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1. The fact that Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino still hasn’t been fired by the university he lied to is good news for Petrino and the won-loss record of the 2012 Razorbacks. It's bad news for integrity. No more damning details have emerged since Petrino confessed Thursday to his improper behavior and to lying in order to hide it. If Arkansas doesn’t fire Petrino, it needs to announce the penalty (Fine? Suspension?) soon. Make the story go away. As for Petrino: if Hogs quarterback Tyler Wilson panicked under pressure the way Petrino did, the coach would blister him, which makes me wonder if a softer, chastened Petrino will come out the other side.

2. When I wrote last week about the 16 consensus All-Americans that Nick Saban has coached at LSU and Alabama over the past decade, I said I couldn’t find another coach who had developed as many (I counted players, not seasons; i.e., I didn’t count a two-time All-American twice). Tim Tessalone, the longtime SID at USC, points out that Pete Carroll, in his nine seasons with the Trojans, had 15 players named consensus All-Americans. Duly noted.

3. As we all race to figure out what the new format of college football's postseason will be, Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne is unconvinced that the BCS will be abandoned. “Are we sure we’re going to move on?” Byrne asked. “I’ve heard a lot of these comments before.” Byrne is a playoff guy. In the mid-1990s, he stood with a group of athletic directors who pushed for an eight-team, post-bowl format. The plan went nowhere, which is why Byrne remains a skeptic.

1. The biggest project on the plate of new Arizona State athletic director Steve Patterson is a proposed renovation of Sun Devil Stadium that will cost at least $300 million and need some five years to complete. The reason: the stadium is wedged between two buttes, which limits the space in which the crews may work. The capacity of 71,706 would be diminished in increasing amounts, from 62,000 in Year 1, to 42,000 in Year 3, before increasing to a newly configured seating plan somewhere in the low-60,000s range.

2. Danny O'Brien, the former Maryland starter and newest Wisconsin quarterback, follows the path of Russell Wilson, who left NC State and in one season made All-Big Ten and returned the Badgers to the Rose Bowl. Wilson’s success raises the ante for O’Brien, who spurned Vanderbilt, where his former position coach, James Franklin, is the head coach. That surely provides a measure of satisfaction to Maryland coach Randy Edsall, who didn’t want to sign a release for O’Brien to play for Franklin. Edsall gave O’Brien a full release when overruled by the school administration.

3. Texas A&M announced this week that it has sold out its season tickets earlier than ever as Aggie fans anticipate the move to the SEC. The Aggies made the move for financial security and it already is paying off. That shows how naïve all of us were who decried the loss of tradition when A&M moved. That includes athletic director Bill Byrne, who admitted his surprise that Texas had no interest in continuing the rivalry with A&M once it left the Big 12. Bidness is bidness on all sides of this equation.

We've given you our thoughts recently on which Pac-12 player has the best shot at winning the Heisman. You've given your thoughts (an extremely tight poll) and now the folks at HeismanPundit.com have offered up their darkhorse candidates for 2012.

They looked at 12 not-as-mainstream candidates who could contend for the Heisman Trophy, and four of them are from the Pac-12.

First, the list:

• Eddie Lacy, Alabama
• Curtis McNeal, USC
• Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan
• Kenjon Barner, Oregon
• James Franklin, Missouri
• Braxton Miller, Ohio State
• Kiehl Frazier, Auburn
• Le'Veon Bell, Michigan State
• Cierre Wood, Notre Dame
• Christine Michael, Texas A&M
• Jesse Callier, Washington
• De'Anthony Thomas, Oregon

Their thoughts on each of the Pac-12 players:

On McNeal: A total of 150 carries have departed the program and there is little depth behind the senior, who will benefit from defenses focusing on USC’s strong passing attack. Give McNeal at least half of those departed carries and you are looking at a possible 1,500 yard season, if not more.

On Barner: There were times the rest of the year when he looked as good as, if not better than, James. This year, the Ducks lose not only James’ 247 carries, but also the 45 of freshman Tra Carson and the 56 of quarterback Darron Thomas, for a total of 347 carries to be redistributed.

