Week 5 viewers guide: A look at Saturday's top games

Each Friday, theScore will preview the week's best matchups on the college football calendar. Here's the top games to watch for Week 5.

Auburn at Georgia (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

While last week's SEC schedule may have lacked a blockbuster event, Saturday brings one of the conference's biggest slugfests: No. 4 Georgia hosts No. 7 Auburn in the day's most high-profile contest. Auburn impressed in its season-opening win versus Kentucky thanks to quarterback Bo Nix's three touchdown passes. He faces a much stiffer test in a Bulldogs' defense littered with NFL talent looking to take advantage of an inexperienced Tigers' offensive line.

On the other side, Georgia has plenty of signal-caller drama heading into its first home game. It appears JT Daniels is now healthy, but Stetson Bennett could remain the starter for Kirby Smart. Bennett came in to replace an ineffective D'Wan Mathis last week, leading the Bulldogs to a 37-10 win, but with Daniels' pedigree, it's only a matter of time until we see the USC transfer.

Arkansas at Mississippi State (7:30 p.m. ET, SECN alt)

Have a debut, K.J. Costello. The Stanford grad transfer absolutely torched defending champion LSU in his first time on the field with Mississippi State, breaking the single-game SEC passing record with 623 yards. Head coach Mike Leach has emphatically answered whether his Air Raid offense would work in the conference, and now Arkansas rolls into Starkville after giving up 37 points to Georgia. It's not the biggest matchup of the weekend, but the college football world will have an eye on what Leach and Costello will do for an encore.

Oklahoma at Iowa State (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

Oklahoma looked like an unstoppable juggernaut versus Kansas State through 43 minutes of action last Saturday. The same can't be said for the final 17 minutes, though - the Sooners somehow blew a 21-point lead and fell 38-35 to a depleted Wildcats outfit at home. Spencer Rattler once again impressed at the quarterback position with four touchdowns, but three interceptions also showed some growing pains. The talented passer will probably be fine, but you could ask glaring questions about a defense that allowed Skylar Thompson to post his first career 300-yard passing performance. With Brock Purdy and Iowa State on deck, Oklahoma will need a quick fix to get back on track.

TCU at Texas (Noon ET, FOX)

Somehow Texas enters its rivalry game with TCU at 2-0 despite trailing by 15 points with just over three minutes to play last week. The Longhorns were able to pull a Houdini act and stage a furious comeback, forcing overtime against Texas Tech before prevailing in the extra session. The reward for the improbable victory? A home date with Texas' nemesis, Gary Patterson. The TCU head coach has won five of his last six meetings with the Longhorns, including last year's affair that saw the Horned Frogs intercept Sam Ehlinger four different times.

Texas A&M at Alabama (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)

Georgia and Auburn make up the SEC's main event this week, but the afternoon contest between No. 13 Texas A&M and No. 2 Alabama is a worthy undercard. The Crimson Tide were once again looking incredible in their season-opener, with the offense piling up 414 yards in a runaway victory over Missouri.

The Aggies barely got past Vanderbilt last weekend, and highly touted field general Kellen Mond failed to hit the 200-yard passing mark. This series has been a grind for Texas A&M with the Crimson Tide have taken seven straight meetings. And given the offensive struggles seen already, it's tough to envision that streak coming to an end this year.

Memphis at SMU (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)

Memphis was one of the first ranked teams to hit 1-0 on the season, collecting an opening week victory well before any of the Power 5 schedules kicked off. Almost four weeks later, the Tigers remain at that record. A COVID-19 outbreak has kept the No. 25 team in the country on the sidelines since September 6th, and the return match versus SMU is not the softest landing place. This matchup features two of the AAC's best passers in Brady White and Shane Buechele, so you can expect them to put up points in Dallas Saturday afternoon.