Not a lot has changed over the first four weeks of the 2024 college football season. Of the top 12 teams in the preseason AP poll, nine remain unbeaten, two have lost once -- Michigan lost to Texas, the current No. 1 team, and Notre Dame fell to Northern Illinois in the only truly earth-shattering upset of the season -- and only one, preseason No. 10 Florida State, now 1-3, has genuinely disappointed. We've been greatly entertained, but the big picture hasn't really been altered much.
In Week 5, however, the rubber meets the road. We've got four ranked-versus-ranked games and plenty to keep up with, but the conversation starts with the biggest game of the season to date. For the seventh time in eight seasons -- though only the second time at a home stadium -- Georgia and Alabama will meet. In the past 10 years, these teams have combined for nine SEC titles and five national titles; five of their six meetings since 2017 have taken place in the SEC or CFP championship games. They are the defining programs of this era of college football.
There are lots of huge matchups coming down the pike -- Ohio State vs. Oregon in Week 7, Georgia at Texas and Alabama at Tennessee in Week 8, just for starters -- but as helmet games go, it's almost impossible to top this one. It's a hell of a tone-setter as we head into October.
Here's everything you need to follow in a loaded Week 5. (All times are Eastern, and all lines are from ESPN BET.)
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Georgia-Bama | Louisville-Notre Dame
Oklahoma State-Kansas State
Group of 5 showdowns
Chaos superfecta | Week 5 playlist
Game of the Season I
No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama (7:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+)
Remember that Georgia-Texas Sugar Bowl where Bevo almost stomped on Uga and Sam Ehlinger declared, "We're baaaaack"? That's the last time Kirby Smart lost to a currently active head coach. Tom Herman, Texas' coach in that game, is now at Florida Atlantic. It was almost six years ago.
Since the start of the 2021 season, Smart's Bulldogs are a staggering 45-2, with both losses coming to Alabama and the now-retired Nick Saban. They're 3-0 this year, but they're embarking on one of the hardest stretches you'll ever see: Over the next seven games, they'll play four of the AP's top six teams, three on the road. And thanks to a near-misstep against Kentucky (and the corresponding drop in their SP+ rating) two weeks ago, SP+ currently gives them a much greater chance of going 8-4 or worse (15.4%) than of going 12-0 (3.6%).
They might need this one, in other words. And more often than not, they get what they need.