On Callier: I actually think there is a good chance that Washington experiences no dropoff at this position and that Callier establishes himself as one of the top backs in the Pac-12 with a season exceeding 1,300 yards on the ground.

On Thomas: Thomas is obviously an interesting case since he is such an all-around dynamo. Last year, he had just 140 touches, with 39 of them coming in the return game. This was a wise move by Oregon, as keeping the rather slight Thomas fresh and healthy is the key to his effectiveness. It worked, as he had 18 touchdowns and 2,235 total yards. In that vein, Oregon might be tempted to put a huge workload on him in 2012, but I don’t foresee it unless there is a desperate need.

Fun list. With frontrunner Matt Barkley out there, along with Washington quarterback Keith Price, a couple of USC wide receivers and A-list running backs like John White IV and Stepfan Taylor, there is certainly no wanting for offensive talent in the conference. Per usual.

Which players emerge will definitely be one of the more fascinating stories to follow in 2012.

1. If you want to see Oregon or any Pac-12 team in one of the preseason “bowl” games a la Alabama-Michigan, you’ll wait a long time. To bolster the Pac-12 Networks, the league won’t play any neutral-site games unless “all video/audio rights” are given to the Pac-12 (a home-and-home neutral-site game is OK). In a league in which teams soon will play nine conference games and a Big Ten opponent, maybe no Pac-12 team is interested. But you think a USC-LSU game would draw any attention on Labor Day weekend?

2. Chris Low and David Ubben reported Wednesday on the opposition to multiyear scholarships in the SEC and at Texas, respectively. But according to Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne, the Wildcats student-athlete council, representing the supposed beneficiaries of the legislation, voted overwhelmingly against it. The reasoning – if a teammate proves to be a locker-room cancer, the Arizona student-athletes want their coaches to have the ability to remove the problem.

3. Warm weather usually means that southern schools start spring practice early. But at Texas A&M, coach Kevin Sumlin is waiting until March 31 to start spring practice because he wanted to give his strength coach, Larry Jackson, as much time as possibile to work with a team that consistently blew fourth-quarter leads last season. And at Georgia, coach Mark Richt didn’t start until this week so that the spring game would not be played on April 7, clashing with both Easter weekend and the Masters.

Even before his flirtation with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oregon coach Chip Kelly heard a lot of rumors during recruiting. Rumors about himself.

"When I heard I was going to Manchester United in the English Premier League, that was a little far-fetched," he said.

Yes, that was far-fetched, but even the general rumors about Kelly not being long for Oregon didn't seem to work well. The Ducks signed 21 recruits for what is likely to become a top-20 class.

There were no negative surprises on signing day. The Ducks flipped a couple of receivers -- Bralon Addison from Texas A&M and Chance Allen from Oklahoma State -- without losing any players who were previously committed. On a day of flips, the Ducks weren't victimized.

Not that Kelly wasn't bothered by other programs using rumors, as well as the Bucs courtship, against the Ducks.

Said Kelly, "I don't understand that approach: 'Please don't go to that school because that coach is successful. Come to ours because our coach is really mediocre and will never be offered a job."

Hmm, wonder to whom he might be referring?

As it was, the Ducks' highest-rated recruit, defensive lineman Arik Armstead, actually cited Kelly's honesty before he committed, saying it was meaningful that Kelly refused to give him a guarantee that he'd remain in Eugene for Armstead's entire career.

In fact, Kelly was able to use his NFL vs. Oregon situation to his advantage. After all, he was asking prospects to choose Oregon over other intriguing suitors.

"I told them I was in the same situation they are in," Kelly said. "I was presented good opportunities and made an educated decision about what the best situation for me was."

Kelly's class featured 10 players on defense, eight on offense, two athletes and one special teams player. The Ducks inked 18 prep players and three junior college transfers. Three were ESPNU 150 players. Nine earned some sort of high school All-Americans, the most in a single recruiting class in program history.

The Ducks signed five defensive linemen and four defensive backs. The only other positions with multiple signees were quarterback, tight end and wide receiver with two apiece.

