September brings excitement, but we often leave it with uncertainty.
October offers answers.
Week 5 in college football was exactly that type of slate.
The Florida Gators and first-year head coach Jon Sumrall came crashing back to earth, quickly learning championships aren’t won in September.
Mississippi State was the best September story in the sport. In Starkville on Saturday, the Bulldogs learned that Kalen DeBoer has a freight train in Year 3 at Alabama.
Iowa was reminded that no player matters more to his respective football team than Jeremiah Smith. His Heisman Trophy pose? Warranted, if justice is a thing in the college football universe.
HISTORY FOR JEREMIAH SMITHHis 36th Career Receiving TD is Now the Most in Ohio State History(Via: CBS)pic.twitter.com/tVHgmqm6Zc
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 3, 2026Other teams made statements, showing they are in the Playoff discussion for the long haul.
Miami? A ho-hum 4-touchdown win at Memorial Stadium that was more about the Hurricanes’ excellence than Clemson’s incompetence.
Notre Dame? How about 241 yards rushing on a rainy day and mudfest field in Chapel Hill? Every time North Carolina asked a question, CJ Carr and the Fighting Irish had an answer.
That’s college football in October. When the bell rings, the great teams answer. The pretenders? They fall to the side.
Here are 7 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after 5 weeks of SEC (and college) football.
Alabama is a wagon — and the Georgia game on Saturday night will be cinema
Alabama dominated Mississippi State in every facet of football on Saturday in Starkville, bringing a buzzsaw to the Kamario Taylor hype with a 56-23 bloodletting that felt even more lopsided.
The Crimson Tide controlled the line of scrimmage (again), offering hope that the embattled offensive lines that have underpinned DeBoer’s early underachievement in Tuscaloosa are a thing of the past. The Tide rushed for 201 yards against the Bulldogs, their highest rushing total this season, and appear to have found 2 dynamic complements to hard-running Daniel Hill. Trae’Shawn Brown carried a career-high 14 times for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns and EJ Crowell continues to show he’s an explosive third option.
Traeshawn "Bellcow" Brown#RollTide pic.twitter.com/VRJxtGHY3l
— Roll Tide Rewind (@RollTideRewind) October 3, 2026If Alabama can run the ball effectively, especially when the game is still in doubt, as it did Saturday, the continuously improving Keelon Russell (16-22, 285 yards, 3 touchdowns through the air) is going to give the Tide a chance in any football game they play, including College Football Playoff games in January.
Alabama’s balance arrives just in time.
Georgia does not lose games in the Kirby Smart era to teams that aren’t multiple. Playing at home, though, with a resurgent run game, Alabama is starting to look like the menacing Crimson Tide of autumns past again, with a wagon of an offense and a defense that, buoyed by consistently tremendous play in the secondary, is growing as the defensive line develops.
The Tide, in other words, are improving every week and that’s impressive considering they’ve won 5 games to start the season, outscoring opponents 248-104. They’ve scored at least 45 points in every game, and 3 of those games were against conference foes. A fourth, against a clearly improved Florida State, was a 50-36 comeback win where the Tide showed they can score at will, even when they fall behind.
Georgia is far better than anyone Alabama’s played. But for the first time in the DeBoer era, there’s reason to believe in national championship buzz again in Tuscaloosa.
Missouri routs Florida, and the Mizzou side of that story is not getting enough love
No. 25 Mizzou routed No. 8 Florida 45-17 at Faurot Field on Saturday and for the most part, the narrative after the game was about how the Gators: 1) were flat after pounding Ole Miss in The Swamp the week before and 2) aren’t ready to contend in the SEC after all, despite a hot start that saw Florida enter Saturday’s game in Columbia unbeaten and averaging 53.5 points per game offensively.
Those are fair talking points, as we’ll get to below, but it’s honestly stunning to me how little love Missouri is getting for absolutely throttling the Gators.
A week after losing a tight game at Mississippi State that brought plenty of criticism (some righteous, some more about the brilliance of Kamario Taylor) to Eli Drinkwitz‘s program, Missouri silenced the haters in a comprehensive rout of Florida, dominating both lines of scrimmage to collect the program’s first win over a top-10 opponent since defeating Ohio State in the 2023 Cotton Bowl. Ahmad Hardy backup Jamal Roberts spearheaded the blowout win for Missouri, rushing for 211 yards and 3 touchdowns in the victory.
Jamal Roberts vs The Gators21 carries 203 Yards3 TDs pic.twitter.com/6K9issUoUd
— Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) October 3, 2026Roberts’ explosion, though, came mostly in a lopsided second half. It was Missouri’s defense that set the tone, stifling the SEC’s leading rusher Jadan Baugh, who was held to just 13 yards on the afternoon. Unable to establish the edge in the run game, the Tigers then teed off on Florida quarterback Aaron Philo, was a sitting duck playing from behind for a one-dimensional offense. The Tigers compiled 11 tackles for loss and 3 sacks against a Florida team that had allowed just 14 negative-yardage plays all season entering the game. That’s dominance.
