Weekly notes from the undercard.

Houston trashed Marshall Saturday, 63-28, arguably its best win to date en route to a 7-0 start that has the Cougars ranked in the top 20 of every major poll. Riding the record-breaking arm of quarterback Case Keenum, UH is leading the nation in passing offense, total offense and scoring offense, has scored at least 49 points in four consecutive games and is outscoring by an average margin of almost 26 points. Keenum now owns one major NCAA passing record and is closing in on a couple more. And yet, arguably more than any other team in the country, the jury remains out on its place in the national conversation.

Jeff Sagarin ranks Houston’s schedule as the 117th-toughest in the nation, behind a handful of I-AA/FCS outfits like Gardner-Webb and South Dakota State.
Of the Cougars’ first seven victims, one (UTEP, at 4-3) is currently sporting a winning record. Their next three opponents (Rice, UAB and Tulane) have combined to win five. By the time they hit season-ending dates against SMU and Tulsa in November, it’s entirely possible they’ll have ten wins to their name without a single .500 scalp among them. If they run the table to 13-0, including the Conference USA Championship Game in December, the most valuable win on their resumé will be against either SMU or Southern Miss, and the only one win will be over a team from a “Big Six” BCS conference: UCLA, which appears on the verge of firing its head coach. This team has “Hawaii 2007″ written all over it.

Still, the cold reality of BCS arithmetic leaves the window at least cracked for the at-large BCS opportunity that Hawaii blew in spectacular fashion four years ago. At this point, we can be reasonably certain that three of the four at-large bids belong to Boise State (assuming the Broncos close out a manageable schedule as usual) and the second-best teams in the SEC and Big 12. We can be equally certain that there won’t be an at-large bid for the ACC or Big East, or for Notre Dame. That leaves three options for slot no. 4: The runner-up in the Pac-12, the runner-up in the Big Ten and Houston.

There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in that scenario that break against the Cougars, beginning with the biggest: If they fail to run the table, the discussion is moot. But if the competition is between, say, a two-loss Oregon, a two-loss Wisconsin and an undefeated Houston, the latter may not be dismissed from that discussion so easily.

• THE CRIB SHEET. Elsewhere in mid-majordom…

• In Conference USA news, Southern Miss sits atop the East Division after a 27-3 rout of SMU. The Golden Eagles are now 6-1, bowl eligible for the 14th consecutive year, ranked No. 25 in the coaches poll and well on their way to their best record since winning 10 games in 1988. USM is the clear favorite to win the East Division, though it still has to play East Carolina, which is also 2-1 in conference play. Like Houston, though, all but one team remaining on the Golden Eagles’ schedule — UTEP — has a losing record.

• The seventh annual Michigan MAC Football Championship (bet you didn’t know there was such a thing) was won this weekend, shockingly, by Eastern Michigan, a 14-10 winner over Western Michigan over Western Michigan in Ypsilanti. The championship is a round-robin affair between the three MAC schools in Michigan — Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Central Michigan — . EMU will get to keep the championship’s trophy for at least the next year.

• The fourth quarter woes for Utah State just won’t go away. The Aggies led in the fourth quarter against Louisiana Tech, but allowed the Bulldogs to score 10 fourth quarter points and rally to a 24-17 win. It’s the fifth game the Aggies have let slip away this season after leading in the fourth quarter.

• RUSH THE FIELD: Wins worthy of a bleacher-clearing celebration.
Western Kentucky is quickly becoming the hottest team in college football. OK, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but the Hilltoppers have won three consecutive games, including last week’s shocking upset of one-loss SBC frontrunner Louisiana-Lafayette, more than they won in their first two years as a I-A/FBS program combined.

“This is a great win for our guys, our University and our fans,” said coach Wille Taggart. “I’m really proud of the way our entire team got themselves ready and took care of business.”

The win was so thrilling that 15,000 fans on hand actually stormed the field — possibly a first in Bowling Green, at least as a “major” program, and we have four minutes of video to prove it:

• GAME OF THE WEEK: UAB 26, Central Florida 24
In one of the more shocking upsets of the non-AQ season, UAB’s Ty Long kicked a 40-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining to give the Blazers their first win of the season over fast-fading UCF. The Knights actually got the ball past midfield with 14 seconds left, but UAB safety Chase Daniel intercepted a Blake Bortless pass at the goal line to seal the win.

