Becoming obvious fast
It's way too early to write off teams
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Remember when the title hopes of Ohio State were written off after the Buckeyes' 35-3 pounding by Southern Cal?
Heck, remember Thursday night, when everyone was ready to bury No. 1 USC after its "stunning" 27-21 loss to Oregon State?
Those were the days, my friends. But in the wild, wacky world of college football, the "not so fast my friend" mantra of ESPN announcer Lee Corso makes more and more sense.
Why? Let's look at last week's Top 10 after Saturday's games:
No. 3 Georgia lost to No. 8 Alabama, 41-30.
No. 4 Florida lost to unranked Mississippi, 31-30.
No. 9 Wisconsin lost to unranked Michigan, 27-25.
Counting USC's loss Thursday night, that was four Top 10 teams losing in three days.
Just for spice, we throw in No. 16 Wake Forest losing to unranked Navy, 24-17, No. 20 Clemson losing to unranked Maryland, 20-17, and No. 23 East Carolina losing to unranked Houston, 41-24.
And we haven't even hit October yet.
The point is simple - it's too early to eliminate any contenders.
Remember when the Southeastern Conference was the mightiest in the country? Well, Florida's loss to Mississippi jolted the conference structure a bit, and now we have the Big 12, with newly crowned No. 1 Oklahoma, unbeaten Missouri, and unbeaten Texas crowding the Top 5. While Alabama climbed after its victory over Georgia (to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the coaches' poll), Florida and Georgia both dropped out of the AP Top 10.
If USC (now No. 9) wins the rest of its games, the Trojans will be right back in the mix as a Bowl Championship Series title contender, and if freshman QB Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State (now No. 14) do the same, the Buckeyes also will be heard from.
Penn State is still unbeaten and could be a factor, but with Wisconsin's loss there is one less prime contender to worry about in the Big Ten. And if there is an unbeaten Big 12 champion and unbeaten SEC champion, the BCS title game will be a done deal.
But what if everyone in the SEC and the Big 12 takes a loss (Texas and Oklahoma face each other in two weeks, so someone is going down)?
Also, Brigham Young (4-0), a team from a non-BCS-slot league, has climbed to seventh in the coaches' poll.
It doesn't take a great leap, with almost two months of the regular season left, to project the Cougars into the BCS title game if they finish undefeated.
Get a grip folks. The BCS ride has just begun.
Changeup thrown
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis must have changed his halftime speech against Purdue. The Irish, who rolled to a 38-21 win over the Boilermakers to improve to 3-1, scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, the first time they have scored TDs in the third quarter this season . . . Maryland's 4-1 start is its best since 2001, which is the last time the Terps won the ACC title. Maryland has beaten the last four ranked teams it has faced. The Terps beat No. 8 Boston College and No. 10 Rutgers last season, and No. 23 California and Clemson this season . . . He hasn't gotten much Heisman Trophy ink yet, but watch out for Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. In the Sooners' 35-10 romp over No. 24 Texas Christian, Bradford threw four touchdown passes and had a career high 411 passing yards, the third straight game he's set a career high in passing yards.
Not swept up in tide
Credit Alabama coach Nick Saban for having some perspective after the Tide's victory over Georgia in Athens. When asked if he thought the Tide was a national championship contender, Saban said, "After five games? Let's see when we get a full body of work at the end of the season." Of course, Saban won't be hearing any such caution among Tide fans . . . Memo to Georgia: When you get involved in a Top 10 duel, stay away from Sanford Stadium. The three times the Dawgs have been involved in Top 10 games at home, they are now 0-3. Georgia also has lost five of its last six home games vs. Top 10 teams.
Apology accepted?
One of the trademarks of a clutch QB is the ability to lead his team from behind. Florida's Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman last season as a sophomore, still has a ways to go in that area. When the Gators fell at home to Mississippi, it made them 0-5 under Tebow in games in which they have trailed in the second half. Tebow, who was sacked three times and lost a fumble in the second half, took the blame. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida's never done here. But I promise you one thing: a lot of good will come out of this." . . . UConn, which rallied for a 26-21 win at Louisville Friday, cracked the AP top 25 at No. 24.
What's going on?
Northwestern (5-0) and Duke (3-1), two have-nots the past several years, are a combined 8-1. It is Northwestern's best start since 1962, and its 22-17 win at Iowa was the Wildcats' first victory in their Big 10 opener since 2001. Duke's only loss was to Northwestern . . . Texas and Arkansas used to be big-time rivals in the old Southwest Conference. Now some people are shaking their heads after the Longhorns laid the 42-point thumping on the Razorbacks, the worst defeat in the series since Texas beat the Hogs, 52-0, in 1916. "That's a beating," understated Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino. In the previous 10 meetings between the teams, the average margin of victory was less than 9 points.
Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com. 
