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College Football Week 5 Preview: Dumb and Dumber

Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, Detroit Tigers Celebration, Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Michael J. Fox.

By Zooby Q.
Gregory Shamus

For one week, you will need to say "Bye, Bye, Bye," to Michigan football.

Week five of the College Football season is upon us and it's a bye week for the teams in the Mitten State aka America's High Five. The Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans are both on bye weeks and if you're looking for a little extra entertainment, maybe you can look for at an old friend.

Michael J. Fox is back on television and his new show starts this week. The guy is everywhere these days.

A lot of Twitter is incorporated into these pieces. Need a Twitter break?

Look no farther than Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake.


Speaking of Jimmy Fallon, did you hear about his connection to the 2013 Detroit Lions? Fallon donated $10,000 to Michigan Make-A-Wish Foundation in honor of Lions TE Joseph Fauria. In case you missed it, Fauria did a little *NSync dance after catching a touchdown last weekend. It went viral on Twitter.

Back to Michigan.

No one is more in need of getting back to basics than Michigan Quarterback Devin Gardner. The new #98 for the Maize and Blue has had an inconsistent season thus far in 2013. Unfortunately, it appears as though things are only getting worse and not better with each passing week. Gardner's performance against Akron in week three was bad but his performance in week four at Connecticut was just brutal.

Turnover after turnover.

Devin Gardner is a talented guy, that much is clear. However, it's also clear that he has regressed this season and needs to go back to the fundamentals of football. Go through your progressions, look all over the field and don't stare down one receiver throughout a play. Last, but certainly not least, hold onto the football and don't give up the ball that results in a touchdown for the opposing defense. Gardner is still yet to go one game as QB1 without giving up a turnover.

"He needs to get it together," is something that former Wolverine Marcus Ray said on Wednesday morning on WTKA 1050 AM in Ann Arbor. "I think it's because he doesn't have anyone in practice to push him for his job."

Those are strong words but they are the harsh truth. Gardner is unquestionably QB1 and it would likely take a monumental collapse for Gardner to lose the starting position. Back-up QB Shane Morris is a true freshman and it's highly unlikely that Brady Hoke would want to throw a young man into the fire. Morris has a cannon for an arm and a lot of potential but this is Gardner's time and he needs to seize it.

Hoke knows that Gardner is better than what he has displayed lately.

Michigan is spending the bye week trying to get things sorted out for the upcoming Big Ten conference schedule. Michigan is 4-0 and won't apologize for winning games, but it needs to tighten up the turnover margin. If the Wolverines keep losing the turnover battle and putting it's defense in poor field position, the losses will catch up to Michigan. The Maize and Blue are lucky to be where they are in the rankings and there's no denying that.

For the time being, let's put on a happy face and focus on the positive. It might be delusional thinking but, well, THIS IS MICHIGAN.

Hail.

Michigan is off until October 5th when they open Big Ten play against Minnesota.

WEEK 5 MUST-SEE-TV PREVIEW

ESPN's 'College Gameday' heads down South for week five. Gameday will be in Athens for the top ten match-up of LSU at Georgia. It will be a toss-up as to whom Lee Corso will make his pick for, but one thing is for sure: we will hear him say 'Not So Fast."


There may be a legendary guest on the show, but nothing is as legendary as the sequel to Dumb & Dumber. Part II, titled 'DumbTo,' just started filming.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech 7:30 PM EST. TV - ESPN

Okay, so on paper this doesn't sound like a great match-up. Granted, Va. Tech got pushed around by #1 Alabama in week one and, well, Georgia Tech is Georgia Tech.

The main reason for mentioning this game is so that you tune in to see the special helmets that Virginia Tech will be wearing. It's the kind of gear that would make Fred Flintstone proud.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

#6 LSU (4-0) @ #9 GEORGIA (2-1) 3:30 PM EST. TV - CBS

What a huge game. This is one of the ten dates you circle on your calendar months before the college football season starts. For all of the hype that surrounded Texas A&M and Alabama, this game has the potential to be even bigger and better.

