Some kind of madness

Ah, college football. What did we do to deserve such riches? The insanity of Georgia – Auburn, the surprisingly tightness of Alabama – Mississippi State, the Stanford – USC upset… it was another glorious weekend in The One True Sport. The midweek primers were just as fun, netting us the entertaining Ball State – NIU showdown and some Friday weirdness with Washington and UCLA. In all, it was enough to make up one of the best weeks of the season.

Early Saturday brought a glut of awful Big Ten blowouts and it appeared we were headed for a forgettable day. Then came Central Florida’s delightful comeback at Temple and we were off and running. The Knights’ dream season looked to be on the verge of collapse against the single-win Owls before J.J. Worton made a spectacular one-handed catch to tie the score at 36 with a minute to play. Then, in the blink of an eye, UCF got a stop, a defensive breakdown and the game-winning field goal. Just like that, the Knights’ BCS aspirations were saved. And that wasn’t the end of the excitement by a long shot.

Kansas ended its 27-game conference losing streak against West Virginia. North Carolina survived Pitt thanks to two punt return touchdowns from Ryan Switzer. Maryland knocked off Virginia Tech in overtime, which meant Duke’s win over Miami (FL) could end up sending Duke (yes, Duke!) to the ACC Championship. Washington State won at Arizona, which could send the Cougars back to the postseason for the first time in more than a decade. Michigan and Northwestern battled through four quarters and three overtimes of a field-goal fest before the Wolverines scored the winning TD. Kansas State won a wild, back-and-forth game with TCU. Then there was Georgia – Auburn.

First off, has any upperclassman quarterback done more to improve his draft stock than Aaron Murray this season? The senior’s poor record in big games was the lone black mark on his resume going into 2013. Murray has turned that criticism on its head with stellar performances all year despite an offense devastated by injuries. You had to feel for the guy Saturday. He did everything short of literally carry the team on his back (and in a pinch, he DID carry them on his back) to move the Bulldogs from 20 points down into the lead with less than a minute remaining. Then Georgia got hit with the Bluegrass Miracle 2.0. Unbelievable. Here’s the example for the next generation of defensive backs: KNOCK. IT. DOWN.

But the day was not done. None of the contenders could manage a comfortable victory, regardless of region, location or opponent quality. Louisville fought hard with Houston and finally pulled out a 20-13 win. Alabama could never get the offense going in a 20-7 win at Mississippi State. South Carolina nearly lost at home to Florida. Even Oregon and Baylor, who reached decent final margins, struggled a little against Utah and Texas Tech, respectively. At the end of the night came the upset that actually went through as USC knocked off Stanford (though this wasn’t a total shocker, which I’ll address later).

So where does this leave us? Three weeks remain in the regular season, which means the rivalry games really begin in earnest next week. This is the best time of the year for college football. Legacies of players and coaches alike will be defined in the second half of November. We’ve already seen it start with the fantastic finishes at the beginning of this month. Alabama and Florida State are still poised to meet in an epic BCS title clash, but as we’ve seen the past several weeks, you can never take anything for granted.

Top 25

1) Florida State

This was supposed to be the week when Alabama started closing the gap on FSU. Uh-uh. After yet another annihilation of an overmatched ACC opponent, the Seminoles actually increased their lead on the Tide. The off-field distractions… were not very distracting. We’ll see what happens in the future and follow the developing Jameis Winston story closely, but for now there’s no reason FSU deserves to be anywhere other than at the top of the polls.

2) Alabama

That was certainly not was I was expecting at Mississippi State, the second-worst team in the conference. Alabama, as has become distressingly common this season, couldn’t seem to ever get the offense started. It’s one thing to point out how defense is the SEC’s calling card, but I think Nick Saban would recoil at that excuse. The Crimson Tide simply don’t have quite the same caliber of offensive line as they did in 2012. I don’t think it will cost them against Auburn. FSU might be another story.

3) Ohio State

Another week, another big win that somehow raises more questions. Has this team played a truly complete game all year? There’s always something going wrong even when the Buckeyes are seemingly doing everything right. The quarterback play. The pass defense. Turnovers. The Big Ten is bad, though that’s not OSU’s problem. The problem is never looking good even when winning big. If you’re going to run through a down conference, you need to do it pretty. The Buckeyes are 22-0 under Urban Meyer and have more critics than ever.