Entering the game, much was made of the rising star of Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. The praise was fair. The Gators had just dropped a 50 burger on Ole Miss, were lighting up the scoreboard and, armed with an assortment of backfield and perimeter weapons, had punted just 4 times in SEC wins at Auburn and over then No. 4 Ole Miss.
What we don’t talk about enough is that Corey Batoon is a rising star, too. Blake Baker was excellent at Missouri before bolting for LSU but Batoon has been better in almost every analytical respect. The Tigers rank 10th in the country in success rate rushing defense, and allowed just 6 successful Florida rushing attempts all afternoon on Saturday, for a 73% success rate against, per Game on Paper. Playing without 2 defensive line starters, Missouri generated consistent pressure, posting a 22% havoc rate on the afternoon and hitting Philo consistently. That’s all a continuing trend, as Battoon’s defenses at Missouri have consistently ranked in the top 20 against the run and created pressure on the quarterback.
With a defense that swarms to the ball and hits the passer, the Tigers felt more comfortable taking the training wheels off young quarterback Austin Simmons, who rewarded Eli Drinkwitz with his best game as a collegian, completing 23-of-30 passes for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the season, Simmons has 13 touchdown passes and hasn’t thrown an interception.
Is Mizzou a Playoff contender? The schedule may be prohibitive. There are road games at No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 2 Georgia remaining and top-ranked Texas visits Columbia next month. But steal any 1 of those 3 contests and it’s suddenly a 9-win Missouri team that’s played one of, if not the toughest, schedules in the sport. That would generate plenty of chatter on Selection Sunday.
Prediction Markets College Football Playoff Qualifiers 2026 Learn more about Prediction Markets Kalshi Notre Dame 93% Miami (FL) 89% Georgia 87% Ohio St. 81% Texas 81% Indiana 79% Alabama 75% Oregon 52% LSU 47% Utah 43% PredictFlorida isn’t back. That’s what Jon Sumrall said all along, by the way…
On the Florida side of things, the blowout loss was proof that Jon Sumrall was right about 2 things he said in the aftermath of Florida’s 52-28 rout of No. 4 Ole Miss.
First, Sumrall warned against any sense that the Gators had arrived back on the college football map.
“This was a great win for our program, and shows we are making progress,” Sumrall said after Florida hung half a hundred on Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels. “We haven’t arrived. Not even close.”
He warned against complacency, but the Gators looked flat and not up to the mental challenge of a second-consecutive ranked opponent in Missouri on Saturday. That tracked Sumrall’s commentary, too.
“Missouri will certainly be the biggest test we’ve faced on the line of scrimmage this season,” Sumrall said the Monday prior to the game. “They are the most physical team we’ve played.”
Florida was whipped on both lines of scrimmage Saturday, clearly not ready for that type of physical dogfight on the road in the SEC.
Shades of Mike Shula’s Alabama clobbering Urban Meyer in Tuscaloosa during Urban’s first year at Florida. Meyer remembered and learned a big lesson about physicality on the road. And he was recruiting again Saturday night. Sumrall will learn from this too.
— Neil W. Blackmon (@nwblackmon) October 3, 2026I tweeted after the game that the loss felt eerily similar to Urban Meyer’s first SEC road trip, way back in 2005. The Gators started unbeaten, defeated a top-10 Tennessee team in The Swamp, and had plenty of national buzz before visiting Mike Shula’s Crimson Tide on the first Saturday in October. Alabama steamrolled Florida 31-3.
After the game, Meyer, coaching his first season of Power 5 football, was called out loudly by a cynical Florida fan base and national media. “Mountain West Meyer” was a common fan refrain. Paul Finebaum questioned whether Meyer’s “gimmick offense” would work in the SEC and later questioned Meyer’s staying power (Meyer went on to win 3 national championships at Florida and Ohio State). This week, apparently, Jon Sumrall losing a football game and being mad about it was enough to trigger some SEC media personalities.
“I’m sick to my freaking stomach.”What a cornball. Hahaha pic.twitter.com/FUVTeascI1
— Chris Marler (@Vern_Funquist) October 4, 2026Meyer was listless and out of answers at a postgame press conference, barely able to speak, after his loss, too.
Long term? Meyer, of course, was fine. He was recruiting by Saturday night and though his first Florida team lost 2 more games in 2005, the blueprint for long term success was laid.
Other first-year SEC coaches failed spectacularly, too. Kirby Smart lost a home game to Vanderbilt — pre Diego Pavia and Clark Lea Vanderbilt. Mike Shula left the cupboard so bare on the Capstone that Nick Saban himself lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Year 1 in Tuscaloosa. Steve Spurrier took a 45-3 loss to Tennessee in Knoxville on the chin, too.
