ESPN College Football

I've said it before and I'll say it again: what we saw over the weekend showed why college football is better than the pro game.

Upsets and overtime made for some tremendous college games on Saturday. The overtime rules in college gave us the excitement and emotion of teams like Arkansas and California coming back to win, and who could forget South Carolina coach Lou Holtz jumping up and down on the sideline as his shaky kicker tied the game in the third quarter, then seeing the disappointment on his face after Tennessee ended the game with an overtime touchdown.

Those are the highs and lows that make the college game much more entertaining than its NFL counterpart. Those scenes and others like them made for a terrific Saturday and continue to set us up for a great couple of months down the stretch. We analysts seem to say every year that things just can't get any better and many of us are saying the same already this season. I challenge anyone to tell me how things are going to unfold between now and January.

Scheming in Berkely

Players have to make the plays, but the difference in Cal's 34-31 overtime win against USC was Bears coach Jeff Tedford out-scheming Trojans coach Pete Carroll.

Tedford started Aaron Rodgers and Rodgers performed well early on, and to replace him with Reggie Robertson late in the game took some guts. Had Robertson laid an egg rather than hitting nine of 12 passes, Tedford would have had to answer the critics, but instead he continued to keep the USC defense off-balance. Tedford obviously knew something no one else did.

The quarterbacks played well, but the real surprise was the success California had on the ground. Adimchinobe Echemandu rushed for 147 yards against a front seven that has dominated everyone this year, and it is a testament to the coaching ability of Tedford that Cal was able to mix things up and surprise a very good defense.

Cougars pounce on Oregon
If you chalk up Washington State's 55-16 win to a letdown by Oregon you're missing the point. That may have been a part of it -- the emotion of the huge victory over Michigan had the Ducks spent -- but I've been in that situation as a player, and in a home game that explanation can only go so far.

Instead, let's give some credit to the Cougars. They came in with a great game plan and executed it perfectly. Oregon's two-quarterback system has been very effective this year, but Wazzu took away the four-tailback running game that was averaging in the neighborhood of 180 yards per game and put all the pressure squarely on Kellen Clemens and Jason Fife.

With predictable third-and-long situations popping up all afternoon, Washington State was able to put heat on both quarterbacks and force seven interceptions. Sure, the Oregon wide receivers made some big mistakes -- dropping a touchdown pass and fumbling balls away -- but even without those gaffes the game would have been a blowout.

Washington State quarterback Matt Kegel was also impressive, showing poise on the road and a firm grasp on what he needs to do to win games. The Cougars must be kicking themselves over the Notre Dame loss. Washington State is realistically just a couple of bad plays away from having a good shot at being undefeated. Even though the Cougars have to travel to L.A. Nov. 1, the Trojans already have a conference loss, so the Pac-10 is looking good for Wazzu.

The job Bill Doba has done in repairing his team's psyche after the Notre Dame loss is impressive. His team has been prepared every week since, and Doba's evolution as a coach is happening pretty quickly. Hats off to him.

Big Ten shakeup?
Glen Mason has certainly done a tremendous job at Minnesota, but even after a 20-14 win over Penn State moved the Golden Gophers to 5-0, I'm still not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon. There are no questions about the Minnesota offense and it's ability to be multiple, be physical and run the ball well, but the run defense is suspect and that could come back to haunt them.

The Gophers have good speed on the outside, but Penn State ran for better than 220 yards -- most coming against the middle of the defense. We all know Penn State is not the same team it has been in the past, but if sophomore quarterback Michael Robinson had started and played the entire game, things might have been different.

Michigan State, on the other hand, might be better than anyone thought. Quarterback Jeff Smoker hit 13 of his first 15 passes in a 20-10 win over Iowa, showing once again just how much he means to his team. He is a smart, accurate passer who finds the right man in a wide-open offense, and he doesn't have the benefit of a stable of talented wide receivers or a complementary running game.

The coaches simply tell Smoker "Hey, we need you to move this team," and he does it. I'm not sure anyone could convince me that Smoker is not the best quarterback in the conference right now.

The Spartans defense forced some turnovers and generated a ton of pressure on Nathan Chandler -- as it has done to quarterbacks all year -- but the story of this season is Smoker. We like to remind each other that that college football players are still just kids, but it took a man to face substance abuse like Smoker did and beat those demons in a public fashion.

The Big Ten race is shaping up to be a dandy. Ohio State is still unbeaten and the Buckeyes deserve their props, but most would agree they are vulnerable, especially on offense. Michigan has also shown it can be beaten, so with teams like Minnesota and Michigan State coming along things could get very interesting in the next few weeks.

Fitzgerald's great, but Pitt has problems
I picked Texas A&M to beat Pittsburgh because the Panthers gave up over 500 yards of offense to Toledo and because defenses can almost always game plan to limit the effectiveness of a great wide receiver.

Pittsburgh did allow almost 550 yards to the Aggies, but Larry Fitzgerald breaks all the rules and his 135 receiving yards and three touchdowns led Pitt to the win. He bailed out quarterback Rod Rutherford by catching two of those TD passes in triple coverage.

Still, the defensive lapses should be troublesome to Pittsburgh fans, because letdowns like that in a conference featuring Miami and Virginia Tech will take the Panthers out of the Big East race in a hurry.

Under the radar
Hats off to Mark Mangino and Kansas. Mangino cleaned house when he got to Lawrence and the players there now have bought into his system, turning last year's 2-10 record into a 4-1 start after the 35-14 win over Missouri. I'm not saying the Jayhawks have come full circle and have a shot to win the Big 12 North, but they are finally a competitive team and will have something to say about the outcome of that division.

Louisville isn't getting much national attention, either, but new coach Bobby Petrino is quietly doing an outstanding job considering the circumstances surrounding John L. Smith's departure and the losses the Cardinals suffered to the NFL. With Stefan LeFors playing well at quarterback and Florida State transfer Eric Shelton powering the running game, Petrino has all he needs for a successful debut season.

And as I said last week, I'll argue with anyone that Northern Illinois is a legitimate team that belongs with the big boys. With last week's 24-16 win against Iowa State the Huskies have now beaten teams from the ACC, SEC and Big 12. And the argument that none of these teams are very good doesn't stand up, because the Terps and the Crimson Tide were ranked when they played NIU, and they're no longer ranked because they lost. Kudos to Joe Novak and his staff.

Trev Alberts is a college football analyst for ESPN and a regular contributor to ESPN.com during the season.