They are the most intense. They create the most unique atmosphere. Sure, the BCS Championship is the ultimate prize. But that's for later, and only an elite few have a real shot at that prize. As September draws to a close, let the blood feuds in conference play commence.
Miami has been the story of the early season. Jacory Harris has looked like Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde and Ken Dorsey rolled into one. OK, that's a little over the top, but it's been so long since the Canes have had excellent quarterback play, you can forgive a little hyperbole.
The real test for Miami comes Saturday at Virginia Tech. I know the Hokies are sporadic, to put it kindly, on offense. But to use one of the most reliable quotes, if you want to be the man, you've got to beat the man. One dollar to "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. The Hokies are the men in the ACC. They've been in the conference five years and won three championships. This is the test to see how close the Canes really are to being back.
Former Pitt WR and current USC assistant Yogi Roth spent a lot of time breaking down Miami tape. He tells me the best thing offensive coordinator Mark Whipple has done is create favorable matchups for Harris to exploit. The sophomore QB has done it masterfully thus far.
I'm curious to see whom the Hurricanes try to pick on in the Virginia Tech secondary. Alabama successfully targeted Kam Chancellor on a few deep balls. He struggled to keep up with the Tide receivers. Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster believes Miami's offense has even more speed. How will the Hokies compensate? Will Whipple and Harris keep their magic touch of finding the most advantageous matchup? I already have Harris sitting second on my ESPN.com Heisman Watch ballot. Another big game might move him to the top of the heap.
Washington has a test perhaps as daunting as playing USC. Can the Huskies handle prosperity? It's been a long time since they've had any. The Huskies float into Stanford for a game featuring a running back among the nation's top 20 rushers and a quarterback in the top 25 in passing efficiency. Both play for Stanford. Toby Gerhart is a bull. Redshirt freshman QB Andrew Luck is a star in the making. I don't put an inordinate amount of stock in statistical rankings this early in the season, but Luck does sit 22 spots ahead of Jake Locker in passing efficiency. I'm just saying.
Watch out for special teams in this game. Again, this early, a long return or two can skew the numbers, but the Cardinal have the nation's leading kickoff return man in Chris Owusu and the fourth-ranked punt returner in Richard Sherman. Both Jim Harbaugh and Steve Sarkisian appear to be on course with the job of rebuilding. Both have beaten USC. This will be a test of Washington's maturity and important as a measuring stick for the rapidly improving Cardinal.
Remember how last week was all about revenge? I'm a little tired of the revenge motif. Glad to see Joe Paterno agrees. Iowa, which visits the Nittany Lions on Saturday, knocked them out of a likely national title shot last season.
Asked about the "R" word, Paterno said, "I don't know what revenge has got to do with it in football. It's not like they sneaked up on us and stuck us in the back with a knife or something. They played a good football game and they beat us."
He also said of last year's game, "We got licked." That's my favorite Paterno-ism. Every time I hear it, I think of life in black and white, and players donning single-bar facemasks running the wing-T. It's so old school, they ought to make that phrase hip again. Is it hip or fresh now?
Anyway, Penn State has gotten licked a lot by Iowa. The Hawkeyes have won six of seven in the series. In the preseason, I thought their schedule was the only thing keeping them from being Big Ten contenders, and they seem to be rounding into form after a lucky escape in the opener against Northern Iowa. Kirk Ferentz's teams always improve.
Penn State is a little banged up on D. Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman are nursing injuries. Even so, it's hard to imagine Penn State getting licked by Iowa again, especially in that Saturday night setting.
It's clear to me. I've seen enough. Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett has the strongest arm in the land. I'm not sure it's close. He leads the nation in passing efficiency and guides the high-powered Hogs into Tuscaloosa to face Alabama on Saturday.
For my money, you won't find two head coaches better on their respective sides of the ball than Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban. Petrino's offense is dynamic and diverse. The same is true of Saban's complex and stifling defensive schemes.
Saban told me the key to affecting and disrupting Mallett will be to disguise fronts and coverages, and to change it up. When Alabama brings pressure, it has to make Mallett get rid of the ball and avoid giving up the big play.
The game often is a tone setter in the SEC West. An 0-2 conference start quickly would reduce Arkansas from sleeper in the division to spoiler. An Arkansas win could signal chaos in the division all season.
It's not a conference game anymore, but what if Houston beats Texas Tech? The Cougars would be 2-0 versus the Big 12 South. That would trump anything Boise State is going to put on its resume. Oops. There I go again. Putting all the focus on the BCS picture. But this renewal of an old Southwest Conference battle should be fun.
Two quarterbacks from Abilene, Texas -- Taylor Potts and Case Keenum -- in a Texas-sized shootout. Each will throw for a million yards. Keenum told me this week it's been fun seeing the fans get energized about Cougars football again.
I'll also be eager to see whether Kansas has as much fight against Southern Mississippi as it did against its own basketball team. The football and basketball Jayhawks brawled on campus this week. Seriously? Did somebody take the last Wang burger at the Wheel? It's a hamburger with a fried egg on it from this great dive in Lawrence, and it wouldn't take much to make me fight for one. You'd think the Jayhawks would save that type of aggression for Missouri.
Kidding aside, the fight or fights were beyond stupid and a complete embarrassment for both the basketball and football programs, not to mention the entire university. It's even more embarrassing than being distracted all week by something dumb and letting a team come into your house and mess up your season. Rock, chalk, warn the Jayhawks.
Join us all weekend through "College Football Final" Saturday night after Notre Dame-Purdue.
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