John Walters

As the country turns its attention this Saturday to Lubbock, it's worth noting that Dallas is the epicenter of college football in 2008.

Lubbock, for example, is 323 miles west of Dallas. With that distance as your radius and Dallas as your locus (geometry can be fun!), the best (and worst, in one case) of the sport this season is just a tank of gas or two away.

For example, the area is home to five of the nation's top six scoring offenses; three of its eight remaining undefeated teams; the top two (three? four?) Heisman candidates; and arguably the best team in Division II. Mapping the scene outward from Dallas’ Cotton Bowl, which just happened to host the most exciting game of the season thus far, you would come upon:

Fort Worth, 33 miles west…
Texas Christian (8-1) can lay claim to having the nation's most dominant defense. Statistically, they have no challengers. The Horned Frogs are No. 1 nationally in rush defense (31.22 yards per game), sacks (3.89 per game), red zone defense, first downs allowed per game (11.78) and time of possession (35:08). TCU is No. 2 behind only USC in scoring defense (10.4 ppg), total defense (218 yards per game) and turnover margin (+1.56 per game). Oh, and these newfangled purple people eaters also ended the nation’s longest win streak (16 games) when they crushed BYU two weeks ago, 32-7.

Denton, 38 miles north…
North Texas (0-8) appears to be acting as the counterbalance to all the success swirling around the Metroplex. The Mean Green are one of only two winless schools (Washington State) and this week news surfaced that 15 of the squad's 86 players failed a random drug test given by the coaching staff in September. These would be performance-inhibiting drugs?

Waco, 97 miles south…
Certainly the resurgence (or is it just "surgence" in the Bears' case?) is newsworthy. Baylor may have the nation's most entertaining freshman quarterback in world-class hurdler Robert Griffin.

Abilene, 182 miles west…
The Division II school where the daddies of Longhorns Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley once played is minding just fine, thank you. Abilene Christian has won all eight of its games by at least 17 points and has the nation's top scoring offense (51.25 points per game) in D-II.

Norman, Okla., 189 miles north…
The Sooners, No. 4 in the AP poll, are actually closer to the nation's top ranking than they are the Big 12 title. How odd is that? After all, No. 6 Texas Tech has the inside slant on the division should they win this weekend. Still, a Red Raiders victory resurrects the Sooners and quarterback Sam Bradford in the national title and Heisman races, respectively.

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Austin, 197 miles south…
No. 1 team and the Heisman favorite in Colt McCoy, whose suddenly prominent girlfriend is burnt orange-hot.

Tulsa, 257 miles north…
The Golden Hurricane are 8-0 and have the nation’s top scoring offense. At 56.57 points per game, they are averaging eight points more than Oklahoma, who is No. 2 in this category — and whom they do not play.

Stillwater, 266 miles northeast…
It was a brilliant effort in Austin, Oklahoma State. Don’t despair. You may only be a week away from another chance to upset an undefeated team in the Lone Star State when you visit Texas Tech.

Lubbock, 323 miles west…
Quarterback Graham Harrell, who leads the nation’s top-rated passing offense, is just four touchdown throws shy of tying Ty Detmer’s NCAA career record of 121. And there’s the matter of that game against the Longhorns on Saturday, which is only the biggest deal Lubbock’s ever seen.

There’s simply so much going on that we have no idea how a Dallas-based college football beat writer has time to cover all those stories. Even after we contacted one, we still don’t. He never got back to us. We’ll just assume he was buried beneath all that reporting.

Oh, and we didn’t forget SMU, which is just eight miles north of the Cotton Bowl. But with the Mustangs struggling in their first season under head coach June Jones — last in the nation in both rushing offense and total defense — we reckon they prefer it that way.

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