20. A Soapbox Moment
Mississippi State thought it had a chance to make some national noise this season and it still can, despite owning the clubhouse lead for Most Disappointing Team of the Year. The Bulldogs are 2-5, have been shut out twice and are so low in the SEC West standings that they can see the Earth's core.

Despite all that, coach Jackie Sherrill and the fellas hold the fate of Bowl Championship Series credibility in their little cowbell-stained hands. Come Dec. 1 at Starkville, Mississippi State plays BYU, the long strand of hair in the BCS bowl of soup. Beat the Cougars, who should be 11-0 by then, and Sherrill will likely get congratulatory telegrams from every BCS bigfoot in the country. But if BYU defeats the Bulldogs, then runs the regular season schedule with a win at Hawaii -- and doesn't receive a BCS bowl invitation and the $11-million-plus check that comes with it -- oh, boy, it's going to get ugly.

Judging by our recent e-mail, BYU followers are a teensy-weensy cranky about the BCS situation. Some of the e-mailers detail their objections with valid and thoughtful responses. Others sound like folks who have a season ticket package for the Jerry Springer Show.

The bottom line is this: they think any team that finishes 13-0, has the highest-scoring offense in the country and plays in a legitimate conference such as the Mountain West ought to have a seat at the BCS adults' table.

Whatever the case, this will be Mississippi State's bowl game. The game against the Cougars was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, but in a strange way this seems better -- obviously not because of the circumstances leading to the schedule change, but because of the built-in drama of the Dec. 1 get-together.

19. Soapbox -- Part II
You can't ignore the numbers produced by new coach Gary Crowton's offense. BYU has lapped the Mountain West field when it comes to points scored. Touchdowns have been thrown to 11 different Cougar players -- an astounding number. Twenty different players have caught at least one pass. Running back Luke Staley now owns the school record for career touchdowns, seemingly all of them coming against Colorado State last Thursday evening. Senior Brandon Doman fits nicely in the long line of BYU quarterback royalty.

After the 56-34 win against the Rams, there were "B-S-C" chants from the Cougars' home crowd. Someone held up a sign that read, "Kiss My Strength of Schedule." A few days earlier, top QB prospect Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks, Calif., had committed to Crowton. So the folks in Provo were feeling a little saucy.

But these problematic facts still remain:
The BYU strength of schedule still reeks which, like it or not, is going to continue to cripple the Cougars in the BCS Standings. Beating up on 2-6 Wyoming this Saturday isn't going to help.

As impressive as the Cougars' offense has been (694 total yards, 9.6 yards per play against CSU's Sonny Lubick -- and Sonny knows a little something about defense), the Cougars' defense has been a football punchline.

Colorado State, which scored exactly zero points offensively against Louisville a month ago, amassed nearly 600 yards against BYU. At the end I expected a voice to say, "EA Sports."

The Rams overcame a 21-0 BYU lead and who knows what might have happened had they not fumbled a pitch on what appeared to be a clear path to the end zone, or if the MWC officiating crew of Larry, Moe and Curly hadn't disallowed an obvious CSU touchdown catch.

And did you see CSU sophomore Bradlee Van Pelt, who reminds us of the longhair quarterback in "Remember The Titans," run over BYU linebacker Justin Ena? Ena outweighs Van Pelt by 40 or so pounds, but it was the middle linebacker who went backwards. Had Van Pelt tried that against, say, Oklahoma, they'd be notifying Bradlee's next of kin.

This isn't to say BYU doesn't deserve a BCS spot if it goes 13-0. But let's be serious: Nebraska would strap the Cougars' defense to a dust mop, spray a little Pledge on it and clean a stadium floor with BYU. If Colorado State can rush for 440 yards against BYU, what do you think Eric Crouch and the Big Red Machine might do if properly motivated? And as much as we admired Doman and Staley's performances, you have to wonder what OU or the Black Shirts of Nebraska, or Miami would do.

Which brings us back to the original point: BYU would like the chance to find out. Will it get it? Not if Mississippi State wins its bowl game.

18. Good Timing Award
And the tri-winners are. . . ESPN, East Carolina and TCU.

Could there have been a worse night to trot out those ol' Conference USA powerhouses for a rare Tuesday evening appearance? Not too much was going on, only the World Series (and those maddening "The Tick Is Coming" virtual ads behind home plate), Michael Jordan's NBA return and a PBS special on the aloe plant.

Good game. Bad time slot.

17. Welcome Back
We were all ready with our Heinz Field joke ("Heinz Field is the place where Pitt always plays ketchup."), but that was before the Panthers stunned Virginia Tech and finally played like a team picked to finish in the upper reaches of the Big East. The 3-5 Panthers still have hope for bowl eligibility (at Rutgers, at West Virginia, UAB), but only if last year's Biletnikoff winner Antonio Bryant makes more than a cameo appearance each week.

