College football’s 5 best games of Week 5, ranked

We’ve now reached Week 5 of the 2023 college football schedule.

My goodness it flies by.

But this also means we are deep into the heart of conference schedules, which makes for some fascinating games to track this weekend. While the Week 5 slate does not offer as many games between ranked opponents as we saw a week ago, there are a number of games you need to have on your radar.

Including a matchup that helps kick off the weekend on Friday night.

5. USC (8) at Colorado
Saturday, 12:00 p.m. ET

This game ends either one of two ways, both probably in a USC win:

Either way, this is going to be a fun game with a lot of future NFL prospects on the offensive side of the ball. Defense lovers, avert your eyes.

4. LSU (13) at Mississippi (20)
Saturday, 6:00 p.m. ET

The Magnolia Bowl is a must-watch every year. But this season, it has become what some are considering a “defining moment” for Lane Kiffin.

After last week’s loss to Alabama, where Mississippi scored only ten points (the fewest in an SEC game since he took the job) Kiffin is now 5-7 against ranked opponents during his time at Mississippi. When you include his time at Tennessee, Kiffin is now 8-22 in his coaching career against ranked opponents.

He, and Mississippi, badly need a win. A victory Saturday would keep them alive in the SEC West. A loss, however, likely ends those dreams and opens the door to questions about his ceiling at Mississippi.

3. Utah (10) at Oregon State (19)
Friday, 9:00 p.m. ET

If you have been following along this year, you know full well that the scriptwriters saved the best for the final season of the Pac-12. Six teams are currently ranked in the Top 25 with two — Colorado and UCLA — having fallen out of the rankings after losses a week ago.

Another Pac-12 team that lost last week, Oregon State, gets to try their hand at a bounce-back performance on Friday night against visiting Utah. The Utes knocked UCLA from the rankings with last week’s victory, but Friday touches off the toughest stretch of their season. Over their next six games, four come against ranked opponents, starting Friday night and culminating with a trip to Washington to play the Huskies. They also play at USC and at home against Oregon during that stretch.

The Utes have big dreams this season, and now is the time to make those dreams come true.

Oregon State would love nothing more than to turn those dreams into nightmares.

2. Notre Dame at Duke
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET

After a heart-breaking loss to Ohio State last week, Notre Dame would love nothing more than to beat up on an opponent this weekend and get that bitter taste out of their mouth.

That is a task easier said than done given who they face this weekend.

Duke is a very good football team, and the Blue Devils are 4-0 and have a chance to improve to 5-0 for the first time since the first Bill Clinton administration. While it is true that wins over Lafayette, Northwestern, and Connecticut are not quite resume builders, after what we saw last week, Duke’s Week 1 win over Clemson does indeed look like such a victory.

Plus, the Blue Devils have Riley Leonard at the helm, one of the more intriguing QB prospects in all of college football. That makes this a fun QB battle as well, between Leonard and Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman.

1. Kansas vs. Texas
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET

This is the second year in a row that Kansas has started 4-0, and once again they run into the Texas Longhorns. This game should be a matchup of fun offenses, although both get it done very differently. Kansas throws everything at you; from 2-QB sets to full house pistol formations, they force defenses to account for everyone on the field, and QB Jalon Daniels is arguably the best QB in the conference. Texas is a lot stronger up front this year, and can grind teams down before hitting them with play action downfield with WRs Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell. QB Quinn Ewers needs to be on his A-game to beat this Kansas team, because the Jayhawks won’t go away quietly.