Unlike the NFL, it takes a couple of weeks of college football to separate the pretenders from the contenders. Even though there have been some nice network-created, non-conference match ups early in the season we are just now getting into conference play.

What did we learn from the first two weeks and last night’s game?

  1. Pre-game handshakes will not improve sportsmanship.
  2. The Big 10 is not good, again.

    3. jacory_harris1

  3. Neither is Notre Dame, forget all the preseason hype about the Irish. Charlie Weiss has another must-win game facing him this weekend
  4. Several non-BCS schools are poised to make to a run (Boise St, BYU, TCU and possibly Utah).
  5. Miami is back. Love them or hate them, it’s good for college football when the Canes are to be feared.
  6. Georgia Tech is a one-trick pony. Tyrone Nesbitt can not beat you throwing the ball.
  7. The SEC West with a combined record of 9-1 — the only loss coming from within the division — may just be the toughest division in all of football
  8. The SEC Least, er I mean East with Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky may not be better than the ACC Coastal (Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina).
  9. You can’t take the Mountain West for granted any longer. The clear favorite is BYU but only one school is below .500
  10. Besides USC, the PAC 10 really confuses me. I’m gonna need another week before I get a good feel as to where they stand.
  11. UCLA might be 5-0 when they host #8 California in mid October.
  12. With both Oklahoma State and Oklahoma disappointing and with Missouri and Nebraska playing well, the Big 12 North is ready to challenge the Big 12 South. Texas is clearly the favorite to win the Big 12 crown but don’t be surprised if Kansas, Missouri and the Cornhuskers make some real noise this year.
  13. Matt Barkley is the real deal, but USC is going to win games behind Joe McKnight’s rushing. He’s averaging 6.8 yards a touch.
  14. Pete Carroll may be the best college coach since Bear Bryant.
  15. Auburn is back after a down year. The Tigers under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn are second in the nation in rushing and fourth overall in total offense with two runners ranked in the top 10 nationally.

One thing to remember, preseason polls and hype often inflate our opinions of some middle of the road teams — Oklahoma State — and deflate our expectations of serious contenders — BYU and Miami. After three weeks of football we should have a pretty good idea of who’s geared up for a run at the BCS.

What do you think?