Four of the top eight college football teams in the last AP Poll were toppled Saturday: UCLA, Georgia, Ole Miss and Notre Dame, setting up a major shakeup heading into Week 6. The Fighting Irish had the heartbreaker loss of the four, losing 24-22 on the road at Clemson. Notre Dame had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but the offense was stopped on a two-point try.
For Ole Miss and Georgia, blowout losses by identical 38-10 scores at the hands of Florida and Alabama, respectively, put an entirely different perspective on whether the Rebels and Bulldogs are championship contenders. UCLA lost to unranked Arizona State, 38-23. Elsewhere in the top 10, Ohio State and Michigan State survived close games, while TCU, Baylor and LSU won in routs.
So how will the poll chips fall this week?
Florida State and Clemson are all but sure to crack the top 10, and Alabama could become the first one-loss team to occupy a top-10 spot with its win over Georgia. Another poll leap to watch for: Oklahoma, now 4-0 with a 44-24 win over 23rd-ranked West Virginia.
Here are eight other things we learned during Week 5 of the college football season:
2. The comeback kid. Jared Goff is showing more than his talent as a pro prospect this season. The Cal quarterback, more importantly to the Golden Bears, is showing he's a winner. Goff led a 34-28 comeback win over Washington State on Saturday with a game-winning touchdown pass with 42 seconds left to lift his team to a 5-0 start to the season. Goff finished with 33-of-45 passing for 390 yards and four scores, including one that broke Kyle Boller's school career record of 64. Goff now has 68, and Cal has its first 5-0 start since 2007.
It didn't start out as well as it ended for Goff. Washington State held a 21-13 lead at the half, and Goff completed just 3 of 8 with an interception to start the game. He then caught fire, completing 30 of his last 37 throws, and served notice to the rest of the Pac-12 that the Golden Bears aren't to be taken lightly.
3. Better than you thought: Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Clemson, Northwestern.
4. Not as good as you thought: Georgia, UCLA, North Carolina State, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech.
5. Fournette does it again. You didn't expect LSU running back Leonard Fournette to take the night off against Eastern Michigan, did you? He became the first SEC player to rush for 200-plus yards in three consecutive games, bowling over EMU for 235 on 26 carries in a 44-22 win. He could easily make it four next week against a South Carolina team that is threatening Vanderbilt for worst-in-the-SEC status.
6. Priceless Patterson. Could we please get TCU coach Gary Patterson and Arkansas' Bret Bielema matched up in a bowl game? The week-long string of did-he-really-say-that quotes would be better television than the football game. Prior to embarrassing Texas, 50-7, Patterson was asked about his depleted defense and said "We've beaten better with less." Ouch.
7. Buckeye blues. Ohio State survived another week as the nation's No. 1 team, but for the second time in three weeks, OSU didn't exactly look like the best team in the country. This week it was Indiana taking the Buckeyes to the fourth quarter before falling, 34-27. At least this time, coach Urban Meyer stuck with quarterback Cardale Jones.
8. Florida's defense is for real. The Gators held Ole Miss' dynamic offense in check in a 38-10 rout, and has a legitimate star at all three levels of the defense: defensive end Jonathan Bullard, linebacker Antonio Morrison, and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.
9. FSU desperately needs Dalvin Cook. The Seminoles' running back was injured early in a 24-16 win over Wake Forest, yet he picked up 94 of the team's 127 rushing yards on just two carries, including the opening touchdown. Wake Forest (2-3) gave up more points to Syracuse and Indiana than it did Florida State.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