You can check out the Ducks full class here.

Notre Dame entered 2011 as the Associated Press' preseason No. 16 team, expectations high and a BCS-bowl berth in sight.

Things didn't go according to plan. But were the Irish the biggest disappointment of this past college football season?

Turns out they'll have to settle for No. 2 in that category.

CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy broke down the preseason AP poll, using it as a measuring stick to see whom the voters were right (or close to being right) about while acknowledging those they whiffed on. McMurphy listed the 48 schools that received a vote in the preseason poll and calculated the difference from where they finished in the final poll.

The numbers showed that preseason No. 8 Texas A&M, at minus-41, was the biggest disappointment of 2011, with Notre Dame right behind the Aggies at minus-33. Ohio State (minus-31), Mississippi State (minus-29) and Florida (minus-27) rounded out the top five disappointments. Those five, plus Missouri (preseason No. 21, minus-8) and Auburn (preseason No. 23, minus-4) made up the seven schools that were not ranked in the final poll after being ranked in the preseason.

Preseason unranked Baylor (plus-36) finished as the biggest surprise.

And, in a reassuring sign for sportswriters everywhere, No. 7 Stanford, No. 14 TCU and No. 19 Georgia finished in the exact same spots as their preseason rankings.

The question from the home office in Bristol: When will the SEC reign end?

The short answer is next January when the winner of the Pac-12 championship -- USC or Oregon (or is it Oregon or USC?) -- stomps a bootprint on LSU's forehead in South Florida.

The long answer is, well, it's not going to end. And there are specific, proven reasons for this. They are the same reasons the SEC became dominant.

Money and real estate.

The SEC is the richest conference, although the Big Ten certainly gives it a run for the money. Sure, the Pac-12 eclipsed everyone with its latest TV deal, but that was a matter of good timing. Just wait until the SEC gets a new deal. One word: jack-freaking-pot.

It's also about stadium size and fan passion. The SEC has the first, and those over-brimming stadiums prove the second. Still, the Big Ten also boasts big stadiums that are full every Saturday.

Real estate pushes the SEC over the top. The Southeast is loaded with prep talent, and there is a passion for high school football that pushes the best athletes onto the gridiron -- instead of the hardwood. The addition of Texas A&M will only boost that fertile recruiting footprint, by the way.

Want to know where all the good Pac-12 linemen are? Wasting their time playing basketball. What does that mean? If you live on the West Coast, go to a high school hoops game this weekend. That 6-foot-5 guy playing center? He doesn't play football. He tried it in seventh grade. It was too hard. In the Southeast, the social forces would say: "Son, get your butt onto the football field." On the West Coast, the social forces say, "Hey, do what you want."

Perhaps the West Coast social forces are better. Live and let live, right? But guess what? That 6-foot-5 guy playing center would have a lot better shot at a free education at a Pac-12 school if he played football.

So the bottom line is the SEC has the money, which pays the best coaches and builds the best facilities. It has the workforce, the high school football talent in the Southeast. And it has the culture: Football is the unchallenged king in the South.

Eventually, perhaps next season, another conference is going to win the BCS national title. But the likelihood, at least in the foreseeable future, is the SEC will continue to win national championships at a higher rate than any other conference.

Of course, next season, Oregon or USC is going to open up a can of whup-butt on the SEC in the title game. So the Pac-12 has that going for it.

Michigan State has made strides on the field toward becoming a nationally elite program.

The school took another step Friday night in ensuring Pat Narduzzi remains as defensive coordinator.

Texas A&M pursued Narduzzi for its defensive coordinator position and reportedly made a very lucrative offer. Narduzzi visited College Station and toured the facilities Thursday. But he has decided to remain with Michigan State, the team announced Friday.

"When provided a professional opportunity like Texas A&M, I owed it to my family to investigate it because my first obligation is to take care of my wife and children," Narduzzi said in a prepared statement. "The bottom line remains; however, that I'm very comfortable working for Mark Dantonio and Michigan State. The support from the top down is tremendous. Coach Dantonio, athletics director Mark Hollis, President [Lou Anna] Simon and our Board of Trustees have been very supportive and understanding as I've gone through this decision-making process, and I'm thankful for their patience. I share the same feelings that our players and coaches have that there’s some unfinished business to take care of here. We're all driven to win the Big Ten Championship and win a Rose Bowl."