4) Baylor

The Bears passed another test in Arlington, outgunning Texas Tech in another offensive explosion. It’s become clear the Red Raiders aren’t as good as their 7-0 start indicated but the blowout still looks good. Now comes the big one: a night game in Stillwater that will in all likelihood decide the Big 12 title. Oklahoma State has looked really good lately. Can Baylor continue to just outscore people? In this league, maybe. Underestimating the Cowboys would be a big mistake, though.

5) Oregon

It was a sluggish effort against Utah. The Ducks finally pulled away and, thanks to some help from USC, again control their own destiny in the Pac-12. Let’s be honest: neither Arizona nor Oregon State is close to Oregon’s level, but Marcus Mariota’s knee injury has thrown everything into disarray. Stanford and Utah both didn’t respect UO’s ground game without the read-option threat and future opponents will assuredly scheme the same way. Oregon is still good enough to win out, but that injury is a wild card.

6) Clemson

The Georgia Tech game was over almost as soon as it started. That leaves Clemson with a walkover against The Citadel before a season-ending trip to South Carolina. Winning out would mean a BCS bowl, but I honestly don’t know if this team can beat the Gamecocks. Carolina has won the last three, including games when the Tigers were favored. The up-tempo spread-‘em-out Clemson uses doesn’t seem to fare well against superior athletes on the other side. A loss would also erase the ACC’s goodwill from beating Georgia in the opener.

7) Missouri

I still have questions about Missouri, because the schedule has really been pretty light for the SEC. The Tigers’ big win is over a hobbled Georgia team, the Florida win means nothing anymore and Mizzou lost to South Carolina. The last games come against currently ranked opponents, and while I initially predicted Texas A&M would be the problem it would behoove Mizzou to focus on this week’s road game in Oxford. Ole Miss isn’t great, but the Rebels have played several good teams tough.

8) Oklahoma State

The West Virginia loss continues to baffle, but hey, everyone has bad days, right? It’s become abundantly clear the past few weeks that this week’s Baylor – OSU contest will match the two best teams in the Big 12, which is somewhat disappointing for the Big 12 but does provide a great late-season showdown to showcase the league. Defense is largely nonexistent in this conference, so expect nothing less than the shootiest of shootouts in Stillwater. If I had to pick, I’d go with Okie State. All-offense teams are bound to stumble eventually. Just ask the Cowboys.

9) Auburn

Well, that was very lucky. That’s football, though. Sometimes you win when you shouldn’t. It is worth noting that Auburn played very well through three quarters against Georgia, building a 20-point lead. This is a changed team from the start of the season. However, I don’t think the Tigers really have any chance versus Alabama, which makes the minor buzz around their BCS ranking irrelevant. Nick Marshall simply isn’t a good enough quarterback to beat ‘Bama. That’s the only thing that needs to be said.

10) Stanford

Oh, Stanford. You just can’t get out of your own way, can you? A lot of the blame falls on the offense for another atrocious performance against a defense that allegedly used only 13 players the entire game. Some more goes to the coaching staff for pass-heavy game plan (relatively speaking) eerily similar to the one from the Utah loss. Yet ultimately the brunt of the criticism should go to the system itself, something I’ll get into more later. For now the Cardinal must win out for an outside shot at a BCS bowl.

11) South Carolina

Quite frankly, not enough attention is being paid to the Gamecocks. This weekend brought a lackluster win over plummeting Florida, but with Coastal Carolina on deck (curse you, SEC!) and a home finale against Clemson – where Carolina deserves to be favored – it’s very possible this squad could make the BCS. They might even sneak into the SEC title game, as Missouri’s last two games are fairly nasty. At that point I don’t know how you could keep the Gamecocks out. The SEC is getting two BCS bids. Alabama is one.

12) Michigan State

Sparty rides again! Michigan State gave up more than 20 points for just the second time in 2013 but still fought out a double-digit win at Nebraska, setting the stage for a delightful Legends Division showdown with Minnesota to end the season. The Golden Gophers can still make the Big Ten Championship, though it’s an unlikely scenario as MSU would have to lose to Northwestern this week before falling to Minnesota. The Gophers would also have to beat Wisconsin this week. Still, stranger things have happened.

13) Texas A&M

The Aggies got a week off before season-ending trips to LSU and Missouri. This is where A&M finally has a chance to impress. The close loss to ‘Bama is worthless at this point and aTm hasn’t beaten anyone of value all year. That would change with wins in Baton Rouge and Columbia. I suppose there’s still an outside shot at a BCS game as well, but the route to get there is somewhat convoluted. It’s all academic without wins, anyway. Can the D stop LSU from running it down their throat? We’ll see.

