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College Football 2017: Week 5 heroes

Roar Guru
3rd October, 2017
2

Another week of college football is in the books, and, as usual, there were lots of impressive and spectacular individual performances. Here are just a few teams and individuals who covered themselves in gridiron glory, my Week 5 heroes:

Georgia
Remember when everyone thought Kirby Smart want the guy in Athens? Well, Georgia are now undoubtedly the second best team in the SEC at the moment, and they put the cleaners through Tennessee in Knoxville to the tune of 41-0, dominating every facet of play to send a pretty serious message to future opponents.

They have what is definitely a championship-calibre defence and, in Sonny Michel and Nick Chubb, boast the best one-two running back combination anywhere in college football. This is a very good football team.

Clemson
Sure, Alabama sits atop the national polls, but the Tigers are making a solid case for being labelled the best team in the country through five weeks. Compare the Tide schedule, which has included wins over minnows Fresno State and Colorado State, to Clemson’s. The Tigers have faced three ranked teams – Auburn, Louisville and most recently Virginia Tech – and beaten them handily, without a plethora of talent they lost to graduation during the off-season.

Dabo Swinney’s team has reloaded perfectly, quarterback Kelly Bryant is the real deal, their defence is off the chain, and at this point, I won’t be at all surprised to see the Tigers and Alabama meet in the national title decider for the third year in a row.

Troy
If Saturday night’s 24-21 victory over Louisiana State in Baton Rouge wasn’t the biggest win in the program’s history, it has to be right up there.

The Tigers scored a few points late for some window-dressing, but the Trojans, from the Sun Belt conference, incomprehensibly led 28-7 halfway through the fourth. Best of all? Troy was paid $985,000 to come and play in Baton Rouge. What a night for the program.

Washington State
After many years in the wilderness, the Cougars have emerged over the last few seasons as genuine Pac-12 contenders, thanks to star quarterback Luke Falk and eccentric but undoubtedly successful head coach Mike Leach. Another step was taken on Friday night, when the Cougars took down Southern California, 30-27. It was their first victory over the Trojans since 2002.

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Auburn
The Tigers had a slow start to the season, but they appear to be back to being the team they were touted as being in the pre-season, putting Mississippi State to the sword on Saturday night, winning 49-10. Auburn’s defence is as good as there is anywhere in the country, and transfer quarterback Jarrett Stidham seems to be settling in.

He was lethal on Saturday night: 13-16 for 264 yards and two touchdowns. His deep balls are a thing of beauty and we saw them often. A big month coming up for the Tigers, and it’s hard not to look ahead to the November 11 tilt with Georgia.

Dante Pettis
The Washington receiver is perhaps the best weapon in the Pac-12 conference, whether it’s on offense or special teams. He had three touchdowns among 105 receiving yards as the Huskies continued their rich vein of form with a 42-7 win over Oregon State. Despite this team making the playoffs last year and starting this year so well, it feels like Chris Petersen’s men are flying way under the radar at the moment. With meaningful Pac-12 action just around the corner, that shouldn’t last for long.

DaeSean Hamilton
The Penn State wide receiver has been living in the shadow of Saquon Barkley for most of the season, but with Barkley fairly quiet against Indiana (56 yards on 20 carries), Hamilton became the star of the show, snagging nine catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns.

Bryce Love
If there’s any competition for Penn State’s Saquon Barkley for best running back in college football, it’s coming from Northern California. The Cardinal running back set a school record on Saturday, toting the football 25 times for a monumental 301 yards (at 12 yards a touch) and three touchdowns.

Love already has 1088 yards on the season, and eight touchdowns. Seven of those scores have been runs of at least 40 yards. You can’t ignore stats like that, and Love should be a serious Heisman contender.

Maryland
The Terps beat undefeated Minnesota 31-24 in the Twin Cities with third-string quarterback Max Bortenschlager at the controls. Anytime you can win a game on the road against previously-undefeated opposition with a third-stringer running the offence (especially against a PJ Fleck-coached team), you get a slot in my heroes.

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Jalen Davis
The Utah State cornerback intercepted three passes from Brigham Young quarterback Beau Hoge, returning two of them for touchdowns and the Aggies beat the Cougars 40-24.

Florida
The Gators ground game is on track. They ran for 218 total yards and running backs Malik Davis and Lamical Perine combined for all five Florida touchdowns in the 38-24 win over Vanderbilt.

Central Florida
Quietly and out of the limelight, Scott Frost has the Knights rolling beautifully, and on Saturday they belted Memphis 40-13, rolling up 603 yards of total offence including 350 on the ground. Defensively, the Knights forced four turnovers, and sent a message that South Florida aren’t going to have it all their own way in the American Athletic Conference race this year. You can bet that Frost’s name will be thrown about when the inevitable coaching vacancies open up.

Alabama
The Tide keep on rolling. The latest to feel their wrath was Ole Miss, who Nick Saban’s men easily dispatched 66-3. Quarterback Jalen Hurts passed for 197 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for another 101 yards and a score in only two quarters’ (and the opening third-quarter drive) worth of work.

The improvements he’s made from his freshman season are jaw-dropping. When Hurts is on song, the Tide offence is impossible to stop.

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