Bryant had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns against the Hokies. In his previous seven games (two of which he was hobbled with an ankle injury), Bryant had 20 receptions.

16. Players of the Week
The entire starting offenses and defenses for Arkansas and Ole Miss.

In an NCAA-first seven-overtime game won by the Razorbacks, 58-56, Arkansas and Ole Miss combined for 198 total plays, compared to, say, the 132 offensive plays run in Tennessee's win against Notre Dame earlier in the day. The game lasted a little more than four hours, or the equivalent of three innings of Saturday night's World Series blowout. So tired were the Razorbacks that they could barely muster a postgame celebration. All they wanted was a hot shower, their binkies and nap time. Even the crowd was exhausted.

This was one of the most compelling games we've seen in years. Thirty-four points were scored in regulation, an amazing 80 points scored in overtime. True freshman quarterback Matt Jones, who must have been hell on wheels at Northside High in Fort Smith, Ark., is a bizarre combination of speed (4.4-4.5), size (6-5) and running style (slithers, leans, falls forward). Ole Miss is still trying to tackle him. And Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Eli Manning did everything he could, throwing for six TDs and 312 yards. Now if he can just tell his old man Archie to lose the goofy cap, glasses and yellow headset radio -- he looked like Woody Allen gone mad. That said, we'll give him credit for sitting in the stands, not some stadium luxury box.

Runners-up:
Luke Staley, BYU.
Quick, name all the great running backs in BYU history (Provo and Salt Lake City residents not eligible for this contest). Staley, only a junior, qualifies because of his career TD total, his speed, versatility and this season to remember. He had seven touchdowns and gained 479 yards in 10 games last year. He had 196 yards and five touchdowns against Colorado State, 1,092 yards and 19 TDs in all. Keep this up and he might become only the third BYU tailback since 1972 to be chosen in the NFL draft.

Antwaan Randle El, Indiana
The Hoosier QB now owns the only set of keys to the 40-40 Club. After Saturday's win over Northwestern, the senior now has 40 TDs passing and 40 rushing TDs. Amazing.

T.J. Duckett, Michigan State.
The Spartans bruiser had 211 yards and the game-winning TD catch against Michigan, which entered the weekend as the nation's No. 1 rushing defense.

Rohan Davey, LSU
Five-hundred-plus yards, even against Bama's secondary, is worth a pat on the helmet.

Lamont Thompson, Washington State.
The Cougars defensive back had a school-record four interceptions in the win against UCLA.

Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech.
An impressive 38 of 46 for 303 yards and no interceptions in upset of Texas A&M. Beat Okie State this Saturday and the Red Raiders are bowl eligible.

Honorable Mention
The Michigan State scoreboard timekeeper.
Suffered a finger stinger with a second remaining in the game.

Joey Harrington, Oregon
Harrington's six TD and 319 yards night puts him back in the Heisman-race and the Ducks back in BCS-bowl mix.
15. Coach of the Week
Houston Nutt, Arkansas.
Makes NCAA and Arkansas history: first 7 OT game, first-ever win for Razorbacks at Oxford. Made some brilliant calls in OT, helped by some brilliant plays by Jones.

Honorable Mention
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and defensive coordinator Greg McMackin.
Shut out Aggies for first time since 1983.

14. Rumor of the Week
If BYU finishes undefeated and gets aced out of a BCS bowl, don't be surprised if someone (a MWC-MAC-WAC tag team?) starts making sounds about hiring lawyers and exploring litigation. Just what college football needs -- a courtroom playoff system.

13. Bring Your Seatbacks and Tray Tables to a Full and Upright Position
Fresno State won't be getting frequent flyer miles for its recent Aloha Airlines charter flight from California to Honolulu. According to airline employees and officials, parts of the coach cabin resembled a "war zone." There was soda poured into some of the seat pockets, sunflower seeds in air vents, food smashed into the carpeting.

And this was before the Bulldogs lost to Hawaii.

No cleaning or repair bill was presented to Fresno State officials, though the airline should have considered playing a radio rebroadcast of the Bulldogs' 38-34 loss to the Warriors on the flight back to the mainland.

12. Stat of the Week
Nebraska is No. 1 in the BCS Standings and the No. 1 choice of soon-to-be dead people.

According to sales figures of Collegiate Memorials, a Macon, Ga.-based casket company, 19 Cornhusker-decorated caskets have been sold to Nebraska funeral homes. The company sells caskets featuring the school insignia of 46 different schools. School exterior colors are extra.

Bringing new meaning to the term, "they live and die with their team," North Carolina caskets are the second most popular purchase (13 have been sold). Next is Georgia (9), Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.

