Week 5 Predictions – 2023
Last Week: The Buckeyes and the Irish had a game last week that may prove to be one of the best contests of the year. Notre Dame is certainly not eliminated from the playoff hunt and have a schedule that will keep them relevant. When it looked like OSU’s chances were gone, Kyle McCord put together a game winning drive for the ages. The win keeps Ohio State at the top of the polls as they set at home this weekend. For our predictions, Dave, Coach Rick and Joe-S-U were all 5-0 for the week which left Dave on top of our standings after four weeks.
This Week’s Games: With the Buckeyes on the sideline and yet another week with no good match-up we will go with only 3 games once again. We will look at the USC-Colorado game for starters. All the air came out of Colorado’s sails last week, will they be able to bounce back against the Trojans or is it going to be the end of the hype parade? …. LSU and Mississippi will play and start the SEC elimination game, maybe they will all start to eliminate each other. Can anyone challenge Georgia for the title? …. Notre Dame finds themselves in another huge game this week as they take on an unbeaten Duke squad. Another lose would elminate the Irish for sure but can they create damage in the ACC conference? This may be a huge win for their playoff resume.
Buckeye Greats: As in the past, we will continue to include former Buckeye players in our prediction fun and we are thrilled to have Vaughn Broadnax back with us as a regular participant for the ninth straight year.
Here we go with our Week 5 Picks – Good Luck to All – Gregg
(8)USC @ Colorado
Vaughn Broadnax (OSU 1980-83): Colorado didn’t exactly turn into a pumpkin this past weekend, but they did hit the wall of reality. USC is another wall and may be even more menacing of an offense. However, with the Grinch giving presents instead of taking them away, Colorado will find a way to score. Unfortunately, USC finds a way to score a whole lot more. USC 52 Colorado 21
Coach Rick: I normally go with the home team but in this case I have USC winning by 17 points.
Cory: Perhaps Colorado was a bit overrated, but just because they got throttled by Oregon last week that does not necessarily mean the same thing will happen this week with USC. The Trojans cannot play defense. San Jose State and Arizona State managed to put up 28 points and a bunch of yards on USC. Right now, the Trojans are just outscoring everybody thanks to quarterback Caleb Williams. Colorado has an offense that can come close to matching USC’s. Yes, it sucks that we won’t get to see Travis Hunter play in this matchup, but I am still expecting a very high-scoring game. I still like USC to win by a couple of scores, but it at least should be an entertaining game. USC 42, Colorado 28
Dave: USC
Gregg: Colorado’s quarterback Shedeur Sanders has been getting love all season long, especially after that big upset win over TCU to start the season. Yet at this time, 4 of the top 5 Heisman candidates are quarterbacks from the Pac-12 and he is not one of therm. This week he has an oportunity to face a quarterback at USC that has already won that award. Caleb Williams is having another great season, although I personally don’t think he is a shoo-in to earn a second trophy. The Pac-12 has been a pretty interesting story outside of all the Colorado hype, as several teams are highly ranked and starting to get notice. USC is the real deal and the Buffalos are just not their yet. I expect the Trojans to win big and end any further attention to the Buffalos. USC 44 Colorado 17
Joe-S-U: USC
John: USC
Josh: This should be an interesting match up between two good offenses, and two defenses that have lots of growth. This one will be the Big Noon Kickoff game off the week (because there is not a lot of good games this week after being spoiled last week). I see both Caleb Williams and Shedeur Sanders having big numbers, but without Travis Hunter still for Buffalo, this one seems to be in USC’s favor. I think the Trojans take care of business on the road to improve to 5-0, and the hype train for Colorado will be all but derailed. USC 49 – Colorado 28
Steven: The wheels finally came off the Coach Prime Hype Train last week, as most people predicted. The severity of the beat down was a bit surprising, though. The rest of the season may not see Colorado win another game as the Pac-12 is loaded this year. USC has played down to their competition and may well be the 4th best team in the conference behind Utah, Oregon and Washington. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams has played OK, but has shown how difficult it is to repeat a national player of the year performance. As a whole, I’m not sure if USC is playing to the level of Oregon on either side of the ball, but they should still handily defeat the Buffaloes. Trojans roll 31-10
Trout: I think the Buffaloes lose for the second straight week. THe Trojans are just the better team. Not to mention, they have a Heisman winning quarterback leading their offense in Caleb WIlliams. I don’t think it will be like the beating that Oregon gave them, but I do believe that USC will win by a few scores. Coach Prime and his team got a serious reality check last week, and I think they get another one this week. USC wins and gives Colorado their second loss of the season. (USC, 35-14)
Final Score: USC 48 Colorado 41
(13)LSU @ (20)Mississippi
Vaughn Broadnax (OSU 1980-83): Maybe it’s just me, but LSU hasn’t impressed me one bit the year. That was confirmed by FSU struggling to beat Clemson. So, when LSU lost the way they did to FSU, I have been leery of them ever since. After last week’s reckoning with Alabama, Lane Kiffen needs a big win. There’s no better place to do it than at home. Ole Miss upsets the LSU Tigers 31-24.