14) UCF

Talk about close calls. Only Auburn got luckier than UCF this weekend, though when playing Temple perhaps “luck” isn’t the right term. It’s more a matter of waiting until the Owls self-destruct. The American almost got really interesting before the heroics of one J.J. Worton, Esquire. I think I jinxed the Knights by calling for them to win the league last week. No matter! I’ll do it again! To be fair, there’s not a guaranteed win on the rest of the schedule. Rutgers and SMU are average but capable of pulling an upset and the rivalry game with USF won’t be easy.

15) Louisville

Interestingly, the thing we’ve learned over the past month is that the AAC isn’t just a two-team league. Houston, despite losses to UCF and Louisville, has emerged as a legitimate quality team out in the American. Calm down, Cardinals. It still won’t be enough to boost you into a BCS at-large spot. For that to happen Louisville would need to beat teams (like Houston) by more than a TD. I see this group going 11-1 but getting shut out of the top-tier bowls. Things will be different next year in the ACC.

16) Wisconsin

Indiana’s really bad, but the Hoosiers have been scoring on everyone, so give Wisconsin some credit for giving up just three points. The Arizona State Problem is going to haunt this team up until the second the BCS participants are announced, but I think a bigger problem might be Michigan State. Good as the Badgers have been, MSU has been better. The Spartans are also poised to win their division. If MSU wins out it would be hard to justify Wisconsin in a BCS bowl, even if the Spartans lost to Ohio State in the conference championship.

17) LSU

The Tigers finally got a week off and now face Texas A&M in a game to decide bowl positioning and divisional bragging rights. LSU was one of two SEC teams to shut down the Aggies last season and that was in College Station. The Bayou Bengals’ defense is far removed from that level, but playing at home after a bye should be a boost. I expect LSU to pound RB Jeremy Hill into the middle of the A&M defense all day long. It will be interesting to see how the Aggies try to stop it.

18) Arizona State

The Sun Devils finally get a minor jump, as they proved against Oregon State they could win while not playing their best game. This could be seen as a warning sign, given that ASU has been less than impressive the past two weeks, but there’s not really any reason to downgrade the team seeing as this week will decide the season anyway. Arizona State – UCLA will be the game of the year in the South and will almost definitely decide the division champion, just as it did last season. In that game, UCLA won a wild shootout, 45-43, in the desert.

19) USC

The Trojans are on a roll. Since taking over for Lane Kiffin, Ed Orgeron has guided SC to a 5-1 record, including five straight in Pac-12 play after an 0-2 start. A win over Colorado is pretty much a sure thing, so USC has to be rooting for rival UCLA this week. If the Bruins can take down ASU, the Battle For L.A. will decide the South title. I’m not sure there’s any team in the country playing better than the Trojans right now. It may not remove the “interim” tag from Orgeron, but it’s been very impressive to watch.

20) UCLA

Beating Washington Friday night should have cemented UCLA’s status as a quality team, but it really only raised more questions. The Huskies lost two fumbles early and QB Keith Price at the half. By all rights, the Bruins should have walked away with an easy win. Instead, UW kept hanging around and making a game of it. If it wasn’t for those early fumbles, UCLA could have easily lost a contest they had no business losing. This echoed similar performances against Utah and Arizona. I’m not confident in the Bruins right now.

21) Oklahoma

A blowout of Iowa State doesn’t impress anybody. The Sooners’ marquee wins – Notre Dame and Texas Tech – have both been devalued by those teams’ slides. The weakness of the Big 12 has become more and more apparent as Texas, Texas Tech and OU have all bowed out of the conference race. At this point it's difficult to say what we have with this conference any more. Are Baylor and Oklahoma State really elite? Or are they just scoring a lot because no one in the Big 12 plays any defense? This is starting to look like the Big Ten South.

22) Fresno State

New Mexico and San Jose State are all that stands between an undefeated regular season and a rematch with Boise State to reach a BCS bowl. Safe to say, the Bulldogs will be heavily favored to reach 11-0 (the 12^th game with Colorado was canceled because of flooding in Boulder). Playing Boise a second time will be no picnic; Chris Petersen knows what he’s doing and Broncos nearly got the win in Fresno earlier in the year. Still, this is still the favorite among mid-majors to make the BCS.

23) Northern Illinois

NIU notched a big win over Ball State that should send the Huskies to an undefeated regular season, but don’t be fooled by the final score. NIU tacked on two late TD’s (one on a pick-six) to make the game look like a blowout. It was anything but; in fact, for large portions of the game Ball State looked like the superior team. In any case, the MAC Championship is nearly clinched. We’ll see what voters think of this team at that point. The schedule doesn’t really do the Huskies any favors.