11. Quote of the Week
"Ridiculous. Worst call I've ever seen in my life. I wish college refs could get fined."
-- Colorado State senior wide receiver Pete Rebstock to reporters about a 14-yard touchdown catch that was later ruled an incompletion by the MWC officiating crew.

Two comments: Rebstock is lucky college players can't get fined. . . He was right; it was a brutal call.

Honorable Mention
Remember this little doozy from Fresno coach Pat Hill after the loss to Hawaii? "I guarantee you something: We're going to win the next five games."

So far Hill is 1-0. The Bulldogs beat Rice Saturday, but still need help to overcome Louisiana Tech in the WAC standings.

10. The Hype
Julius Peppers' no-sack, no-tackles-for-losses, two-assists-effort in the loss against Georgia Tech should put an end to all that talk about him becoming a Heisman candidate. It was a nice idea coming out of Chapel Hill and we love the guy, but there's a reason why the trophy features a guy carrying the ball rather than someone tackling the guy carrying the ball.

Peppers is a top 1-2-3 NFL pick waiting to happen ("And he doesn't even know what he's doing yet," a NFL scout told me.), but it's damn near impossible to win the Heisman if you're on the wrong side of scrimmage. Now if he spent some time at tight end we could talk.

If anybody other than Peppers should be considered, it's Oklahoma safety Roy Williams, or possibly Sooners linebacker Rocky Calmus. The notion is seconded by OU coach Bob Stoops.

Asked if a defensive player could win a Heisman, Stoops said, "You would think so and I think it would be great."

His criteria: Winning team, great defense, big plays in big games. In last month's win against Texas, Stoops recited exactly what he meant. In a three-play span, Williams forced a turnover that resulted in a touchdown, then made a tackle on the ensuing kickoff, then intercepted a pass.

Yeah, that qualifies.

9. Keep the Change
LSU is doing the right thing by dropping the Utah States of the world from its non-conference schedule and guaranteeing a spot for a Division I-A instate school for the next eight years.

The four-school rotation will begin with Louisiana-Lafayette next year and will continue with Louisiana-Monroe, Tulane and Louisiana Tech. "If the $400,000 for the game doesn't go to Troy State, San Jose or somewhere else and stays in Louisiana instead, I like that," LSU athletic director Skip Bertman told reporters.

Sure he does. The four other instate schools get a slice of LSU's financial pie, and LSU gets four opponents with a combined record of 11-23 this season. A win-win.

8. Mr. Perspective
Newish Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, fresh from his spectacular successes at Houston (pause for laugh track), has an interesting sense of timing. Gladchuk fired Charlie Weatherbie last Sunday, saying the Midshipmen "clearly need a new perspective."

Maybe while they're looking someone can find one for Gladchuk.

Navy is 0-7, which was the exact same record as Houston entering this weekend's play. With the exception of the 70-7 blowout by Georgia Tech, the Midshipmen have played hard and, considering the post-Sept. 11 circumstances, they've played with pride.

This apparently wasn't enough for Gladchuk, who figured it was anchors aweigh-time for Weatherbie. Never mind he could have waited a month and given Weatherbie a measure of dignity before he was pink slipped. After all, it isn't as if this is going to mean the difference between a BCS bowl and home for the holidays. And did Gladchuk ever think the Midshipmen might have a few other things on their minds these days?

Weatherbie left with a 30-45 record, an Aloha Bowl victory in 1996, and his reputation intact. Yeah, the one win in his last 18 games sealed Weatherbie's fate, but Navy, of all places, should have given him the chance to finish the season.

7. Hard Feelings
Nobody enjoyed Tennessee's win against Notre Dame more than Vols quarterback Casey Clausen, who iced the game with a late fourth-quarter touchdown run.

Clausen says he had always dreamed of playing for the Irish (he even attended Notre Dame's football camp in the summer of 1999), but never received much of a recruiting whiff from the ND coaching staff. In fact, Clausen says Irish offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers started spreading the word that the California QB couldn't play major college football. That would explain why Clausen spent much of Saturday's postgame interview sessions repeating the same phrase: "This game was personal."

Rogers says he never ripped Clausen -- not then, not now. If anything, he said, Clausen's dropback talents fit much better at Tennessee than they would at semi-option oriented Notre Dame. Sounds right.

Meanwhile, if the Clausen family was upset about the supposed snub, they didn't show it. Clausen's father, Jim, couldn't be more complimentary of the treatment by ND coach Bob Davie.

Doesn't matter. Clausen got his revenge, Tennessee got a tough road victory.

"You got a tough nut for a son," said Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer to the Clausens.

