College football Saturday: Kansas State, Florida, LSU the biggest winners

The Horse Race concept has been an interesting one thus far. First of all, it shows us how powerful the overall narrative is. Eight weeks into the season, Geno Smith has still had more good weeks than pretty much anybody else in the country. But after three iffy performances, he finds himself still in the Horse Race lead ... and basically eliminated from contention by everybody with a vote or a website. Smith’s transition from “sure thing” to “no way” has opened the door for ... somebody. It appears we aren’t sure yet. Last week’s darling (Manziel) only played at an okay level in his marquee game versus LSU. This week’s new favorite is a quarterback who has played at a truly elite (statistical) level just once but has been consistently strong. We do know for sure, however, that Week 8 was one of corrections. Three strong quarterbacks who had not yet made a Top 10 finished 1-2-3 last week, and nobody who had amassed any sort of strong point total found the Top 10. The more the merrier in this suddenly tight, odd race.

The idea behind the Heisman Horse Race was to track who “won the week,” so to speak, and weight each week evenly. That has done Klein no favors. If the Heisman were awarded to the most valuable player in the country, he would be an absolute no-brainer pick, with perhaps only Georgia’s Jarvis Jones giving him chase. But before Week 8, he was not producing eye-popping, Heisman-level stats on a week to week basis. In his first six games of the season, Klein averaged 179 passing yards and 85 rushing yards per game. That adds up to a lovely 2,000/1,000 season, but it never jumps off of the page. Klein was pretty consistently pulling in Honorable Mention status in the Horse Race posts but never making it into the Top 10. Meanwhile, with Geno Smith faltering and Kansas State continuing to win, he became the default No. 1 or No. 2 guy according to conventional wisdom. Klein is simultaneously the best game manager you’ll ever see (he is in complete control at all times, it seems) and a terribly underrated (even by me) athlete, but can you actually win the Heisman without ever having some sort of breakout performance? Even if your team goes undefeated, can you take the big trophy by averaging seven yards per pass and falling forward on every third-and-3? And even if, statistically, Braxton Miller was posting better stats, also on an undefeated team? Klein and the building hype were single-handedly rendering moot the idea of the Horse Race.

Considering the way this season has gone for Southern Miss after perhaps the best year in program history, I ain’t even mad at this:

There appears to be video (“keep my child’s name out your mouth!”) via Friends of the Program:

“[Expletive]!”

Every stadium houses a point of no return, where the losing team’s departing fan is perilously close to the concourse gate but can still catch one last glimpse of the ongoing game, be it via a Jumbotron or concession stand TV monitor.

While Detroit (Mi.) Cass Tech offensive lineman David Dawson did enjoy his visit to Gainesville to take in Florida’s win over South Carolina, he denied rumors of a commitment.

Expect Dawson to take a trip to Alabama and potentially a few other SEC schools as well.

The debate entering Sunday night’s unveiling of Week 9’s BCS rankings: should Oregon or Kansas State be ranked No. 3 behind Alabama and Florida? Notre Dame and Oregon State also had cause to enter that discussion, but I didn’t hear much of that debate. Just the other one.

We know Bama’s No. 1, and we know Florida strengthened its hold on No. 2 in the BCS standings with its convincing beatdown of South Carolina. But with the Ducks flattening everything on their (not-so-tough) schedule and Kansas State now owning two excellent road Big 12 wins, it appeared we’d come down to the battle between man and machine. The machine won.

At the beginning of the 2012 college football season, I thought there were four great teams in college football: Alabama, Oregon, LSU, and USC. I was wrong about LSU and USC, and wrong about the four teams, and wrong about the greatness: there are six very good teams in college football that remain undefeated, and seven total championship contenders (Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Notre Dame, K-State, Oregon State, Oklahoma), barring something screwy.

Yesterday was Statement Saturday, and we learned plenty about all but one of them.

Here are the highlights of Notre Dame’s 17-14 victory over BYU.

Massachusetts is losing 7-0 to Bowling Green at the half. That’s not a story. What makes this a story is a freshman cornerback tweeting during halftime.

After taking the time to retweet a bunch of praise for his play in the first half, he had this to say:

It took LSU 26 minutes to cross midfield against a first-year SEC defense that gave up 57 points to a WAC team last week. I don’t know whether that’s better or worse than not making it past the 50 against Alabama until just a few minutes remained in the national title game, but it’s the same kind of thing.

This might be considered the definitive play of LSU’s first half:

Rutgers has its hands full against Temple today, losing 10-0 at the half. Temple’s defense has been setting the tone, holding the Scarlet Knights to just two first downs. With that level of ineptitude on offense, sometimes you have to get a little crafty.

Who knows? Maybe Gary Nova is an innovator. With a name like Nova, he could shine brighter than all of us. Regardless, I’m sure he’s hoping Rutgers’ offense explodes in the second half. The Scarlet Knights are really shooting for the stars against the Owls. If Nova can go on a hot streak, Rutgers might still have a chance.

Les Miles’ LSU Tigers are struggling against Texas A&M, so let’s check in with Les Miles!

And also: NEAUX!

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Ronald Jenkins put the news out on Facebook, as tweeted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Jenkins, a freshman, will make the second start of his career against the Wildcats since Georgia’s 56-20 win over Florida Atlantic on Sept. 15. The Georgia native has 15 tackles and a forced fumble this season.

As part of Military Appreciation Day, Clemson walk-on wide receiver and Army veteran Daniel Rodriguez led the Tigers down the hill before their game against the Hokies. Clemson storming down the hill before a game in front of a bunch of jumping, cheering, most likely drunk all-Orange fans is an awe-inspiring moment to say the least.

But watching a veteran waving a flag dressed in full football uniform, leading an entire team down said hill -- now that’s just Goosebumps City. Today, Oct. 20, is also the birthday of Rodriguez’s late father.

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Rees has come off the bench four times, leading the Irish to wins over Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan, and started in their win over Miami. Golson was cleared to play earlier this week, but Kelly is going with Rees.

Rees is 17-for-25 with 218 yards and a touchdown in 2012, and 32 touchdowns in his career.

Like all good art in its time, it was not appreciated by the powers that be and was confiscated by security. For more pictures of the Gameday scene in Gainesville, check out the images captured here.

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Oklahoma State has not been shy about trotting out new uniform concepts the past few seasons. Today will be no different. The Cowboys will debut Orange helmets with a varied logo than typically appears on the helmet. Take a look:

Cincinnati, in the midst of an undefeated season and making yet another run at a Big East title, received bad injury news on the morning of its road game at Toledo. Walter Stewart, the team’s defensive leader and best pass rusher, will not play according to Bill Koch on Cincinnati.com. Koch writes:

While it might not make a great deal of difference against Toledo tonight, not having Stewart in the lineup next Friday night at Louisville for a game between possibly unbeaten, ranked Big East rivals would be an enormous loss.

Mannion told reporters that there’s no quarterback controversy between he and Voz and that two are completely supportive of one another. Kickoff for the Beavers and Utes is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT from Reser Stadium in Corvalis, Ore.