ESPN College Football

Each Sunday, our bloggers review what happened over the past weekend. What did they learn in Week 7?

ACC

Virginia is King of the Coastal -- for now. That's right, the team that started 0-3 in the conference is now leading the pack. Technically. With Georgia Tech's win over Virginia Tech, the Hokies dropped into the pack of one-conference loss teams that also includes Duke, but guess what? Virginia is still undefeated in the ACC, thanks to road wins over Maryland and North Carolina. Georgia Tech will travel to Charlottesville on Saturday, where it hasn't won since 1990, but the Jackets look like a better team than the Cavaliers right now, and certainly have a more potent offense. The question is whether they can break the C-ville curse.

Big 12

Oklahoma State is the last team standing in the South that can challenge Texas. And even without Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter, the Cowboys have a good chance at springing the upset in what should be a raucous atmosphere at Boone Pickens Stadium on Halloween night. Zac Robinson has helped the offense cobble together some big efforts with players like Keith Toston and Hubert Anyiam picking up the slack. And Bill Young's defense is growing as well, shutting out Missouri over the second half Saturday night.

Big East

Cincinnati is a contender. The Bearcats are the last unbeaten team in the Big East after Thursday's win at South Florida, and with losses by Virginia Tech and Ohio State and an unimpressive showing from Boise State, they should move up a few more spots in the polls this week. Cincinnati will probably need USC, Texas and maybe Iowa to lose, but it is in position to make a run at the BCS title game if it can put together another 6-0 run. The long-term health of Tony Pike is the Bearcats' biggest concern right now.

Big Ten

Iowa is the team to beat. The Hawkeyes are well-positioned on the path to Pasadena after another come-from-behind victory on the road. There might not be a more resilient team in the country than Iowa, which has overcome deficits in six of its seven victories and twice rallied from down 10-0 in a hostile Big Ten stadium. Ohio State's stumble puts Iowa in the driver's seat as the only Big Ten team not to drop a conference game (or any game, for that matter). The Hawkeyes are halfway through one of the nation's toughest conference road schedules and they seem to be getting stronger on offense as quarterback Ricky Stanzi sizzled after halftime against Wisconsin. Iowa deserves national recognition and a top-10 ranking.

Pac-10

Matt Barkley is worth the hype. He wasn't perfect -- his fourth-quarter interception ignited Notre Dame's comeback -- but Barkley passed for 380 yards, completing 19 of 29 passes with two touchdowns, in the Trojans' 34-27 win at Notre Dame. He has now won against ranked teams at Ohio State and at Notre Dame, two of the most storied venues in college football. Yes, he is one cool cat. And, yes, USC is back into the national title hunt. What are the odds that Barkley gets a bronze statue before he goes No. 1 in the NFL draft?

SEC

There are no sure things. We're reminded of this every year in the SEC. Think back to unranked Ole Miss winning at Florida last season and unranked Arkansas winning 50-48 in triple overtime two years ago at LSU on the final weekend of the regular season. We almost saw it happen for a third straight year on Saturday, as Arkansas took Florida to the final seconds at the Swamp and South Carolina played Alabama close into the fourth quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama and Florida are easily the two best teams in the league, maybe the best two teams in the country, but they're going to have to play well the rest of the way to remain unscathed. And even then, there are no guarantees. This league has a way of serving up an upset that nobody sees coming. Stay tuned because there's likely to be more drama in store.

Non-AQ

Is Nevada back? After starting the season 0-3, Nevada has won three consecutive games, including Saturday's come-from-behind victory over Utah State. Coach Chris Ault said earlier this week that he wasn't ready to declare that his team has become the team he expected it to be at the beginning of the season, but there's no doubt that it's moving in the right direction. Nevada's 2-0 conference record is second in the conference behind Idaho, whom they play next week.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame isn't going to the BCS this year. Sure, the Irish could run the table and finish 10-2 after Saturday's loss to USC. But does anyone really believe that this team, which takes every game down to the final play, can win six straight? And even a 10-2 record wouldn't include any impressive victories, meaning the Fighting Irish probably couldn't climb high enough in the BCS standings. It looks like the Gator Bowl is the team's best bet.