2011 As 1981: Week Five

Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four

We enter October having experienced little drama thus far. But a really fun first week of October kicks things up a few notches. Week Five results below, and FULL STANDINGS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST.

College Gameday Location: South Bend.

There isn't a single marquee game here -- Florida State at Ohio State would have fit the bill had Ohio State not fallen apart -- so when in doubt, head to South Bend (for Notre Dame-Michigan State).

RANKED VS RANKED
No. 4 Nebraska 29, No. 24 Auburn 28 (in Lincoln)
No. 20 Notre Dame 31, No. 12 Michigan State 13 (in South Bend)
No. 15 Missouri 31, No. 25 Mississippi State 27 (in Jackson)

Gotta love the fact that, in the first Saturday in October, there are still a ton of interesting non-conference matchups going on. While the conferences (and conference slates) grow, there is something to be said for smaller conferences and fewer conference games.

MAJOR CONFERENCE VS MAJOR CONFERENCE
No. 1 Oklahoma 26, Iowa State 6 (in Norman)
No. 2 LSU 41, Florida 11 (in Baton Rouge)
No. 5 Alabama 55, Ole Miss 3 (in Tuscaloosa)
No. 6 Stanford 37, Arizona 10 (in Tucson)
No. 7 Texas A&M 45, Texas Tech 40 (in Lubbock)
Pittsburgh 33, No. 8 South Carolina 26 (in Columbia)
No. 10 Florida State 27, Ohio State 25 (in Columbus)
No. 13 Wisconsin 62, Purdue 17 (in Madison)
No. 17 West Virginia 40, Boston College 17 (in Chestnut Hill)
TCU 36, No. 18 Arkansas 33 (in Ft. Worth)
No. 22 Georgia Tech 35, North Carolina 28 (in Atlanta)
No. 23 Michigan 36, Indiana 10 (in Bloomington)
Clemson 28, Kentucky 18 (in Lexington)
Houston 39, Baylor 38 (in Houston)
Iowa 38, Northwestern 34 (in Evanston)
Miami 28, Vanderbilt 20 (in Coral Gables)
Minnesota 24, Illinois 10 (in Champaign)
N.C. State 31, Virginia 10 (in Raleigh)
Syracuse 28, Maryland 22 (in College Park)
UCLA 45, Colorado 6 (in Los Angeles)
USC 32, Oregon State 29 (in Corvallis)
Washington 33, Arizona State 25 (in Seattle)

Without facing Oklahoma State and Arkansas early, Texas A&M hasn't developed the "always falls apart" reputation. Easier schedule = undefeated Aggies. Plus, we have an interesting upset at Soth Carolina, and Florida State holds on to win in Columbus. Arkansas is upset once again (seriously, they weren't that great until mid-October), and Houston outshoots Baylor in a "winner gets ranked" SWC battle. Quite a few fun games here.

FBS VS FBS
No. 9 Oklahoma State 34, North Texas 29 (in Irving)
No. 11 Boise State 31, Washington State 12 (in Pullman)
No. 14 Virginia Tech 28, Memphis 23 (in Blacksburg)
Air Force 49, Colorado State 17 (in Colorado Springs)
Arkansas State 31, Kansas 30 (in Lawrence)
BYU 27, Utah State 24 (in Provo)
Duke 38, East Carolina 35 (in Durham)
Eastern Michigan 35, Central Michigan (in Mount Pleasant)
Louisiana Tech 35, UL-Monroe 27 (in Ruston)
Marshall 17, Louisville 13 (in Louisville)
Miami (Ohio) 13, Kent State 0 (in Oxford)
Northern Illinois 41, Ball State 38 (in Muncie)
Penn State 17, Temple 7 (in State College)
Rice 19, Tulane 7 (in Houston)
San Diego State 31, New Mexico 10 (in Albuquerque)
San Jose State 27, Fresno State 24 (in Fresno)
Toledo 33, Ohio 22 (in Toledo)
Tulsa 34, Kansas State 27 (in Tulsa)
Wyoming 41, UNLV 14 (in Laramie)
Utah 38, UTEP 28 (in El Paso)
Western Michigan 42, Bowling Green 24 (in Kalamazoo)

A few odd results here. Both Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech narrowly hold off upsets against lesser (to say the least) teams, and Kansas State falls to Tulsa. Well, actually, I can explain the Kansas State game: the numbers hate the 2011 Wildcats. I should probably give them a 10-point, "Bill Snyder is a wizard" bonus for most games here, but I won't. Wouldn't want to compromise the integrity (ahem) of this semi-arbitrary series.

FBS VS FCS
Army 55, Harvard 6 (in Cambridge)
Idaho 44, North Dakota 14 (in Moscow)
Navy 45, Yale 0 (in New Haven)
Nevada 52, Cal Poly 7 (in Reno)
New Mexico State 31, Wichita State 10 (in Las Cruces)
Rutgers 63, Cornell 3 (in New Brunswick)
Southern Miss 48, UT-Arlington 3 (in Hattiesburg)
Wake Forest 48, Gardner-Webb 5 (in Winston-Salem)

TOP 25
1. LSU (5-0)
2. Oklahoma (3-0)
3. Nebraska (4-0)
4. Oregon (4-0)
5. Alabama (4-1)
6. Stanford (4-0)
7. Texas A&M (4-0)
8. Florida State (3-1)
9. Oklahoma State (3-0)
10. Missouri (4-0)
11. Wisconsin (4-0)
12. Boise State (3-1)
13. Notre Dame (2-2)
14. West Virginia (4-0)
15. Georgia (3-1)
16. Virginia Tech (4-0)
17. South Carolina (4-1)
18. Texas (3-0)
19. Michigan (3-1)
20. Michigan State (3-1)
21. Tennessee (3-1)
22. Georgia Tech (3-1)
23. SMU (4-0)
24. N.C. State (4-1)
25. Air Force (4-0)

(Also receiving quite a few votes: 3-1 Clemson, 3-1 North Carolina, 3-1 Houston, 2-2 Arkansas, 4-0 UTEP, 4-0 Southern Miss, 4-1 Baylor and 2-1 Penn State.)

With their romp over Florida, LSU once again leapfrogs Oklahoma into the top spot. Meanwhile, the good old Big 8 occupies four of the Top 10 spots.

COMPLETE RECORDS TO DATE.