college football

All college football, all the time, for a Monday morning quarterback:

-- The college game has become a beauty contest in the eyes of human pollsters and computers alike. But why should that be the case? Shouldn't grinding out a tough win be just as meaningful as piling up numbers?

OK, maybe no one has ever described former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer as a wise man, but he is a funny man and he is one of only two coaches to win both a college national title ring and a Super Bowl ring (the other is Jimmy Johnson).

Everyone knows that the only fair way to get a true national champion in college football is to implement some kind of playoff.

And I do mean everyone.

That includes all those university presidents who refuse to give us one, pretending to care about the athletes and academics and even the bowls when, really, what they care about most is the money.

There are several reasons Alabama has never had a Heisman Trophy winner.

Rewind to the days of Bear Bryant, and the legendary Crimson Tide coach didn't believe in putting any individual ahead of the team.

That's why for years Alabama never bothered to actively promote a player for the Heisman. And Bryant had plenty of players who could have won it.

Capsule previews for Saturday's top college games. All times Eastern and all rankings Associated Press.

MINNESOTA (4-3) at No. 18 OHIO STATE (5-2), Noon, ESPN.

FAVORITE: Ohio State by 18.

COACHES: Tim Brewster (12-20 in third year at Minnesota) and Jim Tressel (88-21 in 9th year at Ohio State).

Whether playing it back over a single weekend or an entire season, deja vu rules college football like the house rules Vegas.

Flash back to Week 8, 2007, when some real unusual suspects occupied lofty spots in the Top 10 of that season's first BCS standings: South Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky and Arizona State, at Nos. 2, 6, 7 and 8 respectively.

Apparently, no one told Alabama running back Mark Ingram that the Heisman Trophy race was over.

After racing through and past South Carolina defenders for a career-high 246 yards rushing (third most ever by a Crimson Tide player), Ingram similarly shot into this week's Scripps Howard News Service Heisman Trophy poll.

Capsule previews for Thursday and Friday's college games. All times Eastern.

THURSDAY:

FLORIDA STATE (2-4) at NORTH CAROLINA (4-2), 8, ESPN.

FAVORITE: North Carolina by 2.

COACHES: Bobby Bowden (311-95-4 in 34th year at FSU) and Butch Davis (16-15 in third year at UNC).

Following the "celebration" flags thrown in the LSU-Georgia game, I tried to give the benefit of the doubt to that particular Southeastern Conference officiating crew. Really, I did.

While I said the flag against A.J. Green following the Bulldogs' late go-ahead touchdown was silly, I still tried to make the point that -- for the most part -- stripes do a good job.

What we know and what we need to find out about teams ranked in this week's initial Bowl Championship Series rankings.

-- 1. Florida (6-0)

What we know: QB Tim Tebow is really clutch ... the defense is really good ... Coach Urban Meyer always looks really serious.