Four weeks in and after the dust has settled on this weekend's action, there's a few things we're starting to figure out. Here's a quick look at who's worth buying long-term and who's having ... not so good a start.
STOCK WAY UP — Alabama/Clemson, Part III. The Tide and Tigers have shown no reasons why they won't meet yet again for the national title. Alabama's complete and total domination of Vanderbilt reminded us that Nick Saban still hasn't lost a step, 'Bama's defense can reload after injuries with relative ease and that one should never taunt the top-ranked team in the land; it makes things much, much worse.
As for Clemson, they had little trouble with Boston College, as expected. What was beyond impressive was their performance at Louisville. The Tigers had the bullseye on their backs, on the road, against the defending Heisman winner and a Cardinals team seeking revenge. Clemson's throttling of Louisville sent a clear message. Even without DeShaun Watson, the Tigers are a force.
STOCK UP — Penn State in the CFB playoff. This is not going to be a year in which Ohio State sneaks in over a team which beat them, won their division and conference. If Penn State repeats as Big Ten champions, the Lions are in. The score might not reflect it, but going into Iowa on a Saturday night and winning on the last play of the game was huge for the Nittany Lions. Saquon Barkley is the real deal and, for now, so is Penn State.
STOCK DOWN — Nebraska Coach Mike Riley. The Huskers don't remind anyone of the powerful Nebraska teams of the Tom Osborne era. The aura surrounding Lincoln has faded and that's not going to cut it with Husker boosters. Furthermore, when your supportive AD gets sacked, you know who's next on the food chain. It will take quite the immediate turnaround to keep the status quo going at Nebraska.
STOCK UP — Jeff Brohm's and Scott Frost's agents. Purdue lost to Michigan and still garnered respect. The Boilers are no longer a pushover and Brohm is going to get a big extension pretty fast to keep him in West Lafayette. Meanwhile, if Nebraska doesn't make a run at Scott Frost, someone will. What he's done at UCF has been spectacular and he'll be in the Power Five pretty soon, if not next season.
STOCK UP — TCU. The fact anyone could come into Stillwater and slow down Oklahoma State's offense is very, very impressive. If things play out right, TCU-Oklahoma could have some serious national implications. And there's not a chance I'd count the Horned Frogs out, either. Kenny Hill seems to have matured and with a defense to match, that's not a team I'd want to face.
STOCK DOWN — The SEC East (except Georgia). Unless Florida pulls something amazing in Jacksonville, the showdown in Atlanta seems to be Tide/Bulldogs. Kirby Smart and Georgia have done a great job so far. As for the rest of the division, it hasn't looked all that impressive, save South Carolina's great opening win over NC State. Losing Deebo Samuel really hurt them, though. Missouri looks awful. Florida looks okay, but not great. Kentucky looked good, yet still can't beat Florida. Vandy looked okay until Alabama. As for Tennessee, one needs only to see that they needed to hang on against UMass to realize the situation in Knoxville isn't all that rosy.
STOCK UP — Virginia. Anyone have the Cavaliers going to the Smurf Turf at Boise State and routing the Broncos? Anyone? No? Now you know why their stock is up. Bronco Mendenhall has UVA at 3-1 right now. It may not be a quick turnaround, but it definitely seems as if Virginia is on the right track.
STOCK DOWN — A quiet coaching carousel in the SEC. Let's name the coaches on cold seats: Kirby Smart, Dan Mullen, Will Muschamp, Mark Stoops, and Derek Mason. Then it gets fairly uncomfortable. Ole Miss is definitely getting a new coach next season. Butch Jones has a scorching seat at Tennessee. Bret Bielema has a big buyout, but his seat's on fire nevertheless. Kevin Sumlin helped his cause yesterday but his seat's still plenty hot. The natives are restless with Gus Malzahn at Auburn, though his rout of Mizzou helped. Speaking of Mizzou, Barry Odom isn't winning over the masses. The natives are grumbling at LSU and Florida, though both Orgeron and Jim McElwain likely are safe this year.
STOCK WAY UP — Apple Cup. Washington and Washington State should be one awesome football game, maybe the best game in the Pac-12 all season. Chris Petersen has done a great job building the Huskies and give Washington State credit for giving Mike Leach the time to build the Cougars back into winners again. That game could decide the Pac-12 North. Regardless, it'll be one of the most anticipated games to be played this season.
STOCK DOWN — Florida State. It's been a strange, rough season already for the 0-2 Seminoles. I wouldn't put too much stock into it; there's a lot of talent down in Tallahassee and they'll likely rebound fairly quickly. However, when you go from third in the preseason to unranked four weeks later, it's a season that most in Seminole country weren't expecting and already are disappointed.
There's a lot of football still to be played and, without question, there will be some volatile moves up and down for a lot of teams. The drama already this season though is definitely high, with some intrigue still to come.
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