Little Wiggle Room in Polls

We’re not going to lie or attempt to beat around the Reggie Bush; trying to recap this weekend’s inaction felt more like a study in plate tectonics.

If college football did not grind to a complete halt, it slowed to the pace of continental drift.

Four of the nation’s top 10 teams took the weekend off, five if you count USC’s weekend got-away at Stanford.

No school (yawn) in last week’s Associated Press top 25 played a game against a ranked opponent (yawn II).

And, at first glance, it appeared the voting coaches just turned in last week’s ballots (you never know with those guys).

The pigskin performances, in general, were ragged, lopsided and nothing to write the homecoming queen about.

Given the five-day-old cracker texture of this stalemate backdrop, USC might have picked the right weekend to almost lose because most voters were ... asleep?

As such, USC held its No. 1 position in the writers’ and coaches’ polls Sunday but did lose ground to No. 2 Oklahoma.

You could argue it could have been worse, much worse.

Had USC stumbled against Stanford on a weekend that Oklahoma was defeating Texas (that annual flogging comes in two weeks) or Georgia was defeating Louisiana State, USC’s grip on No. 1 could have been severely threatened.

USC got off the hook (for now) at Palo Alto because No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Georgia did not play, and No. 4 Miami did not look sharp in last Thursday night’s 38-13 win over Houston.

No. 5 Texas defeated Rice, but so what?

You could hardly justify bumping up No. 6 West Virginia for waxing I-AA James Madison in a game Mountaineer Coach Rich Rodriguez described as “uninspired” and “unemotional.”

No. 7 Ohio State was off, and No. 8 Florida State, already saddled with a loss, defeated fading Clemson.

No. 9 Auburn sat on the Citadel, 33-3, and the sign on No. 10 California’s door was “gone fishing.”

Strangely, as if chiseled in granite, Sunday’s ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll remained virtually unchanged.

Auburn and Cal flopped positions at No. 9 and No. 10 and No. 25 Arizona State (a week too late) subbed for Iowa.

To show you how fickle this system can be, USC lost two first-place votes to idle Oklahoma and one to chugging Miami.

USC remained No. 1 in the AP, but leaked eight first-place votes to Oklahoma.

Geez, imagine if the Sooners had actually lifted a finger?

Why is this important?

This year, the re-fangled bowl championship series standings will be calculated on a weighed system based on how many points a team receives in the coaches’ and writers’ polls. The first BCS standings will be released Oct. 18.

It will now be much harder for a school with a commanding points lead in the polls to be taken down by the BCS’s diminished computer component. This rule change was a direct result of USC being No. 1 in both polls last year but finishing third in the final BCS standings.

With the polls now counting as two-thirds of the formula, college football has never been more of a beauty contest. The danger for the Trojans is, with a few more shoddy performances, they could end up Miss Congeniality.

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Weekend Wrap

Arizona State is 4-0 for the first time since 1996, the season quarterback Jake Plummer came within a minute (in the Rose Bowl, against Ohio State) of leading the Sun Devils to the national title. Let’s hold any national-title talk for now, though, as No. 21 Arizona State holds tryouts at running back. Starter Loren Wade was suspended for the team’s game against Oregon State for breaking team rules. Randy Hill, his replacement, tore knee ligaments in the game and is sidelined for the year and the third-stringer, Hakim Hill, is playing with a broken forearm.

Remember when the Big 12 Conference’s North Division, led by Nebraska, Kansas State and Colorado, was a fiefdom to be feared?

Well, this year marks the first time since December 1967 that no team from the Big 12 North has been ranked in the AP top 25.

And you thought USC had a close call; No. 23 Boise State nearly ruined what could be a dream season in edging Brigham Young, 28-27, Friday night.

Boise only survived after BYU kicker Matt Payne, one of the nation’s best, missed a 38-yard field goal in the end. Payne is six for seven on field-goal attempts this year, including a long of 53.

Boise State’s win keeps alive a potential BCS-buster matchup when Fresno State plays visits the blue field Oct. 23.

Mystery meat: Minnesota (4-0) and Purdue (3-0) are seemingly the most impressive teams we’ve seen in the Big Ten this year, but what do we really know about them?

Minnesota has two great backs and Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton has established himself as an early Heisman Trophy candidate.

The problem is neither school has played anyone yet. We’ll take a flier on Minnesota after upcoming games at Michigan and Wisconsin. Purdue, meanwhile, begins a four-game stretch against Notre Dame, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan.

More mysteries: No. 12 Virginia is 4-0 and owns its highest ranking since 1998, yet the Cavaliers have yet to play a ranked opponent. The question for No. 6 West Virginia is how much higher it can climb with no ranked opponents left.

Rough, rough: It’s getting ugly early at Washington, off to its first 0-3 start since 1969. The Huskies have not had a losing season since 1976, but this sure looks like one.