BCS Eliminator, Week 5: College football's contenders list now shorter than NFL's
Does your college football team still have a prayer of winning the national championship? Probably not. After one month, we've now hit the point at which more NFL teams are alive for the Super Bowl than college teams are alive for the BCS title.Follow @SBNationCFB Follow @JasonKirkSBN
Shutdown Fullback on Week 5's biggest achievements!
In this periodical, we're keeping track of which college football teams actually still have a chance at playing for the national title. The number is falling quickly, and this sport is the meanest thing in the world.
Geno Smith was 45-of-51 for 656 yards and eight touchdowns. He set school records for completions, yards and touchdowns in a game and has yet to throw an interception this year. And yes, that's more touchdowns than incompletions.
Smith threw for 656 yards against Baylor. The record for a single game is 716 passing yards from Houston's David Klingler against Arizona State in 1991.
The game did break the Big 12 scoring record in West Virginia's first game in the conference; the previous mark was 116 total points.
Oh, and he tacked on 31 yards in scrambles and didn't turn the ball over once in 88 plays.
GIF of the week
Oklahoma State's J.W. Walsh messes (very gently) with Texas (trainer Charlie Craven):
Photos of the week
Oh my, the Derek Dooley one:
Feel like No. 85 has the right idea here
Chuck Cook - US PRESSWIRE
Warmth
Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
Fan of the week
Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE
Colorado football, fear not the Insight Bowl
Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
Wisconsin defenders, skipping like rocks off of Taylor Martinez
Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE
This is where #BeaverJuice comes from
Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE
The Iron Skillet, among the most fat guy-appropriate rivalry trophies
Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE
"What do I do when 'Taco Bell' doesn't work?"
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Yes, Ryan Aplin managed to attempt a pass here
Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE
Calls to mind a certain college football blog's old header image (but we never used to see a running back on the receiving end here)
Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE
The sideways Rose Bowl, finally within reach!
Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE
Keep your head up, Kenny Vaccaro
Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE
Tigers looking tiny against Towson
Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE
NEXT QUESTION
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
The hedges, post-half-a-hundred-hanging
Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE
Urban Meyer likes his quarterback
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Keenan Allen gets one shadow down
Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
Ellington the elevator
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
This is how you know when you've picked a fight
Bob Levey/Getty Images
Go Heels, go America
Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Frantic
Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE
No other form of entertainment boasts out-of-context photos as neat as football's
Joel Auerbach/Getty Images
They were fossilized like this
Reese Strickland-US PRESSWIRE
Eye of the Hurricanes
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
As Bobby Dodd looks on
Kevin Liles-US PRESSWIRE
Seattle blacks out
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Like the Weezer song
Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE
WE GET IT OREGON YOU'RE SUPER PRETTY
James Snook-US PRESSWIRE
Bringing home the bacon
Matthew Holst/Getty Images
Hands
Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE
Angelo Richardson, former four-star Arizona State recruit, who was shot and paralyzed in 2006
Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE
Glasco Martin scores a touchdown, with his body arriving piecemeal
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
He never did run out of gun powder
Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE
J.D. Woods' catch of the week
Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE
On to Texas
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
Eliminated
As always, bold teams are just now joining us, and the week of each team's inclusion is in parentheses.
Air Force (2)
Fresno State (2)
North Carolina
Tulsa (1)
Akron (2)
Georgia Tech (4)
North Texas (1)
UAB (1)
Arizona (5)
Hawai'i (1)
Northern Illinois (1)
UConn (2)
Arkansas (3)
Houston (1)
Ohio (5)
UL Lafayette (3)
Arkansas State (3)
Idaho (1)
Ohio State
UL Monroe (3)
Army (2)
Illinois (4)
Oklahoma St. (5)
UMass (1)
Auburn (4)
Indiana (3)
Penn State
UNLV (1)
Ball State (2)
Iowa (4)
Pittsburgh (1)
Utah (4)
Boise State (4)
Kansas (3)
Rice (1)
Utah State (2)
Boston College (3)
Kent State (2)
San Diego State (1)
UTEP (1)
Bowling Green (3)
Kentucky (3)
San Jose State (1)
UTSA (1)
Buffalo (1)
Marshall (3)
SMU (3)
Vanderbilt (4)
BYU (3)
Maryland (4)
South Alabama (1)
Virginia (4)
California (4)
Memphis (1)
South Florida (3)
Virginia Tech (5)
Central Florida (2)
Miami (Ohio) (1)
South Florida (4)
Wake Forest (5)
CMU (2)
Michigan State (5)
Southern Miss (1)
Washington St. (4)
Colorado (2)
MTSU (1)
Syracuse (2)
Wisconsin (5)
Colorado State (2)
N.C. State (5)
Temple (2)
WKU (2)
East Carolina (2)
Navy (3)
Texas State (2)
WMU (1)
EMU (2)
Nevada (2)
Toledo (1)
Wyoming (1)
FIU (1)
New Mexico (2)
Troy (2)
Florida Atlantic (3)
New Mexico St. (2)
Tulane (1)
Michigan State, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State follow Arkansas as teams ranked in the preseason Top 20 who are now completely out of the running. Perhaps no other team will ever match how far and how hard the Hogs have fallen, but
OSU becomes the first serious Big 12 team (as in, not Kansas) to fall, and that's more to do with their loss to Arizona becoming less forgivable over time (Arizona's a respectable 3-2) than it is to them having two losses. The Big 12 is both good at the top and deep, and it's to the conference's great credit that it's the one least represented on this list.
Potential BCS buster Ohio finally leaves the netherrealm and joins the party, as squeaking out wins against UMass is not going to get it done, not in this or any other fantasy scenario. Only one non-AQ hope remains.
Barely alive
Duke
Miami
Minnesota
Ole Miss
Louisiana Tech
Michigan
Missouri
Tennessee
LA Tech has now taken down Virginia, Illinois and Houston, all on the road. They're 4-0 heading into conference play with a neutral-siter against Air Raid kin Texas A&M still to go. The problem: that conference is the WAC, which this year includes two FBS newcomers. It's entirely wishful thinking to have them anywhere but Eliminated from the get-go, but the Bulldogs deserve more respect than they're getting (No. 32 in the AP poll) right now.
Also, keeping Michigan here really bothers people. It's stupid to have them here. I have no idea why I continue to do it.
Still alive
Alabama
Iowa State
Oklahoma
Texas
Arizona State
Kansas State
Oregon
Texas A&M
Baylor
Louisville
Oregon State
Texas Tech
Cincinnati
LSU
Purdue
UCLA
Clemson
Mississippi State
Rutgers
USC
Florida
Nebraska
South Carolina
Washington
Florida State
Northwestern
Stanford
West Virginia
Georgia
Notre Dame
TCU
Only 31 teams, or an exact fourth of the country, still have at least a reasonable notion of playing for a national title. Think about that -- after about a month, more NFL teams are alive for the Super Bowl than college football teams are alive for the BCS title game.