Tennessee
 
Well it seems that Tennessee volunteered to take their yearly beating a little early this year.  While I thought Ainge and the offense was productive against a suspect Cal defense, it looks like another 8-4 season at best for the Vols.  Remember when Tennessee used to be synonymous with athletic defensive players, big play wide receivers and stud tailbacks?  Well those days are gone.  Although Fulmer’s squad didn’t embarrass themselves, they were clearly in over their head and Cal looked like they could score at will against the confused Vol defense when focused.  One bright note was the play and composure of Ainge who proved to me that he can play at the next level should he escape the nagging injuries that have plagued his career thus far. 
 
Michigan
 
The Big Ten reputation continues to take hit after hit.  Lloyd Carr has sealed his fate and defined his tenure with this loss.  The only thing more exasperating than Michigan’s play must be Lou Holtz insisting this isn’t an upset.  Then again Lou predicted that Notre Dame would win ten games this season so that seems about par.  Jim Delaney is probably calling Michigan AD Bill Martin asking him “What the hell are you trying to do to me???”  Combine this debacle with the last decade of Wolverine basketball and you have an interesting pattern of pathetic play.  At least Martin got the hint about the hardcourt and fired Tommy Amaker.  Does he have the cajones to do the same to the gridiron guys?  Of course not, that’s a rhetorical question.
 
Georgia
 
Stafford finally got some help.  I never doubted that Stafford would be improved but I didn’t know who would step up to help Matt score points.  Last Saturday the Bulldogs looked like they actually had a stable of talented receivers.  Combine that with inspired play on the offensive line (albeit against a suspect defense) and you have the ingredients to push Georgia into the SEC East race.  I had ranked the top four teams in the East as 1) UF, 2) USC, 3) UGA and 4) UT.  After the first weekend I am putting USC and UGA even.  There’s no point in moving the Bulldogs any further since that tie will be sorted out this weekend when those two teams face off.  UGA looks more talented but Spurrier is one of the few offensive play callers who can literally manufacture points during a game.  It should be a good one.
 
Notre Dame
 
Several weeks ago Weis announced that Notre Dame is not rebuilding this year.  He was right; you can’t build something new until the previous structure has completely collapsed and ND seems well on its way to accomplishing that.  This was one of the must win games if ND was to keep in the elite of teams nationally.  Sure, Georgia Tech will probably win 8-9 games but they will be lucky to finish the year at the bottom of the Top 25.  If anything this probably means Clausen will pick up a lot of game experience this year since it will be a lost season anyways.  It will be interesting to see if ND can scrape up 6 or 7 wins and go to a bowl they might actually have a shot of winning.
 
State of Florida
 
Of the big five teams in Florida (UF, UM, FSU, USF and UCF) only the Seminoles managed to lose this weekend.  Granted the Florida State also played (by far) the toughest opponent but this could be the beginning of a long trend.  With three more expected losses (Alabama, Virginia Tech and Florida) on the slate, 4 losses will be an accomplishment.  The problem is that they have a GREATER chance of losing one of their other games (Colorado, Miami, Boston College and Maryland) than stealing a win from the teams mentioned.  Miami proved they can still play inspired defense but they also proved to be inept offensively.  I don’t know how big the spread will be for the Canes at OU but I’m taking the points.  That game could get ugly early. 
 
South Florida faces Auburn, North Carolina and West Virginia in their next 3 games.  Should they win 2 of those three USF could be 5-1 and looking at a national matchup of top 25 teams at Rutgers on Thursday night.  UCF had the biggest win of the weekend upsetting North Carolina State.  So much for Amato leaving a team full of talent that just needed some discipline to win.  I guess they also need a decent QB and a better defensive productivity.  UCF tailback Kevin Smith rushed for over 200 yards and if the Golden Knights can keep him healthy they might have a shot at a bowl this year.  In Gainesville Florida proved that the defense is still a work in progress but the offense can carry this team.  One more tune up game before the Gator season really gets underway against the Vols.
 
Texas
 
Texas beat Arkansas State by just over a touchdown.  It only goes to prove that Mack Brown is the same coach now that he was before Vince Young.  He can only live off of Vince’s legend for so long before people start to realize he’s not a great coach, just great recruiter.  As soon as UT loses to OU in the Red River shootout, expect the complaint meter to rise considerably. 
 
Clemson
 
Tommy Bowden proved that the Bowden Bowl is nothing but a showcase of inept coaching.  The race was on in the second half to see if Clemson could self destruct faster than FSU could try to plug the holes in their sinking ship.  It reminds me of how boring those Miami-FSU games were the last few years yet still touted as “great games” until midway into the season we could see that it wasn’t as much a titanic defensive struggle as a matchup of struggling offenses whose effectiveness better resembled that of the actual Titanic.  Last year teams realized that if you could stop the run Clemson couldn’t beat you, how long will it take the ACC to figure that out this year?  Not long, expect another 7-8 win, Peach Bowl bound Tiger team.
 
Auburn
 
Was this another display of a gritty, resourceful Auburn program or yet another sign of the beginning of the end of Tommy Tuberville?  Given the downturn of Auburn recruiting recently (how do you lose a third of your recruiting class to academics?) people will begin to realize more and more the shortcomings of Auburn football.  And with the increasing difficulty of the SEC it will be the Tigers who feel that punch.  Auburn may continue to get lucky and win some close games but when their losses are humiliating blowouts fans tend to get a bit antsy.  The Mississippi schools may be the focus for those watching the coaching hotseat carousel but Auburn might not be far behind.  The end of Tuberville’s reign might begin next weekend against USF.  With Sylvester “The Coach Killer” Croom lurking in your own division . . . it might be time to get your house appraised.
 
Best Conference
 
This argument seems to be cropping up this year as the Pac 10 sees resurgence in several of their programs.  SEC fans seem to think that establishing yourself as the second best conference is a prelude to politicking for number one.  Then again, as Pac 10 fans complain that people don’t watch their conference they also don’t watch SEC games (or much college football in general if you go by ratings) and then proclaim themselves the best based on their good buddy Jeff “Pac 10 honk and delusional crack addict” Sagarin (whose flawed algorithms consistently prove why beauty pageants should never be decided by computer programs designed by math geeks).  Personally, I it’s too early to tell but I think the Pac 10 would be competitive against the SEC in a round robin this year.  The SEC seems to be much more offensively based than in previous years which would create a lot of fun, thrilling, high-score shootouts.