The good, the bad, and the weird: College football's Week 5 roundup

College football is sport at its zaniest.

The coaches, the college towns, and the fact that the game is played (mostly) by those between 18 and 21 years old contribute to Saturdays that are never dull. And with 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, you can't predict where the most memorable moments of the weekend will occur.

Each week this season, theScore is here to break it all down - from the good to the bad to the weird. Here's what happened in Week 5 and why it matters.

The good

Alabama receivers

Jerry Jeudy won the Biletnikoff Award last season. Henry Ruggs and Jaylen Waddle combined for 18 touchdowns a year ago.

Alabama enlists the best receivers in the country this year - there's no doubt about that. But it's the "other" receiver, Devonta Smith, who is standing out through five weeks.

Smith leads the Crimson Tide in yards (537) and touchdowns (eight). On Saturday, he nearly outscored Ole Miss on his own, hauling in 11 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns in Alabama's 59-31 win. He became only the fourth FBS receiver (and second Power 5 receiver) to produce 270-plus yards and five touchdowns in a game since 2000.

Smith had 693 yards receiving a year ago, which was good enough for fifth on the Alabama offense. But he's making his own case for the Biletnikoff a year after Jeudy won it. (Jeudy is having a monster season in his own right, with 38 catches and six touchdowns in five games.)

Chuba Hubbard

It will be tough for a player on a non-playoff contending team to win the Heisman Trophy this season. Many of the country's top 10 teams have players producing numbers at Heisman-caliber levels, which isn't always the case.

But man, it's hard to ignore the numbers Chuba Hubbard is posting.

The Oklahoma State running back shredded Kansas State on Saturday, rushing for 296 yards on 25 carries. The exclamation point on his night was this 84-yard touchdown where he showcased his elite speed:

Hubbard has 938 rushing yards through five games. That's 284 yards more than the No. 2 rusher in the country, Ohio State's J.K. Dobbins. He has eight rushes of 30-plus yards and four of 50-plus. He ran for more than 200 yards against Oregon State, Tulsa, and the aforementioned Wildcats.

Because he goes to Oklahoma State, alma mater of Barry Sanders, and because Hubbard's production is lapping his 2019 peers, here's how it compares to the beginning of Sanders' otherworldly 1988 season:

Hubbard vs. Sanders through 5 games

SMU (again)

In the last 34 years, SMU has not won more than eight games in a season. In six seasons in the American Athletic Conference, the Mustangs have made one bowl game.

SMU is going to make a bowl this year - it could clinch eligibility next week against Tulsa. And there's a good chance the Mustangs will win more than eight games in Sonny Dykes' second campaign.

SMU is ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 1986. And it can make a case for being the best team from a Group of 5 conference in 2019.

The Mustangs ran over South Florida 48-21 Saturday to improve to 5-0. Three of those wins, including the victory over the Bulls, came on the road. Texas transfer Shane Buechele is throwing for 277 yards per game, but what makes this team stand out is its balance. Senior Xavier Jones has rushed for 525 yards and an FBS-leading 10 touchdowns.

The Mustangs figure to be favored in all but one game (Nov. 2 at Memphis) the rest of the season. Recent history indicates that likely won't be enough to garner playoff consideration, but a New Year's Six bowl would represent an incredible jump for a program that's never finished better than 4-4 in AAC play.

QBs who transferred from Georgia

Imagine this scenario: a world where three-fourths of the quarterbacks in the national semifinals played at Georgia.

Though Washington has lost a game, there's still a chance this could happen. And neither the Huskies nor Ohio State could contend without their former Bulldog at quarterback.

Justin Fields stole the spotlight in Week 5, leading the Buckeyes to a 48-7 win at Nebraska. Fields is completing more than 69% of his passes. He ranks fifth in the country in quarterback rating.

Jacob Eason, meanwhile, has completed 71% of his throws. He completed 55.1% as a freshman at Georgia three years ago. He remained steady in UW's 28-14 win over USC on Saturday, throwing for 180 yards.

The bad

Virginia Tech

What's going on in Blacksburg?

After winning 19 games in his final two seasons at Memphis, Justin Fuente looked like a home-run hire for Virginia Tech in 2016. And he started off strong, going 19-8 in his first two seasons in charge of the Hokies.

But Virginia Tech finished 6-7 a year ago, and the Hokies looked hapless in a 45-10 loss (at home) against Duke on Friday. Virginia Tech is 2-2, with narrow wins over Old Dominion and Furman in between ACC losses. Quarterback play has been an issue - Ryan Willis was 7-of-18 passing against Duke - but the Hokies also rank 101st nationally in yards per carry. In Bud Foster's final season as defensive coordinator, his unit has struggled to slow down the run. The Blue Devils marched for 234 yards Friday.

Fuente's track record is still solid, and maybe this year is just a blip. But Virginia Tech's trajectory is alarming.

Rutgers

Any hope that a season-opening blowout of UMass was a sign of things to come was, well, misplaced. Rutgers was outscored 82-0 by Iowa and Michigan in its first two Big Ten games and brought the hammer down Sunday when it fired head coach Chris Ash four games into his fourth season.

Ash, a former Ohio State defensive coordinator, ends his tenure 8-32 and 3-26 in conference play. Rutgers has lost 16 consecutive games to Power 5 opponents.

The program's recruiting was trending in the wrong direction, too: The Scarlet Knights' classes ranked 42nd in 2017, 56th in 2018, and 64th in 2019, per 247Sports.

Kentucky

After a year in which seemingly everything went right, Kentucky is in the midst of a season where it's all going wrong.

The Wildcats dropped their third in a row Saturday, losing 30-10 at South Carolina in a game both teams desperately needed. Kentucky hasn't been the same since losing starting quarterback Terry Wilson for the season. Backup Sawyer Smith has completed just 35.6% of his throws in losses to Mississippi State and South Carolina. The defense can only keep UK in games for so long.

At 2-3, Mark Stoops' team has a schedule that gives it a chance to reach a fourth consecutive bowl; Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Tennessee-Martin, and Louisville remain on the slate. But the Wildcats need to find some solutions that lead to more points.

The weird

A running back/punter

Caleb Ferguson is a sophomore running back at Western Carolina. Entering Saturday's game against Chattanooga, he had carried the football twice for 3 yards.

He's also one of two Catamount punters. The rare combination produced the best play from the small-school ranks this week.

With Western Carolina trailing 20-7, Ferguson came on to punt and ran a fake 69 yards for a touchdown, untouched.

Ferguson ended the game with four carries for 83 yards and two punts for 87 yards. However, the Catamounts lost 60-36.

His right leg is a wonderland

John Mayers has probably heard the jokes his entire life. Just not at this scale.

Yes, Baylor's kicker is named John Mayers, one character shy of a direct match to the singer/guitarist. And yes, he gained both college football and Internet fame Saturday when his field goal was the difference in Baylor's 23-21 win over Iowa State.

Better yet? The field goal was the first of Mayers' career.