As we’re steadily making our way through the college football season, Week 5 could play a particularly interesting role for a few teams, including Tennessee football when they face the South Carolina Gamecocks. But there’s also four other teams that are desperately in need of a win this week if they either want to salvage their season or stay in the College Football Playoff hunt.
Tennessee Volunteers
We’ll start with the No. 21 Volunteers‘ football team. The Volunteers have looked shaky and inconsistent all season, even in their lopsided victories where, on paper, they looked to be dominant. The game against Florida was telling, however.
This was supposed to be the year where Tennessee football overcame yet another curse and stifled their woes against the Gators in The Swamp. That, of course, didn’t happen. Whether it was the rowdy atmosphere and surroundings of being on the road at one of their biggest rivals homefields, or it was just a bad night for Tennessee football, the Volunteers needed that victory. The concerning part is that they looked almost completely inept and couldn’t keep it close with the Gators, losing 29-16.
Now, the Volunteers will host the team that ruined their season last year. South Carolina dismantled Tennessee bit by bit in Columbia last year, and the Volunteers losing their starting quarterback Hendon Hooker in the process was just salt on the wound. Hendon Hooker is gone. That season and that team is gone. This will be Tennessee football’s biggest test since the Florida game, where they now have a lot to prove. Losing this game, which would be a second SEC game and their second overall, will all but put an end to their once promising season that had high hopes early on. Saturday is a must-win for Tennessee football.
Clemson
Speaking of teams in orange, the now unranked Clemson football team has to be reeling now that they’ve lost two ACC games. They essentially put Duke in the AP top-25 after the Blue Devils beat them in the opener on Labor Day. Last week, they had Florida State for the entire game until overtime, and then a bad audible followed by two incompletions by Cade Klubnik killed a game-tying drive where all the Tigers needed was a yard to convert a first-down.
This isn’t the same Clemson football team that it once was and that was dominating the ACC for almost a decade. It’s still a very good football team, however. There’s no reason why Clemson couldn’t come out and win the rest of their games. Then again, they could also lose a few more games, including their next game against Syracuse on the road.
No one has noticed, really, but Syracuse football is currently 4-0. Granted, their best win is over Purdue, but their goose egg in the loss column still looks better than Clemson’s two at the moment. It’s doubtful that Clemson has a realistic shot at the College Football Playoff this season, which makes the rest of their season all the more interesting. The Tigers haven’t been out of contention this early in some time. Regardless, they’re in a must-win mode right now if they even want to have a shot at still competing for the ACC title as this will be yet another conference game.
USC
It’s not that the No. 8 USC football team doesn’t need to beat Colorado as they battle through a tough Pac-12 conference with hopes of making the College Football Playoff. It’s more about who they play in Colorado this week, and better yet, who the Buffaloes played last week that makes this a must-win for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.
Oregon was the first to get the best of the polarizing Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. No one can take that away from the Ducks now. With how they manhandled Colorado, that may now be the barometer for those higher ranked in the Pac-12 that face them. A loss to Colorado would certainly move the Trojans down the poll significantly and would signify that maybe the best team in the Pac-12 is the Ducks. This USC football team can’t allow that to happen.
USC not only needs a win, they need a fairly convincing one, the likes of which their rival Oregon put on Colorado. If USC whiffs this game, the Trojans could have a difficult time rising back up the polls or even reaching the Pac-12 Championship game.
Notre Dame
The 11th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish may be playing their best football in years. This team just feels different all around this season, and somehow, a loss, as devastating as it was for them, made you look at them differently. With the way they competed against Ohio State, it made you believe that this time they could be for real and that they could hang with any team in the country. Sure, the way they lost was chaotic and eye-rolling because of bad coaching, but this Fighting Irish football team made a statement last weekend.
Most think after their loss to the Buckeyes that all their hopes and dreams of making the playoff are now dead. I don’t think they are. There’s still a lot of football left to play where a number of things could happen, opening up all kinds of scenarios that allow them to make it back into contention. But it will start with a win over a well-coached, tough Duke team.
This Notre Dame football team is going to have to prove, however, that they are putting the Ohio State game behind them, not letting it become a dark cloud over the rest of their season. They can’t afford to roll into Durham, NC and let a feisty Blue Devils team further dismantle their season.
Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin just can’t seem to ever get the best of Nick Saban. He once again fell to Saban and Alabama, making his record now 0-5. Kiffin is trying to build something at Ole Miss in what is a heavily populated, heavily contested SEC conference — and one that’s only going to get bigger and more competitive next season with Texas and Oklahoma joining.
Ole Miss, who dropped to 20th in the AP poll, now has to host No. 13 LSU. That’s good for the Rebels in that they don’t have to go into Baton Rouge, but this still doesn’t make this an easy matchup for the Ole Miss football team. LSU is beatable, especially when they’re not at home. But does Ole Miss have what it takes to get a signature win? Granted, I’m not sure beating LSU this year is that much of a signature win but having a win over a top-25 SEC West team doesn’t hurt.
With Kiffin’s loss to Alabama last weekend, he’s now 5-7 against AP top-25 teams since joining the Ole Miss football program. This could be a defining game of sorts for Kiffin and Ole Miss, a must-win game.
