Calling a team's big game their "Super Bowl" is meant to be diss, indicating it was the most important one in the world when it shouldn't be.
Strangely enough, there's plenty of "Super Bowls" going on in the SEC — and they are leading to severe hangovers.
One week, a team gets an emotional statement win and the next, it lays a complete egg that kills any hype. It's a phenomenon that's reminding plenty of people not to get too caught up in the moment, because reality is waiting around the corner to knock you back down to Earth.
The troubling trend leads the lowlights of Week 5 in college football.
Florida
The hangover has hit Florida. Ole Miss beat LSU in an emotional game and then fell flat against
Florida. Now the Gators, coming off a statement win in Jon Sumrall's first season, got clocked against Missouri.
After Florida tied it up 10-10 in the second half, the Tigers went on to score 35 unanswered points in a romp of a Gators defense that is looking more suspicious by the week. But the real story was Florida's run game getting silenced. Entering the day, Jadan Baugh's 600 rushing yards were second-best in FBS, leading the 11th-best running offense in the country.
Against Missouri? Baugh had just 13 yards on 12 carries, and 12 of those yards came on one play. Florida finished with just 42 yards on the ground in the blowout loss.
May be a warning to Missouri: Don't get too tipsy and be hungover against Texas A&M next week.
Bryce Underwood
The quarterback meant to revolutionize Michigan's offense is setting the Wolverines back.
Underwood had another rough outing, missing throws everywhere and making poor decisions against Minnesota to lose his second straight game. He finished with just 101 yards and two costly interceptions that gave the Golden Gophers the lead and eventually its first home win over Michigan since 1977.
The return of investment isn't going great, and there is reasonable doubt whether Underwood should be the guy behind center. You do feel bad because there clearly is some issue going on in Ann Arbor, but when the standard is high, you got to make smart moves, and the currently quarterback has had a rough going so far in 2026.
Stanford
Surprise, Stanford being in the Atlantic Coast Conference isn't going all that well. The Cardinal went more than 2,300 miles east to get dominated by Wake Forest 57-3, its third ACC loss of at least 28 points.
While football hasn't been great recently for Andrew Luck's alma mater, it's been excruciating to play road conference games. With the loss, Stanford has now lost 13 straight games on the road, the last victory at Syracuse in 2024, ironically its first ACC road game. Of those 13 losses, 11 happened outside of the Pacific Time Zone.
California
It just wasn't a good weekend for FBS football in the Bay Area. Cal dropped its second straight game by getting run around on the road by UNLV, with Jackson Arnold accounting for 287 total yards in the Rebels' 39-31 win.
It's astonishing how quickly the optimism died for the Golden Bears. Tosh Lupoi brought energy in his first season, but so far, his team's have been consistently outcoached, looking miles behind opponents, exposing the little experience the coaching staff has, especially offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville. What was suppose to be the start of the turnaround now has the Calgorithm questioning if Lupoi is the right guy to get things going, and he's only been a coach for five games.
https://t.co/0hmgexmtfa pic.twitter.com/ORf12hONcY
— Dallas (@Dalmcm) October 3, 2026
To make matters worse, quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele suffered an injury that knocked him out of the game, as if things can't get any worse in Berkeley.
South Carolina
Following a tumultuous week in Columbia, the Gamecocks looked like they flipped a page when it jumped out to a 17-0 lead over upstart Kentucky, on track for the first SEC win of the season.
Then like many times before, Shane Beamer's team crumbled. Kentucky clawed back to take the lead and despite giving it up back up, forced overtime. South Carolina got in the end zone on its possession and Kentucky matched it, but decided to go for the 2-pointer. With the game on the line, it was too easy for the Wildcats, with Kenny Minchey finding Willie Rodriguez wide open for the game-winner.
Just going to leave this right here.
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 4, 2026
📺 - SEC Network pic.twitter.com/LdlCIjnP59
It was the largest road comeback in Kentucky history, and South Carolina is now 0-3 in the SEC and lost its past eight conference games. It feels like only a matter of time for Beamer.
Illinois
The biggest scoreboard in the college football witnessed one of the biggest home losses for Illinois in recent memories, suffering a defeat to Purdue 24-17.
It's a rare win for Purdue. Not only is it the first FBS win in more than a year, but Purdue won its first Big Ten game since 2023 (1,043 days), first road victory in 1,120 days and first Big Ten road win in 1,407 days. And it's all thanks to Illinois losing to the longtime Big Ten cellar dweller.
This loss has to sting, and it is just the latest one in the downfall of the Fighting Illini, dropping to 2-3 and an 0-2 start in conference play, the first time since 2023.
Colorado State
Coaches get fired all the time, but to get fired mid-game?
That's pretty bad.
Colorado State coach Jim Mora decided to fire defensive coordinator Tyson Summers in the middle of the game against Oregon State. While rather shocking and rude, you can't necessarily blame Mora either.
The Rams lost 56-26 to Oregon State, the second straight game it gave up more than 50 points — the first time its happened since 1984. There was already tension boiling in the 59-45 loss to UTSA in the last game, but it ended in a rather ugly decision.
Guess there is something worse that getting tarmac'd.
Montana State
The defending FCS national champions had their 19-game win streak end — against a winless team.
And it has no one to blame but themselves.
Montana State was up 34-27 in the final seconds against 0-4 Idaho when the Vandals got to the 25-yard line with one second left. Idaho didn't have any timeouts left, so it pretty much was going to lose. But for some reason, as the Vandals rushed to the ball, Bobcats coach Brent Vigen called a timeout.
That gave Idaho time, and it made the most of it when quarterback Joshua Wood finding Ryan Jezioro in the end zone with no time left. Idaho decided to go for the win, and Wood ran it in to pull off the miracle upset.
ICYMI:
— ESPN (@espn) October 3, 2026
Idaho ends Montana State's 19-game win streak and upsets the Bobcats in epic fashion a with late TD and 2-point conversion 😳 pic.twitter.com/DVFb889soP
There is some controversy with the clock situation, but taking a timeout to help your opponent beat you is an awfully tough coaching decision.
Houston
Houston is playing some good football, butit doesn't look like many people are excited to see it.
The Cougars hosted UCF and TDECU Stadium was pretty empty for it, with several sections inside empty for the game for a really disappointing look for H-Town considering Houston is ranked.
It’s ‘Space City’ 🆚 ‘Space U’ in H-Town‼️
— College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) October 3, 2026
🏟️ TDECU Stadium
🏠 #20 Houston
🆚 UCF#GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/0Y2ykKCH0v
It may have looked like a ghost town, but the home team wasn't fazed by it. Houston overcame a 17-0 third quarter deficit with 27 straight points in the final 19 minutes for the win. At 4-1, maybe people may be more inclined to show up next time.
Charlotte and UL Monroe
We have our first 0-5 teams in the country: Charlotte and Louisiana Monroe, who have had nothing but dismal starts to the season.
Charlotte was the first game of the Saturday slate, and got obliterated by Memphis in a 59-8 loss, the third loss of at least 27 points this season. For UL Monroe, it fell down 28-7 in the second quarter and couldn't catch up, losing 52-35.
Not only have both of 49ers and Warhawks failed to win, but they each lost to an FCS opponent already this season. Hopefully a win can come soon to save a possible winless campaign.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Week 5 Flop 10: Gators hangover, Bryce Underwood and getting fired during a game
