Week 5 is nearly here for college football, and we are coming off a Saturday where two top teams — Oklahoma State and Florida State — fell in upsets.
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Could the same be in store for Week 5 as in-conference play continues to ramp up? Let's see...
No. 5 USC
Friday, Sept. 29 at No. 16 Washington State (ESPN)
A Friday night game on the road in Pullman? Yeah, that could spell trouble.
USC's defense has been carrying them in recent weeks as they have had some troubles with Texas and Cal. A good performance by the defense here could still mean that Washington State scores 30 points, so the USC offense can't afford to slip up too much here.
The key, as with most USC games over the past calendar year, will be quarterback Sam Darnold. Despite otherwise solid accuracy numbers so far this year from Darnold, a big drawback so far has been the interceptions. Darnold has thrown seven so far this year, and giving Mike Leach and Washington State a couple more opportunities in this game could be extremely costly.
No. 14 Miami
Friday, Sept. 29 at Duke (ESPN)
Like the same thing above, a night game on the road on a Friday? Things could get really WEIRD in a hurry.
Also, Duke has been a decent program for years now under head coach David Cutcliffe. They've gotten off to a 4-0 start this year with wins against Northwestern and at North Carolina. I also imagine that Duke is still seeking revenge for that 2015 game where they got absolutely hosed by horrible refereeing on Miami's game-winning kickoff, and this could finally be the time that they get it.
No. 2 Clemson
Saturday, Sept. 30 at No. 12 Virginia Tech (ABC)
Possibly the best game scheduled this weekend, and while some may not perceive this as an upset, Clemson is still trending as an eight-point favorite as of press time. For comparison's sake, that's more than USC and Miami are currently favored by, and the same as Georgia over Tennessee.
I still like Clemson in this game because their defense is still one of the best in college football. However, they are coming off a near-stinker against Boston College last week, and Virginia Tech is going to be more than ready to capitalize on any mistakes made by the young Clemson offense.
Right now I'll go Clemson, but in the words of Lee Corso, it's gonna be close.
