by Matt Fischer
Week 5 is over and the axe is swinging. Lane Kiffin is out at USC after being pulled off the bus following a 62-41 loss at Arizona State Saturday night. Then today UConn terminated Paul Pasqualoni. This could be the start of many opening coming to college football this season. With potential openings at Nebraska and Texas, there could be several big time openings in college football come December.
USC will make a splash. They’re going to go after an established coach who has a proven record and can recruit. I think the guy flying under the radar is Charlie Strong of Louisville. He’s had great success at Louisville and could come in and win right away with the Trojans. He could lock down top recruits and stock the roster with top notch talent year after year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Trojans gauge interest from Chip Kelly also. If the Eagles go 3-13 (or worse) he may want to jump back to college football and he’d get a huge payday and go back to a league he’s familiar with from his days at Oregon.
Oklahoma had a big win this weekend. Going on the road to Notre Dame, they got off to a fast start thanks to a pick six and then controlled the rest of the game winning 35-21. Big win for OU and the Big XII.
What has happened to South Florida? Not long ago this looked like a program on the rise and now it looks like one of the worst in the nation. They took another beating this week as Miami crushed them 49-21.
North Carolina is in trouble. I expected them to be contenders in the ACC and they still could be but their defense got lit up for 55 points by East Carolina this weekend. Larry Fedora has to be very concerned.
Will Oregon score under 50 this season? They have looked unstoppable so far this season. They do have some tough games ahead but they look like their offense could be more potent than ever.
Alabama sent a message to everyone saying the SEC can’t play defense this season. The Tide shut out a good Ole Miss team on Saturday. That was impressive.
My weekly awards:
Player of the Week: Aaron Murray (QB – Georgia) – Not overly impressive stats but he made the throws when his team needed him and he led the game winning drive of the best game of the season so far. Murray is no longer doubted in the big game after his performances this season at Clemson and beating LSU.
Team of the Week: Iowa Hawkeyes – The Hawkeyes went to undefeated Minnesota and dominated the game. They jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 23-7 win. After a disappointing 2012 season, they’re looking like they made big improvements this year.
Game of the Week: Georgia vs. LSU – Georgia won 44-41 in a back and forth classic. This was the best game of the 2013 season. These are two great teams that could collide again in the SEC Championship and then go to the BCS Championship. Players stepped up in this game and delivered big time performances.
We were 7-3 on premium ATS plays for college football this past weekend! Do you want to win? Join us for as little as $5 to get winning info! Sign up at www.sportsformulator.com/sign-up/.
Get the latest from Sports Formulator by connecting with us on Twitter – Facebook – Google+ – Instagram.