ON FIRE
Andre Woodson's Heisman Candidacy
Unknown to even avid college football fans prior to the season, Kentucky's senior quarterback has made quite a name for himself, leading the former South Eastern Conference bottom-dwellers to their first national ranking in 23 years (they are currently 14th), and breaking Trent Dilfer's NCAA record of most completions without an interception. With his 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions, Woodson is going to have to continue coming up big if Kentucky wants to get through its hellish SEC schedule relatively unscathed and if he wants a spot in New York come January.
Boston College
Coming into this season unranked and with a new coach, the Eagles entered the 2007-'08 campaign with three straight Atlantic Coast Conference games and doubters aplenty. But four games and an unblemished record later, coach Jeff Jagodzinski and his team look to be the frontrunners in their conference and are on the edge of the top 10. Led by quarterback Matt Ryan, BC has turned into a serious offensive force while maintaining its stingy defense.
Michigan
Yes, we all know Notre Dame is fielding one of the worst teams in its history, so Michigan's thumping of the Irish doesn't seem that impressive, and yes, this is still the same team that lost to Appalachian State in its home opener. Disregard that for a second and look at what the Wolverines did this week. Beating Penn State, many people's Big Ten favorite, was no small feat, even if it was at home. With freshman quarterback Ryan Mallet suddenly coming on strong and Mike Hart looking like he might single-handedly will the Wolverines to victory, questions about Lloyd Carr's seemingly imminent firing ceased and a new one emerged: What kind of Big Ten campaign can this team put together? Michigan has shown many sides this season already, so only time can answer that, but if the last two weeks are indicative, we might be looking at a dangerous team.
ICE COLD
Darren McFadden's Heisman Candidacy
This is not the fault of the Arkansas star tailback and last year's Heisman runner-up, but rather his team and more specifically the Razorbacks' weak defense. In consecutive weeks, the Arkansas defense has given up fourth-quarter leads and, in doing so, lost two important SEC games to Alabama and Kentucky. As gaudy as McFadden's stats are - 518 rushing yards and five touchdowns in his first three games - it is very rare that a player from a mediocre team is chosen for college football's biggest award.
Louisville
It was bad enough losing to cross state rival Kentucky in one of the season's most thrilling games to date, but getting thumped by Syracuse to end a 20-game home winning streak was a season-low for a team that had realistic national championship aspirations before the Kentucky game. When playing the blame game with this team, it certainly isn't fair to point fingers at Brian Brohm and the Cardinals' prolific offense. The defensive side of the ball is the side that new coach Steve Kragthorpe needs to improve if the Cardinals want to contend in the Big East this season.
Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy
After beating Texas Tech 49-45 in a game filled with offensive fireworks, Oklahoma State highlights were repeatedly being played on ESPN - but not game highlights, rather Gundy's press conference meltdown of epic proportions. Already a YouTube classic, Gundy's attack of a journalist over her story on former starting QB Bobby Reid's attitude problems"" and consequential benching may have been correct in principal, but it was done at the wrong place and time, bringing only negative attention to his program. If the story truly was ""full of errors"" as Gundy claimed, he easily could have met with the reporter in a different forum, rather than diverting attention from his team's victory. For sheer comedy value, this easily could have been placed in the ""up"" section of this column, but he should be able to handle his reprimanding in stride, since he did say ""I'm 40, I'm a man.