24) Ole Miss

Texas isn’t really a good win… LSU has lost a few… hmm. Ole Miss’ resume is still stronger than a lot of other teams’, and with a big game against Mizzou this week the Rebels will get a chance to bolster their reputation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled the upset. Missouri is definitely a better team, but a road conference game is almost never a gimme and Ole Miss has played some good football over the past month. The finale is rival Mississippi State, if anyone cares.

25) Duke

I can scarcely believe it myself, but Duke (yes, Duke!) is in my top 25. The Blue Devils seemed destined for a nice season with a few losses and a mid-tier bowl a few weeks into the ACC schedule after they lost their opening two conference games. Now the unthinkable has happened: after six straight wins (four in league play), including upsets of Virginia Tech and Miami (FL), Duke (yes, Duke!) is poised to win the Coastal and face Florida State in the ACC Championship. All the Blue Devils need is wins over Wake Forest and North Carolina. Crazy.

Pac-12 Report

I already covered the Washington – UCLA game a little earlier. Once again, even though UCLA won, it was hard to feel very good about it. There have been several games this season that caused me to question the Bruins’ credibility – the uncompetitive losses to Oregon and Stanford, the near-misses against Utah and Arizona, now this. I don’t think this team has the ability to put people away and it’s going to be costly if the Bruins perform that way against ASU.

In a rare early game for the Pac-12, WSU defeated Arizona in Tucson. This was a huge win for Cougars and the Pac-12; as I said last week, Wazzu probably needed this game to reach bowl eligibility. Now all that’s left is a home win over reeling Utah and the Cougs will be back in the postseason for the first time since 2003! (There’s also another chance versus Washington in Seattle, but if I’m WSU I don’t want to need that win.) It would be great for the program if Wazzu made it back to a bowl, obviously, but it would also help the conference to get yet another team on TV over the holidays. As for Arizona, the Wildcats are already bowl-eligible, so it doesn’t matter too much, though I’m sure they’d have preferred a win.

Oregon had some trouble with Utah early before predictably pulling away in the second half. The Ducks’ front seven is a real concern at this point. Utah has a good offensive line, but Oregon hasn’t been getting pressure on any QB’s lately and can’t seem to get off the field on third down. Offensively, the “struggles” are fairly obvious: Marcus Mariota is hobbled and the running game has suffered. That’s it. There’s no secret formula beyond the fact that Utah and Stanford both recognized this and played good defense against it. Oregon should still have enough to win out and (now) make the Pac-12 Championship.

Utah’s troubles are harder to discern. The Utes aren’t consistently running or passing and are good, but not great, defensively. There seems to be no real identity on either side, which makes the last two games scary. Needing two wins to reach a bowl, the Utes get Wazzu and Colorado. In the past such games would cause a sigh of relief, but not only have the Cougs and Buffs improved, Utah appears to be on the decline. This week’s game in Pullman has a lot riding on it for both teams and should be a good matchup.

Colorado continued Cal’s woes with a walk-off win in Boulder that kept alive CU’s slim chances for the postseason. With wins over USC and Utah (unlikely), Colorado would actually make a bowl. I doubt that happens, so take the positives from the Cal game. Faced with a bottom-feeder of similar repute, the Buffaloes broke open a 10-10 second-quarter tie to run away with their first league win in more than a year. The defense held for three quarters and the offense broke out for the second time since Sefo Liufau was named the starting QB. There’s pieces here for the future.

Cal, on the other hand… it doesn’t get much worse for the Golden Bears, now 1-10 with a beatdown from an angry Stanford team coming. The one win was a seven-point escape against FCS foe Portland State and outside of a five-point margin to Arizona the team hasn’t lost by less than two touchdowns to any opponent. Injuries have riddled the Golden Bears, but they’re clearly just really bad, too. With a full offseason in Sonny Dykes’ system, maybe they can turn things around.

The game of the week was Stanford going down in the Coliseum, a result that makes what I wrote last week look rather prescient. My entire point – that Stanford was a team built to stop Oregon, but not win a championship – was proved by USC, who had the bodies up front defensively to stop the Cardinal’s bully tactics and the skill players to beat the weakness of the Stanford D (the secondary). Once again, the issue with Stanford is that the team can only win one way: getting out in front early, winning the turnover battle and playing completely mistake-free. When a team matches power to the Cardinal’s power, they have no ability to adjust. The offense is a mess and something would have sounded absurd early this season (USC having a better QB than Stanford) was on full display in L.A.

