College football

Seven 'smart' schools excelling on football field

Tests await, but teams like Northwestern, Vandy are off to strong starts

Mark Humphrey / AP

No. 19 Vanderbilt, which hosts No. 13 Auburn on Saturday, is seeking its first winning season since 1982.

Notre Dame (3-1)
Honors: The Charlie Weis-Ty Willingham comparisons have ceased.

Distinguished alum: Regis!

Summa cum laude: The Irish have already equaled last season's win total while underclassmen have scored 12 of their 14 touchdowns. They also rank 11th in net punting (39.83 yards).

Tutorial needed? Despite heavy doses of blitzing under new co-defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, Notre Dame's defense has just one sack this season (118th).

Extra Credit: Safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy are each averaging at least nine tackles per game.

Worthy of a Fellowship: Sophomore wide receiver Golden Tate leads the Irish in receptions (20) and touchdowns (three) while also having the team's longest run from scrimmage: 24 yards.

Setting the curve: Irish walloped Michigan, who then defeated top-10 unbeaten Wisconsin.

Make-up exam? Domers committed three turnovers and missed two field goals in a loss at Michigan State.

Semester Outlook? The "Crank Me Up!" gang turned a corner in Saturday's win versus Purdue. An eight- or nine-win season is possible for this underclassmen-dominated squad.

Duke (3-1, 1-0 ACC)
Honors: Are you kidding? The Blue Devils are one win away from equaling their victory total from 2004-07.

Distinguished alum: Peter Agre, the 2003 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.

Summa cum laude: New coach David Cutcliffe has turned around a perennial loser in no time at all.

Tutorial needed? Duke is averaging only 3.45 yards per punt return (113th nationally). Also, Wallace Wade Stadium security needs to do a better job of warding off wayward skydivers.

Extra Credit: Dookies are 13th nationally in turnover margin with a plus-1.25 average.

Worthy of a Fellowship: Linebacker Michael Tauiliili is sixth in the nation in tackles with 11.5 per game.

Setting the curve: The Blue Devils throttled Virginia 31-3, which not only broke a 25-game ACC losing streak but was also the first time they held a foe to single digits since Western Carolina in 2003.

Make-up exam? A holding penalty negated a game-winning touchdown pass on 4th down versus Northwestern, Duke's only blemish on the season.

Semester outlook: For a team that has yet to stray from campus, the coursework becomes much more rigid with trips to Georgia Tech, Vandy, Wake Forest, Clemson and Virginia Tech. A six-win season would be reason to rejoice in Durham.

Stanford (3-2, 2-1 Pac-10)
Honors: Only Harvard, Princeton, Yale and MIT are rated higher academically.

Distinguished alums: The founders of Cisco, Gap, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Victoria's Secret, Yahoo! and YouTube, just to name a few.

Summa cum laude: Just think what that must do for the endowment fund.

Tutorial needed? Jim Harbaugh's team may as well take up residence in study hall. The Cardinal are 86th in both scoring defense and total defense and 105th in total offense. How they have a winning record is a bit of a mystery.

Extra credit: The Cardinal are 13th in the nation in sacks.

Worthy of a Fellowship: Linebacker Pat Maynor is 18th in the nation in sacks with four.

Setting the curve: Stanford beat Oregon State, which then went out and shocked No. 1 USC.

Make-up exam? No shame in losing at TCU, but the Cardinal would love another shot at overrated Arizona State.

Semester outlook: The Pac-10 is at an ebb, and the Cardinal can win three of the next four games (at Notre Dame, Arizona, at UCLA, Washington State) before finishing with the conference's three top programs. We see 6-6.

'I'm taking that program down'

Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.