1. Wisconsin is the only bona-fide contender in the Big Ten. They haven’t had a bad game or even a bad quarter. Best in the conference by such a large margin it isn’t even funny.
2. The Mountain West isn’t going to be a huge step up in competition for Boise State. Their first conference, against Colorado State, resulted in a 63-13 win.
3. If anyone still doubted it, Clemson is for real. They overcame an 18-point deficit to beat Maryland 56-45. Now that Georgia Tech has a loss, the Tigers are the sole uneaten team in the ACC.
4. South Carolina hung on to beat Mississippi State, but they lost something far more important than the game- RB Marcus Lattimore. Luckily for the Gamecocks, they’re in the (much) weaker of the two SEC divisions and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it to the SEC Championship game regardless, but I also expect them to be in more close games than they have been to date. That could hurt them in the BCS rankings.
5. Ohio State may be on life support, but they’re not dead yet.
6. Texas A&M has been flying under the radar- not much longer. They spanked Baylor 55-28, which should garner them some more respect in the polls.
7. The Honey Badger, aka Tyrann Mathieu, may be the best-known player in LSU’s defensive backfield, but this weekend it was Morris Claiborne and Eric Reid coming up with the interceptions against Tennessee. Bottom line- pass at your own peril.
8. If LSU has the 1A defense in the country, 1B, of course, belongs to Alabama. RB Trent Richardson isn’t bad either. He stomped all over a perenially weak Ole Miss team in a 52-7 rout.
9. Ryan Broyles became the NCAA career catch leader in a 47-17 pasting of Kansas. Oklahoma is still on track to face the winner of LSU-Alabama in the BCS title game.
10. Pitt seems to have some kind of personality disorder. One week they look like they should with West Virginia and South Floirda as the class of the Big East. The next week they’re losing and looking terrible while doing it. What gives? They’re 3-4, and yet in the two halves of games I’ve seen them play thay looked reasonably good.