Georgia has already dropped one game this season, although it was in non-conference play against (now) #3 Clemson. A.J. Murray will lead the Bulldogs into a game that can make or break their 2013 season. If Georgia falls to 2-2 and already suffers a loss in a crowded SEC, the Dogs could be on the outside looking in. This loss could kiss away all the BCS bowl hopes for Georgia and result in playing the rest of the season for a New Years Day bowl, at best.

LSU came into this season as an afterthought by many people. Under Les Miles, the Tigers have played great defense and awful offense. LSU brought in former NFL coach Cam Cameron to revamp the offense and the results are good thus far. The Tigers are averaging over 250 yards passing and over 220 yards rushing per game. Granted, some of their schedule has been mediocre but they did beat a good TCU team in week one.

This game is the beginning of a brutal schedule stretch for the Tigers. LSU plays 5 of it's next 7 games against Top 20 teams and they all just happen to be in the SEC.

Big boy football indeed.

#14 OKLAHOMA (3-0) @ #22 NOTRE DAME (3-1) 3:30 PM EST. TV - NBC

Seems like the Sooners are the forgotten team when it comes to discussing potential BCS bowl projections. Coach Bob Stoops and his boys have gone about their business and won all of their games thus far. The only (somewhat) difficult team they have faced was West Virginia and that was a home game. Oklahoma comes into this game with a top ten defense and a strong rushing attack that's accounted for over 270 yards per game.

Notre Dame is holding on by a thread. The Fighting Irish haven't played down to their competition as much as Michigan has, but they have had some close calls lately. Notre Dame barely survived a road scare at Purdue and, thanks to some questionable officiating, beat the Spartans last week.

This is the last game for ND against a ranked opponent until the end of the season when it travels to Stanford.

#21 OLE MISS (3-0) @ #1 ALABAMA (3-0) 6:30 PM EST. TV - ESPN

Congratulations Ole Miss. You're back to being relevant in the college football world. The days of Eli Manning at QB are long gone but a new coach and a few stellar recruiting classes have brought on some national attention.

The bad news is that expectations are raised and while no one may expect Ole Miss win at Alabama, they will need to at least make it competitive.

Ole Miss has won at Vanderbilt and at Texas so far in 2013. That's nothing to look over. This is a team that can put up some points but it will be facing it's toughest task, by far, when it goes on the road to against the Crimson Tide.

Alabama just keeps on winning.

People keep saying the defense isn't as good as it has been in the past, but it looks pretty darn good from my couch. Nick Saban continues to rack up the W's and expand upon his impressive resume. Alabama will need to stop an offense that is a top 40 offense and can beat you on the ground as easily as it can through the air.

#23 WISCONSIN (3-1) @ #4 OHIO STATE (4-0) 8:00 PM EST. TV - ABC

This is the game every Wolverine fan will be tuning into.

Urban Meyer has a team that is undefeated but managed to drop week after week in the rankings. With a relatively weak schedule, Ohio State has fallen from #2 to #4 in the rankings. That wouldn't be a big deal if you fast-forwarded to the BCS future playoff, but as it stands now, the Buckeyes are on the outside looking in at the BCS Championship game.

Urban Meyer can whine about things that are out of his control like rankings, but if anyone has something legitimate to be upset about, it's Wisconsin.

The horrific officiating in the PAC-12 cost the Badgers a week three game at Arizona State. If Wisconsin is able to get a tough road victory at Ohio State and run the table, that loss at Arizona State will loom even larger.

This is one of the biggest games of the year for the B1G and it will come down to whether or not Ohio State can stop the Wisconsin rushing attack. The Badgers are third in the nation in rushing yards per game and also have a top ten defense.

Ohio State has rested QB Braxton Miller the last two games to allow him to nurse an injury. In his absence, Kenny Guiton has played incredibly well and now there is somewhat of a "QB Controversy," in Columbus. It'll be interesting to see if Miller is pulled early in the game if there is any rust on display.


CONGRATULATIONS DETROIT TIGERS

For the third straight season, the Detroit Tigers locked up the AL Central title. Did you know that Michigan football C Jack Miller is related to Jim Leyland? True story.