ESPN College Football

Wake Forest fans have plenty of reasons to be excited. So do fans at Houston, Missouri, Purdue, Rutgers and Texas A&M. But when should the rest of the country take notice of the 4-0 starts by each of those schools?

Not quite yet.

Of the aforementioned six-pack of overachievers, Missouri and Rutgers seem to be the most legitimate. But all six should end up with at least .500 records and play in postseason bowl games.

Missouri is ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll this week, the Tigers' first national ranking since 2004. Quarterback Chase Daniel has played remarkably well in replacing Brad Smith, and Missouri is ranked No. 1 in total defense in Division I-A, allowing only 175.2 yards per game. Keep in mind those eye-popping statistics came against Division I-AA Murray State, struggling Ole Miss, New Mexico and Ohio.

Rutgers, meanwhile, has picked up right where it left off last season. In 2005, coach Greg Schiano's fifth season, the Scarlet Knights went 7-5 and played in their first bowl game in 27 years.

This season, Rutgers won at North Carolina in its opener and then blasted Illinois, Ohio and Division I-AA Howard by a combined score of 113-14 for its first 4-0 start since 1980.

Rutgers debuted at No. 23 in the AP Top 25 poll this week, its first national ranking in 30 years.

The Scarlet Knights finished 11-0 in 1976 and were ranked as high as No. 17 that season.

"I think our guys are kind of low key about that stuff," Schiano said Monday. "They're just trying to chop at their work and get ready for South Florida. I think they are excited, but I don't think it's something that's engulfing them."

Playing the Bulls at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Friday night is surely enough to get the Scarlet Knights' attention. Last season, South Florida blasted them 45-31 at Rutgers Stadium. The loss came a week after the Scarlet Knights won their sixth game to qualify for a postseason bowl game. Rutgers lost three of its last four games last season, including a 45-40 loss to Arizona State in the Insight Bowl.

"South Florida beat us last year in our home stadium and we gave up 45 points," Schiano said. "It was a game coming off becoming bowl eligible, and we didn't play very well for 2½ quarters. I think we all know South Florida is a good team."

The Bulls are 3-1 this season, after losing at Kansas 13-7 Saturday. The Scarlet Knights' biggest obstacles don't come until late in the season -- they host No. 8 Louisville Nov. 9 and play at No. 4 West Virginia Dec. 2.

"Getting to the first bowl game was big because it had been so long," Schiano said. "Ultimately, when we came here our goal was to be the best. That's the only reason I came here. A lot of people would think that's far-fetched, but that's the goal. We've got a long way to go. To me, this is only a step."

On Saturday, Houston and Purdue face the toughest tests of the upstarts. Houston, which beat Oklahoma State 34-25 last weekend for the Cougars' first victory in six tries against Big 12 schools, play at reeling Miami. Houston has lost its last six games against the Hurricanes and hasn't beaten them in Florida since 1973. The Cougars' last win in the series came in the Houston Astrodome in the 1976 regular-season finale.

The Hurricanes will face one of the country's best passing attacks. Cougars quarterback Kevin Kolb has emerged as a Heisman Trophy dark horse candidate. The senior has completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 1,193 yards with 12 touchdowns and only one interception. Houston is averaging 312 passing yards and 38 points per game.

After beating Rice, Tulane and Division I-AA Grambling State to start the season, Houston coach Art Briles hopes his team's win over previously unbeaten Oklahoma State silenced some of the critics.

"The way I see it is that the win validates what we've been saying," Briles told the Houston Chronicle. "There has always been that question mark out there of, 'Can we win the big game? Are we this good?' I wonder about these things. Right now you can throw all of those questions away. It doesn't mean it's going to stay that way because you have to prove yourself each week, but for these 60 minutes this week, we were a pretty good football team."

Purdue, which flopped with a 5-6 record last season, has beaten I-AA Indiana State, Miami (Ohio), Ball State and Minnesota. The Boilermakers take a step up in competition Saturday when they play at No. 12 Notre Dame. Purdue won 41-16 in its last trip to Notre Dame Stadium (2004), its first win there since Ara Parseghian's last game as the Fighting Irish coach in 1974. Notre Dame won 49-28 at Purdue last season, with quarterback Brady Quinn throwing for 440 yards and three touchdowns.

"I often tell them, 'If we have to do anything to get you excited about playing this game, you're playing the wrong game. You're in the wrong sport,'" Purdue coach Joe Tiller told reporters before Sunday's practice. "This is as talented a team as we'll play all year."