USC has been playing superb football over the last two months, to the point that I’m not sure they wouldn’t be the favorite to win the Pac-12 if they manage to come out of the South. The defense has returned to its stingy ways after a mid-season hiccup, while the offense is finally producing consistently enough to not lose games. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see this team win out. If UCLA beats Arizona State, the Trojans will be in business.

ASU topped Oregon State in the nightcap in a sloppy, forgetful game. OSU certainly wants to forget about it. After starting 6-1, the Beavers have dropped three straight and look lost offensively. I’ll reiterate what I said a month ago: OSU is the same team we always thought they were (thank you, Denny). The Beavs have a good (but not great) QB, decent skill players and an average O-line. The defense is somewhere between average and pretty good. Playing a bunch of patsies made OSU look like world-beaters, now they’re regressing to the mean. Pretty standard stuff. ASU, on the other hand, managed to win despite failing to take advantage of some OSU miscues and is now poised to win the South with a victory at UCLA this week. The Sun Devils have really come a long way from the undisciplined Dennis Erickson days.

Next week features a trio of midday games, led by Oregon at Arizona. There are some scary historical parallels here: Oregon, going to Tucson with an injured QB, needing a win to stay alive for the Pac-12 title. ‘Zona, for its part, has a nice running game and an unorthodox defense that could confuse the Ducks. However, in the end it’s foolish to bet against UO. Given new life in the conference race, Oregon is simply too good at every level on offense and defense to allow Ka’Deem Carey to win this game by himself. B.J. Denker has progressed this season but the ‘Cats QB is still too erratic to be a real threat.

Utah – Washington State could end up being a great one, with both teams needing a win to reach the postseason. The faithful at Martin Stadium have been waiting a decade for this and the Pac-12’s most underrated stadium will be rocking. I’m not sure about the outcome. Utah has been up and down and the QB situation is in flux. News this week out of Salt Lake City is that Travis Wilson has a pre-existing, potentially career-ending ailment. Besides being very disappointing, this could end the Utes’ postseason chances. The defense does have a lot of talent and could limit the blizzard of hitches, drags and flares Mike Leach likes to run. Wazzu should be able to hold form defensively themselves and keep the Utes to a respectable amount of yards and points, potentially turning the game into a slugfest. Despite my misgivings, I’m going with the Cougars, who seem destined to finally break through.

The Big Game starts shortly after the first two league contests and I don’t know if I can ever recall a more depressing set-up. Cal is dreadful, coming in at 1-10, and just wants the season to be over with. Stanford is back at home, angry at losing to USC and vastly superior. This could get really ugly. I’m not sure the Cardinal will need to throw the ball a single time. It’s entirely possible the ground-and-pound could run the ball 60 times while the defense shuts out the poor Bears. Hide the children.

4:00 p.m. marks the kickoff of Arizona State – UCLA, a rematch of the South’s best game in 2012 and the likely decider of a division champion for a third straight year. Both teams arrive at 8-2 and nationally ranked, though under different circumstances. ASU weathered a beatdown from Stanford and a sloppy game against Notre Dame in Arlington to otherwise survive a brutal schedule that also featured Wisconsin, USC and Washington. UCLA got what appeared to be an impressive non-conference win early at Nebraska, but has done little since and lost to Stanford and Oregon.

There’s a reason I have ASU higher in my rankings. I think the Sun Devils are a better team and should favored. UCLA isn’t bad by any means and could certainly win, but has also been very inconsistent offensively and suffered some injuries that could finally hurt this week. The QB’s are roughly equal: both Taylor Kelly and Brett Hundley have justifiably had some hype this year but are also not on an elite level. The biggest thing for me is the eye test. ASU has looked so good recently (Utah excluded). The offense goes flying down the field, the defense holds people in check, what’s not to like? The Bruins, comparatively, seem to work so hard to produce on offense and the defense comes and goes. UCLA is capable of winning, but I’m going with ASU.

USC and Colorado is a game that few people will be watching, understandably so. The Buffaloes have made a nice turnaround this season, looking much more competitive in the conference and even remaining alive for bowl eligibility into November. That alone should be cause for celebration. But let’s be realistic. This is USC and Colorado. The Trojans are on fire right now and should light up the CU defense en route to a comfortable win. Injuries aside, there’s a lot of talent on the other side of the ball too, which should limit what the Buffs can do offensively.