Narduzzi coordinated a defense that ranks fifth nationally in yards allowed and ninth in points allowed.

"Prior to Texas A&M aggressively pursuing Pat Narduzzi, Mark Hollis had already identified the financial resources to make sure that not only Pat, but all of our assistant coaches, had salaries that are competitive in the Big Ten," Dantonio said in a statement. "We understand that our continued success will provide professional opportunities for our student-athletes and coaches alike. There's no doubt that Pat will be a head coach sometime soon, but for now, we’re excited that he remains a Spartan as we continue our pursuit of another Big Ten Championship and our first trip to the Rose Bowl."

As Dantonio notes, Narduzzi soon will land a head-coaching position, but until that point, he'll likely remain with Michigan State. This is a key step for Michigan State to keep its momentum and keep pushing forward as a new power in the Big Ten.

There was a bit of bad news for Michigan State, as running back Edwin Baker told the Associated Press that he's skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Baker had a big year in 2010, rushing for 1,201 yards and 13 touchdowns, but he slipped behind Le'Veon Bell on the depth chart this fall.

Bell likely will be the team's primary ball carrier in 2012, although Baker could have been a big part of the offense as well.

Kez McCorvey still shows his players the catch 18 years later. In the film room of Bethel (Tenn.) University, the Wildcats' wide receivers coach focuses on the details of the play, "560 vertical," and not so much on the circumstances surrounding it, which NBC play-by-play man Charlie Jones summed up thusly:

"So the perfect season for the Seminoles, Bobby Bowden's shot at the national championship, coming down to this play. It is fourth down and goal to go. Twenty-yard line. 2:31 left."

Eventual Heisman Trophy winner and NBA point guard Charlie Ward took the shotgun snap from the 20, dropped three steps and fired a bullet over the middle that looked destined for the hands of Notre Dame safety Brian McGee. Instead, the ball dropped into McCorvey's hands for the touchdown, cutting the Irish's lead in half and granting Florida State new life in what was then the Game of the Century -- Nov. 13, 1993.

"My guys here, they'll get plays they think we just invented or something," said the 39-year-old McCorvey, who still gets on the practice field to demonstrate routes for his NAIA pupils. "And I'll tell them we've been running that play forever. 'Look here on YouTube. I'm old as dirt, we're not even doing a good job of doing it and I'm slow and old and I can score, so here.' "

The improbability of the play had McCorvey and his teammates thinking fate had intervened -- "I don't wanna make it sound like Florida State is all that and a bag of chips, but we'd just never been in a situation where we'd been out of a game, so we just never quit."

The celebration, however, was short-lived, one of many twists and turns of a season that saw No. 2 Notre Dame upset No. 1 Florida State, 31-24, only to watch the Seminoles be declared national champions less than two months later despite having the same number of losses.

The schools will renew their rivalry in Thursday's Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., a smaller stage later in the year that will lack the 800-plus media members, dozens of fake credentials, coach's dinner party and rapid trash-talking that surrounded South Bend, Ind., that fall week in 1993.

The messages that week, at least from up top, could not have been any more different.

"Leading up to it, obviously Coach Holtz's thing was at the beginning that we may get beat by 50, and that was just Lou Holtz, that's just how he handled things," said former Irish safety Jeff Burris, who scored the Irish's last two touchdowns of the game as a running back. "And by Monday or Tuesday, 'We'll be happy to be in the game by halftime.'

"Just his mentality was that way, but he was always focused on, 'If we do this the right way it might be a game.' And by Thursday or Friday it was, 'We'll win this game, and this is how we'll win this game.' "

For Florida State, meanwhile, it was business as usual.

