Dealing and Reeling

Eight months ago, Mark Sanchez announced his intent to enter the NFL draft. Now he's the cool, collected, and productive leader of the best team in the AFC East (I'm sorry, New England just isn't that good of a team right now). And his school, USC, is making another case for the "if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks" axiom.

You'll now understand why Pete Carroll was a bit surly that day back in mid-January.

USC's offense, despite returning nine starters, looks like something even Jim Tressel would call a bit vanilla. Matt Barkley, out of the Washington game with an injury, did show some Sanchezian poise in the win at Ohio State and may be as special as USC believes he is. But after watching Aaron Corp struggle against Washington, it stands to reason that the true freshman's promotion to the starting role was driven as much by Aaron Corp (who couldn't have been more comfortable in Washington if he had played in a brazier) as by his own exploits.

Then again, the quarterback situation at USC is merely one of several emerging storylines emerging in the college football landscape.

USC: Superpower in a slight down year culminating in Rose Bowl berth, or in real trouble?

This much is not debatable: USC version '09, right now, does not have the aura of previous editions. The offense is pretty constricted at the moment, allowing defenses to clog the short routes and running game. As a result, the Trojans haven't scored 20 points in a game against not-San Jose State yet this year. Roadies against Cal, Oregon, and Notre Dame stack up for a schedule that won't do it any favors in the next month.

But while no longer prohibitive favorites in the Pac-10, USC isn't dead yet. The reloaded defense is again a serious force, and the offense is not wanting for talent; just an identity, experience at QB, reduced turnovers in key situations, and a semblance confidence. A shot at a national title at this point remains a distant long-shot, but if they can sneak through the rough month ahead with a shot at a Pac-10 title, you still have to believe a Pete Carroll-led team will improve markedly. Remember, this is still a man that has not lost in November. In eight years.

Another loss or two in September/October, however, might render that stat moot.

So who is the emerging team that could do damage on a national level?

How 'bout another private school urban beach city football powerhouse? The No. 9 Miami Hurricanes Florida State team (which went on to embarrass No. 7 BYU in Provo). Then they mauled then No. 14 Georgia Tech. They still recruit in that football haven in Florida, and Urban Meyer can't recruit everyone. The U is the only team that has beaten two ranked teams already. Heck, No. 4 Ole Miss only has two ranked teams on the entire schedule. Ditto No. 5 Penn State. No. 3 Alabama has two left after beating Virginia Tech in the opener. Miami should be ranked ahead of all of these teams if body of work means anything.

If the Hurricanes survive a visit to Lane Stadium against Virginia Tech (which, as usual, looks good but not elite), they will be heading into a huge showdown when they host Oklahoma a week later (if lucky, with Sam Bradford still watching in street clothes). After that, their masochistic schedule becomes a notably more manageable smorgasbord of ACC mediocrity. But this is a very talented team under Randy Shannon's regime which seems to be just hitting its stride at the helm of a sleeping giant of a program.

And perhaps most importantly, they possess the answer to the next question.

With Sam Bradford's seat in New York opened up, what outliers have stepped into the Heisman race?

Without any stat-padding cupcake opponents to fatten on at the start of the season, Jacory Harris has 5 touchdowns and 649 yards passing in two games. His completion percentage is 69.5. Those stats extrapolate to about 4,200 yards and 35 TDs over the course of 13 games (including an ACC title game) and would probably be plenty to get him a ticket to the Downtown Athletic Club.

But that's only the half of it. The 6'4" sophomore has got a rocket-launcher attached to his right shoulder, and a slick, cool demeanor in the pocket. He's already posted multiple comeback wins on the resume, and in the Florida State game led the Hurricanes back from second half deficits three times.

Sounds like an emerging candidate to me.

Is there another one? Maybe a non-quarterback?

With Heisman candidates, non-quarterback generally means running back. And the best one going in the country right now is Jahvid Best. (Even money whether "best being the best" or some [Eli] Manning to [Mario] Manningham joke will be the most irritating cliché to develop this football season.) He's averaging 7.8 yards per carry, has at least 131 yards in each of his three games, and has 8 touchdowns already. While the opponents haven't been the dominating type, Minnesota and Maryland are at least BCS conference opponents. He's not just romping on the local high school team.

