No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa Tops Week 5 College Football Slate

No. 1 Texas and Oklahoma sit out Week 5, leaving No. 5 Ohio State's trip to No. 14 Iowa as the headliner, with Florida at Missouri and Notre Dame at North Carolina also set.

A handful of heavyweight programs, among them No. 1 Texas and its fiercest rival, Oklahoma, are off this weekend, but Week 5 of the 2026 season still serves up a headline attraction. No. 5 Ohio State heads to No. 14 Iowa in a meeting that carries major weight in the Big Ten race.

The Buckeyes (3-1) enter as 14.5-point favorites against the unbeaten Hawkeyes (4-0), and CBS televises the 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m. CT kickoff. ESPN's College GameDay will originate from Iowa City for the occasion. Ohio State's lone blemish this year came in Week 2, when Texas edged the Buckeyes 24-23.

One other pairing matches ranked opponents: No. 8 Florida (4-0) goes to No. 25 Missouri (3-1) as a 5.5-point favorite. ABC carries that contest in the same 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m. CT window.

The early window is led by No. 3 Notre Dame (4-0), a 21-point favorite against Bill Belichick's North Carolina team, starting at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT on ESPN. In that same slot, No. 7 Alabama, giving 5.5 points, visits No. 16 Mississippi on ABC, UCF faces host Houston, favored by 10.5, on ESPN2, and Boston College takes on No. 21 SMU, a 21-point favorite, on The CW.

Saturday's later card includes Wyoming at North Dakota State, which is giving 16.5 points, on The CW at 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m. CT, plus UTEP's Mountain West opener at New Mexico, favored by 22, at 2 p.m. MT/3 p.m. CT on MW+. The evening brings No. 10 BYU, a six-point favorite, to TCU on ESPN at 5 p.m. MT/6 p.m. CT, followed by No. 12 Texas Tech (-13.5) at Colorado on FOX and No. 4 Miami (-15.5) at Clemson on ABC, both starting at 5:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. CT.

Ranked teams have traded narrow decisions across the opening month. Ole Miss outlasted Louisville 41-38 in Week 1, Texas nipped Ohio State 24-23 a week later, Texas Tech got by Houston 28-26 in Week 3 and Texas ground out a 20-17 win over Tennessee in Week 4.

Next weekend the spotlight shifts to Dallas, where No. 1 Texas and Oklahoma collide in the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 10, with ABC's coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m. CT. The rest of the fall brings a run of marquee dates: Ohio State at Indiana on Oct. 17, Ole Miss at Texas on Oct. 24, Ohio State at USC on Oct. 31, Oregon at Ohio State on Nov. 7, Texas at LSU on Nov. 14, Texas A&M at Oklahoma on Nov. 21 and Texas at Texas A&M on Nov. 28.

Texas (4-0) holds the top spot in the Associated Press poll, ahead of Georgia (4-0), Notre Dame (4-0), Miami (4-0) and Ohio State (3-1). Indiana (4-0) sits sixth, Alabama (4-0) seventh, Florida (4-0) eighth, Ole Miss (3-1) ninth and BYU (3-0) 10th. Meanwhile, Northwestern moved to 3-1 by beating Penn State 34-13 on Oct. 2, rolling up 413 rushing yards under offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, whose previous head-coaching posts were Philadelphia (2013-15), San Francisco (2016) and UCLA (2018-23) and who ran the Las Vegas Raiders' offense last season.

BetMGM lists Ohio State and Texas as co-favorites for the national championship at +500. Georgia follows at +550, with Notre Dame at +600, Miami at +750, Indiana at +1000, LSU at +1600, Florida at +1800, Alabama at +2000, Oregon at +2200 and Ole Miss at +2500.