"I would love to tell you we did it bigger than the Miami game, but we didn't," said McCorvey, citing a win over the No. 3 Hurricanes a month earlier. "Nothing against Notre Dame, but we felt like since we beat Miami we could win the national championship, so we'd been accustomed to that type of pressure. Coach Bowden, too. It wasn't as big a deal going into games -- the pressure, game situations. So we didn't do a whole lot of things that we hadn't done before."

Yet McCorvey couldn't help himself during the week leading up to the game, making references to "Rock Knutne" and being quoted as saying: "I appreciate what Notre Dame has accomplished, but those old guys don't play anymore. You can't win with mojo or magic. Joe Montana isn't going to put on the pads and win for them."

"I think it was a little bit of ignorance with the Knutne comment," McCorvey laughed. "That was me being young."

Still, the scene was unlike any all parties involved had ever been a part of.

Tickets were going for $1,000. ESPN's "College GameDay" was making its first on-campus appearance, albeit in front of just a few dozen loyal fans stationed on the concourse of the Joyce Center, where Notre Dame's basketball team plays.

"You can tell this is not just a football game; this is a happening," host Chris Fowler said on the air. "Paul Azinger, Roger Clemens, Spike Lee — lots of folks are gonna be here. Al Gore. Andre Agassi. Some others got turned down. As further proof this is transcendent-game status."

Signs in the parking lot offered assets such as an Orlando vacation or a Mercedes-Benz for entrance into Notre Dame Stadium that day.

"When they said it was the Game of the Century," former Irish quarterback Kevin McDougal said, "it really was."

Two days before the game, Holtz and his wife, Beth, invited 50-60 media members stationed in South Bend over to their Woodland Hills home, 10 minutes from campus.

"My then fiancée and I arrived in South Bend on Thursday," Michael Messaglia, Holtz's son-in-law, said. "Expecting a quiet night at her parents’ house, we arrived to a house full of reporters."

After Beth Holtz sent reporters out with cookies in napkins as they left, and after Holtz handed out small boxes of golf balls, the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wrote in his day-of-game column:

"That settled it. It doesn't matter if Florida State wins today by four touchdowns; I will write only good things about Notre Dame. I have broken bread with Lou. After today's game of the century, I will have only one question.

"What time is dinner before the BC game?"

Of course, the high of Shawn Wooden knocking down Ward's final pass of the Game of the Century was met the following week with a hangover against Boston College, as the Eagles engineered a 41-39 shocker that played a pivotal role in deciding the national championship.

Notre Dame beat Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1. Florida State won its last two regular-season games before topping undefeated Nebraska in the Orange Bowl the same day.

The Seminoles finished atop both The Associated Press and coaches' polls, giving Bowden his first national championship, though the regret wasn't limited to the Irish's side.

"You look back and you think you won the national championship, but you wanted to go 13-0," McCorvey said. "You wanted to not lose a game that whole year and leave your legacy as one of the best teams that ever played. The Notre Dame loss was something that kind of tarnished that a little bit."

1. As speculation continues regarding who will be the next head coach at Penn State, this much seems to be true: if he’s not a member of the Nittany Lion family, then the tight-knit former players who showed up en masse for the last home game in the wake of the firing of Joe Paterno will revolt. That could be Miami coach Al Golden and, yes, it could be the interim coach, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. Interim athletic director Dave Joyner, who is heading the search committee, knows Scrap well. His son played for him.

2. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA director Robert Gates received the Gold Medal, the highest honor given by the National Football Foundation, on Thursday night. Before that, Gates served as president of Texas A&M. “I fired a lot of people when I was at the Pentagon,” Gates said. “But I don’t think I ever did anything as controversial as firing a football coach in Texas. I later told the media I had overthrown the governments of medium-sized countries with less controversy.”

3. Yale quarterback Patrick Witt, a finalist for the Campbell Trophy, the NFF’s “Academic Heisman,” turned down the chance to interview for a Rhodes Scholarship last month, in order to play his final college game against Harvard. “The quarterback position is unique. It wouldn’t be right to leave your guys as the leader of your team on that final game.” Witt will give the NFL a try. The Rhodes Committee told him, given his circumstance, they would consider waiving their age limit of 24, should he choose to apply again.

