Even though this game wasn’t as dramatic as we hoped, at least it was close. Despite suffering a brutal concussion two weeks ago against Kentucky, Tim Tebow decided to play for his Florida Gators in college football’s Game of the Week. Many assumed No. 1 Florida would need Tebow in top form to beat No. 4 LSU, but that wasn’t the case. While Tebow was far from horrible, Florida’s spectacular defense was the deciding factor, as the Gators snatched the win over the Tigers 13-3.

Tonight’s matchup was the first time two top-five teams faced one another this year. If anything, the outcome is further proof that Florida has what it takes to win another national championship. Early on, it was clear that Florida coach Urban Meyer was watching out for Tebow’s safety, deciding to keeping the ball on the ground. In the end, Florida combined for a total of 193 yards on 43 carries. Tebow never hung onto the ball too long, sticking to his trusted running game. Nevertheless, he didn’t shy away from contact, often bulldozing his way through LSU’s defensive line, notably taking two heavy hits in the first quarter. Of his 16 passes, 11 were caught for 134 yards, including his 24-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper at the end of the second quarter. It was the final time either team scored, leading to a second half dominated by defense.

In front of the largest crowd in the history of Tiger Stadium, sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson couldn’t generate any significant offense for LSU. The Gators defense held Jefferson to 96 yards and picked him once. In total, LSU finished with a measly 162 yards. The Florida defense also controlled LSU’s senior tailback Charles Scott, who once again failed to notch 100 yards in a game. After a breakthrough performance last week against Georgia, Scott was a non-factor tonight, rushing for 53 yards and no touchdowns.

Nobody expected Tebow to run for a touchdown and throw for 210 yards and two scores like he did last year against the Tigers. He didn’t have to. Florida’s defense is that good, and they have the ability to immobilize a top-ranked team like LSU, even on the road.

Did anybody else feel the energy completely evaporate at the beginning of the third quarter? This game took place in Oxford, Mississippi and the fans consistently did their best to keep the Rebels inspired. Nevertheless, Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead was never able to make the big play that would turn this game around. By the third quarter, the noise in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was the equivalent of a gigantic yawn.

Alabama entered this competition 5-0, favored to beat Ole Miss who held a record of 3-1. Over the last four seasons, Albama had won this competition each time, though the game always came down to the final possession. However, today’s meeting was never really close, despite the score at the half.

Throughout the game, Jevan Snead failed to complete crucial first downs. Alabama’s defense terrorized his offense, picking off Snead four times. (Snead had previously only thrown five interceptions on the year.) They also limited Ole Miss’ rushing to a pathetic 57 yards.

On the other hand, Alabama QB Greg McElroy was able to come through on big downs. Though he still passed for the same amount of yards as Snead, he didn’t throw any interceptions. In the end, neither quarterback was stellar. McElroy didn’t complete a touchdown pass as well. Alabama kicked their way onto the scoreboard, as
Leigh Tiffin made each of his five field goal attempts. Running back Mark Ingram scored the game’s only touchdown, weaving through the Ole Miss defense on a 36-yard run.

College football fans might look at this game and think Alabama did everything right. While they beat a talented team in Ole Miss, they were still limited to 152 yards passing and 202 yards rushing. Alabama’s defense ensured this win. If Nick Saban can turn his offense into a force half as dominant as his defense, Alabama will be unstoppable.

When your team can’t run, pass, or defend during the first half, how do you expect to win a college football game? Auburn was 5-0 on the season before this game, coming off a big win over Tennessee in Week 5. Despite the early game time in Fayetteville, the stadium quickly came alive as the Razorbacks came out in full force, scoring 20 unanswered points. At the half, the Razorbacks were in complete control with a 27-3 lead over Auburn.

Today’s win was obviously led by Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, who threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns on 24 of 37 attempts. He even ran one into the end zone early in the third quarter, exposing Auburn’s confusion on the defensive end. Although he was picked off once, he constantly found receivers Greg Childs, D.J. Williams, and Cobi Hamilton. Childs especially did an excellent job finding his way into the open field, catching fives passes for 85 yards.

However, one shouldn’t overlook Arkansas’ defense, which forced three turnovers and shut down Auburn’s passing game. Auburn quarterback Chris Todd completed 15 of 28 passes for 133 yards, but none were for touchdowns. Auburn was forced to rely on their running game, consistently feeding the ball to Ben Tate.