Like most of the upstarts, Texas A&M has played a very soft schedule so far, beating I-AA Citadel, Louisiana-Lafayette, Army and Louisiana Tech. The Aggies stopped Army at the Texas A&M 6-yard line as time expired to salvage a 28-24 win. The Aggies figure to get a tough test from Texas Tech in College Station on Saturday and then face a grueling finish in November: at home against No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 21 Nebraska and at No. 7 Texas.

Wake Forest, which is unbeaten despite losing quarterback Ben Mauk and tailback Micah Andrews to season-ending injuries, should be 5-0 after playing I-AA Liberty on Saturday. Then the road gets much more difficult, with home games against Clemson, Boston College and Virginia Tech and road games at North Carolina State, North Carolina, Florida State and Maryland to finish the season.

On the Mark
Several replacement players had big games in Week 4. With leading rusher Kenny Irons sitting out with toe and ankle injuries, Auburn turned to backups Brad Lester and Ben Tate, who combined for 197 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-7 win over Buffalo. Tennessee freshman LaMarcus Coker was forced to carry the load against Marshall on Saturday night because starter Arian Foster remains sidelined with a sprained ankle. Coker had 146 yards on only eight carries and ran for an 89-yard touchdown, the third-longest in Tennessee history.

Louisville's replacements for quarterback Brian Brohm and Michael Bush continued to play well in the Cardinals' 24-6 win at Kansas State. Quarterback Hunter Cantwell completed 18 of 26 passes for 173 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Tailbacks George Stripling and Kolby Smith each had 63 rushing yards.

"I think it shows we've done a good job of recruiting and have depth," Cardinals offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said.

Petrino, the brother of Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino, said Cantwell still has room for improvement. Louisville doesn't play this weekend and faces Middle Tennessee State in Nashville on Oct. 6.

"I think the biggest thing he's got to do is have a better feel for what we're trying to do at the line of scrimmage," Paul Petrino said. "I think he was thinking a little too much [against Kansas State]. He's just got to believe in his first decision and go do it. I think he second-guessed himself a little too much."

Off the Mark
It didn't take long for the second-guessing to start at Arizona State after California walloped the Sun Devils 49-21 on Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter threw four interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns, and lost a critical fumble as the Bears led 42-14 at halftime. Carpenter has thrown eight interceptions in four games after throwing only two in 228 pass attempts last season.

"Our defensive line did a great job of pressuring him, and he doesn't respond real well to pressure," Cal cornerback Daymeion Hughes told reporters after the game. "We knew that, and we took advantage of it. He didn't look real confident in the pocket."

Carpenter was awarded the starting job during the preseason only after Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter reversed his decision. Koetter's abrupt reversal caused senior quarterback Sam Keller to transfer to Nebraska, where he'll be eligible to play for the Cornhuskers in 2007.

On the Mark

Kudos to Army coach Bobby Ross, who made another gutsy decision on Saturday after one backfired in a 28-24 loss to Texas A&M a week earlier. After Baylor tied Saturday night's game at 20 on Ryan Haven's 24-yard field goal late in regulation, the Black Knights got the football first in overtime. Army faced fourth-and-1 from the Bears' 16, and instead of trying to kick a field goal for a 23-20 lead, Ross decided to go for the first down.

"They didn't have to convince me," Ross told reporters after the game. "I wanted to hear them out, but that's what I wanted to do. I felt like we needed a touchdown, and then I felt the pressure would be on them."

Freshman tailback Tony Moore, who was stuffed at the 6-yard line on the final play against Texas A&M, gained 2 yards on the fourth down against the Bears, and then scored on a 4-yard run to put Army ahead 27-20. The Black Knights' defense held the Bears on four straight plays to win the game. With games remaining against Rice, Division I-AA Virginia Military Institute and Tulane, don't be surprised to see Army playing in a bowl game in December.

Off the Mark
It's going to be a long week for a few kickers across the country. Alabama's Leigh Tiffin, a freshman walk-on who was forced into the role because Jamie Christensen has a strained groin, missed three field goals and an extra point in the Crimson Tide's 24-23 double-overtime loss at Arkansas. Three of Tiffin's missed field goals were wide right. He is the son of Van Tiffin, a former Alabama kicker who made a memorable 52-yard field goal to beat Auburn in 1985.

Tiffin had two chances to win the game, missing a 30-yard attempt at the end of regulation and a 37-yarder in the first overtime after the Tide intercepted a pass. When Tiffin missed an extra point after Alabama's touchdown in the second overtime, the Hogs won when quarterback Mitch Mustain threw an 11-yard touchdown to tight end Ben Cleveland and Jeremy Davis made the extra point.

"I had a rough night," Tiffin told reporters. "You go out there, you line up every kick, you concentrate like you're trying to make it. It just didn't happen."

