Week 5 reality check: Alabama looks like, well, Alabama; Jeremiah Smith is undeniable - ESPN

If there was any team in college football that should have understood what an emotional hangover could look like this week, it was Florida. Last week, the Gators welcomed Ole Miss to Gainesville, with the Rebels riding high off their emotional 32-24 win against LSU. They had gotten a measure of revenge over their departed coach, Lane Kiffin, and rose to No. 4 in the AP poll as the toast of college football. The Gators, meanwhile, were also quietly off to a strong start despite tepid expectations. The result: a lopsided win for Florida that served as a cruel reminder for Ole Miss that success in this sport is fleeting.

In the wake of that breakthrough win, Florida first-year coach Jon Sumrall, perhaps guarding against the sort of letdown Ole Miss displayed, sent a cautionary message: «We have not arrived,» he said.

He was right.

After breaking into the AP top 10 for the first time since 2020, the eighth-ranked Gators showed they, too, were susceptible to the same kind of letdown they benefited from the week before and lost to Missouri 45-17.

And the Gators weren't the only team in college football to have that sort of experience this week.

Mississippi State entered Saturday undefeated and ranked No. 16, matching its highest AP ranking of the past decade as quarterback Kamario Taylor played like a Heisman Trophy candidate. With Alabama headed to Starkville on Saturday, the stage was set for the Bulldogs to show they were ready for primetime.

Instead, they got a reality check.

Not only did Alabama look like, well, how Alabama is supposed to look, but its own young quarterback, Keelon Russell, displaced Taylor as the breakout quarterback to watch.

Russell threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns, and added another score on