What happened to Central Florida? The defending Conference USA champs have been in a tailspin, losing four of their last five games since a 2-0 start.

• YOUTUBE DEDICATION OF THE WEEK:
This week’s YouTube dedication goes out to Tulsa’s alternate helmets, which were definitely a fashion statement.

• PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Bobby Rainey, RB, Western Kentucky.
Rainey racked up 206 yards rushing — 99 in the fourth quarter alone— and three touchdowns to lead the Hilltoppers’ upset of Louisiana-Lafayette. Through seven games, he’s topped 100 yards on the ground in every game but one and ranks third in the nation in rushing.

Honorable mention: East Carolina quarterback Dominique Davis set an NCAA record by completing his first 26 passes against in a 38-35 ECU win over Navy. … Florida International linebacker Winston Fraser had a career-best 17 tackles in a loss to Arkansas State. … Boise State linebacker Byron Hout had a career-best 18 tackles in the Broncos’ win over Air Force. … And Nevada running back Mike Ball rushed for a career-high 198 yards and a touchdown in a win against Fresno State. His runs of 35 and 41 yards were the longest by a Nevada player this season.

A SOMEWHAT ARBITRARY MID-MAJOR TOP 10
1. Boise State (7-0). The Broncos actually got a stiff test against Air Force’s triple option, but survived to maintain their undefeated campaign.
2. Houston (7-0). Marshall talked a little smack heading into the game and Keenum and the Cougars made them pay with one of their most ruthlessly efficient games of the season.
3. Southern Miss (6-1). The Golden Eagles are off to their best start since 2000 season. After starting 6-1 that year, however, they went on to drop three of their next four.
4. TCU (4-2). Apparently the Horned Frogs put their bye week to good use as they destroyed New Mexico 69-0, their first shutout of the season.
5. BYU (6-2). The Cougars earned bowl eligibility by defeating Idaho State, their fifth consecutive win after a 1-2 start.
6. SMU (5-2). The Mustangs were crushed by Southern Miss, but remain the biggest threat to Houston in the West Division.
7. Arkansas State (5-2). The Red Wolves have quietly crept into the Sun Belt title picture, but still have a lot of tough competition remaining.
8. Louisiana-Lafayette (6-2). The Ragin’ Cajuns perhaps got a little high with their surprising success over the first half of the season and overlooked Western Kentucky. They can still win the Sun Belt, but they’ll have to regroup from a bad loss.
9. San Diego State (4-2). The Aztecs had the week off, but should have an easy time with Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado State before their showdown with Boise State.
10.Toledo (5-3). The Rockets are the only undefeated team in the MAC West, but Ball State, Eastern Michigan and NIU are all in the hunt.
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Honorable Mention: Temple (5-3), Eastern Michigan (5-2), Ohio (5-3), Bowling Green (4-4).

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Matt Hinton contributed to this post.
Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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It seems like every week teams are doing something to make their uniforms a little more snazzy and this week it’s Ohio State‘s turn.

On Monday, Buckeye tight end Reid Fragel tweeted a photo of the new helmets his team plans to wear for this weekend’s game against Wisconsin. And they actually look pretty fresh (do the kids still use the word fresh?) with silver sandwiching a red panel down the middle and the player’s numbers on either side.

The entire uniform is part of Nike’s Pro Combat series, which also has made uniforms for Michigan, Stanford and LSU.

While the new helmets – and uniforms – are cool, the Buckeyes probably won’t need any more motivation to get amped (do the kids still say amped?) for a game against a Wisconsin team that is reeling after a last-second 37-31 loss to Michigan State last weekend.

Ohio State has had two weeks to prepare for this game and get its offense squared away after a questionable effort in the 17-7 win against Illinois. In that game, Ohio State completed just one pass — albeit for a touchdown — and managed just 228 yards of total offense. The Buckeyes seemed content keeping the ball out of the hands of quarterback Braxton Miller and relying on the legs of running back Dan Herron and the Buckeye defense, which forced three turnovers.

But Ohio State won’t have the luxury of using just half of the offense against a Wisconsin team that scores quickly and will be motivated to erase last week’s loss.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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Michigan State 37, Wisconsin 31.
If you’re scoring the evening’s main event from home, go ahead and call the heavyweight slugfest between Wisconsin‘s balanced, high-scoring offense and Michigan State‘s suffocating, nasty defense a draw. The Spartans hounded and hit Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson, intercepting him twice, forcing him into a safety and holding the Badgers to a season-low 17 points after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Wilson reclaimed the pedestal with a pair of long touchdown drives to tie the game at 31 with 1:39 to play. Both left looking a little worse for wear but with reputations intact.