Coach Rick: I really think that Ole Miss has a good chance to win in this game. Ultimately in the end, LSU wins by 14.
Dave: LSU
Gregg: If you were told at the beginning of the season that after Week 4 there would only be 3 unbeaten teams in the SEC, would you think two of them would be Missouri and Kentucky. But that is what we have as the conference has done very poorly in cross conference games so far and now they are about to start playing each other. I think that the winner of the West division is going to have two losses. One of these teams are going to get their second loss this weekend and I think it will be Ole Miss. They were good for one half against Alabama last week but didn’t even come out of the locker room for the second half. Coach Kelly has the Tigers ready for a road win. LSU 24 Ole Miss 20
Joe-S-U: LSU
John: LSU
Josh: Going into last week, I thought this was the best chance Lane Kiffen had to beat Nick Saban, and he could not get anything going. This game at home, I anticipate Jaxson Dart having a better performance against this LSU defense that was gashed by Florida State in week one, but since that game, LSU has rebounded and got a gritty win against Arkansas last week. I think this one is a close one as well, but the LSU Tigers get the win against Ole Miss, and help push their SEC West chances to try and repeat for the second straight year. LSU 38 – Ole Miss 28
Steven: Last week I expected Ole Miss to perform much better than they did against Alabama. Credit Tide QB Jalen Milroe for sticking it in the face of all the doubters, myself included, by playing poised and gritty ball. The Rebel defense was not particularly special, while Alabama’s seemed to find their footing. Mississippi QB Jaxon Dart looked to be the lesser of the two QBs, and going into the contest it certainly wasn’t the case. Dart is the Rebels leading rusher, and the Tide bottled up the run to the tune of only allowing It’s not too much of a stretch to say the Rebels got out-toughed by the Tide. This week LSU comes to town, and as of writing this, the Tigers are 3 point underdogs. Unless Lane Kiffin puts a bit more starch in the lines, I see the LSU taking the same approach in stopping the run first. It may be recency bias, but Ole Miss was so underwhelming against Alabama, I don’t see a serious bounceback this week. LSU 24-22 for the win, Johnny.
Trout: This game is a bit of a toss up for me. I am not really sold on either team. Having to pick one, I will go with the Tigers. I think they might be slightly better. I can see the game being relatively close and potentially low scoring. However, towards the end of the game, LSU sneaks ahead, and the Rebels will be unable to catch up. The Tigers win in a close one. (LSU, 20-17)
Final Score: Mississippi 55 LSU 49
(11)Notre Dame @ (17)Duke
Vaughn Broadnax (OSU 1980-83): The Buckeyes need Notre Dame to step up and win at Duke this week. A loss like last year’s loss to Marshall devalued OSU’s victory and made Notre Dame appear fraudulent. Duke beat Clemson to start off the year and they have home field advantage. Notre Dame wins a close one 33-30 over Duke.
