What we think we know

In college football, heading into the last week of October:

Ohio State all by itself.

Michigan is number two.

USC's undefeated record looks a heck of a lot more impressive in light of Oregon's loss to Washington State and Cal's near-miss with Washington. After both of USC's win with Washington schools came down to the final play, USC's record was seen as tainted, as both UDub and Wazzu were seen as part of the Pac-10's second tier. Now we know better. As we sit here, USC is still ahead of the pac: not by a mile. This is not the 2005 team, with 11 All-Americans; this is not the 2004 team, for which (to bring up two small footnotes) it their third-string quarterback was drafted by the Patriots (and stayed with the team); and, in Norm Chow's basic I formation, Reggie Bush, fifth place finisher for the Heisman Trophy, listed as second string. No: USC is, as we speak, just a bit better than the glop of Cal, Oregon, and the two Washington schools rounding out the top half.

West Virginia. Here is the BCS nightmare. Suppose West Viriginia, out of the Big East, finishes undefeated and (say) Texas, USC, Notre Dame, and Michigan all end up with one loss apiece? And UT's and Michigan's losses are both to number one Ohio State? The Big East was conceived primarily as a basketball conference. In its bastardized state (thank you, Donna Shalala) it remains one today. We may be moving toward a recognition of tiers between the Big Six conferences, with teh SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac-10 up top and the basketball conferences (ACC, Big East) in BCS limbo?

I watched much of Texas's game with Nebraska, a game Nebraska had won with two minutes to go, and then fumbled away. Usually, a big upset in college football involves a road game and one of the following: the weather, turnovers, lousy officiating, and/or a lousy kicking game. In this case, the snow and swirling winds helped disrupt Texas's kicking game so much that the winning field goal was booted by a walk-on attempting the first kick of his college career.

So how good is Texas? How good is USC? That is a question that, at this moment, is impossible to answer.

It is astonishing that college football is the only sport in the world in which the pre-season polls play a role in the actual standings. More than any other sport, college football is a week-by-week unveiling of the truth. Nebraska nearly beats Texas, meaning USC's defeat of Nebraska is all that more impressive, only USC is overrated because it nearly lost to the Washington schools . . . only the Washington schools are better than we thought, because they played Oregon and Cal tough . . . so USC's narrow wins against the Washington schools become more impressive, and we know Oregon and Cal are good because of how they played against Arizona State . . . only, wait a minute, ASU is in a down year so how impressive do Cal and Oregon look?. . . but wait a minute, ASU very nearly beat USC!

You see what I mean.