For improbable, dramatic, heartbreaking physics, the Spartans win in a knockout. With four seconds on the clock and overtime eminent, Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins rolled right at midfield and heaved the ball blindly into a pack of players in the end zone, where it ricocheted off a Wisconsin defender, off a Michigan State receiver and into the waiting arms of MSU’s Keith Nichol, who narrowly won a tug-of-war to get the ball across the line for the winning touchdown with time expired. Initially, Nichol was ruled down just shy of the end zone; after a brief replay, he was (correctly) awarded the score, and Michigan State assumed the title of best team in the Big Ten.

It comes at a cost for the conference: Barring an even unlikelier miracle than Cousins’ Hail Mary, the end of Wisconsin’s undefeated season effectively means the end of the Big Ten’s chances of putting a team in the BCS Championship Game in January. Late heroics notwithstanding, I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot less about Russell Wilson’s chances of winning a certain trophy in December, despite another solid, balanced effort — 223 yards rushing, 223 passing — from the offense as a whole.

But it also leaves a huge opportunity for Michigan State. With back-to-back-to-back wins over Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin in the bank, the Spartans can close out the toughest October gauntlet in the conference with a clean sweep next week at Nebraska, putting them in control of their own destiny in the Legends Division and the long lost Rose Bowl bid they narrowly missed out on last year. Cousins outplayed Wilson tonight, connecting on three touchdowns (including the Hail Mary) with no turnovers. The defense is for real, and the November schedule — Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Northwestern — is significantly more forgiving. The same team that was largely written off after a September loss at Notre Dame is one hurdle away from the driver’s seat.

However it fares down the stretch, though, it’s not going to hit a higher peak than this one, because I’m not sure there are any.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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The day’s most pivotal players.

• CURTIS McNEAL, Running Back, USC.
Former blue-chip Marc Tyler is a game-time decision. Former blue-chip D.J. Morgan has carried five times for six yards in the last four games. Former blue-chip George Farmer has barely played the position. Former blue-chip Dillon Baxter didn’t even make the trip. The only reliable back left tonight at Notre Dame? The 5-foot-7, 180-pound McNeal, the only member of the Trojan backfield who wasn’t once tabbed as a five-star All-American-in-waiting.

Even if the competition was healthy, McNeal would be the most promising candidate for lifting the sagging running game in South Bend, off a career-high 17-carry, 86-yard effort after Tyler was knocked out of the Trojans’ 30-9 win at Cal on Oct. 13. As reliant as the offense remains on Matt Barkley‘s right arm — and as flammable as the Irish secondary has looked on occasion — USC needs a steady presence on the ground to keep the pass rush in check and the downfield connection between Barkley and receivers Robert Woods and Marqise Lee viable.

• JEREL WORTHY, Defensive Tackle, Michigan State.
Worthy extended an official welcome to Russell Wilson in June, when he took to Twitter to mock the assumption that “Wilson gona change something at Wisconsin,” and promised the Badgers’ new quarterback would “see how the Big Ten gets down” tonight in Spartan Stadium. In one sense, he was right: Wilson’s arrival hasn’t changed Wisconsin’s focus on establishing the power running game to set up the pass, and Wilson has yet to throw against a defense that isn’t primarily concerned with being bludgeoned between the tackles — at least one reason he’s leading the nation in pass efficiency and Wisconsin is leading the nation in scoring.

Wilson is facing one new situation tonight: His first Big Ten road trip. If Worthy can clog, occupy and otherwise disrupt the Badgers’ blocking in the middle of the line, he’ll have another new experience in the form of an opposing defense that can occasionally pin its ears back on the pass rush.

• BARKEVIOUS MINGO and SAM MONTGOMERY, Defensive ends, LSU.
On the same note, no one really expects Auburn’s new quarterback, Clint Moseley, to present any kind of serious threat to a defense as nasty as LSU’s, in an environment as nasty as Tiger Stadium, in his first career start. Still, with star cornerback/chaos machine Tyrann Mathieu and nickel corner Tharold Simon out of commission, the secondary wouldn’t mind a little help from the Tigers’ freakish bookends up front in keeping the afternoon on-script.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Michigan fans had no claim on an actual victory after last Saturday’s 28-14 beatdown at Michigan State, but they finally have their moral victory: The Big Ten has officially suspended Spartan defensive end William Gholston for one game as penance for a pair of personal fouls in the second half, when he attempted to realign quarterback Denard Robinson’s head at the end of one play and later threw a punch at offensive lineman Taylor Lewan during another. The conference also issued a public reprimand and send Gholston to his room without dessert.

