Ohio State’s QB ‘problem’, playoff picture materializes, new Heisman leader emerges

Ohio State has a problem every school would love to have, College Football Playoff picture materializes and a new Heisman leader emerges in a wide-open field.

This may have been the best week of the college football season yet this year.

Alabama and Georgia toyed with Ole Miss and Arkansas and proved they have no competition until they meet each other in the SEC Championship Game and potentially in a rematch in the National Championship Game.

Oregon gave Stanford chance after chance to let the Cardinal upset the Ducks on The Farm.

Cincinnati invaded Notre Dame Stadium to hand the Irish their first home loss in four years.

Kentucky topped that and beat Florida at home for the first time since 1986.

Texas A&M lost for the second week in a row so Jimbo Fisher is probably going to get another extension from the Aggies for losing by only four to Mississippi State.

Clemson almost for the second week in a row and third time in five games, but survived Boston College who fumbled inside their 15 in the final seconds to preserve a 19-13 win.

Does Ohio State have too many good quarterbacks?

There’s been some drama surrounding Ohio State. But when is that not the case. After C.J. Stroud sat last week to heal a nagging injury in the romp over Akron, there was some discussion about whether he may have lost his job for good. There were whispers of the transfer portal. There was talk that Kyle McCord should keep the job after playing well vs. the Zips.

After Stroud’s performance vs. Rutgers, all that talk has been silenced.

There is no quarterback controversy at Ohio State. Stroud is the unquestioned starter after throwing six incompletions to five touchdowns to go with his 330 yards in the 52-13 win over the Scarlet Knights.

But Ryan Day may have a bit of a “dilemma” on his hands. A dilemma 129 other FBS coaches would love to have on their hands. Ohio State has too many good quarterbacks and someone is bound to transfer for an opportunity elsewhere.

Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, among others, all transferred for new opportunities elsewhere. Could McCord or Jack Miller elect to do the same if it’s clear Stroud is the quarterback of the present and Quinn Ewers is the quarterback of the future?

You couldn’t blame them if they did want to transfer. College football is all about maximizing your small window of opportunity and they aren’t going to sit on the bench and let that pass them by.

Could Ewers even transfer? Stroud is in his first year as a starter and could play for two more years after this, so if he’s as good as he can be, then Ewers is going to be sitting for a couple more years. He knew he’d face some competition for the job when he chose to come to Ohio State, but being the competitor he is, he probably thought he’d be the starter his second year on campus. Ewers was the highest-ranked quarterback in the 247Sports Composite database, even better than Vince Young and Trevor Lawrence, so he’s going to want to play too.

Day has to manage all these quarterbacks on his roster knowing full well there is only one quarterback that can start. A two-quarterback system isn’t going to work, so who is going to be the odd man or men out?

Is the Big Ten better than the SEC?

The SEC is the king of college football but Alabama is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The Crimson eviscerated Ole Miss and embarrassed Lane Kiffin in the process. Georgia, to their credit, has the best defense in the nation and is a worthy challenger to their crown. Beyond the top two teams in the nation, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Florida, Auburn, and LSU are all flawed and not overly imposing. Credit Kentucky for beating the Gators in Lexington and they may be the SEC’s third-best team.

However, the Big Ten can lay claim to being the best conference after five weeks.

Iowa and Penn State will be undefeated when the two top-five teams meet next week. Michigan remains undefeated and Jim Harbaugh may have his best team in years, and a worthy challenger to actually beat Ohio State this year. No, seriously. They may give them a game. Ohio State is the only one of the four to have a loss, which came at the hands of Oregon who was No. 3 before losing to Stanford on Saturday. The Buckeyes are the team no one wants to face in the Big Ten. Oh and then there’s Michigan State at 5-0. The Big Ten East is a murderers row.

A new Heisman leader emerges from the pack

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman duel over Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral but it was running back Brian Robinson with four touchdowns and the Tide defense that paved the way. Young will likely be the betting favorite for the Heisman entering Week 6 but Texas running back Bijan Robinson should be.

The Texas sophomore ran for a career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries in the 32-7 win over TCU. With 652 yards and seven touchdowns on the year, Robinson has been the catalyst to the Texas offense that had quarterback concerns after Hudson Card was benched for Casey Thompson after losing to Arkansas.

In the two weeks since Card was benched for Thompson, Robinson has averaged 7.27 yards per carry and a total of 480 yards. Texas has averaged 52.2 points per game in those three games, all wins for Texas. If Robinson has another monster game with 200 yards and a few scores next week against rival Oklahoma, there will be no doubt about his Heisman candidacy.

He knows he can count on Ricky Williams giving him his vote. Williams is the last Texas player to win the Heisman. He’s also got an endorsement from his former quarterback with Sam Ehlinger tweeting his support for Robinson to win the Heisman.

https://twitter.com/sehlinger3/status/1444412982587502595

College football rankings after Week 5

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Iowa
4. Penn State
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio State
9. Michigan State
10. BYU

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