Coach Rick: All I can say is watch out Duke here come the Fighting Irish. I really do not see this as much of a game and have Notre Dame winning by 24.
Cory: Notre Dame was one second away from one of the biggest wins in program history. When the Irish needed a stop on third and goal from the one yard line, they were unable to get as Chip Trayanum scored with one second left to propel Ohio State to a 17-14 win last week. Notre Dame has no time to feel sorry for itself as the Irish go on the road to play a red hot Duke team this week. The Blue Devils are undefeated and have not allowed more than 14 points in a game this season. However, there are some concerns with Duke. First – the Blue Devils have not played anybody yet, and yes, I am including Clemson in that list. Wins over Northwestern, UConn, Lafayette, don’t inspire a lot of confidence. Second – quarterback Riley Leonard has only two passing touchdowns this season. I was very impressed with Notre Dame’s defense and their running game, and I think they will rebound with a win this week because of those two things. Notre Dame 31, Duke 20
Dave: Notre Dame
Gregg: This should be the best game of the weekend, as long as Notre Dame is not still reeling from last week’s loss at home to Ohio State. Duke finds itself in unfamiliar territory as 4-0 start a football season. It was a great win over Clemson to start the season but we have all seen now that Clemson is not the team they were when they had six years of playoff appearances. The Tigers have actually gone 5-5 in their last ten games. All Buckeye fans know this is a good Notre Dame team, as long as they come in with the same game plan as last week, they will have no problem picking up a big road win. The Duke ‘hype’ train ends this week as they lose at home in from of the GameDay crew. Notre Dame 31 Duke 21
Joe-S-U: Duke
John: Notre Dame
Josh: Listening to the Ohio State beat this week, the players have all said that Notre Dame was probably the most physical team they have faced, and that classic tough nose battle that came down to the last second of the game gave the Irish more respect in my eyes. They just need to make sure they have all 11 players on the field. Duke is one of the best scoring defenses in the country, and propelled their ranking by beating an over-ranked Clemson team to start the season, but Riley Leonard deserves a lot of credit for the Blue Devils success as well. I think Notre Dame will rebound, and with the experience Sam Hartman has against the ACC, that will help them get the taste of defeat out of their mouth, and kickstart their opportunity to try and play spoiler and improve their chances to make the CFP this year. Notre Dame 24 – Duke 17.
Steven: What does Notre Dame do post-OSU? There was a lot to like about the Irish against Ohio State, but yet there certainly were some head-scratching moments. Apparently, Notre Dame has a QB in Sam Hartman. It is not much of an exaggeration to say his impact was noticeably limited by the Ohio State defense. Whether it was Notre Dame’s interest in exploiting the run, or Ohio State’s secondary, Hartman didn’t get into rhythm. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman may have much the same reaction this weekend, as Duke and Ohio State are 4th & 5th nationally in pass defense. Lucky for the Irish, Duke is 70th against the run vs. Ohio State’s 36th national ranking. Even so, those 24 points only amount to an extra 26 yards of offense. Ohio State and Duke are neck and neck as well in scoring defense, coming in this week at 2nd & 4th. Unless the Irish can find a way to use the run to actually set up the pass and use Hartman to his ful potential, this one could go down to the wire in Durham. Vegas likes the Irish by 6. I’ll call it by 3. Notre Dame squeaks out a victory on the road. ND 27-24
Trout: Notre Dame rebounds and wins this game. I think they are a good team with a solid quarterback, that just happened to make a crippling mistake on the last 2 plays of the game. Granted, as a Buckeye fan, I am glad they only had 10 men on the field during those plays. I don’t know much about Duke, but they must be good seeing how they are ranked in the top 25. I think the game will be relatively close for a while, but then the Irish start to pull ahead in the fourth. They just seem like the more established team. But I do believe that the Blue Devils put up a decent fight. Notre Dame wins, but it’s a hard fought battle. (Notre Dame, 28-20)