The suspension is consistent with the Big Ten’s usual policy on thuggish play over the last three years — most recently, it suspended Illinois linebacker Jonathan Brown for an unabashed knee to the groin of a Northwestern lineman on Oct. 1 — and it comes at a particularly inopportune time for Michigan State: Wisconsin comes steamrolling into East Lansing on Saturday night with the No. 1 scoring offense and the most efficient passer in the nation for what looks like the Big Ten game of the year.

Gholston, the only former five-star recruit on Michigan State’s roster, has emerged as a full-time starter as a sophomore, ranking second on the team and eighth in the conference in tackles for loss with seven in six games. If he’s not the most productive player on the nation’s No. 2 total defense, he may be the best athlete.

Then again, you don’t become the nation’s No. 2 defense at this point in the season without a little depth. Seven other Spartans made plays in the Michigan backfield, holding the Wolverines to season lows not only on the scoreboard, but also for rushing yards (83), total yards (251), yards per play (3.7) and third down efficiency (2 of 13). If they’re as good as advertised, Gholston’s absence against the Badgers won’t be any more convincing as an excuse than Michigan State’s “dirty play” last week.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Making the morning rounds.

• Let’s do this, part one. To no one’s surprise — least of all its current conference mates in the Big 12 — Missouri has reportedly decided to follow Texas A&M‘s lead by formally applying for membership to the SEC. The withdrawal process likely begins when the university’s board of curators meets on Thursday and Friday in Kansas City. According to one anonymous official who spoke to the New York Times, the Tigers’ departure is “inevitable and imminent”; according to another, “I’m 100 percent sure we’re going to the SEC.”

Presumably, Mizzou’s not willing to put itself out on that kind of limb without at least a wink-wink-nudge-nudge acknowledgement from the SEC that its application is likely to be accepted, thereby swelling the league’s ranks to 14 and reducing the Big 12 to just nine after TCU joins the fold next year. The Tigers allegedly had an informal SEC invite in hand last month, contingent on the pending crack-up of the Big 12, and were the only ones who refused to pledge solidarity to a slightly reformed Big 12 after an Oklahoma/Texas bid to flee to the Pac-12 fell apart for the second year in a row. There’s no question they’ll jump at the invite if it comes. But there may still be a little convincing to do in the SEC before that happens. [PowerMizzou.com, Orangebloods.com, Kansas City Star, New York Times]

• Let’s do this, part two. Elsewhere, the Big East began its march toward doubling its current size by voting to double its current exit fee for football members from $5 million to $10 million, laying the groundwork for expected invitations to Central Florida, Houston and SMU in all sports and Air Force, Boise State and Navy for football only. That may be stretching the definition of “East” past its breaking point, but at this point — on the heels of losing Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC — an existing conference is an existing conference. And if Boise State is part of that conference, its automatic BCS bid (along with the full-fledged payout that comes with it) is likely safe for the foreseeable future.

First item on the agenda: Houston, which was reportedly extended an official invitation on Monday night and will send reps to New York to seal the deal. [Associated Press, CBSSports.com, Houston Chronicle].

• . Colorado cousins Rodney Stewart and Douglas Rippy both suffered significant knee injuries in Saturday’s loss against Stanford, in Rippy’s case costing him the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Stewart, already well over 1,000 all-purpose yards for the second year in a row, is expected to miss at least four games with a sprain, possibly putting him back on the field in time to close out an underrated career against Arizona, UCLA and Utah — likely the only games remaining on the schedule the 1-6 Buffs have any realistic shot at winning. [Boulder Daily Camera]

In other injury news… N.C. State is redshirting 2010′s leading rusher, Mustafa Greene, due to a foot injury. [Raleigh News & Observer] … Iowa State has ruled out starting tailback Shontrelle Johnson for the rest of the season due to a neck injury that’s already cost him the last two games. [Associated Press] … Auburn hopes to get starting receiver Emory Blake back this weekend at LSU. [al.com] … And Utah safety Keith McGill will undergo season-ending surgery on his shoulder, forcing the Utes to move linebacker Brian Blechen — a freshman All-American last year as a safety — back to the secondary. [Salt Lake Tribune]

• In his dreams, the world is incredibly boring. Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt, now the owner of the longest SEC losing streak in school history at nine games, admitted Monday he sometimes wakes up in the middle in the night worrying about getting “a perfect week” in the midst of a slump that’s more than likely going to cost him his job. “It’s not fun,” Nutt said. “Winning is how you spell fun. You can imagine that it’s not a good feeling because you want to win. That’s all you try to do each and every Saturday, and it’s difficult.”

