College football: Top 10 team performances of Week 5 – Penn State goes off

Penn State had a dominant showing vs. Maryland and earned the top spot in our Team Performance rating after their Week 5 win.

Only two teams – Wisconsin and LSU – posted a CFB Winning Edge Team Performance rating of 90 or better in Week 4. However, 15 teams earned an A-level game grade in Week 5, including four members of the Big Ten Conference.

What changed? Week 5 of the 2019 college football season offered us something that was largely missing the previous weekend: dominance.

Penn State and Ohio State led the way, beating Maryland and Nebraska, respectively, by a combined score of 107-7. The final score of each game doesn’t even fully capture how well the two East division heavyweights outclassed their opponents.

On that note, the Team Performance ratings formula aims to dive deeper than the final score, as well as the traditional box score, to assign an advanced statistical game grade for every FBS team in every game. Team Performance is rated for opponent strength, and uses a 60-100 scale.

Here’s how the best of the best stacked up in Week 5:

Notre Dame came up short in its effort to upset Georgia on the road in Week 4, but the Fighting Irish had a second straight opportunity to pick up a signature win over a ranked opponent Saturday and capitalized with a 35-20 victory over Virginia.

The Irish broke out defensively and held Virginia to just four rushing yards on 29 attempts, which included eight sacks. Two of those sacks led directly to points in the third quarter – first setting up a two-play, seven-yard touchdown drive, and the second which Adetokunbo Ogundeji returned 23 yards for a touchdown. In all, Notre Dame forced five turnovers.

As the name suggests, we mostly focus on the performance of teams as a whole, but we should talk more about Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard. Though he’s unlikely to break into the Heisman Trophy discussion currently dominated by quarterbacks Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields, and he’s even overshadowed at times by teammate and All-American receiver Tylan Wallace, Hubbard is the nation’s rushing leader. And like many of his long touchdown runs, it isn’t even close.

In five games, Hubbard has amassed 938 yards on 128 attempts (7.33 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns. The next closest FBS running back – Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins – has 654 rushing yards through the first five weeks of the season. Hubbard ran for a career-high 296 yards in Oklahoma State’s 26-13 victory over Kansas State, in which he averaged 11.8 yards per carry and scored on an 84-yard touchdown.

Wallace chipped in with 145 receiving yards (Oklahoma State threw for 153), and the Cowboys were particularly impressive on defense. K-State completed just 11 of 23 pass attempts, converted only one of 13 third-down opportunities, and the Cowboys out-gained the Wildcats 526-244 overall.

It’s true Minnesota won by a single score (again), and that Purdue lost three offensive starters to injury early in the contest (and played without arguably its two best defensive players, who are also injured), but the Golden Gophers posted a season-high game grade thanks mostly to a huge performance from quarterback Tanner Morgan.

Morgan completed 21 of 22 pass attempts for 396 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He completed an eye-popping 18.0 yards per pass attempt. For reference, 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray set an FBS record with 11.6 yards per pass last year. If we were to add Indiana QB Peyton Ramsey’s 6.4-yard average from last season (and remember, Ramsey, threw for 2,875 yards and 19 touchdowns as a full-time starter in 2018), the pair would equal the performance of Morgan against the Boilermakers.

Duke went into Blacksburg and beat Virginia Tech worse than the Hokies have been beaten in over four decades. The Blue Devils, who started slow offensively and tallied just five total yards and trailed 3-0 at the end of the fourth quarter, dominated the final three quarters to win 45-10.

David Cutcliffe’s squad out-gained the Hokies 422-259 overall, and 417-182 over the final three quarters, and 72 of those yards came on a third-quarter touchdown pass, meaning the Duke defense played lights-out football the rest of the way. Offensively, Duke ran for 234 yards and averaged 5.7 yards per carry. Quarterback Quentin Harris ran for 100 yards and a touchdown and threw for 163 yards and two TDs

The scoreboard certainly didn’t show a dominant performance for Washington in its 28-14 victory over USC, and the traditional box score doesn’t either. The Huskies were actually out-gained 375-373 overall, though Washington held an edge in net yards per play (plus-0.53) and net points per play (plus-0.24).

The most easily recognizable stat that tilted in Washington’s favor was turnover margin, which the Huskies won 3-1 thanks to three interceptions. But it’s also worth noting the Huskies were quite fortunate in that area – specifically when Andrew Baccellia recovered a fumble at the goal line in the first quarter, which resulted in a touchdown and 14-0 lead.

But the Huskies posted high marks in a few notable areas, including explosiveness (Salvon Ahmed’s 89-yard touchdown helped a lot in that area), and have been particularly efficient offensively. According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, Washington posted a 58 percent Success Rate in the run game, and 60 percent on standard downs – both of which are quite good. In the first quarter, the Huskies were 71 percent successful. Washington now ranks No. 10 offensively in Success Rate.

