From the home office in Bristol, Conn., the weekly Top 20 List...

20. A Soapbox Moment
Even old man Potter (You've seen "It's A Wonderful Life," right?) would have gotten goose bumps watching Adam Taliaferro lead his Penn State teammates onto the Beaver Stadium field for Saturday's game against Miami.

Taliaferro's playing career ended last Sept. 23 when he broke his neck while making a tackle against Ohio State. The freshman cornerback suffered paralysis and there was considerable doubt that he'd ever walk again. And they were right; Taliaferro didn't walk, but happily jogged onto the field Saturday, proving once again that moments like those are worth their weight in dabbed tears and lumps in throat.

By the way, who won the game?

19. This One's For Binky
Who says crime doesn't pay? After its strength and conditioning coach and at least one player allegedly bogarted members of a visiting drum and bugle corps last month, Northern Illinois opened its season Thursday with a victory against South Florida.

Of course, John Binkowski wasn't around to see it. The last time he left NIU's Huskie Stadium he was wearing three sets of DeKalb Police Department handcuffs and later was charged with reckless conduct and battery. That sort of thing happens when you allegedly order 27 players to run through a bunch of pencil-neck trumpet players who paid to use the NIU field for band practice.

Binkowski has since been canned by the school and NIU player Brian Peterson remains on suspension until the case is resolved in the courts.

18. America's Football Get Well Card
Another season, another Florida State blowout of football-challenged Duke. Even with about 30 injured wide receivers out of the game and a new quarterback, Florida State still toyed with Duke, 55-13.

If you're keeping score -- and you really need to get a life, if you are -- Florida State is averaging 56.8 points against the Dookies since 1994. That's only 13 points fewer per game than FSU's hoops team has averaged against Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils in that same period.

Duke owns the nation's least-wanted streak -- consecutive losses (13) -- and have finished 0-11 twice in the last five seasons. The good news: the Dookies play Vanderbilt Oct. 27.

17. Numbers Game
What sort of effect have the 25 Division I-A coaching changes made? So far the new guys are 13-13, with BYU's Gary Crowton leading the standings with a pair of wins. Meanwhile, North Carolina's John Bunting is 0-2 and looking at 0-3, thanks to a trip to Texas this Saturday.

Still waiting to play: Arizona State's Dirk Koetter, Memphis' Tommy West and Ohio State's Jim Tressel.

16. Coach of the Week
The Mid-American Conference strikes again. Urban Meyer, the former Notre Dame receivers coach, comes to Bowling Green and promptly knocks off Missouri of the big, bad Big 12 at Mizzou. The Tigers are coached by another newcomer, Gary Pinkel, who left the MAC and Toledo for the big money and a bigger stage.

Honorable mention: New Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe travels to East Carolina and gets a win.

15. History Maker
Three extra points in a 72-10 Division I-AA blowout might not sound like much, except that the right foot doing the kicking belonged to Ashley Martin of Jacksonville (Ala.) State. Unless someone can prove otherwise (the NCAA doesn't keep track of this sort of thing), Martin is the first female to score in a D-I game.

Martin got exactly two hours' sleep after the historic game Thursday evening. The second-string place-kicker did a Good Morning America gig at the stadium and then had to catch a plane later that morning to join the women's soccer team for a game against Southeastern Missouri State. Martin is a midfielder.

Just in case the College Football Hall of Fame is interested, Jacksonville State team officials saved each of the three balls Martin kicked in the win against Cumberland.

Meanwhile, Cumberland continues to be on the strange end of college football history. It was Cumberland that suffered a 222-0 loss to Georgia Tech in 1916. Now this additional footnote involving Martin.

14. Quote of the Week
"The credit goes to them. The criticism goes to us, which I'm sure we'll get."
-- Minnesota coach Glen Mason, after Toledo defeated the Golden Gophers, 38-7, the second consecutive year Mason's team has lost to a MAC program.

Poor Mason. First he gets stiffed by Ohio State for a job, and now he has to try and explain how Toledo scored on five of its first possessions, or how fifth-year senior running back Chester Taylor averaged 10.3 yards on his way to a 186-yard, four TD night, or why Toledo's no-huddle spread offense seemingly baffled the Gophers. After all, Minnesota played Big Ten tri-champion Northwestern and its spread offense last season.