Nutt has also dismissed wide receiver Melvin Harris, the seventh Rebel player hit with a suspension, dismissal or season-ending injury in less than a week. [Clarion Ledger]

• Nothing to see here. Washington quarterback Keith Price is off to a fantastic start in his first season as a starter. But the U-Dub compliance would appreciate it if he watched the clichés, please:

That’s a funny, totally innocent and inconsequential slip. Mind if the NCAA takes a look at your bank statements real quick? [q13fox.com via CFT]

Quickly… North Carolina loses a starting linebacker to (altogether now) an unspecified violation of team rules. … San Diego State‘s former president says college football has reached a crisis point, and the BCS must evolve or die. … Jesse Scroggins, a preseason injury casualty, is working his way back into the mix on USC‘s quarterback depth chart. … An Oklahoma fan gets an extra sack added to Corey Nelson’s total. … Brady Hoke actually has to specify that Denard Robinson is still Michigan’s starting quarterback. … And Todd Monken called his parents to remind them to watch him get bleeped more than 20 times on national television. He hasn’t heard from them since.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Weekly notes from the undercard.

On Friday, the Mountain West and Conference USA announced an unprecedented, football-only merger that will put as many as 22 schools under a single umbrella beginning in 2013, thereby forging the single largest conference in the history of major college sports by a wide margin. Their plan is big, bold and more than a little baffling. Here’s your preliminary FAQ:

Is this real life? Man, we don’t even know anymore.

So Fresno State and Hawaii will be in the same conference as East Carolina and Marshall? Yeah, geography is kind of a non-factor here. Even staying on the mainland, from San Diego State to East Carolina is at least a 40-hour drive covering more than 2,600 miles over ten states.

Why is this happening? The initial impulse was apparently based on the hope that a single, continent-straddling colossus stands a better chance of earning an automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series than two separate conferences striving alone. Even if the strongest football schools in this equation weren’t bound for the Big East, though — see below — that was probably always a pipe dream. The real benefit to size, or so the thinking goes, is security and flexibility: Even if some members get poached by other leagues, there is no way this conference is ever going to find itself existentially threatened by attrition. Unlike some other conferences it can name…

“We’re trying to get some stability to our system in general and to our membership specifically,” Mountain West commission Craig Thompson said last week. “It’s not dependent on an all-sports thing. If we lose a school, we can replace in basketball, potentially, with a better basketball school and we can add football for football-only. It’s really, I think, a much more flexible and creative approach.”

Is there a name? Technically, no. (As the Associated Press put it, “They’ll come up with one.”) But the “Manifest Destiny Conference” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

How are they going to make this thing work? Honestly, TBD. They’ve been a little vague. There will be two divisions — suggested names: The Quality Division and the Quantity Division — and a championship game at the end of the season. Scheduling remains a logistical nightmare, but at this stage, still a far-away one. With ten to twelve teams in each division, though, in practice it’s going to look like what it is: Two conferences with little history and even less member loyalty sharing a letterhead in the name of self-preservation, but largely continuing to operate in separate spheres.

Is this really, you know, stable? Long term? Maybe not. Four initial members — Air Force, Boise State, Central Florida and Houston — are almost certain to accept invitations to join the Big East by the end of the week, dropping prospective membership to a mere 18 before the alliance even comes into existence. By 2013, the current round of musical chairs in the major conferences may have settled down enough — and the increasingly untenable structure of the BCS revised enough — to render the merger redundant. If they do go through with it, again, I suspect there will be a clear divide between the Eastern and Western halves, and also that everyone will waiting from day one for the thing to begin splintering apart like the WAC’s 16-team experiment before it.

• THE CRIB SHEET. Elsewhere in mid-majordom…

• Western Kentucky‘s 20-0 win over Florida Atlantic gave the Hilltoppers their first back-to-back wins in their brief history as an FBS program. It was also the program’s first road shutout since 2000. The Hilltoppers have now matched their two-win seasons from 2010 and 2008.

