ESPN College Football

1. Pittsburgh’s 44-17 rout of South Florida on Thursday night may be a boon for Todd Graham’s Panthers but it is one more indignity for the reeling Big East. The No. 16 Bulls are the conference’s highest-ranked team and held some promise as the league’s rejoinder to its critics, particularly in the wake of the decision by Pittsburgh and founding member Syracuse to abandon the league. Maybe Pittsburgh will carry the flag for the Big East. But these are the same Panthers who struggled against Iowa and Notre Dame.

2. Florida quarterback John Brantley looks more comfortable in the offense of new coordinator Charlie Weis than he ever did playing in Urban Meyer’s spread attack last season. But as Todd McShay pointed out in today’s ESPNU College Football podcast, Brantley’s success has come in short, quick passes, not downfield throws. Against a fast, experienced Alabama defense, Brantley must do more than dump the ball off if the No. 12 Gators are to upset the No. 3 Crimson Tide.

3. A reader and Longhorns fan challenged my comment that TCU has supplanted Texas as the state’s most successful program. Since the beginning of 2006, TCU is 58-11; Texas is 55-15. In that time, the Horned Frogs and the Longhorns each have been to two BCS bowls; each has won one. Texas fans argue that strength of schedule should be considered. But given TCU’s momentum -- 16-1 in 2010-11 vs. Texas’ 8-7 -- it’s hard to see why the Horned Frogs shouldn’t be considered the best.

ESPNDallas.com's Jeff Kaplan writes about the Battle for the Iron Skillet, which resumes as other rivalry matchups fade amid conference realignment.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas -- Wailing is reverberating across this great nation as the rude awakening of conference realignment threatens to rip the heart out of the very fiber of college football tradition -- the rivalry game.

Nebraska-Oklahoma is history. Texas-Texas A&M, a rivalry born in 1894, is headed the way of the turkey on Thanksgiving Day. The backyard brawl pitting bitter neighbors Pittsburgh and West Virginia is headed for the hills.

BYU and Utah played this season as non-conference rivals for the first time in 113 years and in September as opposed to ski season for the first time in 53 years. After 2012, the game goes dark until 2016.

Ah, but find solace and reason to rejoice college football fans. All is not lost. The great rivalry is not dead.

The near-century-old Battle of the Skillet, TCU vs. SMU, is on and is as heated as ever, which many know hasn't always been all that heated.

Although the schools went their separate ways -- not by choice -- when the grand old Southwest Conference dissolved, the two religious-based private schools 40 miles apart keep making the cross-town trek to knock heads.

The rivalry resumes at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth between two 3-1 teams prior to crucial conference games for each. It is the 92nd meeting of a once moribund series that is growing in stature and local interest on both ends of the Metroplex thanks to TCU's national emergence and next season's membership into a BCS conference, and SMU's deep-seeded desire to do the same.

Read the rest of the story here.

Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett wrap up their day at the Rose Bowl looking ahead to Saturday’s game.

Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett break down the day at the Rose Bowl.

Brian Bennett talks with TCU QB Andy Dalton about facing Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Adam Rittenberg talks with Wisconsin’s Jay Valai about his time in L.A. and facing TCU.

Brian Bennett talks with TCU linebacker Tank Carder.

Andrea Adelson looks at the top storylines in the non-AQ Friday Four Downs.

Erin Andrews and the GameDay crew interview Brad Edwards about the BCS landscape following Boise State's loss.

In this week's Friday Four Downs, Andrea Adelson touches on the Southern Miss shooting, Boise State narrowing the gap on TCU in the polls, Gary Patterson’s media blitz and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham considering benching Jordan Wynn.

Andrea Adelson looks at TCU’s ranking, WAC additions, Utah’s ability to rebound and UCF’s special season.

Andrea Adelson looks at the biggest Non-AQ storylines in Friday Four Downs.

Andrea Adelson looks at TCU-Utah, the Non-AQ game of the week.

Andrea Adelson breaks down her game of the week: Air Force vs. TCU.

The Horned Frogs kept their hopes for a national title alive with a pivotal opening win against Oregon State.