In the end, Auburn’s rushing couldn’t catch Arkansas, who kept the pressure on from beginning to end. Congratulations to Hogs coach Bobby Petrino for earning his first SEC win. While the announcers practically discussed Florida’s Tim Tebow the entire game, Arkansas overpowered an undefeated team, and Petrino was obviously a huge part of that. After starting their 2009 schedule with a 2-2 record, this win should instill a needed confidence in the Razorbacks. They’ll need to harness this same intensity if they stand any chance against Florida next week in Gainesville.

Coming into the 2008 College Football Season, the Penn State Nittany Lions weren’t considered a national championship contender. They weren’t even considered a legitimate contender in the Big Ten, with many ranking them behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and even Illinois in the conference.

But PSU remains undefeated on the season after beating Purdue 20-6 on Saturday and even though they’re still flying under the national championship radar, teams better start taking notice. Not only do the Lions have one of the best offenses in the nation (they were averaging close to 50 points a game coming into this weekend), but they also flashed a little defense in their victory over the Boilermakers.

Penn State doesn’t have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback like Oklahoma, Missouri or Texas – three teams currently ranked ahead of them in the polls – but so far Daryll Clark has proven that he’s an excellent fit for Joe Paterno’s new spread offense. And while he doesn’t have unworldly size and athleticism like fellow Big Ten back Chris “Beanie” Wells of Ohio State, RB Evan Royster is a workhorse that can grind out tough yards like he did Saturday against Purdue when he rushed for 141 yards and a 7.8 YPC average.

It was interesting to see PSU win like it did against the Boilermakers because it was unlike any of its previous victories this season. They didn’t light up the scoreboard or win with flash; they just kept moving the ball methodically on offense, didn’t turn the ball over and played solid defense. They proved today that they could win without relying on the big play, which should only serve them going forward.

The next three weeks will prove whether or not Penn State is a true contender or not. They’re at Wisconsin, home against Michigan and then travel to Columbus to take on OSU through the rest of October. That’s a daunting three-week task.

Time to check out the big games, top matchups and potential upsets as college football heads into Week 6.

Top 25 vs. Top 25:
No. 14 Ohio State at No. 18 Wisconsin, 8:00 PM ET
This was supposed to be a matchup of the best two teams in the Big Ten, but after the Badgers were embarrassed last week in Ann Arbor, this game has lost a lot of it’s luster. Despite Michigan turning the ball over five times and spotting them a 19-0 lead, Wisconsin fell apart in the second half as the Wolverines pulled off a 27-25 upset. For the Buckeyes, they seem to be playing with a chip on their shoulder after losing to USC a few weeks back, especially freshman QB Terrelle Pryor, who is out to use this game as proof that he can play on a big stage. It’ll be interesting to see how the dazzlingly Pryor does in his first road start of his young collegiate career; OSU has not won back-to-back games vs. Wisconsin since 1995/1996. Oddsmakers have established the Buckeyes as 1.5-point favorites.

No. 13 Auburn at No. 19 Vanderbilt, 6:00 PM ET
Vandy is off to a surprising 4-0 start this season, but their record is a bit deceiving. The Commodores rank last in the SEC in total offense and defense, and have been out gained in 3 of their 4 games this season. But they sit undefeated largely due to their plus-nine turnover margin, which leads the nation. They’ll get their first real test of the season against Auburn, who crushed the Commodores 45-7 in their last trip to Vanderbilt Stadium in 2003. The Tigers also handed Vandy a 35-7 beat-down last year and are trying to build some momentum off of last week’s 14-12 win against Tennessee. Still, this is the first time Vanderbilt has been ranked since 1984, so the home crowd will noty doubt be psyched. And it’s not like Tommy Tummerville’s team has been that dominant this season. (See the Tigers’ 3-2 victory over Mississippi State as proof.) Vandy is a 4.5-point home underdog.

No. 23 Oregon at No. 9 USC, 8:00 PM ET
The Trojans try to bounce back from their humiliating 27-21 loss to Oregon State last week – a defeat that dropped them from the top spot in the rankings. When these two teams met last year in Eugene, the Ducks used an electrifying home crowd to knock off the Trojans 24-17 in USC QB Mark Sanchez’s first start. It would be wise for Oregon to borrow the blueprint left by the Beavers and attack the middle of the Trojans’ beat up defense on the ground. Head coach Pete Carroll is dying to use this game to show USC can still compete for a national title this season and will try to flatten the Ducks, but Oregon’s defense is good enough to keep them in the game. The Trojans are currently 17-point favorites.