Oregon State has clearly angered the Pac-12 scheduling gods (how else can you explain so many night games?). The Beavers get stumbling Washington in one final chance to save their season before the Civil War. The Huskies, for their part, have gone 2-4 since a 4-0 start. OSU has looked pretty bad lately, but coming back home against another team from the Northwest could provide a shot in the arm. The big question is Husky QB Keith Price. He’s not slated to even throw in practice until Thursday and will be evaluated at the end of the week. With a healthy Price, I’d take UW. With freshman Cyler Miles at the helm – on the road, in his first start – I’d be much more tentative. Washington is overall the better team, as seen by strong showings at Stanford and UCLA with a backup at QB. However, the Beavs could be due for a bounce-back game, and if Price is out, all bets are off. This could decide third place in the North.

Heisman Watch

I’ll say the same thing I have for weeks.

Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State

Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon

I’ll address Winston’s off-field concerns shortly.

Random Thoughts and Observations

The play of the week was J.J. Worton’s one-handed snag to save UCF, but a close runner-up was Michigan’s incredible scramble to get off a game-tying field goal with no time left against Northwestern. Getting the field goal unit on the field and set in 10 seconds is beyond difficult. The fact that the Wolverines managed to complete a long pass, evacuate the offense and snap the ball with time still remaining is a minor miracle. Major props to coach Brady Hoke and his staff for preparing their team for that situation.

Speaking of good coaching, USC’s Ed Orgeron deserves a mention. All he’s done since replacing Lane Kiffin is return the Trojans to national prominence despite dealing with injuries that would have crippled 90 percent of the teams in the country. He deserves consideration for national coaching honors. However, the idea that he should be the permanent head coach for the Trojans is short-sighted. A lot of teams in sports history have played better after changing coaches. I believe Orgeron when he says he’s learned a lot since the Ole Miss fiasco, but the USC job is simply better than him. The program can attract just about anyone in the country, including a superior (and more proven) coach than Orgeron.

Jameis Winston’s sexual assault allegations obviously cast a shadow over what had been the best story of the year. There are many unanswered questions at this point regarding what role, if any, Winston played, the description of the alleged attacker, why it took nearly a year for the case to come to light and what Florida State knew and when the school knew it. Sexual assault is a serious crime, so obviously if Winston is charged his Heisman chances and eligibility at FSU would immediately be in jeopardy. Normally such a situation would be enough to make me drop Winston from my Heisman list, as character is supposed to be one of the main criterion for the award. However, in this particular case I’m compelled to wait for two reasons. First, Winston has not yet been charged with anything or even questioned by the police, apparently. Second, the state will decide whether to charge Winston in the next couple weeks, so we’ll know about his status by the end of the regular season.

It’s time to make the cut for the finalists of the Stanzis. I’ll still keep including the new weekly winners in case someone makes a late push, but it seems best to limit the list to players with multiple awards. Michigan’s Devin Gardner broke my heart again this week, squeaking out an overtime win but failing to account for a single turnover in the process. Come on! It was right there for the taking!

Cooper Rush, Central Michigan

Opponent: Western Michigan

Performance: Three INT, threw go-ahead TD pass

2013 Stanzi Awards Finalists

Devin Gardner, Michigan: 2

Keith Wenning, Ball State: 2

Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M: 2

These gents have the distinct honor of being the only three players with multiple Stanzis so far this season. Gardner is still the leader due to his Double Stanzi tiebreaker, but make no mistake: this thing is wide open. There's three weeks of football left and anything could happen.

Next week: Strap up. Another big MAC showdown awaits on Wednesday night when NIU goes to Toledo. The Rockets have gone under the radar but can still force a tie for or win outright the division title. Thursday sees UCF take on another challenger in the American determined to end their run: Rutgers. Duke could potentially clinch the Coastal with a win over Wake Forest Saturday morning, while sneaky Cincinnati looks to move to 6-1 in the AAC with a big game at Houston.

Most of the early weekend games are atrocious, but the day picks up with the noon slate. Oregon – Arizona. BYU – Notre Dame. Texas A&M – LSU. Wisconsin – Minnesota (this is a good game, believe me). The Bowl Bowl (Utah – WSU). The Big Game. ASU – UCLA. Missouri – Ole Miss. And in primetime, the battle for the Big 12: Baylor – Oklahoma State. If you would have told me ten years ago that one day Baylor and OSU would be playing a winner-take-all for the conference title, I’d have eaten my hat. And I don’t even wear a hat! Enjoy the fireworks.