College football

No clear-cut championship contender yet

Both USC, LSU have flaws, so season more about survival than dominance

Elaine Thompson / AP

Washington's Dan Howell, left, can't come up with an interception on a pass intended for Southern California's Fred Davis. USC escaped with a 27-24 win, but Michael Ventre says the Trojans are still trying to find a rhythm and an identity.

Since USC, LSU and Cal all are national title contenders, those three should get plenty of attention before Heisman votes are cast.

Hey, if the Democratic and Republican candidates for president are asking you to be open-minded in races with no secure frontrunners, then it’s not too much to ask to take the same approach with the Heisman.

From the shotgun:

I understand that technically what Urban Meyer did when he called a timeout right before the Auburn kicker attempted his game-winner on Saturday is allowable under the rules. But it was still a bush-league thing to do.
Stanford visits the Coliseum Saturday to play USC, the first matchup of the teams since Jim Harbaugh took over as Cardinal head coach. Everyone will have to wait until the end of the year to find out if Harbaugh was correct when he said of Pete Carroll: “He’s only got one more year. That’s what I’ve heard. I heard it inside his staff.” But we will know after Saturday if Harbaugh was also right when he said: “We bow to no program here at Stanford University.”
From the “absurd but not impossible” department: Wouldn’t it be the story of this college football season and many others if Notre Dame upset USC at South Bend on Oct. 20? The year is pretty much toast for the Irish, yet I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they got it together and played the game of their lives against the Trojans to at least try and salvage a little respect. I bet Charlie Weis has already paid off the gardeners and told them to stop mowing the grass.
It seems like so long ago that many were predicting a West Virginia appearance in the national title game primarily because the Mountaineers had a relatively easy path.
Whenever you try to make sense of outcomes, just think of this example: Oregon State beat Utah, 24-7, on August 30; Utah clobbered UCLA, 44-6, on Sept. 15; UCLA hammered Oregon State, on Saturday, 40-14.
It will truly be a measure of Mack Brown’s powers of persuasion if he can somehow convince voters that his current Texas team should vault past Cal in the polls.

Michael Ventre writes regularly for msnbc.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

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