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Week five of the college football season has come and gone, and it gave us some of the best games of the season so far. We definitely saw a game of the year candidate in Tuscaloosa as Alabama narrowly defeated Georgia in a thriller after going up 28-0 early. That was the best game of the weekend and also the season so far, but another great game that we saw this past weekend featured the Penn State football team and Illinois. Not a lot of people thought that the Fighting Illini would be ranked in the top-20 when the season started, but they were.
The Penn State football team picked up the win in a close, hard-fought battle by both teams, and that was definitely one of the more important games of week five. However, there were a lot of other important games as well. Things got started early as Miami and Virginia Tech gave us a thriller on Friday night.
Miami is the ACC's best hope in terms of a national title contender, and they almost suffered an embarrassing loss at home as huge favorites on Friday night as Virginia Tech gave them all that they could handle. The Hokies got out to a big lead in the game, but Miami was able to come back and take the lead late in the game. Virginia Tech thought they won the contest when their Hail Mary attempt was ruled a touchdown, but it got overturned, and Miami won.
Another big game involving an ACC team featured Louisville going on the road to play Notre Dame. This ended up being a good game that came down to the final possessions, and the Fighting Irish did enough to get the win.
There were a couple big games in the Big 12 this weekend as Kansas State took down Oklahoma State and Arizona pulled off a big upset against Utah. The Utes desperately need to get quarterback Cam Rising back from injury if they want any chance to achieve their goals this season. They are a completely different team when he is on the bench.
Week five concluded with Alabama taking down Georgia in one of the best college football games you'll ever see. After going up 28-0 and 30-7, the Crimson Tide let Georgia get back in the game and the Bulldogs eventually took the lead late in the fourth quarter, leaving Alabama fans completely shocked. However, the Tide immediately scored a 75-yard touchdown on the next play and they got the two-point conversion to go up 41-34, and they eventually won with that score after sealing the win with an interception in their own end zone.
There was a lot of excitement in week five and it was maybe the best week of the season so far. Let's talk about one of the other top-25 matchups we saw: The Penn State-Illinois game.
Illinois played Penn State tough
Heading into this season, there likely weren't a lot of Penn State football fans concerned about their week five matchup at home with an Illinois team that has struggled a lot in recent years. However, the Fighting Illini started this season strong as they came into the game 4-0, and they came into it with two ranked wins already. Illinois beat then #19 Kansas early in the season, and then they went on the road in week four and took down then #22 Nebraska. The Fighting Illini are good.
Despite the success that Illinois had prior to the game, the oddsmakers were still all over Penn State in this one. The Nittany Lions came into this game as massive favorites as the line favored them by 17.5 points, but the Fighting Illini ended up showing that they can compete with the best teams in the Big Ten.
Illinois could not have asked for a better start in this game. They got the ball first and had to go up against one of the loudest crowds in all of college football. A night game at Penn State is believed to be the toughest atmosphere in college football by many, and the Fighting Illini marched right down the field for a touchdown to silence the 100,000+ in attendance. However, the Nittany Lions had a response as they went down and scored on their first drive as well. That sequence was not a good indication for how the game would go.
Both teams tightened things up on defense as neither team would score again until Penn State found the end zone in the third quarter. Illinois had their chances in this one, but they just couldn't get past the Penn State D, and another touchdown for the Nittany Lions in the fourth quarter sealed the victory. Penn State won 21-7, but it was a good effort by Illinois.
So, is Illinois really that good, or does Penn State have some things to worry about? The answer may be both. Here a couple things that were concerning in the Nittany Lions' win:
Special teams
The biggest concern for the Penn State football team following the win over Illinois has to be their kicking game. Nittany Lions kicker Sander Sahaydak missed two crucial 40-yard field goals in this game. One was early in the game to put Penn State up 10-7, and the other was late in the game, and this one was much more important. A make would have put the Nittany Lions up by 10 in the fourth, but he missed it and gave Illinois life. Luckily the defense was able to get a stop, but Penn State can't let things like that when they are playing teams like Ohio State later on this season. You can't let good teams hang around. Those kicks need to go in.
Drew Allar was pretty quiet
Penn State football QB Drew Allar finished this game 15/21 for 135 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. He didn't play a bad game, but it was an awfully quiet performance. This isn't a huge concern as Penn State was able to run the ball well and they obviously got the win, but can Allar rise to the occasion and win the Nittany Lions a game with his arm if he needs to? That is one thing that we haven't really seen in his career so it remains more of a question mark than a concern.
At the end of the day, Penn State football fans should be feel good after taking down a top-20 team.
We will see the Nittany Lions back in action this weekend as they will be hosting UCLA. Penn State and UCLA will kickoff from Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania at noon ET on Saturday, and the game will be airing on Fox. The Nittany Lions are currently favored by 27.5 points as they are expected to cruise to a 5-0 record.
