College Football Week 5 Winners and Losers: Kalen DeBoer notches 1st signature win at Alabama, Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin humbled

We’re five weeks into the 2024 college football season, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been less sure at this point in a season regarding who is a contender and who isn’t.

Conference title and, subsequently, College Football Playoff races seem to be completely wide open, and every time we add to the sample size, more questions are raised than answered. There is one thing we know, though: Nick Saban is gone, and Alabama is still very good.

The Crimson Tide won the biggest game of the day on Saturday despite squandering a four-touchdown lead against the Georgia Bulldogs, and they rose to a familiar pedestal at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 as a result. But as we’ll get to, not every playoff contender was so fortunate.

As the calendar turns to October and conference play kicks into high gear, here are the winners and losers from Week 5.