OSU-UT a prelim for Showdown Saturday

Now that the dust has settled on No. 1 Ohio State's big win at No. 2 Texas, it's time for us to step back and evaluate what it really means.

The previous three regular-season matchups between Nos. 1 vs. 2 all involved a team that went on to win the national title, but the last two times, it was the loser of the game that ultimately took home the championship hardware in January. (Florida won the 1996 championship after losing to Florida State. FSU won the 1993 national title after losing to Notre Dame.)

In the past eight years, five teams have reached the Bowl Championship Series title game after losing in the regular season, so it should be perfectly clear that all is not lost for Texas. If the Longhorns can win out, the odds are decent that they would be the highest-ranked one-loss team come December. That, however, is insignificant if there are two or more undefeated teams in front of them. Just ask Penn State about last season.

Yes, it's time for Texas to start scoreboard watching. And rooting for undefeated teams to lose. Ohio State might have to lose twice to fall behind the Longhorns, since voters don't easily forget such a performance by a road team in a big game. It's not the ideal situation, but Texas is still alive … unless it loses again.

As for the Buckeyes, it's hard not to like their chances of going undefeated through the regular season. This team seems very unlikely to lose a home game, even considering the history of upsets in its series with Michigan. And on OSU's remaining road schedule, only Iowa is currently ranked, and that's a team that needed multiple overtimes and a goal-line stand to beat Syracuse. Would home-field advantage and a healthy Drew Tate be enough to bridge the gap between what we saw of the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes on Saturday? We'll find out on Sept. 30.

The most fun part of this season, however, might be watching other teams try to remain unscathed, as Notre Dame and the major-conference powers slug it out over the next 12 weeks. And that fun begins this coming Saturday with six games between undefeated, ranked teams. On paper, it looks like the most exciting weekend of the season.

One of my first college football assignments sent me to Statesboro, Ga., to report on the I-AA power that Erk Russell created from scratch at Georgia Southern. Russell, who led Georgia Southern to three Division I-AA championships after a long career as Vince Dooley's top assistant at Georgia, died Friday at the age of 80.

Many of the details of the assignment escape me, but I do recall the difference between Russell's appearance -- big men with shaved heads don't have much trouble looking menacing -- and his demeanor. He was a tough coach who produced tough defenses, but warmth and enthusiasm came off the man in waves.

I visited Georgia Southern on the kind of late summer day only that part of the country can provide: shimmering, suffocating heat, with every intake of air accompanied by a few hundred gnats. Russell walked me over to a ditch adjacent to his practice field and explained how this was no ditch at all but "Beautiful Eagle Creek." Georgia Southern took a plastic milk jug of water from Beautiful Eagle Creek on every road game, and that, Russell said, was one of the reasons that Georgia Southern became so unstoppable.

It didn't matter whether I believed it, and looking back, I'm pretty sure Russell didn't believe it. But his players sure believed it. Therein lay his genius. In the oral history "What It Means to Be a Bulldog," written by Tony Barnhart, former Georgia linebacker Tommy Lawhorne called Russell "the greatest motivator who has ever lived."

Lawhorne, a sophomore in 1965 in the days of freshman ineligibility, learned he would start the season opener against defending national champion Alabama. Russell, ever-present cigar in his mouth, put his arm around Lawhorne's shoulder and said, "You're starting at linebacker, and I don't know of anybody in the world that I would rather have starting for me than you."

Added Lawhorne, "Well, of course, he was lying, but after that I was really jacked up to play." Georgia won, 18-17.

Russell served as Vince Dooley's wingman for two decades at Georgia, creating the Junkyard Dog defense that teamed up with freshman tailback Herschel Walker to win the 1980 national championship. Russell played good cop to Dooley's bad cop, and the outpouring of emotion that their former players have given since Russell's death indicates the love they still had for him.

Barnhart quoted former Bulldog defensive lineman and College Football Hall of Famer Bill Stanfill, "In my career I got to play for three great coaches: Vince Dooley, Erk Russell and Don Shula."

The College Football Hall of Fame has no wing for assistant coaches that I know of. It's an idea worth pursuing. Men like Russell should be recognized for what they have given to the sport.

It's no secret that Mississippi State has had a rough go of it the past few years, but you might be surprised just how rough it's been.

There's bad. There's worse. And then there's being the first SEC team to do something since Tulane. That's right. Tulane!

For those who aren't college football historians, the Green Wave were a charter member of the SEC in 1933 but eventually became such a doormat in football that they opted for independent status in the mid '60s. Their final season in the conference was 1965, in which they were shut out five times, including the first two games of the season. That brings us to Mississippi State, which, after losing 15-0 to South Carolina and 34-0 to Auburn to open the 2006 campaign, became the first SEC team since that Tulane squad to be held without a point in its first two games of the season.

We're not aware of any discussion about giving the Bulldogs the boot from the conference, but their current level of futility is similar to what Tulane experienced in its final years. The MSU seniors have won just four of their 26 conference games and have been outscored 826-296 in SEC play. That's a scoring margin of -20.4 per game. Saturday's loss to Auburn was the seventh time they've been shut out in conference play and the fifth time they've failed to score in a home SEC game.

The Bulldogs will now step out of conference to attempt an end to this historical scoreless stretch. The team trying to keep Mississippi State off the scoreboard this Saturday? Naturally, it will be Tulane.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- His answer likely will never change, but Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis doesn't mind hearing the question. Every time safety Tom Zbikowski scores a touchdown, Weis is asked if he would consider using Zbikowski on offense. And, every time, Weis replies he won't.

Did the return earn Zbikowski a shot on offense, where he starred at quarterback for Buffalo Grove (Ill.) High School? The question surfaced again Sunday, hours after Zbikowski returned an Anthony Morelli fumble 25 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter of Notre Dame's 41-17 pasting of Penn State. It marked Zbikowski's sixth career touchdown -- two on fumble returns, two on interception returns and two on punt returns.

"Let him catch those punts first," Weis quipped, referring to a muffed punt by Zbikowski on Saturday.

So how does Weis explain Zbikowski's knack for touchdowns?

"Some people can say it's opportunistic; some people can say it's lucky," Weis said. "All I know is I hope it keeps happening. He has a nose for the ball. The ball comes to him.

"Part of it is his instinct. Part of it is being in the right place at the right time."

Zbikowski's teammates continue to be amazed by his draw to the ball.

"It's awesome," safety Chinedum Ndukwe said. "Tommy just keeps getting those bounces."

AUSTIN, Texas -- How could Ohio State possibly replace A.J. Hawk and the nation's top linebacking crew? I think we might have found the Buckeyes' answer. That would be James Laurinaitis, a 6-foot-3, 244-pound sophomore, who till around 8 p.m. ET Saturday was best known outside of Columbus for being the son of former pro wrestling star Animal of the Road Warriors. But after the Buckeyes' impressive win at Texas, Laurinaitis is now the face of the Buckeyes defense.

Read the rest of Feldman's weekend take: Feldman blog