene with a victory, something that they have not been able to do for some time, all the while Oregon looks to continue their dominance over Stanford at Autzen Stadium. Stanford QB Andrew Luck will look to rebound after a shaky game last week against Notre Dame (he threw his first 2 ints of the season) and get back in the Heisman talks. A win tonight will be huge for either team heading further into PAC 10 play.
8:05 pm – ESPN/ESPN 3 – #22 Penn State at #17 Iowa – It’s about that time of the year again – that time when half of the the Big 10 teams which are ranked start to drop off like flies. You can also argue that the Wisconsin/Michigan State game may be even more important this week, but the fact remains these two teams (Penn State and Iowa) have had more success in recent memory (plus night games are way more fun). Both teams will look to put their games from two weeks ago, securely in their rear-view mirrors, while also picking up an important conference victory.
Top Players
Andrew Luck – QB Stanford – He didn’t have a great game last week against Notre Dame, but by no means was it a Jake Locker-esk game. A big game here tonight could very easily catapult Luck back into the Heisman talks, while also improving his draft status, as possibly the #1 QB next season.
LeMichael James – RB Oregon – James is picking up were he left off last season. On the year James is 10th in the nation in rushing and averaging an outstanding 8.2 yards per carry. He will no doubt be the focus of the Stanford defense this week.