1. This nugget from BCS boss Bill Hancock: of the five BCS bowl matchups, four of them feature opponents playing each other for the first time. The lone exception? The Rose Bowl. TCU and Wisconsin played to a 14-14 tie in Madison early in the 1970 season. The Badgers didn’t return the game, perhaps because in 1970, the NCAA allowed teams to expand schedules from 10 games to 11, and matchups got put together in a hurry.

2. My colleague Andrea Adelson blogged Tuesday that Florida quarterback John Brantley reiterated that he would discuss his future with his family and that he is noncommittal about his return to Gainesville. Maybe I’m old school, but if I had the year Brantley had (nine touchdown passes, nine picks in 12 games), and I had a new coach, I would be busting my hump to impress him. Noncommittal? Will Muschamp is the one who will be noncommittal about Brantley and every other Gator. They just went 7-5.

3. A day later, I’m still not sure what I find more amazing, that Vanderbilt is willing to pay $3 million a year to a football coach or that Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn turned it down. If Vandy commits that kind of money to football, there are no guarantees that the Commodores will win. But the chances of winning will grow. Northwestern is winning in the Big Ten. No. 4 Stanford is winning everywhere. These days, you can have high academic standards and win. I can’t wait to see Vandy ramp it up.