It’s how you respond that matters.
Sumrall, who has more conference titles in 4 years as a head coach than Lane Kiffin has in 2 decades as a head coach, didn’t go full Lane Kiffin and make fun of Missouri or suggest that Florida was “Missouri’s Super Bowl.”
He was upset but accountable. Now the real hard work starts. With Texas and Georgia on the horizon, it only gets tougher for the Gators. How will Sumrall respond?
Was Kentucky loss the death knell for Shane Beamer?
South Carolina fell 35-34 to Kentucky in overtime on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium, falling to 0-3 in the SEC in the process.
Kentucky goes for two and WINS THE GAME in OT @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/CBh6OTJt52
— CFP (@CFBPlayoff) October 4, 2026It’s a game the Gamecocks had to have and should have won, but squandered away thanks to 2 turnovers that led directly to 10 Kentucky points and kept the plucky Wildcats, now 4-1 under Will Stein, alive.
I wrote earlier in the year that you coach at South Carolina to be fired. That’s a truism that applies to everyone but program legend Steve Spurrier, and unless Shane Beamer left for greener pastures, he was never going to be South Carolina’s head coach forever. Beamer is one of the best people in college football and his roster, loaded with future NFL talent, is a testament to his capability as a talent evaluator.
But with a trip to The Swamp looming, Beamer may be 2-4 through the first half of the schedule which, Alabama aside, was generally viewed as the navigable part of South Carolina’s slate. The Gamecocks can’t stop the pass (99th in pass defense and 109th in pass defense success rate) and they don’t create negative plays defensively (14th in the SEC in havoc rate).
Couple those defensive ailments with a turnover-prone offense and well, you get a team that’s underperforming it’s “Get off the Bus” talent. That’s how you get fired, and that’s unfortunately why South Carolina will change direction in 2027.
Miami is a machine
Miami blasted Clemson 41-13 at the other Death Valley on Saturday night, imposing its will on both sides of the football in handing Dabo Swinney’s Clemson its largest home loss since a 51-13 beatdown to eventual-national champion Florida State in 2013.
The Hurricanes’ offense continues to run like a finely tuned machine under Darian Mensah, who has now thrown for 15 touchdowns without an interception and has the U ranked first in the country in total offense and second in scoring offense through 5 games.
The Canes dominated Clemson without leaning on All-American candidate Malachi Toney, who was held in check, for the most part, with just 40 yards receiving. Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has been waiting for that type of evening, wondering aloud if his offense could show it “wasn’t just the Malachi offense.” They showed it Saturday, getting 2 touchdowns from running back Mark Fletcher and the best game yet from senior Harvard/Duke transfer Cooper Barkate (5 receptions, 99 yards, 1 touchdown) to rout the Tigers.
61-yard house call for Cooper Barkate ABC x @CanesFootball pic.twitter.com/MlaIuyrO4N
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) October 3, 2026Knock the schedule all you’d like, but the Canes are beating the daylights out of everyone put in front of them. Outside of Georgia, no one in college football has looked as dominant through 5 weeks. It’s now just a waiting game until a titanic showdown with Notre Dame in South Bend on November 7.
Accountability Index: Right and Wrong from Week 4
Two takes that I need to be held accountable for after last week’s games. We don’t shy away from accountability here — but we will buy, sell, or hold our takes to see how things develop.
“Florida needs to pay Buster Faulkner All the Money”: HOLD
Faulkner and Florida were stuffed by Missouri, out-schemed and outmanned on the line of scrimmage. If that’s a consistent pattern, you can sell Faulkner leaving Gainesville after just one season. In truth, there were always warts: a new offensive line and new starters at the tackle and center spots with All-American Jake Slaughter and All-SEC tackle Austin Barber off to the NFL. Faulkner’s schemed around it so far, and he’s succeeded despite playing just 2 snaps all season with the intended starting wide receiver trio of Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson, and Eric Singleton.
Credit Missouri last week. They were just better, especially in slowing Florida’s zone running game. But Faulkner will need more from Aaron Philo and the downfield passing game to warrant a raise this offseason.
Iowa is a legitimate B1G Contender
Oof.
Ohio State and Jeremiah Smith put this to bed on Saturday, overwhelming Iowa in the second half to win 31-14. Once again, it was Iowa’s lack of offense that let them down. The Hawkeyes rank 73rd in America in total offense, simply not good enough for a College Football Playoff contender. Is Iowa improved? Absolutely. It moved the ball at times on Ohio State and it has skill players for once, which is a refreshing change. But there’s not enough of them to make them a B1G title contender or a Playoff team. A Pop Tarts Bowl? That’s possible, and a nice way to spend New Year’s Eve when you live in Iowa City. But this is more of a “really good Kirk Ferentz team” than a championship-contending team.
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