Clemson is the defending national champion and entered the 2019 season ranked No. 1. Alabama got the nod this week after the Tigers were nearly upset by North Carolina. Georgia and Ohio State each earned first-place votes in this week’s poll. But who has played the best through the first five weeks of the season? Oklahoma has posted the highest average Team Performance rating for the full season to date.

A major factor in the Team Performance rating is net yards per play. Oklahoma leads the country in that category with an average of plus-5.04 yards per snap thanks in large part to an explosive offense that has gained an incredible 10.36 yards per play (more than two full yards better than No. 2 Alabama), but also because of a defense that has shown significant progress as well.

The Sooners held Texas Tech to just 122 passing yards in a 55-16 victory Saturday and limited the Red Raiders to 4.7 yards per attempt. Oklahoma, which ranks second nationally in opponent third-down conversion rate (19.61 percent) stopped Tech on 13 of 14 opportunities on third down and allowed just one of three conversions on fourth down tries.

Utah looked lost defensively a week ago but bounced back in a big way against Washington State. The Utes allowed 368 passing yards and 30 points to USC in Week 4 but held the Cougars – who came in averaging 499.5 passing yards per contest – to just 252 yards through the air in a 38-13 victory Saturday night.

And the turnaround doesn’t end there. Utah got beat up in its loss to the Trojans and played without injured star running back Zach Moss against Washington State. Quarterback Tyler Huntley, who was reportedly questionable to play, completed 11.1 yards per pass attempt.

Huntley completed 21 of 30 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Four of those passes went to Bryan Thompson, who gained 111 yards including a 54-yarder. Samson Nacua caught a 52-yard touchdown pass and Solomon Enis was on the receiving end of a 41-yard completion.

Hawaii has already had some big wins in 2019, including a pair of wins over Pac-12 opponents to open the season, but the 54-3 destruction of Nevada was easily the most impressive.

We know the Rainbow Warriors are capable of putting up a large number of passing yards and points – and Hawaii threw for 373 yards while averaging 10.4 yards per attempt – but the defensive domination and the success the Warriors had holding onto the football were surprising.

The Rainbow Warriors out-gained Nevada 512-203 overall and by an average of 5.10 yards per snap (and held the Wolf Pack to 3.03 yards per play), and won the turnover battle 3-0. In its first four games, Hawaii allowed an average of 33.5 points and 439.0 total yards per game, 6.27 yards per play, and posted a minus-12 turnover ratio.

Nebraska welcomed the college football viewing public to watch as it hosted ESPN College GameDay, and played the Ohio State Buckeyes during prime time on national network television. Ohio State responded with its highest game grade of the season, and the fourth-best Team Performance rating of the 2019 college football season to date.

Quarterback Justin Fields accounted for 284 total yards and scored four total touchdowns while running back J.K. Dobbins ran for 177 yards and Master Teague added 77 rushing yards and two TDs. Defensively, the Buckeyes held Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez to just 47 passing yards and an average of 2.8 yards per pass. Ohio State also sacked Martinez three times and forced three interceptions.

Pollsters were impressed. Ohio State jumped LSU in the most recent edition of the AP Top 25 and picked up seven first-place votes in the process. Only new No. 1 Alabama (29) and defending national champion Clemson (18) earned more.

It doesn’t get much better than the performance Penn State put together against Maryland. In fact, only two teams (Alabama and Oklahoma) have scored a higher game grade this season according to CFB Winning Edge.

Penn State was dominant from the opening whistle Friday night. The Nittany Lions forced an interception on Maryland’s opening offensive series and scored a touchdown on its first offensive play. It set the tone for the rest of the night. Just look at the drive chart for the first half:

• Maryland: Interception
• Penn State: Touchdown
• Maryland: Three-and-out, punt
• Penn State: Touchdown
• Maryland: Interception
• Penn State: Touchdown
• Maryland: Three-and-out, punt
• Penn State: Touchdown
• Maryland: Punt
• Penn State: Interception (Whoops.)
• Maryland: Three-and-out, punt
• Penn State: Touchdown
• Maryland: Three-and-out
• Penn State: Field Goal

The Nittany Lions didn’t punt until 5:45 was left in the third quarter, a time in which Penn State led 45-0. For the game, the Nittany Lions out-gained Maryland 619-128 overall, and by an average of 5.44 yards per play, which was the best margin of the week. Penn State held a 30-10 edge in first downs, won the turnover battle 3-1, and converted nine of 14 opportunities on third down.

Absolute dominance.

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