B/R’s College Football Weekly Awards: Week 5

If you like tension, Week 5 scattered plenty of nerve-racking games around the college football landscape.

No. 1 Georgia escaped a trip to rival Auburn, before Ole Miss and Notre Dame scored last-minute touchdowns to clip a ranked opponent. Outside the spotlight, Utah State and Baylor won tense matchups that featured highlight-worthy finishes.

This edition of Weekly Awards includes a deeper look at many of those contests, along with exploring some positives—six-touchdown days!—and negatives (what’s wrong, Pitt?) from the recent slate.

We certainly have time for Kentucky’s emphatic win, too.

If you’re new here, hi! B/R’s Weekly Awards is an often-lighthearted review of what happened in college football over the weekend.

In short: That’s why Notre Dame brought in Sam Hartman.

Yeah, the Fighting Irish would have preferred to win handily. Duke provided a formidable test, though, and the 17th-ranked Blue Devils fought back from a 13-0 deficit to take a one-point edge in the fourth quarter.

The outlook turned bleak for ND. Facing a 4th-and-16 outside of field-goal range, it needed a minor miracle.

And its star transfer delivered.

Hartman rolled right, bought time and took off running. He saw five Duke defenders in front of him, but there was only one option: Sprint toward the first-down line, get close and absorb a hit. Gain of 17.

After a spike to stop the clock, Hartman handed the ball to Audric Estime, who slipped off a couple of tacklers and scampered 30 yards for a winning touchdown in the 21-14 thriller.

The last-second loss to Ohio State in Week 4 may continue to sting, but Notre Dame avoided a similar fate on Saturday.

Kentucky closed as a slight favorite over No. 22 Florida, but the SEC matchup was hardly a contest at all.

If you didn’t already know Ray Davis, you should now.

A transfer from Vanderbilt, he rushed for 1,042 yards last year. He headed to Kentucky in the offseason and has quickly become the Wildcats’ featured back. He totaled 451 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns in their wins against Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, Akron and Vanderbilt.

But would he continue that hot streak opposite a Gators defense ceding just 82 rushing yards per game? Well, uh, wow. Yes.

Davis headlined a dominant 33-14 victory, running for 280 yards and three scores plus a nine-yard touchdown catch. Kentucky held Florida to just 313 yards and a 4-of-13 mark on third down.

The Wildcats jumped to 5-0, setting up an intriguing showdown at top-ranked Georgia next weekend.

LSU only plays bangers, it appears. Unfortunately for the Tigers, though, they found themselves on the wrong side of this outcome.

Last week, LSU clipped Arkansas in an exciting 34-31 finish that featured the offenses scoring on all eight second-half drives. This week, the Tigers fell narrowly short of Ole Miss in a wild 55-49 contest.

There is so, so much we could discuss about the game, but I probably need about 800 words to do that thoroughly.

Instead, I implore you to watch the highlights.

Ole Miss scored its winning touchdown—a 13-yard pass from Jaxson Dart to Tre Harris—with 39 seconds remaining. LSU’s final prayer slipped through the hands of Chris Hilton Jr. in the end zone as time expired.

This SEC clash is a Game of the Year candidate.

Only two years ago, Pitt assembled an 11-win year behind a wild breakout season by Kenny Pickett and a Biletnikoff Award-winning campaign from wideout Jordan Addison.

Pickett finished third in Heisman Trophy voting, and the pair propelled the Panthers to 11 wins and an ACC title.

The program is trapped in a mess right now, though.

Pitt opened the season with a win over lower-division Wofford. Since then, however, it has fallen to Cincinnati (27-21), West Virginia (17-6), North Carolina (41-24) and now Virginia Tech (38-21).

Saturday night, the Panthers surrendered a season-worst 427 yards on 5.5 per snap to Virginia Tech. You know, the same offense that failed to crack 17 points in losses to Purdue, Rutgers and Marshall.

Hopefully, Pitt uses its idle weekend to rest and reset, but the team is likely destined for its first losing record since 2017.

Sweet mercy, Baylor.

Entering the fourth quarter, UCF held a commanding 35-10 lead on the visitors. Timmy McClain—a backup quarterback filling in for the injured John Rhys Plumlee—had accounted for three touchdowns.

Why would anyone anticipate much of anything from Baylor down the stretch? Sure, the Bears welcomed back Blake Shapen, but he’d really only thrown the ball effectively on a single drive.

Fifteen minutes later, Baylor silenced the Bounce House crowd with an absurd 26-point run in the closing frame.

Shapen tossed two touchdowns before Caden Jenkins’ 72-yard fumble return for a score. Then in the final minutes, the QB found Monaray Baldwin for a third reception of 35-plus yards to set up a 25-yard—and ultimately game-winning—field goal by Isaiah Hankins.

UCF’s Colton Boomer was well short on a 59-yard field-goal attempt as time expired to seal Baylor’s improbable 36-35 win.

Connecticut endured a cruel roller coaster of emotions during its loss to Utah State.

Early on, the Huskies took a 17-0 lead. They completely dominated the opening stretch as the defense surrendered only 17 yards with two takeaways on USU’s first five possessions.

However, the advantage slowly crumbled. Utah State scored on six consecutive drives—including three touchdowns of 52-plus yards—to take a 34-27 edge on UConn, which seemed to have wasted its opportunity to finally put a notch in the win column this season.

And then, life!

After forcing a key three-and-out, the Huskies ripped down the field. Jelani Stafford ran in a one-yard touchdown, meaning UConn could force overtime with a measly extra point.

Instead, Ike Larsen ruined the mood. He sliced through the line and blocked the kick to seal Utah State’s 34-33 victory.

Under-the-Radar QBs of the Week: The Other Six-TD Explosions

USC quarterback Caleb Williams commanded some headlines after tossing six touchdowns in the Trojans’ 48-41 victory at Colorado, but he wasn’t alone on Saturday. Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa passed for five scores and rushed for one, and Arkansas State’s Jaylen Raynor threw six scores in their respective wins over Indiana and UMass.

College Kicker of the Week: Michael Hughes, Appalachian State

Game on the line? No problem. As a 13.5-point favorite, Appalachian State survived its trip to Louisiana-Monroe because Michael Hughes drilled a clutch kick. He hammered a career-best 54-yard field goal as time expired to give the Mountaineers a 41-40 win.

Golf Clap of the Week: Buffalo Gets on the Board

Five programs headed into Week 5 with a winless record, but only four—sorry, UConn—exited the same way. In a defensive battle at Akron, the Bulls secured a 13-10 overtime win. As a bonus, Buffalo is officially unbeaten in conference play. The turnaround starts now.