In the Gophers' defense -- and there wasn't much of one on the field against Toledo -- Mason lost nine defensive starters from last year's team. Meanwhile, Toledo has 16 starters back from a program that finished 10-1 a season ago.

13. Pedigree Update
Eli Manning didn't need long to make a name for himself at Ole Miss, where his old man, Archie, is a living legend. In his first game as the Rebels starter, Manning completed 20-of-23 passes (including 18 consecutive completions) for 271 yards and five touchdowns against Division I-AA Murray State.

Then there's Florida State's new quarterback, Chris Rix, who succeeds Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke. The redshirt freshman had a decent enough debut against Duke (9-of-18, 138 yards, two TDs), but why in the world is he wearing Weinke's No. 16 jersey number?

Memo to FSU: You retired Charlie Ward's number after he won a national championship and Heisman, do the same for Weinke.

12. MAC Power
Forget about wooing Notre Dame, if the Big Ten ever wants to expand to 12 teams it ought to consider raiding the MAC. The MAC keeps beating Big Ten teams, including Toledo's most recent whooping of Minnesota. The Rockets are the same team that beat Penn State last season.

By the way, the victory against the Gophers was the first of Tom Amstutz's career and it came on his 46th birthday. The Toledo alum spent 24 years as a college assistant before leaving Missouri for the Rockets.

11. Pink Slip Watch
The Woody Widenhofer Era (or Error, if you're a disgruntled Vandy grad) might not make it to January if the Commodores have many more losses like the one to Middle Tennessee State.

"This is one of the toughest losses I have ever been involved in," said Widenhofer, who has plenty of experience.

"Little Middle," as MTSU is sometimes called by the likes of Vandy folks, gained 608 yards of total offense against a Commodore defense that returned seven starters.

"Vanderbilt should know they got beat by a very good team," MTSU coach Andy McCollum told reporters.

Truth is, Vandy, not MTSU, looks like the program only two years removed from Division I-AA status. That isn't promising news for Widenhofer, who has just 13 wins in 45 games and already has been warned by Vandy president and football junkie Gordon Gee (Gee was at Ohio State), as well as athletic director Todd Turner, to show improvement. . . or else.

Good luck. Vandy is likely headed to its 19th consecutive losing season, what with a schedule that includes games against Alabama, at Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgia, at South Carolina, at Florida and at Tennessee.

About the only good news for Vandy was the return of linebacker Luke Hammond. Hammond is the guy who fell 120 feet down a dormitory elevator shaft last year -- and lived to tell about it.

10. Welcome Back
Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner has a smile cramp now that his favorite receiver, Brandon Lloyd, is back after missing all of last season with a broken leg. Lloyd celebrated his return to the lineup with 8 catches for 178 yards and two touchdowns.

9. Check the Documents
Cal wide receiver Derek Swafford caught two passes for 41 yards in the Bears' opener, which isn't that interesting, except that the former Pittsburgh Pirates minor league player is 26. Oddly enough, that still makes his six years younger than Little Leaguer Danny Almonte.

8. Oklahoma is OK
"They got a good chance to be national champions again," said Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry of Oklahoma. DeBerry would know, especially watching the Sooners beat his Zoomies, 44-3, and keep Air Force out of the end zone for the first time in 70 games.

Air Force's clever little option attack didn't have a chance against OU's speed. Everybody talks about strong safety Roy Williams -- and with good reason -- but free safety Brandon Everage (12 tackles) nearly knocked the lightning bolts off some Zoomie helmets.

"Exceptional," said OU coach Bob Stoops.

Stoops likes that word. On quarterback Nate Hybl, who went 14-of-31 for 161 yards (and it should have been more -- four drops by OU receivers): "I thought [he] was exceptional."

Hybl, who replaces golden child Josh Heupel, took some heat after OU's season-opening win against North Carolina. This time Stoops handed him a game ball.

"He was fine," said Stoops. "He doesn't pay attention to everybody's analysis. Just because everything is written and said doesn't mean it's so."