Upset Watch: No. 4 Missouri at Nebraska, 9:00 PM ET
It’s hard to fathom that the Tigers would stumble this week in Lincoln coming off a bye week and with so much on the line. But Heisman Trophy candidate Chase Daniel has yet to see a decent defense outside of Illinois in the opener. And even though MIZZOU hammered the Huskers last year, Nebraska’s defense is a lot better than the unit that surrendered 41 points to Daniel and the Tigers last year. Missouri has better talent and the better overall team, but one thing to keep in mind is that the home team in this series has won the last six in a row. MIZZOU is an 11-point favorite.

Other notable games:
No. 1 Oklahoma at Baylor, 12:30 PM ET Saturday
The Sooners play their first game since being anointed the top ranked team in the nation. They get a decent opponent in the Bears, who have been a dramatically improved team with scrappy freshman Robert Griffin under center this year.

Kentucky at No. 2 Alabama, 3:30 PM ET Saturday
After crushing the Bulldogs in Athens last week, Nick Saban’s Tide can’t fall victims to the upset themselves this week against the unranked Wildcats.

No. 5 Texas at Colorado, 7:00 PM ET Saturday
Longhorns’ QB Colt McCoy will look to continue his bid to become this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, but he’ll face a decent Colorado team who is 3-0 at home this year.

The Notre Dame-Stanford game on Saturday just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting. SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has the story of Stanford offensive lineman Chris Marinelli and his general disdain for all things Notre Dame.

Marinelli doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase:

“I hate it, playing up there,” Chris Marinelli told cardinalreport.com after practice Wednesday. ”The field, excuse my language, the field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks.

”I grew up with a bunch of Irish and Italian Catholic people back home,” said the 6-7, 297-pound senior from Braintree, Mass. ”And all the Irish Catholic people, all they talk about is Notre Dame this, Notre Dame that. And they’ve never even been there, you know. So I hate those guys, I hate that school.

”We are going out there to mash them up, and that’s all there is to it.”

Well, at least he’s eloquent. Those Stanford guys have a way with words. All this is coming from a guy who plays his home games in brand new albatross of a stadium that is always half full and features an anthropomorphic tree wobbling around for the crowd’s enjoyment. A stadium where Notre Dame won last year. Yes, last year, when the Irish couldn’t even hang with the service academies.

Damage control came swiftly, in the form of the ever-popular statement “written” by the offending party. It’s amazing how much Marinelli’s opinion has changed in just a day!

”I would like to apologize to the University of Notre Dame and anybody else who I may have offended from the remarks I made in an interview earlier this week. I was caught up in the emotions of the game and should have been more thoughtful in my comments. The remarks were out of character for me and certainly aren’t reflective of my teammates or anybody else affiliated with the Stanford program. I look forward to a competitive game on Saturday in one of the great environments in college football.”

Whew! Glad that situation was diffused. I almost was considering watching a Notre Dame football game for a second there.

Allow me to translate Marinelli’s apology:

“I in no way feel that an apology to the University of Notre Dame is in order but some pile in the AD’s office is making me do this, so F-me right? If you really want to know how I feel about Notre Dame, please see my previous comments. Thank you.”

FOX Sports.com has the latest breakdown of this year’s Heisman Trophy candidates as college football heads into Week 6.

4. Javon Ringer, RB, Michigan State
Ringer ran 44 times for 198 yards and a touchdown, and added two receptions for 20 yards in the win over Indiana.

3. Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri
Daniel completed 36 of 43 passes for 439 yards and two touchdowns in the 42-21 win over Buffalo. The Tigers play Nebraska this week.

2. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
Bradford completed 19 of 34 passes for a career-high 411 yards and four touchdowns in the win over TCU.

1. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
McCoy completed 17 of 19 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran nine times for 84 yards and two scores in the win over Arkansas.

All of these candidates have been fantastic so far, but none of them have faced very legitimate opponents. That quandary will be fixed for two of these players when Bradford’s Sooners host McCoy’s Longhorns in two weeks. And I can’t wait to see how Ringer stacks up against Ohio State’s defense on October 18, because he has absolutely shredded opponents to date. Daniel will get a decent test this week against Big 12 opponent Nebraska, although the matchup looks less sexy after the Huskers fell to VA Tech last Saturday.