• SMU avenged last year’s Conference USA title game loss by beating Central Florida, 38-17. The Mustangs also showed 6-0 C-USA frontrunner Houston that the West Division won’t be had without a fight. There are still a lot of games to be played before these two teams meet on Nov. 19.

• Louisiana-Lafayette continues to roll in the Sun Belt Conference with a 30-10 win over North Texas, its sixth in a row. The homecoming win pushed the Ragin’ Cajuns to 6-1 on the season, their best start since 1970. ULL also became the first Sun Belt team to become bowl eligible.

• RUSH THE FIELD: Wins worthy of a bleacher-clearing celebration.
San Jose State beat Hawaii Friday night in one of the ugliest games in recent memory: The Spartans and Warriors combined for 12 turnovers, most of any game this season. Finally, SJSU receiver Chandler Jones pulled in the game-winning touchdown pass from Matt Faulkner with 36 seconds remaining to secure the Spartan win — their third of the year, and only their second against Hawaii since 2000.

• GAME OF THE WEEK: Eastern Michigan 35, Central Michigan 28
Eastern Michigan quarterback Alex Gillett scored on a 30-yard run with 37 seconds left to give the Eagles a win over their in-state rival, incredibly pushing the Eagles to 4-3 on the season — twice as many games as they won in coach Ron English’s first two seasons combined. Eastern Michigan hasn’t won more than four games since 1995 and haven’t been to a bowl game since 1987.

• YOUTUBE DEDICATION OF THE WEEK:
This week’s YouTube dedication goes out to San Jose State and Hawaii, who engaged in the fiercest, most competitive game of hot potato ever put on national television.

• PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chandler Jones, WR, San Jose State.
Jones was San Jose State’s all-everything player during the win against Hawaii. Not only did he catch the game-winning score, he had a 20-yard reverse for a score and a 23-yard fumble return off a kickoff for a touchdown. Jones only had one career touchdown coming into the game and his longest play from scrimmage this year was a 16-yard reception against Nevada.

Honorable mention: Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish became just the 10th player in FBS history to rush for 200 yards and pass for 200 yards in a single game, rolling up 432 total yards in the Huskies’ 51-22 win over Western Michigan – yet somehow failing to run or throw for a touchdown. … Boise State’s offense racked up a school-record 742 total yards in a 63-13 massacre of Colorado State. … BYU receiver Cody Hoffman had nine catches for 162 yards and a touchdown in a 38-28 win over Oregon State. … And Temple running back Bernard Pierce broke a few school records after his 152-yard, two-touchdown performance against Buffalo: He now owns the single-season record for touchdowns with 18, the single-season record for points scored with 102 and the record for career touchdowns, passing Paul Palmer with forty-four.

A SOMEWHAT ARBITRARY MID-MAJOR TOP 10
1. Boise State (6-0) Broncos seem to be getting stronger as the season progresses and appear headed for another undefeated campaign.
2. Houston (6-0) Cougars had a bye this week, but will play a tough Marshall team this weekend.
3. SMU (5-1) Mustangs avenged last year’s C-USA title game loss and now look to get back into this year’s title hunt.
4. Southern Miss (5-1) Golden Eagles are also coming off a bye, but could become bowl eligible this week with a win over SMU.
5. Louisiana-Lafayette (6-1) Ragin’ Cajuns continue to be the nation’s surprise team as they earn bowl eligibility.
6. Temple (5-2) Owls are starting to run away with the MAC East.
7. TCU (4-2) Horned Frogs had a much-needed bye week after a disappointing first half of the season.
8. BYU (4-2) Quarterback Riley Nelson has led the Cougars to three straight victories since taking over for Jake Heaps against Utah State on Sept. 30.
9. San Diego State (4-2) Aztecs dispatched Air Force on Thursday night to continue to keep pace in the Mountain West.
10.Toledo (4-3) Rockets are atop the MAC West after a big win against Bowling Green.
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Honorable Mention: Florida International (4-2), Western Michigan (4-3), Arkansas State (4-2), Northern Illinois (4-3).

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.
Matt Hinton also contributed to this post.

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Michigan State 28, Michigan 14.
It’s one thing to have your worst day against a defense on the order of Michigan State‘s. But this wasn’t just a rough day at the office: For a team with Michigan‘s recent history, this was the kind of afternoon that can change your perception of who you are and alter the entire trajectory of your season.

