By: Matt Hayes (SportingNews.com) —
1. The real deal
It’s OK to admit it. Come on, you can do it.

All that preseason hype, all that publicity for a guy who hadn’t taken a snap of football at the collegiate level, was all worth it.

Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor is the real deal. And he’s only five games into his college career.

Earlier this week, Ohio State tailback Chris Wells spoke of still winning the Heisman Trophy this year. Uh, Chris? You’re not even the best player on your team.

Pryor is.

Now we know why Pryor’s recruitment meant so much to so many coaches-specifically, the two coaches at Ohio State and Michigan. Consider, if you will, the Buckeyes without Pryor: a minimum three-loss team with the now exposed Todd Boeckman under center.

And Michigan if it had Pryor? Probably unbeaten.

This weekend is Pryor’s first significant road game within the Big Ten, and we all know how most freshmen respond on the road. Don’t give me that excuse that Pryor played against USC, and that it can’t be much harder than that.

Here’s how much harder: He’s playing against a team (Wisconsin) that knows Ohio State’s personnel and schemes much better than USC, and playing in a stadium (Camp Randall) that’s three or four times louder and more intimidating than the Coliseum.

And he’s playing against a desperate team, a team that has won key league games under coach Bret Bielema the last two seasons. This game, more than any on the Ohio State schedule and because of those unique circumstances, will be the biggest test of the season for Pryor.

2. All Ty-ed up

Arizona plays host to Washington this weekend, and this game has absolutely zero significance in the Pac-10 race. So why are we here, you ask?

Because for some bizarre reason, Washington coach Tyrone Willingham has talked about playing injured quarterback Jake Locker at another position until his injured thumb heals enough to throw again. Think about this for a moment: Locker is clearly is the team’s best player, clearly has a future as an NFL quarterback and clearly could be a much better college player-an All-American type of player-if he were coached properly. Instead, Willingham was talking about risking further injury and playing the West Coast version of Tim Tebow at another position.

Locker, of course, will do anything to help the team. He says he’ll play another position because, really, what do you think a guy with his competitive fire is going to say? Without Locker, the Huskies may not have won a game last year-and he has just scratched the surface of his potential.

Locker is a lot like Brady Quinn earlier this decade. A huge recruit, Quinn showed signs of potential but looked like a bust his first two seasons under Willingham at Notre Dame. Then a guy named Weis came along and coached him properly, and Quinn set Notre Dame records and developed into a first-round pick.

Hold on, Jake. Lane Kiffin is coming.

3. The thrill is gone

I still remember the 2000 game like it was yesterday. A delirious crowd in the Old Lady Orange Bowl, two national title contenders trading blows and a national television audience. Miami scores late, and FSU quarterback Chris Weinke drives the ‘Noles into field-goal position to try yet another last-second, game-winning field goal in this storied series.

Who among us didn’t know it would come to the inevitable? Sure enough, Matt Munyon’s 49-yard field goal sailed-where else?-wide right and Miami beat FSU again.

Now, we have this: Two bad teams, playing in an antiseptic NFL stadium and absolutely no one outside the state of Florida who cares. Yipee.

4. To succeed or not to succeed

Purdue-Penn State pregame conversation with a coupla Joes:

Joe T: “You should really look into this succession thing. Gives you peace of mind.”

JoePa: “I’ve got a piece for you.”

5. Lights, camera, Vandy!

Here we are, in the first week of October: Leaves are changing, the weather is turning cool and Vanderbilt is in the middle of the SEC race.

And you thought App State was a big deal last year.

You know you’ve hit the big time when ESPN’s GameDay crew forgoes trips to Lincoln, Miami, South Bend, Madison • really, anywhere other than Nashville. Partial list of things you’ll see and hear about Vandy on the two-hour show:

—- The team’s GPA.

—- Coach Bobby Johnson/Steve Martin jokes.

—- Johnson’s no cursing policy.

—- Video of Whit Taylor quarterbacking the 1982 team to the school’s last bowl game.

Then, right on cue at 6 p.m., when you can’t possibly stand more black-and-gold excitement, reality enters storied Vanderbilt Stadium in the form of the Auburn defense.

Good luck, ‘Dores. Been nice having you around for a month.

6. Upset, schmupset

Look, I’m not saying Kentucky will beat Alabama. But the Wildcats are beefy up the middle on defense, and can slow down the Tide’s running game. And if Alabama can’t run the ball, quarterback John Parker Wilson suddenly becomes less efficient.

UK’s starters on the front four will all play in the NFL: Myron Pryor and Corey Peters are run-stuffing tackles, and Jeremy Jarmon and Ventrell Jenkins are physical players on the ends.

UK hasn’t given up a rushing touchdown all season, and coach Rich Brooks compares this unit to his Gang Green defenses at Oregon in the early 1990s.

Now, on the other hand, the Kentucky offense couldn’t score 14 points on the Alabama defense if it was spotted two touchdowns and one of the conversions. But that’s another story for another time.

7. Firebrand Bo

Bo Pelini has a temper. Apparently, that’s the criticism in Lincoln of the new Nebraska coach-if you can believe that.

He got an unsportsmanlike conduct call against him last week in a loss to Virginia Tech, and there are some in Lincoln who feel this kind of behavior is A.) not becoming of their fine university, and B.) will eventually come back to bite the team in a big game.

To this I say: Have you seen the Nebraska roster? It’ll be a few years before Pelini is coaching in a big game. Cut him some slack and let him blow steam for having to clean up Billy C’s mess.

And be thankful if his patchwork defense holds Missouri under 50 points. Mr. Heisman, meet Mr. Daniel.

8. The long climb back

So USC has had nine days to sit and stew on a 5-6, 160-pound freshman ruining its season. Nine days to think about Joe McKnight, the team’s best player, getting all of 12 touches in the game.

Nine days to choke down the possibility that, despite being the most talented team in the country, the Trojans have no control of their national championship hopes. All they can do is go out every week-including this weekend against Oregon-and put up big numbers against an overmatched conference and hope for a string of upsets that includes Utah.

Because, really, if USC is 11-1 and Utah is 12-0 and there’s one spot remaining in the national title game, you better believe Utah has the better resume. The Mountain West is 6-1 vs. the Pac-10, and the teams will have one common opponent: Oregon State.

9. A trap in Boulder

I know Will Muschamp is a brilliant guy. Dude knows defense, and already has whipped into shape a Texas defense that, by the end of last season, was embarrassing.

However, I humbly offer this bit of advice for the Texas defensive coordinator: double Colorado WR Josh Smith in the first quarter.

In the last three games, Colorado’s first touchdown has come on passes to Smith. And if CU gets rolling early, this becomes the classic look-ahead game for Texas, which has You Know Who waiting at the Cotton Bowl, where everything-and I mean everything-tastes better fried.

10. Take out the trash

So Stanford offensive tackle Chris Marinelli doesn’t like Notre Dame. Says he hates anything remotely related to the Blue and Gold.

Then he got animated, telling Cardinalreport.com, “We are going to mash them up and that’s all there is to it.”

Bulletin board material is nothing new, but this was so good, I have to share more:

“We’ve seen a lot of tape and it is a good challenge for us,” Marinelli said. “But on the same token it’s going to go bad for them at one point and we are going to gash the (expletive) out of them, I promise you that. So keep bringing it, keep bringing it. They have one sack all year on 200 blitzes. They can keep bringing all the stuff they want. We can pick up blitzes.”

If Marinelli trash-talks a team Stanford couldn’t beat last season, what in the world will he say when USC week rolls around?

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