Pitt’s One of Many That Can’t See Clearly Now

Scene: Press box at Ohio Stadium during halftime of Saturday’s Texas-Ohio State game.

A Rose Bowl official anxious to know what two teams might be playing in this year’s national-title game was kindly told by a college football chronicler to take a seat, get a grip and prepare for the long haul.

How can anyone know about Jan. 4 when Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel can’t even figure out yet who to play at quarterback?

Preseason prognostication in college football, to be frank, is one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on sporting society.

The “experts” have no more clue than you do in August when it comes to what’s good or bad -- except for Temple. Temple is bad, very bad.

Preseason polls and magazines are put out to sell product, not to inform the public.

Take this year’s annual dart tosses in the dark:

After two weeks, 10 teams in the Associated Press preseason top 25 have lost.

Two teams, Boise State and Pittsburgh, have lost twice.

The USA Today’s voting coaches thought Michigan was No. 4 going in and had Oklahoma at No. 5.

Michigan lost at home Saturday to Notre Dame. Oklahoma lost its home opener to Texas Christian, which on Saturday lost to Southern Methodist, which had not defeated a ranked opponent since 1986 B.D.P. (before death penalty.)

How could so many people be so wrong about:

* Pittsburgh. Former Panther Tony Dorsett stood up before his school’s opener and said he was sure first-year Coach Dave Wannstedt was the man to turn the program around. Well, maybe Dorsett was right. Last year, Pitt went to the Fiesta Bowl under Walt Harris and this year Pitt opened with losses to Notre Dame and Ohio.

* Notre Dame. It was going to take Charlie Weis two years to get the Irish back in national-title contention.

How about two weeks? Notre Dame, which started the season unranked, is 2-0 and some people already are salivating over the Irish being 5-0 when USC arrives in South Bend on Oct. 15.

Also, no team in history climbs a poll ladder faster than Notre Dame, which rose to No. 10 in this week’s AP poll and No. 12 in the coaches’. At this rate the Irish will be No. 1 when the first Harris poll is released on Sunday.

* The Big Ten. You have to credit the conference for putting the best possible face on a weekend in which its three national-title contenders -- Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa -- all lost.

“Big Ten Football Teams See Another Successful Weekend,” the headline read on the conference website.

OK, we get it. The eight Big Ten schools without a chance to win the title all won.

The Big Ten breakdown:

* Michigan. Saturday’s 17-10 home loss to Notre Dame screams to us that the Wolverines were simply overrated in the summer and not deserving of top-five billing.

* Ohio State. We’re not going to ding the Buckeyes too much for a three-point loss to Texas, but we’ll remind the Buckeyes that field goals are worth three points and touchdowns are worth six, seven and sometimes eight.

* Iowa. Saturday’s 23-3 loss to Iowa State was a sucker punch for those of us who thought Iowa might make a run to the Rose Bowl this year, but none of those predictions were based on star quarterback Drew Tate’s getting knocked unconscious in the second quarter at Ames and not returning to the game.

In other news, there’s the Atlantic Coast Conference, maybe the best league out there.

Big East Commissioner Michael Tranghese once called the raid of conference tethers Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College “the most disastrous blow to intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime.”

Or, maybe not.

The addition of the Big Three appears to have lifted all ACC boats. Georgia Tech (2-0) already has scored a key nonconference win over Auburn, and Clemson (2-0) has a win over Texas A&M.;

Bottom line: Nobody knows anything and some experts know less.

What about USC, the irrefutable, indisputable No. 1?

Lost in last year’s wire-to-wire title run is the fact USC could have lost five games -- Virginia Tech, California, Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA -- and this year has to play at Arizona State, Oregon, Notre Dame and Cal.

Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

Well, if you don’t like what’s going in college football, we suggest you do the same.

Weekend Wrap

Urban Meyer is 2-0 and drawing raves as Florida coach, but folks who follow these things say his tenure does not really begin until he beats Tennessee this Saturday in Gainesville. ...

Saturday’s loss to Texas marked the first time Ohio State had lost to a nonconference opponent at home since USC defeated the Buckeyes, 35-26, on Sept. 22, 1990. ...

We don’t usually provide scouting reports for UCLA, but Oklahoma (1-1) is headed to town and leaning so much on tailback Adrian Peterson he may need a back brace.

Peterson gained 180 of his 220 yards against Tulsa after halftime while Coach Bob Stoops thought it best his quarterback not attempt one pass in the second half.

If there is such a thing as putting 11 men in the box to stop the run, UCLA might consider it. ...

Marshall’s decision to pass -- oops, intercepted! -- when already in game-winning field-goal position against Kansas State ranks as perhaps the worst coaching decision since the one Woody Hayes made in his last Gator Bowl. ...

This week’s drop-your-program plea: Temple has been outscored, 128-16, in losses to Arizona State and Wisconsin. ...

You’re not in Lincoln anymore: Former Nebraska coach Frank Solich scored his first win as Ohio University coach. The 16-10 overtime victory over Pittsburgh marked the first time Ohio had played in a nationally televised game since the year Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.