By JAKE CURTIS, San Francisco Chronicle

Earlier this week, Oregon State coach Mike Riley was asked to name this year's offensive stars in the Pac-10.

Consider these esteemed basketball programs, and try to figure out the common thread for this season.

-- Indiana: Perhaps the most prestigious among this group, the Hoosiers have won five national championships, have been to 20 of the past 22 NCAA Tournaments and finished last season 25-7 overall and third in the Big Ten.

IIt's November, which means the polls and BCS standings are provoking hypothetical discussions that inevitably leave somebody feeling cheated.

The questions are more apparent than the answers in many cases:

The "certainties" of college football change weekly. Today several things seem to be foregone conclusions, but check back in a week for the revised foregone conclusions:

-- Forgone conclusion: Penn State has the best chance to reach the national-championship game.

Terrelle Pryor's performance against Penn State on Saturday will help answer two questions:

-- Is Ohio State capable of winning a national championship with a freshman quarterback?

Here's a scary thought: For Saturday's game against No. 6 USC, Washington State could start a walk-on, redshirt-freshman, fifth-string quarterback who has not thrown a college pass with an offensive line thinned by injuries in front of him.

The craziness of the weekend's college football results call for some historical perspective:

How many teams even have a fifth-string quarterback? Better yet, how many teams could say any one of four quarterbacks could be their starter the next game?

Who will it be this season? Texas Christian? Vanderbilt?

Nearly every season, a team or two that was off the radar when the season began breaks through into national prominence. Sometimes it's because of a favorable schedule. Sometimes it's the addition of a key player. Sometimes it's just dumb luck.

USC's 35-3 win over Ohio State helped the conference save face, but it also gave credence to the argument that the Pac-10 is a one-team conference this season.

Let's count down the Pac-10's top seven embarrassing results of the past weekend: