Brian’s College Football Top 5: Week 0

Photo by Zachary Lucy

We are BACK BABY!

College football is officially back, and that means so is the top 5.

For any newbies, this is not an official ranking of the top 5 teams in college football, but rather the 5 teams that impressed me over the weekend.

There weren’t very many games this weekend, but we still have our five.

And here we go!

5. Stanford Cardinal

It sounds crazy to say that Stanford beating Hawaii at home is impressive, but that’s the point where we are.

The Cardinal are going through a tumultuous period in their program and are trying to get back on the right path, and Hawaii is on the uptick with head coach Timmy Chang.

So Tavita Pritchard starting his era of Stanford’s football coach with a bang was much needed.

Start as you mean to go on, and all that.

4. North Carolina Tar Heels

It’s hard to overstate how much of a disaster year one of the Bill Belichick era was last season.

And this year, they flew all the way to Ireland to face off against a TCU team that continues to win 9 games a year.

But the Belichick defense we expected last year from the Heels showed up in full force, starting a bit slow but completely shutting down TCU’s offense for the final three quarters, pulling out a 15-10 win.

Does this mean they’ll be good this year?

Who knows?

But that was a good start.

3. Virginia Cavaliers

Tony Elliott’s job was on the line last year, so he went heavy in the portal, and UVA made it all the way to the ACC title game.

Those players are all gone now, so he had to do it again.

One of those transfers was Beau Pribula, and he looked worth every penny they paid for him against NC State.

The Hoos running game was absolutely dominant, amassing 258 yards on the ground.

They’re trying to prove last year wasn’t just some one off fluke.

2. Memphis Tigers

Charles Huff knows how to bail on jobs, but he also knows how to win, and that’s exactly what Memphis did against fellow G6 rival, and possible playoff rival, UNLV on the road Saturday night.

Memphis has been a G6 sleeping giant in the NIL era of college football for the past few years.

Huff has them awake.

1. North Dakota State Bison

But there is another new G6 giant in FBS this year.

North Dakota State, a dominant force in FCS for God knows how long, has made their FBS debut, and they made it against Jacksonville State, another new FBS program that has found heavy success early on.

And the Bison treated them like they were nosey tourists in Yellowstone National Park.

Jax State, one of the better offenses in FBS, was held to a measly 170 total yards as NDSU won 33-7 to kick off their FBS era.

They aren’t here to mess around.

Don’t be surprised if, come November, they’re in the playoff picture.