Both Kansas (5-0) and UCLA (5-0) are still undefeated as we roll into week 6 of the college football season. Who had that on their bingo card to start the season? An exciting week 5 led to a lot of movement in the PAC-12 and Big 12 conferences, leading to some exciting new bowl projections.
Big 12
The Kansas Jayhawks are ranked! That’s right, the Jayhawks are 5-0 and sitting at #19 in the latest AP top 25 poll. Their success is due in large part to their dual-threat quarterback Jalon Daniels, an early Heisman candidate who is approaching 1,500 all-purpose yards through only five weeks.
Elsewhere, the Oklahoma Sooners (3-2) have found themselves completely out of the rankings after suffering back-to-back conference losses against Kansas State (4-1) and TCU (4-0), both of whom are now ranked in the top 20. The Sooners have yet to win a conference game.
Oklahoma State (4-0) avenged their 2021 conference championship loss to Baylor (3-2) with a win in Waco. OSU stayed unbeaten and sent Baylor (3-2) tumbling out of the rankings.
Kansas (5-0), TCU (4-0), and Oklahoma State (4-0) are the remaining undefeated teams in the conference.
PAC-12
Southern California owns the Pac-12. USC (5-0) and UCLA (5-0) are the two remaining undefeated teams in the conference.
The Bruins beat Washington (4-1) in a battle of the unbeatens in week 5 to earn a spot in the AP top 25 rankings for the first time this season.
USC cruised past Arizona State behind another stellar performance from Caleb Williams. The Trojan’s put up 42 points in the victory, marking the fourth time this season they’ve scored 40+ points.
Meanwhile, both Oregon (4-1) and Utah (4-1) continue to steadily claw their way back into the mix after their week 1 losses.
As of week 6, the PAC-12 has five teams in the top 25 rankings.
Bowl Projections
While the official announcement of who will play in the 30th Valero Alamo Bowl won’t come until Dec. 4, here are what experts are thinking the matchup might be so far:
Action Network (Brett McMurphy): #17 TCU vs #12 Oregon
CBS (Jerry Palm): Oklahoma vs #6 USC
ESPN (Schlabach): #19 Kansas vs #11 Utah
USA Today (Erick Smith): #20 Kansas State vs #18 UCLA
College Football News: Texas vs #18 UCLA