I don’t think that’s going too far. The Wolverines came in as the best rushing offense in the Big Ten and second-best in terms of total yards and points, having rung up more than 1,100 of the former and exactly 100 of the latter in their first two conference games. They left with season lows not only on the scoreboard, but also for rushing yards (83), total yards (251), yards per play (3.7) and third down efficiency (2 of 13). They came in leading the nation in sacks allowed, having yielded just two in six games. The Spartans sacked Robinson and Gardner six times, and hit them at least a dozen more.

Had the Spartans held on to any of the multiple interceptions that slipped through their hands — or if more the wildly errant passes from quarterbacks Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner had come close enough to give the Spartans a chance, instead of tumbling into swathes of open turf — it would have been the Wolverines’ worst day in terms of pass efficiency, too. The one pick Michigan State finally did hold on to went back for an icing touchdown in the fourth quarter. On seven trips into MSU territory after the opening possession, Michigan punted on five and turned it over on downs on a sixth.

Series by series, punt by punt, the sense of progress over the first half of the season dissolved into a disheveled mess. The running game stalled. The two-quarterback shuffle failed to gin up any semblance of a steady passing game, or a big play with Robinson lined up as a wide receiver. The pass protection broke down. In almost every aspect, it was Michigan’s worst nightmare: At the exact point on the calendar that optimistic starts began to give way to collapse each of the last two years, the Wolverines  looked like a team on the verge of collapse.

That trend, of course, is precisely the one Brady Hoke was hired to reverse, and has spent the last nine months attempting to ward off with steady invocations of toughness and tradition. As promising as the last six weeks have been, the fate of his first-year campaign rides on the next six: Even Rich Rodriguez’s teams, after all, were a combined 9-0 before back-to-back losses to Michigan State in 2009-10. It was only after those losses that they fell apart in Big Ten play. And it’s after this loss, with Iowa, Ilinois, Nebraska and Ohio State on deck in November, that Hoke’s first team will either separate itself from its wilting predecessors or extend the rebuilding year into 2012, minus the optimism.

The best-case scenario for the Wolverines, as much as it must pain them to admit it, is that Michigan State really is the juggernaut it appears to be on defense. The Spartans started the day ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense and among the top three in every other significant category after leaving Ohio State in a heap two weeks ago, and they’ll end it there. Even in the course of allowing 31 points in its only loss, MSU held Notre Dame to its season-low in total yards by a mile. After today, the Spartans look like clear frontrunners in the Legends Division and serious contenders for the Rose Bowl with Wisconsin steamrolling into East Lansing next week.

We’ll have more answers for Michigan State then, while Michigan takes the week off to stew in its renewed angst. Without more context, it’s still entirely possible today was a battle of two of the best teams in the conference, both of which have a lot to look forward to.

By all appearances, though, Michigan’s first priority is proving to itself that old habits don’t have to die so hard.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Michigan won the first time it went retro this season, so why not try it again against Michigan State?

As a surprise, coach Brady Hoke placed the throwback jerseys the Wolverines wore against Notre Dame at the beginning of the season in the player’s lockers to greet them when they came back inside the locker room after warming up for Saturday’s rivalry game against the Spartans. Players originally warmed up in their road jerseys and had no idea Hoke was going to pull the pregame switch.

“Our players really enjoyed the uniforms from the night game with Notre Dame so we decided to surprise them and the country with a new-look design for the Michigan State game,” Hoke said. “This is such a great in-state rivalry that we decided to honor the former players that played in this game.”

The uniforms were a compilation of several eras of Michigan football and the shirts underneath the jerseys had “Victors” on the left bicep and “Valiant” on the right. The team’s white pants were a throwback to the 1974-75 seasons when the team wore all white on the road.

Unfortunately, the uniforms seemed to have to opposite effect than Hoke intended as Michigan played one of its worst games of the season and fell 28-14 to its rival, the fourth consecutive time the Spartans claimed the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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A weekly primer.

GAME OF THE CENTURY OF THE WEEK
ARIZONA STATE at OREGON (-14½) • 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN.
What’s at stake: The Ducks and Sun Devils are on opposite sides of the Pac-12′s new divisional divide, and both are likely to emerge with the conference title game still very much in sight regardless of the final score. For Arizona State, though, there won’t be a better measuring stick for its chances of actually winning the league if it eventually punches its ticket: On the road, against the reigning class of the conference, is the Devils’ best chance not only to separate themselves from the rest of a middling South Division, but also to put an at-large BCS bid on the horizon down the stretch.

