USC would break offensive air-speed records, Matt Barkley was a lock for the Heisman Trophy and Oregon State Coach Mike Riley needed thicker pants for the hot seat he was sitting on.
Arkansas was the team to beat in the SEC West — it seems so silly now — and Johnny Manziel was Johnny Who?
Heck, what did we know way back in August?
This must be why they don't hand out achievement awards the Wednesday before Labor Day.
Let's take a halfway look at some developing stories:
--The Southeastern Conference is a blood-sucking beast — again.
The first BCS standings release has two SEC teams on top, Alabama and Florida. The SEC owned half of the BCS top 12.
The league has won six straight BCS titles and eight of the 14 played. Last season's title game featured two SEC teams and, guess what, it could happen again.
If you want to know just how good the SEC is, tune in "Verne and Gary" on CBS every Saturday right after the morning cartoons.
--Nobody plays defense anymore and pass-crazy offenses have taken over the game.
Alabama Coach Nick Saban likens this trend to an alien invasion and fears these Oregon-type, up-tempo offenses threaten the safety of his 300-pound All-Americans.
"Is this what we want football to be?" Saban said.
True?
Actually, no, it's false.
A review of this week's BCS standings show the top 10 schools have an average national offensive ranking of 52.4.
The only two schools in the national top 15 are Oregon (8) and Oklahoma (15).
No. 1 Alabama ranks No. 52 and Florida is No. 82.
So, defense is winning?
Yep.
The BCS top 10 owns a national defensive average of 19.7. The worst of the group is Oregon State at 45.
