College Football Week 5 Storyline Watch: Iowa, Michigan State among many teams playing to 'prove it'

The 2023 college football season has entered its proving phase, and Saturday night’s featured Big Ten game might be the best example of two teams facing major identity crises

Iowa will play host to Michigan State amid a sea of offensive ineptitude and coaching turmoil at Kinnick Stadium.

“There’s a lot of questions to be answered about both these teams Saturday night,” NBC Sports analyst Todd Blackledge said (video above).

The Hawkeyes are reeling from a 31-0 defeat to No. 6 Penn State in their Big Ten opener that could have long-term implications. While dropping out of the top 25, Iowa (3-1) also took a major hit on its scoring average – which plummeted from 28.3 points per game 9after a 41-10 win over Western Michigan) to 21.3.

That’s nearly four points below the threshold that’s critical to the future of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Ferentz. The son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz essentially will have his contract extended into the 2024 season if the Hawkeyes notch seven victories while averaging 25 points per game.

Because Iowa will need to make a bowl to earn seven wins, its season has become “The Drive for 325” – the points total of 13 games with a 25-point average – but the early indicators have been alarming. In their first shutout since 2000, the Hawkeyes set the 2023 low marks for FBS teams in total offense (76 yards) and offensive plays (33).

How to watch Michigan State vs. Iowa: Time, live stream, key storylines for Week 5 matchup

“I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever felt this bad about a game, let alone a day in my life,” said quarterback Cade McNamara, who transferred from Michigan with tight end Erick All this year to provide an offensive jolt. “So I think it’s going to be some serious motivation for us.”

The Michigan State sideline has been just as fraught. After opening 2-0, the Spartans have been hammered in consecutive defeats to Washington and Maryland since the departure of Mel Tucker (who officially was fired Wednesday by MSU for breach of contract in a sexual harassment complaint).

Michigan State has yielded 72 points in the losses (and a school-record 713 yards to the Huskies), and its offense has mustered only 16 points in an ongoing quarterback carousel.

Since being named Big Ten offensive player of the week (292 passing yards, three TDs against Richmond, Noah Kim has been pulled in successive games for Katin Houser (and freshman Sam Levitt also took snaps against Maryland last week) but will remain the starter against Iowa.

“Noah’s our quarterback; he’s our guy,” Spartans interim coach Harlon Barnett said. “Sometimes you’re just trying to find a spark and seeing if you can find something to help us get going.”

There are several teams seeking sparks or trying to sustain them among other major storylines for Week 5 as the season takes shape and weeds out contenders and pretenders:

Numbers game

After a week of being scrutinized for how often Notre Dame actually played with a full complement of 11 defenders, counting personnel could be the least of coach Marcus Freeman’s worries in Durham, North Carolina.

The No. 11 Fighting Irish will be facing a tough rebound Saturday against No. 17 Duke, which is 4-0 for the first time since 2018. Its season-opening victory over Clemson (and star-making turn for quarterback Riley Leonard) might have been the biggest in program history … though beating Notre Dame would zoom right to the top.

It also would set up a potential unbeaten ACC showdown with No. 4 Florida State

Though his Heisman Trophy bid suffered in the heartbreaking loss to Ohio State, Irish quarterback Sam Hartman will return to his sweet home Carolina. The Charlotte native set an ACC record with 110 passing TDs for Wake Forest before transferring to Notre Dame.

Top impact players in Notre Dame vs. Duke

PFF previews the players to watch as Notre Dame looks to get back on the wining track against Duke, including Sam Hartman and Audric Estime for the Irish and Riley Leonard and Graham Barton for the Blue Devils.

Midmorning Prime time

The 42-6 thrashing by Oregon and a 10 a.m. local kickoff hardly seems to have dimmed the high-wattage attraction of Coach Prime – particularly against another ranked opponent.

LeBron James, Jay Z and Matthew McConaughey reportedly are expected to be in attendance as Colorado and Deion Sanders seek to regain some of their luster against No. 8 USC.

Even if the Buffaloes struggle again without two-way star Travis Hunter for the second consecutive game, the Folsom Field crowd will be treated to watching a superstar.

Coming off last season’s Heisman Trophy, Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams has established himself as a strong threat to become the second repeat winner (joining Archie Griffin 1974-75). Williams has thrown 15 TDs and rushed for three more without an interception in leading USC to a 4-0 start and the nation’s top scoring offense (55 points per game).

Blowout loss exposes target on Deion's, CU's back

Michael Holley and Michael Smith react to Deion Sanders and Colorado's blowout loss to Oregon, inevitable given the target on the Buffaloes' back -- but they argue it's still early in Coach Prime and CU's ascension.

Rock Chalk charm

The No. 24 ranking was unkind for Iowa last week, and it’ll get another test Saturday for a team seeking to validate an unbeaten record.

For the second consecutive year, No. 24 Kansas wants to justify its hot start is real, and a trip to No. 3 Texas will be a worthy barometer.

With an upset of the Longhorns, the Jayhawks will start 5-0 for the second consecutive season – but would be far less likely for the 1-7 wipeout that ended 2022.

Texas is trying to start 5-0 for the first time since 2009 (its last Big 12 championship) and has the confidence of having blown out Kansas 55-14 last year. But the Jayhawks won a 57-56 overtime thriller over the Longhorns in 2021, the last time they met in Austin.

Magnolia Bowl vibes

The SEC’s biggest clash Saturday also is one of its longest-running rivalries between two 3-1 teams

No. 20 Mississippi will play host to No. 13 LSU in their 112^th meeting dating to 1894.

The Tigers lost their opener 45-24 to Florida State but still are unbeaten in the SEC West. A victory over the Rebels (who lost to Alabama last week) will keep LSU on course for a Nov. 4 collision with the No. 12 Crimson Tide.

Other key matchups for Week 5

--Northwestern (2-2), which overcame a 21-point deficit at home to beat Minnesota 37-34 in overtime last week, will remain massive underdogs in Evanston against No. 6 Penn State, the only team in the FBS without a turnover in 2023.

--No. 2 Michigan will start 5-0 for the third consecutive season if Nebraska is unable to break its skid of 24 consecutive losses to ranked teams (which dates to 2016) by remaining unbeaten at home.

--Top-ranked Georgia brings the FBS’ longest winning streak (21 games) to Auburn, which is 3-1 but has managed only an SEC-worst 693 passing yards.

How to watch Big Ten football on NBC and Peacock this weekend

This week’s featured games are Maryland at Michigan State (3:30 p.m., NBC and Peacock) and Ohio State at Notre Dame (5 p.m., streamed exclusively on Peacock).

Information for how to sign up for Peacock is available here. Peacock is available for streaming on several devices (view the full list of supported devices here).

Below is the announced remaining schedule for Big Ten teams on NBC Sports; more NBC Sports games will be announced during the season (all times are ET):

The remaining NBC Sports’ Big Ten Football games will be announced during the season.