While the bowl games were big news over the weekend, UCLA and Arizona State continue to look for new head coaches.

Here's some skinny.

At UCLA, ESPN LA's Peter Yoon reported that interim head coach Mike Johnson would like to be considered for the job. Here's his update on other candidates:

UCLA has been turned down by Boise State coach Chris Petersen, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions, and eliminated Houston coach Kevin Sumlin as a candidate after meeting with him on Saturday, according to a source. Al Golden of Miami is considered the next top target, though Golden recently signed a four-year contract extension at Miami.

There's some chatter out there about former Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks coach Jim Mora, Jr. My take: That would be a good hire. While things went badly for Mora in Seattle, let's recall that he was the first choice to replace Tyrone Willingham at Washington. He's a charismatic guy with an NFL sensibility that would translate well at UCLA. Recall that the last time a team in LA hired a charismatic guy with an NFL sensibility who had folks scratching their heads turned out OK.

Here's Jon Gold's take in the LA Daily News.

Sources have said that UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, who met with Sumlin in Houston on Saturday, is essentially rebooting the search and at this point, there are no clear-cut favorites. Miami head coach Al Golden, whom Guerrero interviewed for the job during the post-Karl Dorrell vacancy, is among the candidates, along with SMU head coach June Jones. Sources indicated on Saturday that there was minimal interest in former Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti.

UCLA has been the sort of job that more than a few folks thought might lure Bellotti back into coaching. But it doesn't seem, at least at this point, that he's high on the Bruins' list.

Meanwhile, at Arizona State, it appears that Sumlin might not be completely out of the picture, but that SMU coach June Jones' name is front-and-center at present. Still, there are plenty of other names in the rumor swirl. Writes Doug Haller:

Arizona State officials on Saturday met with SMU coach June Jones for more than three hours in Texas.

A report surfaced Sunday that ASU was in position to announce Jones' hire shortly after the university learned of its bowl destination. That wasn't true. According to a source, the Jones push slowed Sunday night. That doesn't mean it's over, but it could be an indication that ASU is having second thoughts.

Sources confirmed Sunday that Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora is still in the mix. Baylor coach Art Briles has emerged as a candidate.

I continue to hear ASU likes Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich.

Also, despite reports that ASU has backed off Sumlin, he still could be in play, especially if Texas A&M goes another direction in its quest to replace fired coach Mike Sherman.

In other words, neither coach search has moved -- at least according to reports -- decisively in one direction.

So stay tuned.

Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Northwestern (6-6)

Dec. 31, noon ET (ESPN)

Texas A&M take from Big 12 blogger David Ubben: The Aggies are in a state of turmoil. They have no coach and the players are understandably shaken up about it. Mike Sherman was loved around College Station, and his super classy exit press conference showed all the reasons why. Ultimately, Texas A&M's much-ballyhooed second-half failures ended Sherman's tenure as the head Aggie. The numbers are well-known by now, but still staggering. They tell the story of how a preseason top 10 team with as much talent as any in the Big 12 ends up at 6-6. Five halftime leads of double digits and another by nine against rival Texas. All were losses.

That doesn't change the talent on the field. Running back Cyrus Gray will likely return from injury, as will quarterback Ryan Tannehill with top targets Ryan Swope and Jeff Fuller. They'll play with an offensive line that has some legit NFL talent, a credit to Sherman's recruiting acumen as a coach with an offensive line background. Texas A&M is already assured of leaving the Big 12 with a bitter taste en route to the SEC next season, but a bowl win might help ... if only a little bit.

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Northwestern take from Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg: Northwestern will play in a bowl for a team-record fourth consecutive year, but the Wildcats are still looking for that elusive postseason win after a disappointing 2011 campaign.

As players and coaches often are reminded, Northwestern hasn’t won a bowl game since the 1949 Rose. The Wildcats have come close the past three seasons, particularly in the 2010 Outback Bowl, but they’ve fallen short each time. While Texas A&M’s motivation might be a question mark after its recent coaching change, Northwestern will be geared up.

