Loaded Big Ten Week 5 slate headlined by Oregon-Penn State captivates college football

Zain Bando

Loaded Big Ten Week 5 slate headlined by Oregon-Penn State captivates college football image

© Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

The page has quickly turned to Week 5 of the college football season, marking the second formal week of Big Ten play (excluding Oregon's game against Northwestern in Week 3).

After the then-No. 19-ranked Indiana Hoosiers defeated the then-No. 9-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini in a convincing 63-10 win, the schedule ramps up to an even greater level this coming week.

Opening the Saturday slate is a return to Champaign for Illinois as it welcomes the No. 25 USC Trojans for a cross-country Big Noon Kickoff contest. The Trojans are off to a 4-0 start under coach Lincoln Riley. Riley was under scrutiny this offseason for having yet to deliver a championship team in Southern California. Still, things appear to be changing thanks to an offense that averages 52.5 points per game, led by quarterback Jayden Maiava and an explosive receiving core.

Meanwhile, No. 23 Illinois returns much of last year's 10-win team but has been decimated by injuries in recent weeks. It still has quarterback Luke Altmyer, who turned down lucrative opportunities to leave Champaign this offseason in search of NIL growth, valuation, and a return to the SEC.

At press time, the Trojans are favored to earn a road win, which would more than likely knock Bret Bielema and company out of the College Football Playoff conversation.

Elsewhere around the league, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes head to the West Coast to play a Washington Huskies team attempting to pull off the biggest upset of the conference season thus far. Washington defeated the Washington State Cougars, 59-24, in the Apple Cup game this past Saturday.

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Other matchups include the Rutgers Scarlet Knights traveling to play a Minnesota Golden Gophers team seeking a win after a bye week. The Northwestern Wildcats attempt to do the same when they host the UCLA Bruins, while the Iowa Hawkeyes will try to spring an upset against the Hoosiers in the same 3:30 p.m. ET window.

Of course, in the nightcap game on NBC, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks rematch the No. 3-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, as the Ducks and coach Dan Lanning attempt to seize momentum toward a conference title and College Football Playoff berth by season's end.

Regardless of how the matchups play out, one thing is certain: the league's parity is alive and well.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).