7. Michael Who?
No longer Michael Vick's quarterback caddy, Virginia Tech's Grant Noel made his starting debut against an admittedly crummy Connecticut team and put up some impressive numbers. In fact, if you compare the first full games of Noel and Vick, Noel actually had a better start -- sort of.

Noel vs. UConn: 16-of-20 for 267 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 carries for 6 yards. And he did it with essentially a rebuilt offensive line (four new fulltime starters).

Vick vs. Clemson: 7-of-16 for 88 yards, 3 interceptions, 12 carries for 41 yards. UConn is no Clemson. It's barely a Division I-A program, what with this being only the Huskies' second season at the adults' table. But Tech coach Frank Beamer got what he wanted out of Noel in a little more than 2 1/2-quarters' worth of play out of his quarterback: improved accuracy (he completed eight consecutive passes at one point), mistakes kept at a minimum (no interceptions), and some sort of leadership presence. He got all three from Noel, who helped guide the Hokies to their fifth-highest offensive output in school history.

Not so comforting to watch was star running back Lee Suggs (12 carries, 99 yards, 2 touchdowns) limp off with a torn ligament in his left knee. There goes his web site, his Heisman chances and his season. Backups Keith Burnell and true freshman Kevin Jones, who broke Penn State's heart by signing with Tech, finished things up.

6. Heisman Hype
Moving up: Toledo's Chester Taylor, Oklahoma's Quentin Griffin, UCLA's DeShaun Foster, Miami's Ken Dorsey, Louisville's Dave Ragone, Florida's Rex Grossman, Boston College's William Green, Oregon's Joey Harrington.
Staying same: Clemson's Woodrow Dantzler, Northwestern's Damien Anderson, Oregon's Ken Simonton.
Slipping fast: Nebraska's Eric Crouch, UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas (4-16 for 40 yards and 3 interceptions on national TV pretty much kill his Heisman chances. We give him a slight benefit of the doubt because of August-caliber football and his 103 rushing yards).
Thanks for stopping by the booth: Virginia Tech's Lee Suggs. Get well soon.

5. You Heard It Here First
Don't laugh, but one of the most intriguing games on the Sept. 8 schedule is none other than Toledo at Temple.

You and the Big Ten know all about Toledo. But Temple, which is being forced out the Big East Conference door after years of dreadful football (two 4-win seasons since 1990), actually has a legitimate chance at a bowl game. The Owls have 20 returning starters, beat Navy in their season opener and, given their schedule, could have four or five of the necessary six wins for bowl eligibility by mid-October.

4. Colorado Intrigue
Gary Barnett bashing is officially suspended now that the Buffs have ended a two-game losing streak with a 41-14 whooping of Colorado State. Not so clear is the situation involving heralded running back Marcus Houston and the school's long-time media athletics information director.

It's a murky story, but good guy Dave Plati apparently popped off to a national TV reporter about Houston's practice and playing status. The Houston family blew a medium-sized gasket, prompting Barnett to issue a terse statement saying, in part, that Plati's comments "misrepresented us completely." That led to a contrite letter of apology from Plati to the Houstons and CU athletic director Dick Tharp.

3. Positively Quacky
This one comes courtesy of Rocky Mountain News writer B.G. Brooks, who noticed that the Oregon Ducks have a linebacker named Wesly Mallard.

2. The Little Things
Classy move by Stoops at game's end. First he points his team to the OU section of Falcon Stadium, where the players acknowledge the huge Sooner contingent by raising their helmets in appreciation. Then, as the Falcon band begins to play the Air Force alma mater, he stops his team and asks it to quiet the Sooner faithful. That done, he and his team wait patiently until the Air Force band completes the song before moving toward the OU locker room.

One Hack's Weekly Elite
1. Miami (1-0), 2. Oklahoma (2-0), 3. UCLA (1-0), 4. Florida (1-0), 5. Oregon (1-0), 6. Florida State (1-0), 7. Virginia Tech (1-0), 8. Nebraska (2-0), 9. Tennessee (1-0), 10. Georgia Tech (2-0).
Waiting list: Louisville (2-0), Clemson (1-0), Toledo (1-0), Texas (1-0), Fresno State (2-0).

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Movers and Shakers appears each Monday. E-mail him at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.