Oregon wants: Not that the Ducks won’t miss LaMichael James in the backfield — under no circumstances does a returning Heisman Trophy finalist who leads the nation in all-purpose yards qualify as a “cog” — but his absence won’t change anything Oregon does: Fellow quarkbacks Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas will absorb James’ usual 20 to 25 carries out of the shotgun and the offense will move at full tilt as always.

Consistent, down-to-down production may lag slightly with James on ice — even with James at full speed, Arizona State held the Ducks to their worst rushing game of the season last year in Tempe — and his absence may put more pressure than usual on Darron Thomas as a passer, certainly the lesser of two evils as far as ASU is concerned. But Barner brings more than enough to the table as a big-play threat to keep the defense occupied while the suddenly thriving Thomas-to-Thomas connection goes to work downfield. As long as the Devils are devoting extra resources to stop the run, Oregon is in business.

Arizona State wants: Oregon doesn’t care about “time of possession,” but it does care about number of possessions, and the fewer of them the better for Arizona State. That’s not exactly the Devils’ MO: The offense has lived and died to date on the right arm of quarterback Brock Osweiler, which has no shortage of targets and is currently accounting for about two-thirds of ASU’s total yards. But it’s not the type of attack that can reliably fly up and down the field with the likes of Oregon’s if it turns into a basketball game.

To that end, the Devils need a steady, chain-moving effort from 215-pound tailback Cameron Marshall, on the order of the 25-carry, 141-yard night he delivered in a 43-22 win over USC last month. If there’s anywhere the Ducks are vulnerable, it’s against the run: LSU, Nevada and Cal have all had success running straight at the rebuilt Oregon front. Establishing control of the line of scrimmage will open things up for Osweiler in the passing game, and more importantly, keep the Duck offense off the field.

Constants: Oregon will come out of the locker with a quick score to start either the first or second half. … Arizona State will have some success running right at the Ducks. … Both quarterbacks will have time and success through the air.

Variables: How long can the ASU defense keep the ASU running game viable? … Will Cliff Harris play a significant role for Oregon? In what capacity? … How consistent is Darron Thomas’ arm?

The Pick: Oregon hasn’t lost a game in Autzen Stadium since early 2008, and hasn’t lost a Pac-10/12 home game since 2007. Even when they sputter early, the Ducks have a knack for hitting the gas and putting the game out of reach, a la their four-touchdown burst last week in the third quarter against Cal, a game they actually trailed at the half but won going away in typical fashion. Arizona State hasn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since 1997. As vastly improved as they are, surviving a punch from Oregon in this environment is too big a step.

OKLAHOMA STATE (-7) at TEXAS • 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC or ESPN.
The bloom didn’t just come off of Texas’ rose last week: It came off in a very specific, illuminating way, courtesy of Oklahoma‘s veteran passing attack against a Longhorn secondary consisting almost exclusively of freshmen and sophomores. The good news: Oklahoma State’s defense is slightly more forgiving than the Sooners’, by a little over 100 total yards per game. The bad news: The Cowboy passing attack is even more merciless, currently bombing opposing defenses at the rate of 431 yards per game — and that’s after throttling down in the second half of all but one of them. Texas learned a lot last week, the chief lesson being that its mewling cornerbacks have absolutely no chance of covering Justin Blackmon.

MICHIGAN at MICHIGAN STATE (-2½) • Noon ET, ESPN.
Michigan State’s perch as the nation’s No. 1 total defense — it’s also ranked among the top three in rushing, pass efficiency and scoring D — has been largely taken for granted, coming as it has against the likes of Youngstown State, Florida Atlantic, Central Michigan and the most inept Ohio State offense in ages, none of which has managed more than seven points. The one competent attack the Spartans have faced, Notre Dame, put up 31 in a rout.

Even in that game, though, MSU held the Irish below 300 total yards — by far their worst total of the year — and forced three turnovers. And as it turns out, Ohio State‘s offense may not be quite as dead as it looked. They may not hold Denard Robinson to a single touchdown, but if the Spartans do anything like what they did to him last year in Ann Arbor, it’s probably time to start thinking of them as the new frontrunners in the Legends Division.

Stay tuned: This post will be updated with more weekend picks throughout the day.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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