Updated: November 10, 2005, 9:02 AM ET

Just For Argument's Sake ...

From which school might be poised to stink up the BCS to the Wolfpack's key Stone to this weekend's best games, Ivan Maisel tackles all the hot topics.

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Maisel By Ivan Maisel
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From nagging questions to soapbox moments to Heisman hype, Ivan Maisel tackles the hottest topics in college football.

1. With USC and Texas a clear one-two, which team is the skunk in the BCS garden?
Jim Leavitt
Jim Leavitt's three-loss Bulls could crash the BCS.

South Florida is 4-3 and controls its destiny in the Big East Conference. No. 16 West Virginia goes to USF on Dec. 3. If that game is for the Big East championship, the good news is that all six automatic BCS bids will be decided that Saturday.

The bad news is that South Florida, at 7-3, could be playing for a BCS bid. The Bulls likely would end up in the Sugar Bowl, which means -- again, in theory -- that the consolation prize for a 12-0, No. 3 Alabama could be the three-loss Bulls.

That's the BCS. You can bet the Bulls would hear a lot of questions and caustic remarks about their worthiness. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt does his best not to think about the BCS. It is four wins away. But he knows what the Bulls would face.

"I realized what we were dealing with when we beat the dog out of Louisville," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said Monday. "Was it good or was it bad [for the BCS]? It was good for us. It is what it is. We're going to try to do our best."

The Bulls' next three games are at Syracuse (1-7), vs. Cincinnati (4-4) and at UConn (4-4). They are winnable in theory, a long way from the reality of USF's 0-3 road record. But there's also the reality of the Bulls' 45-14 rout of Louisville on Sept. 24.

Leavitt, speaking from the figurative bunker in which most college football coaches live, said one of the most difficult aspects of his job is to keep his team focused on what's next.

"I'm really being honest," he said. "I don't think about it [the BCS bid] much. A lot of people don't expect us to do a whole lot. You just got to see if you can play one game. It's such a boring statement, but it's true. In a world of instant media and the Internet, it's very difficult. Every week, it's a whole other story. Something happens, and there's another story."

USF is in this situation in part because it has talent -- tailback Andre Hall, the Big East Offensive Player of the Week after his 168-yard, three-touchdown rushing performance at Rutgers, ranks second in the league in rushing, averaging 109.3 yards per game.

The Bulls are also in this situation because the threat of Hurricane Wilma postponed the Oct. 22 game against West Virginia. After playing five straight weeks to open the season, South Florida played just once in five weeks. The Bulls are healthy as a team can possibly be in the second week in November.

Leavitt took the unusual step in his injury-wary line of work and conducted scrimmages between his second- and third-team players, just to get them some work. The highlight of having three weeks between games came when Leavitt took the Bulls to Tropicana Field for an indoor practice where the Devil Rays play baseball.

The downside might have been boredom, which is why the Bulls couldn't be stopped Saturday in their 45-31 victory at Rutgers. With that win, South Florida took its position on the periphery of the BCS. No matter how much it might pain the rest of the college football world, the Bulls could easily be there until the end of the season.

2. Which Alabama defense is better -- 2005 or 1992?
Alabama It's a natural comparison. This Alabama team has reached 9-0 with a defense that dominates and an offense that struggles. That also describes the Crimson Tide team that won the national championship 13 years ago. Alabama finished No. 1 by upsetting Miami 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl. Those 34 points came on 285 total yards.

But a closer look shows that, to this point, there's not much comparison at all. The 1992 Alabama team finished first (rushing defense, 55.5 yards per game; total defense, 194.2 yards per game; turnovers, 37) or second (pass efficiency defense, 84.87 rating; scoring defense, 9.1 points per game) in Division I-A by almost every defensive measure. The Crimson Tide had three shutouts that season.

The 2005 Alabama defense has some gaudy numbers of its own. The Tide leads I-A in scoring defense (8.2 points per game) and ranks no lower than seventh in the major statistical categories. In the last five games, Alabama has allowed four field goals and a touchdown. The latter came on a 27-yard drive after an Alabama fumble.

How's this for a statistic? Alabama has not allowed a touchdown in its opponent's last 16 trips to the red zone.

Or this -- Mississippi State ran five plays in Alabama territory. Four of them came after Alabama turned the ball over at its 18-yard-line. The defense not only held but went on to the Tide's first shutout of the season, 17-0.

Bulldogs offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey coached the running backs on the 1992 Alabama team. "From a production standpoint, this defense may be as good," McCorvey said of this year's defense. "They run to the ball really well. But that ['92] defense had nine guys go on to play in the NFL [Actually, 11 played in the NFL, if you count the backups.]. There's no one on this year's defensive line like that one."

Ends Eric Curry and John Copeland shook NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's hand early in the first round of the 1993 draft. It doesn't appear as if there are 11 players on this Alabama defense who will go on to the NFL.

There are at least three, and maybe four, games remaining -- all against ranked opponents -- for this Alabama defense to establish itself. If it's as good as the 1992 defense, we can begin discussing the 1961 national champions (six shutouts, 25 points allowed).

3. Can we put to bed the notion that Larry Coker can't get it done on his own?
The Miami coach began this season with a record of 44-6 (.880) and one national championship. Most coaches with that type of record -- let me rephrase that. There is no such thing as "Most coaches with that type of record." Coker has the third-best beginning of a career since 1900, behind Barry Switzer (45-3-2, .920) and Frank Leahy (43-4-3, .890).

Yet the Hurricanes had three straight seasons of losing one more game than they did the year before: 12-0 in the 2001 national championship season; 12-1 in the heartbreak of the 2002 season, when Miami lost the Fiesta Bowl in double overtime to Ohio State; 11-2 in 2003; and 9-3 last season.

Thus the criticism: Coker, a career assistant, won with the recruits brought in by Butch Davis, but once he had his own players, the Hurricanes took a step back.

When this season began, and Miami followed its 10-7 loss at archrival Florida State with a 36-30 triple-overtime victory at Clemson, it looked as if not much had changed. But the offensive line jelled, quarterback Kyle Wright began to mature and the Hurricanes took off. After the 27-7 rout at Virginia Tech, they are 7-1 and are ranked third or fourth in the nation, depending whom you believe.

So, yes, Coker can coach. But it shouldn't have taken this season to prove it. You know why? That 7-1 record actually has lowered his career winning percentage, from .880 to, at 51-7, .879.

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