What we learned from Saturday's college football action

I'm shocked, shocked, that an ASU fan would flash the shocker while he's on TV for about 5 seconds. It's not quite Thunderlabia, but it'll do for an ASU student. Of course later in the night, a panning shot of the student section showed everyone giving the shocker. ASU fans, all class. By the way, if you want to know our thoughts on ASU, we believe Ned Flanders said it best: "Apparently it's easier to get into heaven than Arizona State."

On to what we learned.

1. Ohio State may not be the best team in country, but they at least proved they're worthy of the #1 ranking. Going into Happy Valley and beating down Penn State was what Ohio State needed to do in my mind to prove to people they're a legit #1, and they did that. Even more impressive was that this game was never close. I'm still troubled by the fact that Ohio St. has played some serious cupcakes this year, but this was a big test and they passed it. The only team left that seems to have the ability to beat Ohio St. is Michigan. I can't believe I'm even saying that.

2. Oregon proved today that they belong to be in the same discussions as LSU for National Championship consideration. Oregon hung on to beat an extremely talented USC squad and should have beaten them by more if they hadn't had a few stupid turnovers. The amazing thing about Oregon is that they're literally one play away from being the undisputed #1 team in the country. That fumble into the end zone at the end of the game against Cal may be the difference between them playing in the National Championship and some other BCS bowl game. Regardless, this team's offense is truly something to reckon with, even though they've had a few injuries and a suspension. They can run, pass, and stretch the field in a way I haven't seen any other offenses do this year. Dennis Dixon is like a thin Vince Young and Jonathan Stewart is an absolute workhorse. It'll be tough for this team to make it into the National Championship game, but if they do get in, look out. If this team can put points up on the board against USC's defense, they can put points up on the board against any defense.

3. Speaking of USC, when do we bring out the official "Pete Carroll is a bad coach" chant? This team is ludicrously talented and now they could easily finish their Pac-10 schedule with 3 or more losses. How does this happen? Well, it happens when your coach isn't good at getting everything out of his players. If you think I'm being too critical, look at the Stanford game. The only way you lose a game like that is if you're coach doesn't prepare you for it. When Carroll had that incredible 3-year run from 2003-2005, everyone thought he was the greatest coach since sliced bread. But since losing the National Championship to Texas, a game USC really should have won (to take nothing away from Vince Young), USC has lost some truly head scratching games. The loss to UCLA last year that took them out of the National Championship was pretty terrible and the Stanford loss was about 10 times worse. Oregon totally deserved to beat USC yesterday, but still, there's something wrong with USC. And I think it's Carroll. I think he's a great recruiter, but a lousy coach. Which shouldn't be much of a surprise considering he was a lousy pro coach.

4. If you want our thoughts on BC, we wrote about that on Friday. We weren't real kind to BC.

5. The SEC and Pac-10 are too tough for their own good. Watching Kentucky lose to Miss St. followed by Florida losing to Georgia was pretty surprising. And in addition to that, Tennessee beat South Carolina. Meanwhile, watching Cal lose to UCLA and Arizona St. in back to back weeks (mainly due to Longshore's bad ankle) also speaks volumes about the strength of the Pac-10. And on top of that Arizona St. is in first place in the Pac-10. But you're nuts if you think Arizona St. is going to go through the Pac-10 undefeated. They have to play Oregon, UCLA and USC the next 3 weeks. They'll lose 2 of those games, maybe all 3. By my estimation, the Pac-10 has 6 very legit teams (out of 10) while the SEC has unreal 8 (out of 12). These teams match up against each other every week and absolutely bludgeon themselves to death during the course of the regular season. You should get a badge of honor for making it out of either of these two conferences with only one loss.

6. It looks like SEC teams are starting to figure out Florida. And by figure them out, I mean they're just keying on Tebow. He's literally their whole offense. And when you combine that with the fact that Florida only has about 6 total plays, they aren't really a hard team to prepare for. This isn't Tebow's fault at all by the way. It's Urban Meyer's fault. He hasn't done anything to take the pressure off of Tebow even though he promised to do that weeks ago. Now Tebow has taken way too many big hits and has that bruised shoulder - which is only worse after yesterday. And they've now got 3 losses. You can put all the blame on Urban Meyer.

7. The Heisman race just got incredibly cloudy. Most people going into this weekend had Tebow as the Heisman frontrunner. Then Florida lost. That would have left space available for Andre Woodson, but he had already lost to Mississippi St., officially putting a stake into the heart of his Heisman campaign. I have no clue who in the hell is going to win this thing any more.

8. Kansas is sort of good, maybe. I mean they're 8-0, but who've they beaten? Pretty much no one. But whatever. I'd love to see them go undefeated just to cause a nationwide riot against the BCS system.

9. Bill Callahan continues to dig his own grave at Nebraska.

10. I don't know anything about UCONN at all. But maybe I should start paying attention.

-WCK