Tiffin won't be alone in his misery. Navy lost to Tulsa 24-23 in overtime when the Golden Hurricanes blocked Matt Harmon's extra-point attempt in overtime. Boston College lost at North Carolina State 17-15 after Ryan Ohliger missed the extra-point attempt after the Eagles' first touchdown. Boston College later failed to covert a two-point conversion try, which would have put it ahead 17-10.

On the Mark
If you thought former Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham would drift into obscurity after he was unceremoniously fired by the Fighting Irish, you were dead wrong. In his second season at Washington, Willingham has led the Huskies to a surprising 3-1 start. Washington beat UCLA 29-19 on Saturday night, rallying from a 16-0 deficit. Huskies quarterback Isaiah Stanback threw three touchdowns and accounted for 248 of his team's 249 yards in offense. The road gets much tougher for Washington over the next month, as it plays three of its next four games on the road: at Arizona, USC and Cal.

Off the Mark
Both Georgia and Arkansas won very close games this past Saturday, but both SEC teams have to be concerned about their freshman quarterbacks. Mustain threw the game-winning touchdown in the second overtime, but he was only 8-for-22 for 97 yards with three interceptions.

Georgia's Matthew Stafford, a highly regarded freshman from Highland Park, Texas, started the last two games after senior Joe Tereshinski suffered a high ankle sprain in the team's 18-0 win at South Carolina on Sept. 9. Stafford was efficient against the Gamecocks and UAB, but struggled mightily in the Bulldogs' 14-13 win over Colorado. Stafford completed 8 of 16 passes for 76 yards and lost a critical fumble that set up a field goal that put the Buffaloes ahead 13-0 in the third quarter. He was pulled late in the third quarter and replaced by redshirt freshman Joe Cox, who threw two touchdowns, including the game winner to tight end Martrez Milner with 46 seconds left. Georgia coach Mark Richt said he won't announce a starting quarterback for Saturday's game at Ole Miss. Tereshinski is expected to return to practice next week and would probably start against Tennessee on Oct. 7.

"We have two kids that are going to play pretty darn good," Richt said of Cox and Stafford. "We are going to split time with those guys, and at the end of the week we will make a decision on who will start. When ya'll get to the game, you can see who goes in first."

On the Mark

Two SEC teams turned to former quarterbacks to change their fortunes. South Carolina's Syvelle Newton, who started five games at quarterback in 2004 and played a variety of positions last season, opened this year at receiver. But when starter Blake Mitchell struggled in the first two games and then was arrested for a bar fight (assault charges were later dropped), Newton returned to quarterback and has started the last two games. In Saturday night's 45-6 win over Florida Atlantic, Newton was 13-for-20 for 216 yards and five touchdowns -- all thrown to Sidney Rice.

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom moved receiver Omarr Conner back to quarterback, after losing starter Michael Henig to a shoulder injury in the opener. Conner completed 13 of 23 passes for 99 yards and ran 10 times for 48 yards and the game-winning touchdown in Saturday night's 16-10 win over UAB, the Bulldogs' first win of the season.

Off the Mark
A week after Separation Saturday, precipitation was the theme across the country. Lightning delayed Texas' 37-14 win over Iowa State for 70 minutes. Penn State and Ohio State played in a mud bowl in Columbus, Ohio. Notre Dame had to come back against Michigan State in a driving rain storm in East Lansing, Mich. The start of the Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech game was delayed by two hours because of inclement weather. At Tennessee, the Volunteers' band couldn't form the giant "T" on the field for players to run through because of threatening skies, the first time the pregame ritual didn't happen in 41 years.

On the Mark
NC State QB Daniel Evans. His coach, Chuck Amato (for this week, at least). Clemson's punishing running game. Tulane goes home, finally, to play SMU this weekend. New Hampshire WR David Ball (tied Jerry Rice's Division I-AA record for career touchdown catches). Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson. Rebounding quarterbacks (Pittsburgh's Tyler Palko, California's Nate Longshore, Georgia Tech's Reggie Ball, Tennessee's Erik Ainge). Big receivers (Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija, Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson, South Carolina's Sidney Rice). Michigan's defense. Boise State. TCU. Duke's bye week.

Off the Mark
North Carolina coach John Bunting (19th loss by 17 points or more in six seasons). Michigan State's John L. Smith (if only every game ended at halftime). Georgia's offense. Notre Dame's defense. Boston College's soft coverage. Ole Miss (boy, firing David Cutcliffe sure looks smart now). Maryland. Pac-10 officials. Oklahoma's whining. Southern University's "locker" room. Illinois. Virginia. USC ahead of Auburn in the coaches' poll.

Mark Schlabach covers college football and men's college basketball for ESPN.com. You can contact him at schlabachma@yahoo.com.