The good news is that unlike last year, Northwestern will have top quarterback Dan Persa on the field for its bowl. Although Persa didn’t look nearly as dominant this season as he did in 2010, he still led the Big Ten in passing (240.3 ypg) and completed 74.2 percent of his passes with 17 touchdown strikes and seven interceptions. Persa and the offense will need to put up points as Northwestern’s defense has struggled mightily this season and in the recent bowl losses. The Wildcats will be without top cornerback Jordan Mabin against Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill and his talented group of receivers.

This will be a virtual road game for Northwestern in Houston, as Texas A&M fans will pack Reliant Stadium. But Pat Fitzgerald’s teams often play better on the road than at home, as they are 14-8 on the road since the start of the 2008 season.

Here are 10 things I’ll be watching in college football this weekend:

1. Will Oklahoma bounce back against Kansas State?

The No. 9 Sooners were stunned by unranked Texas Tech 41-38 last week, ending their 39-game home winning streak. OU hasn’t lost consecutive conference games since a four-game slide in 1998. The Wildcats are off to a 7-0 start but haven’t beaten OU since the 2003 Big 12 championship game. Wildcats quarterback Collin Klein ran for 10 touchdowns in the past three games, but the Cats are averaging only 153.9 passing yards per game. The Red Raiders were able to expose OU’s secondary while totaling 572 yards of offense last week.

2. Should Clemson be on upset alert?

Heading into Saturday night’s game at Georgia Tech, the Tigers are aiming for their first 9-0 start since 1981, when they finished 12-0 and won a national championship. Georgia Tech has dropped two games in a row, scoring only 28 points and averaging only 253 yards of offense in losses to Virginia and Miami. But Tech’s triple-option offense might pose problems for Clemson’s defense, which surrendered 83 points in victories over Maryland and North Carolina. The Tigers scored 115 points and had 1,026 yards of offense in their last two games.

3. What does USC have to do to upset Stanford?

The No. 6 Cardinal will be going for their 16th consecutive victory in Saturday night’s trip to USC. The Trojans will have to slow down Stanford’s running game, which ran for a school-record 446 yards in last week’s 65-21 rout of Washington. The Trojans will need another big game from receiver Robert Woods, who had 12 catches for 224 yards with three touchdowns in last season’s 37-35 loss to Stanford. USC quarterback Matt Barkley has thrown nine touchdowns with only one interception during a three-game winning streak.

4. Who starts at quarterback for Florida?

Gators coach Will Muschamp said senior John Brantley is ready to go for Saturday’s game against No. 22 Georgia in Jacksonville, Fla. But Brantley hasn’t played since injuring his ankle early in the Gators’ 38-10 loss to Alabama on Oct. 1 and hasn’t practiced much over the past three weeks. Brantley might get a chance to play against the Bulldogs, but don’t be surprised if freshmen Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett take most of the snaps. Georgia has to do a better job of taking care of the football -- it has had 12 turnovers in its three consecutive losses to UF.

5. Who’s going to run the ball for South Carolina?

The No. 13 Gamecocks begin life without star tailback Marcus Lattimore, who will miss the rest of the season after tearing knee ligaments in a 14-12 victory over Mississippi State on Oct. 15. Freshman Brandon Wilds will get the start in Saturday’s game at Tennessee, after running for 75 yards on 13 carries so far this season. Quarterback Connor Shaw will have to carry a bigger load on offense, and former USC basketball player Bruce Ellington might get some snaps out of “Wildcats" plays. Volunteers freshman quarterback Justin Worley makes his first start after senior Matt Simms was benched last week.

6. Should Oklahoma State be worried about Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III?

The No. 3 Cowboys’ defense has held up so far this season but will be tested by Griffin, who has thrown 22 touchdowns and two interceptions this season. Baylor’s defense has been exposed by strong passing attacks, giving up 681 yards of offense in a 55-28 loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 15. The Bears allowed 725 yards in a 55-28 loss to OSU last season. Griffin played very well against the Aggies, throwing for a school-record 430 yards with three touchdowns. Baylor has lost five straight and 14 of 15 games to the Pokes.

