Observations from Saturday's games (Oct. 11)

Another great Saturday. The Red River Rivalry (er, Shootout) was exciting and eye opening. North Carolina and Notre Dame had a wild finish (thanks to the crappy Big East officials), and Florida is taking it to LSU right now. Here are some interesting observations I made this Saturday:

1. So maybe it wasn't all Tony Franklin's fault. Just a few days after firing its offensive coordinator, not much changed for Auburn as the Tigers were outgained by Arkansas 416-193 in a 25-22 loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers only managed one offensive TD all day. All is not well in Auburn.

2. Texas is legit because of Will Muschamp. The dig on Mack Brown is that he won it all because he had Vince Young to cover up his coaching deficiencies. On Saturday, we learned the Longhorns can play with anyone because of first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and his more aggressive style. Texas may have allowed 435 total yards against No. 1 Oklahoma, but the Sooners applied pressure to Sam Bradford and didn't allow the Sooners to do much on the ground. Now Texas has to stay focused as it hosts No. 3 Missouri this week.

3. What's wrong with WVU? Each week I keep thinking the Mountaineers will turn the corner on the 2008 season. Then the game starts and I realize something just isn't right in Mo-Town. A 17-6 victory over Syracuse (even without Pat White) is embarrassing for a team with this much ability. The play calling under first year offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen has been suspect all season. It's time to get more creative an allow the athletes to do what they do best. The offensive line is also a weak link. They need to be tougher.

4. Holy Toledo. It would be easy to pick on Michigan's Rich Rodriguez here. As the head coach to end the Wolverines 24-game winning streak (with no losses) to Mid-American Conference schools is not how you want to make the record section of the media guide. The chirping in Ann Arbor has to be at an all-time high now. But Rodriguez will turn this around. His first year and half at WVU were miserable and then things started to click. Yes, it helped getting Pat White and Steve Slaton, but he'll find players with speed and then Michigan will be a national title contender. It actually pisses me off that I feel this way. If he were still at WVU the Mountaineers would be undefeated right now. Yes, he was that important (see Bill Stewart for proof).

5. Virginia is schizophrenic. Al Groh just may save his job in Charlottesville. After looking clueless and overmatched in three of their first four games, the Cavaliers have consecutive impressive wins. This week UVA worked over East Carolina 35-20 behind an outstanding showing from Cedric Peerman, who rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns. The schedule doesn't bode well, but UVA just may pull off another surprise or two.

6. North of ordinary. What's going on at Minnesota? Just one season after finishing 1-11, the Gophers are 6-1 following an upset at Illinois. Juice Williams was frazzled by Minnesota's defense, and DeLeon Eskridge scored on runs of 1 and 46. As weak as the Big 10 is this season, all of the Gophers remaining games are winnable.

7. Feel-good no more. Maybe Vanderbilt just couldn't handle the heightened expectations. One week after holding off Auburn 14-13, the Commodores missed opening the season 6-0 after slipping up at Mississippi State 17-14. The Bulldogs held Vandy to 109 total yards in upsetting the 13th-ranked Commodores. Vandy should still get bowl eligible with potential wins against Duke and Tennessee on the schedule. But this loss really hurts.

8. Off the air. Arizona at Stanford was not on TV because the Cardinal were not willing to adjust their homecoming plans to accommodate a broadcast. The plan worked. Jim Harbaugh's boys (according to reports) played great defense and defeated the Wildcats 24-23. It wasn't a good day for the Stoops brothers.

9. Penn State is good. As much as I hate to admit this one, the Nittany Lions are the best team in the Big 10. This is the most athletic and physical team I have seen out of State College in more than a decade. I still believe PSU is one of the nation's most overrated teams each year, and I won't be surprised if they go 12-0 that they get left out of the championship party. The game isn't over at Wisconsin, but a 24-7 lead is looking pretty solid against the Badgers weak offense.

10. Poll shakeup. At least two Top 5 teams will move out this week with the Oklahoma loss and the apparent LSU loss. So how will the Top 5 look on Sunday? If Missouri holds on to beat Oklahoma State, I think the Tigers should be No. 1, but Alabama will probably get it in the AP poll. You could also argue that Texas is the best team in the nation following the impressive win at the Cotton Bowl.

Bonus. I won't talk about Division III football often, but Larry Kehres coaches a machine in No. 1 Mount Union. The Purple Raiders faced Ohio Athletic Conference rival Capital, which entered Saturday ranked fourth. Should be a great game, right? I guess if you root for Mount Union. The Purple Raiders rolled to a 49-7 victory.