6. Tennessee -- Part II
The schizo Vols still have an outside shot at a BCS championship appearance, though they'll need lots of help. In UT's favor: a November schedule that features Notre Dame, Memphis, Kentucky and Vanderbilt (combined 10-22) and a history of success in the month. Is a 61-3 November record since 1985 any good?

5. The Hype -- Part II
Boston College sent out its first wave of flyers pushing tailback William Green for all-America, the Doak Walker Award and, without saying it, the Heisman. Green deserves the consideration. He entered the weekend as the nation's second-leading rusher and is the first BC player to rush for 1,000-plus yards in consecutive seasons.

Green's Heisman hopes rest with this Saturday's nationally televised game against Miami. Put up some solid numbers against the Hurricanes and he might join UM quarterback Ken Dorsey on the Heisman short list. Do a belly flop and BC will save a lot on future postage.

4. Upon Further Review
Think Michigan coach Lloyd Carr was pleased with the timekeeper and the Big Ten officiating crew working the game at East Lansing Saturday?

Carr, fresh from watching the Wolverines lose their fourth game in five tries at Michigan State, was fuming about the last play of the 26-24 defeat. Somehow the Spartans were able to were to unpile, get into a formation, get set, snap the ball and spike the ball in just 11 seconds -- leaving one precious second on the clock. On the next play Jeff Smoker threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Duckett for the victory.

The postgame exchange:

Carr: "I'm very proud of our football team. I'm very proud of the effort they gave."

Were the Wolverines the victim of bad officiating?

"They deserve better," Carr said of his team.

Did he feel cheated?

"They deserve better," he repeated.

Maybe, maybe not. Michigan committed some late knucklehead penalties, including a personal foul after a MSU incompletion on fourth down, and an illegal participation call with 44 seconds left.

3. Heisman Trophy Race
Bring a coat and tie to the Downtown Athletic Club: Miami's Ken Dorsey, Nebraska's Eric Crouch, Boston College's William Green, Oregon's Joey Harrington, Florida's Rex Grossman.
Moving up: Fresno State's David Carr, Michigan's Marquise Walker.
Staying same: Illinois' Kurt Kittner, Texas' Chris Simms.
Slipping: Tennessee's Travis Stephens, UCLA's DeShaun Foster, Clemson's Woodrow Dantzler.
Thanks for stopping by the booth: No victims.

2. Whatever Happened To. . .
. . . Rutgers?

We knew first-year coach Greg Schiano, a Jersey boy and former whiz-kid defensive coordinator at Miami, would have some heavy lifting to do. After all, the Scarlet Knights had won a grand total of 11 games in the previous five seasons.

But despite the preseason optimism, the solid recruiting class, the clever commercials with the Sopranos guy, Rutgers is setting the wrong kind of records. The latest embarrassment was an 80-7 loss at West Virginia, which gave the Scarlet Knights the rare 0-13 combo: 13 consecutive Big East defeats, 13 consecutive losses at Morgantown. And in a related number, the beating was the worst defeat for the program in 113 years.

Right now about the only thing separating the Big East from the MWC is Miami, Syracuse, Boston College and the Rocky Mountains.

A rundown: Virginia Tech has lost two in a row and looked especially terrible against Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh beats the Hokies and is still 3-5. Temple is 3-5. West Virginia is 3-5. And then there is 2-6 Rutgers, who had six turnovers against the Mountaineers. . . in the first half. Scarlet Knights quarterback Ryan Cubit completed as many passes to West Virginia players as he did his own -- four apiece. In all, Rutgers has been outscored, 245-29, in Big East play.

Meanwhile, the Big East is booting Temple -- a program that has one more win than Rutgers in the same 5-year period -- out of the league come 2004. In its place will be Connecticut, which beat Rutgers this season. Go figure.

One Hack's Weekly Elite
Honorary No. 1: U.S. Postal Service.
1. Nebraska: Schizo K-State is next for Crouch and Children of the Corn.
2. Miami: Hurricanes begin toughest stretch of schedule with trip to B.C.
3. Oklahoma: Sooners defense shouldn't have problem with Texas A&M.
4. Texas: Bevo is huge Aggie fan this week, Red Raider fan next week.
5. Florida: Now the hard part: at S. Carolina, home vs. FSU, Tennessee.
6. Oregon: Joey Ballgame is money. Faces suddenly ordinary UCLA.
7. Tennessee: Vols have it relatively easy until Dec. 1 game vs. Florida.
8. BYU: Former Chicago Bears coach Crowton could use Bears defense.
9. Washington: We believe! Huskies have won 6 games in final period.
10. Washington State: Finish season at Ariz. State, then biggie at U-Dub.
Waiting list: Syracuse, Illinois, Michigan, Florida State, Maryland.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Movers and Shakers appears each Sunday during the college football season. E-mail him at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.