7. Can Michigan State get up for another big game?

The No. 11 Spartans just completed a trifecta of emotional victories, defeating Ohio State (17-7), Michigan (28-14) and Wisconsin (37-31). The Spartans defeated the then-No. 6 Badgers on quarterback Kirk Cousins’ 44-yard touchdown pass to Keith Nichol on a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game. Now Michigan State has to regroup to play at No. 14 Nebraska on Saturday. MSU’s defense, which allowed 220 rushing yards to the Badgers, will have to slow down Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez and I-back Rex Burkhead. The winner gets the inside track to winning the Big Ten’s Legends division.

8. Will Wisconsin rebound to beat Ohio State?

The Badgers saw their BCS national championship hopes all but end with last week’s loss at Michigan State. But Wisconsin can still win the Big Ten’s Leaders division and play in the inaugural Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis on Dec. 3. The Buckeyes had an extra week to prepare, after upsetting Illinois 17-7 on Oct. 15. Ohio State completed only one pass for 17 yards against the Illini, but tailback Dan “Boom” Herron ran for 91 yards with two touchdowns in his first action of the season.

9. Can Texas A&M’s defense shut down another opponent?

Missouri’s trip to Texas A&M on Saturday night will be a matchup of potential future SEC teams. The No. 16 Aggies have struggled defending the pass all season, but they were much better in last week’s 33-17 victory over Iowa State, allowing only 305 yards of offense. Missouri has won four of its last five games against Texas A&M. Tigers quarterback James Franklin struggled in last week’s 45-24 loss to Oklahoma State, completing only 14 of 27 passes for 184 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

10. Can Penn State do it again?

The Nittany Lions have won six games in a row heading into Saturday’s game against Illinois, and they’ve done it with a menacing defense and mediocre offense. Penn State tailback Silas Redd has been very good lately, with four straight 100-yard games. But the Nittany Lions remain unsettled at quarterback, although Matt McGloin played well in last week’s 34-24 victory at Northwestern. The Illini have lost two straight games after a 6-0 start.

1. Texas A&M had to put a halt this week in what surely will be a year-long celebration of its move to the SEC in order to learn how the league goes about its business. The school sent its top athletic administrators to the SEC office in Birmingham on Tuesday to learn how the league does things, from reading through its by-laws to addressing how the league pays its officials. The mundane always follows the excitement.

2. You could tell when Oregon corner Cliff Harris, a 2010 All-American, returned to the lineup after his preseason suspension that something had gone awry. Harris didn’t resemble the ballhawk and kick returner who a year ago had been a threat to score every time he stepped onto the field. On Monday Harris was suspended again after being ticketed for driving with a suspended license. He needs to have a discussion with himself about how important football -- and a free college education -- is to him.

3. Speaking of unfulfilled potential, three’s USC sophomore tailback Dillon Baxter. Before the 2010 season -- before Baxter had played a down -- Trojans coach Lane Kiffin used Baxter’s name and the Heisman Trophy in the same sentence. On Tuesday, Kiffin announced that Baxter no longer was on the team, but that he would remain enrolled in school. He has rushed 68 times for 281 yards and one touchdown. When you hear coaches talk about recruiting character instead of characters, this is why.

Notre Dame was not ranked in the initial BCS standings Sunday night, making the Irish 0-for-3 in the national polls this week.

That's to be expected considering they entered the bye weekend unranked. The biggest surprise, however, may be that Notre Dame's best remaining opponent, Stanford, came in at No. 8, lower than both its AP ranking (7th) and its USA Today ranking (5th).

The Irish will meet the Cardinal Nov. 26 in their regular-season finale. If Notre Dame wins its first five games before then, a BCS bowl bid may be on the line.

Michigan State (16th) and Michigan (18th) were the only other Notre Dame opponents featured in the initial BCS standings.

Texas A&M (17th), Auburn (20th) and Texas (24th) were the only other two-loss teams ranked in the BCS Standings.

Notre Dame, for what it's worth, received 107 votes in the AP poll and 36 in the USA Today poll, both good for 27th nationally.