Alabama, Florida State Rise; Florida, Michigan Slide in Week 5

Alabama, Florida State, Wake Forest and Iowa State surged in Week 5, while Florida, Louisville, Michigan and South Carolina took losses that raised concerns.

The fifth week of the 2026 college football season produced sharp swings for several prominent programs. A Yahoo Sports review of the weekend identified Alabama, Florida State, Wake Forest and Iowa State as teams trending upward, while Florida, Louisville, Michigan and South Carolina were listed among the week's biggest losers.

Alabama arrived in Starkville by bus on Saturday morning and answered lingering questions about its strength with a runaway win at Mississippi State. The outcome was effectively decided inside the first 15 minutes. Keelon Russell was sharp at quarterback and comfortably outplayed counterpart Kamario Taylor, who spent much of the day escaping a relentless Crimson Tide pass rush. A meeting with Georgia comes next Saturday.

Florida's strong first month of the season ran into a wall in a 45-17 defeat at Missouri. The loss also handed opposing defenses a formula: crowd the line of scrimmage to contain running back Jadan Baugh and make quarterback Aaron Philo try to win the game as a passer. According to the review, the onus now falls on Jon Sumrall and Buster Faulkner to counter that approach.

Florida State eased the pressure on coach Mike Norvell with a dominant home win over Virginia in its second ACC game. The Seminoles had opened the season 2-2, with losses to SMU and Alabama that included some rough moments. Quarterback Ashton Daniels set a school record with five rushing touchdowns in the victory. Road trips to Louisville and Miami are next on the schedule.

Louisville dropped to 2-3, with all three defeats decided by exactly three points. The latest was a Week 5 loss to NC State, in which quarterback CJ Bailey threw for a career-high 373 yards against the Cardinals' pass defense. Despite a favorable schedule and the development of quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, a projected trip to the ACC championship game in Charlotte has not come together.

Wake Forest built a case for a Top 25 ranking under coach Jake Dickert. The Demon Deacons stayed competitive against Miami, won at Louisville, and overwhelmed Stanford 57-3, a margin made more notable by the fact that Stanford already had a conference win to its credit. Quarterback Gio Lopez, who played at North Carolina last season, accounted for five touchdowns against Stanford.

Michigan fell to 3-2 with a loss to Minnesota in which quarterback Bryce Underwood managed only 101 yards passing. The Wolverines had previously survived a narrow and controversial win over Western Michigan and lost a tight game to Iowa. The review's verdict was that Michigan has serious offensive problems with no visible sign of improvement.

Iowa State, viewed in the preseason as a candidate to be one of the weakest Power-4 teams after Matt Campbell's departure, collected a conference win over West Virginia under new coach Jimmy Rogers. The Cyclones had already been competitive in earlier games against Iowa and Utah. Jaylen Raynor played well at quarterback, and Aiden Flora delivered a career performance with four total touchdowns.

South Carolina sank to 0-3 in SEC play, a difficult opening to the conference schedule in any circumstance. Star edge rusher Dylan Stewart was suspended, and the review noted that the Gamecocks' two biggest returning playmakers are performing well below their established level.