On top of that, at this point you have to regard Cal as the favorite in the Pac-10. Oregon and USC have hardly looked impressive, and the Bears, while they threaten this every year, finally look like a legit top-10 team. Plus, they get USC at home.

The team that we thought sucked that might actually be pretty good?

Washington. Like Duke last year, the Huskies are breaking in a new regime with tempered expectations. You know, the kind of expectations that come with 14-game losing streaks. But Steve Sarkesian has the Huskies playing their tails off, and the stadium by the Sound is rocking again after an earth-shattering win over USC. Granted, USC didn't exactly play to its No. 3 handicap, but on the other side, Washington has now gone toe-to-toe with LSU and USC. It would stand to reason that the rest of the Pac-10 will have some problems in Seattle, as well. And if stud QB Jake Locker can get Washington even close to a bowl game, this season has to be considered a massive success and an awakening of a once powerful program.

Honorable mention to Michigan, which crushed a pair of directional Michigan schools and beat Notre Dame. Stop laughing; last year out of conference, Michigan lost to Utah, Notre Dame, and Toledo, and beat Miami by 10. Miami, Ohio, that is. But another lesson in giving coaches a chance to get their system into place (and he's ahead of schedule): Rich Rodriguez has his spread offense rolling up 270 rushing yards per game. Don't be surprised to see this team making noise in the Big Ten. Not that it's that difficult a task.

The team we thought would be good that actually is not very good at all?

Notre Dame was campaigning heavily for this slot until they came back against Michigan State. Supposedly an improved team from a year ago abetted by a borderline criminally easy schedule was theoretically going to set them up for a 10-win season. Losses to both Michigan schools would have been devastating. Then again, having to desperately scramble to beat a team that lost to Central Michigan might not be the type of coup that indicates the Irish are ready for the big time. So for now, we need to go ahead and keep expectations set on mediocrity.

In other news, most teams haven't played teams that would truly reveal their colors yet, so the trophy hasn't been engraved just yet.

Is the Big East really a league?

Probably not. This conference has one ranked team. The class of the conference is defending champ Cincinnati. Granted, the Bearcats have the best quarterback you've never heard of in Tony Pike (923 yards, 70.8 completion percentage, 8 TDs in three games) and have a respectable OOC win over Oregon State (regularly a quiet nine-win team that does, however, start notoriously slow). But the Bearcats are hardly a team you're excited to see in the BCS. And the next best win in the conference so far this year is Syracuse over Northwestern. Excuse me, I just yawned so hard I think I pulled something.

Then again, the Big Ten isn't much better. The best out of conference wins in the entire conference are home wins by Iowa and Michigan over Arizona and Notre Dame, respectively. Some real statement games.

Meanwhile the Mountain West and WAC have better wins on the resume than any team in these two conferences combined. BYU beat Oklahoma. Boise State beat Oregon. Memo to teams in conferences that complain about getting slighted in the media: you have to go out and beat a team from another conference before you try to tell anyone that your conference isn't softer than a down pillow.

And memo to the BCS committee: we really need to re-evaluate these automatic BCS berths. Not just for conferences that should be getting them. But for those that shouldn't.

Top 10

Despite my belief that their shouldn't be one before October, here we go.

1. Florida — Call me guilty of buying the hype. But too much is back from the national champs to discount them.

2. Texas — Win over Texas Tech just convincing enough to raise questions.

3. Miami — As noted, the best body of work so far. You could argue them for number one.

4. Alabama — Subdued Virginia Tech. But Virginia Tech is not Miami, as we'll find this week.

5. Cal — Maybe we're overrating them again like every other year since 2006. Maybe not. But they've done more than most teams above them in the polls.

6. Mississippi — Solid team, no doubt. But they have played nobody. The only SEC team with a schedule weaker than Florida's.

7. LSU — Husky Stadium is a tough place to play and they came out with a win. That LSU defense gave up a lot of yards, though, while extending Washington's losing streak to 15.

8. Penn State — Another weak schedule that has revealed nothing. Top of the waste pile in the Big Ten, though. So that counts for something. Right?

9. Boise State — Forget conferences. This is a very good football team. Too bad the schedule after the Oregon opener won't let them prove it. Toughest games left are at Hawaii and at Tulsa.

10. Oklahoma — If Bradford comes back, this is still quite a talented team. But lose to Miami in a couple weeks and that could mean an exit from the top 10.