NCAA Football 2018 Week 5 results and Top 25

Not too many surprises this week.  Buffalo suffered its first loss, Virginia Tech slaughtered Duke, and North Texas lost their first game.  Stanford was pummeled by the Irish. Ohio State and Penn State played like we'd like to see #2 v #3.  Cincinnati came back into the Top 25, joining UCF as the only two Group of Five teams in the rankings.

Top 25 [Last week's position]
1.  Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0) [1]
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0) [2]
3. Penn State Nittany Lions (4-1) [3]
4. Georgia Bulldogs (5-0) [4]
5. Oklahoma Sooners (5-0) [5]
6. Clemson Tigers (5-0) [6]
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-0) [11]
8. LSU Tigers (5-0) [8]
9. UCF Golden Knights (4-0) [9]
10. West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0) [10]
11. Kentucky Wildcats (5-0) [17]
12. Colorado Buffaloes (4-0) [12]
13. Oregon Ducks (4-1) [13]
14. Michigan Wolverines (4-1) [14]
15. Wisconsin Badgers (3-1) [15]
16. Syracuse Orange (4-1) [16]
17. Florida Gators (4-1) [20]
18. Miami Hurricanes (4-1) [NR]
19. Iowa Hawkeyes (3-1) [19]
20. Auburn Tigers (4-1) [21]
21. Washington Huskies (4-1) [22]
22. Stanford Cardinal (4-1) [7]
23. Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0) [NR]
24. Oklahoma State Cowboys (4-1) [24]
25. North Carolina State Wolfpack (4-0) [28]

Dropped off: Duke Blue Devils [#18], Washington State Cougars [#22], Mississippi State Bulldogs [#23], Texas Longhorns [#25]
On the Edge: Fresno State Bulldogs (3-1), Appalachian State Mountaineers (3-1), North Texas Mean Green (4-1), Maryland Terrapins (3-1), Texas A&M Aggies (3-2)

Big Ten Report
Michigan's offense sputtered until the fourth quarter.  Other than that, things were pretty normal.  Once again, Ohio State proved stronger in the second half than their opponent, something they needed to engineer their one-point win.  With so many teams on bye this week, there wasn't much to see other than the Ohio State-Penn State "Game of the Week".

Pac-12 Report
Stanford's loss leaves no unbeaten teams in the North division, and makes that division practically anybody's race (except Oregon State).  Amazingly, Colorado is the only unbeaten team in the conference, which almost guarantees no Pac-12 representation in the playoffs.  USC is bouncing back, but UCLA remains grounded.

SEC Report
Unless Auburn pulls off another surprise in the Iron Bowl, it looks like the West division will be decided between LSU and Alabama.  Kentucky advances to 5-0 to make them a contender in the East, although they have a tougher schedule in front of them.  No real surprises this week here, either.

ACC Report
The Coastal division has no unbeaten team, and the Hokies are fighting for the top spot again.  Clemson has a new challenger in NC State.  Syracuse may have lost, but they led for most of the game, which makes them a threat against every other ACC team.

Big XII Report
Oklahoma won, but they spotted Baylor too many points.  Texas barely won, so they may not have plugged all of their holes yet.  Oklahoma State kept Kansas in the game for too long.  West Virginia had one of the most impressive performances, and it was a battle against Texas Tech.  Not looking good for this conference, as I expect each of the top seven teams to lose at least once more.

Group of Five/Independents Report
Notre Dame's dominant performance against Stanford puts them back into the spotlight, and back in the playoff conversation.  The American Athletic East division has some interesting teams, including Cincy, UCF, and South Florida.  Buffalo's loss has made the MAC uninteresting now, but the Mountain West has some important games coming up in the next few weeks.