So Willingham, and the three other head coaches, and the dozen coordinators plug away. We remember meeting Willingham years ago, when he replaced Bill Walsh at Stanford. Even then he exuded dignity, confidence, integrity. We didn't have a clue if he knew his Xs from his Os, but that wasn't the point. He had the look of someone going places.

Who knew it would be South Bend, or behind the wheel of the pace car for black coaches? But the simple truth is this: the more victories for Willingham, the more possibilities for those aspiring to follow him.

19. Rick Rules
It wasn't much more than a slap on the knuckles with a wooden yardstick, but the NCAA's heart was in the right place when it penalized Rick Neuheisel for assorted recruiting violations during his tenure at Colorado.

Neuheisel is at Washington now, where he is among the nation's highest paid college coaches. It'd be nice if he spent a little of the cash on a copy of the NCAA rules manual.

To hear the Committee on Infractions tell it, Neuheisel didn't exactly adhere to the letter of the law. "This was a serious case in which a football coaching staff, led by the former head football coach, in a calculated attempt to gain a recruiting advantage, pushed beyond the permissible bounds of legislation, resulting in a pattern of recruiting violations," said the committee.

Depending if you're a F.O.R. (Friend of Rick) or an O.O.R. (Opponent of Rick), Neuheisel was merely sloppy, or a cheat.

"I want to stress that at no time did I intend to break NCAA regulations, and I never suggested to my staff we operate outside those rules," he said in a statement. "I never deceived anyone, nor was I dishonest. While being creative in approach, I felt that I was operating within the letter of those rules."

Whatever letter it was, the NCAA didn't have it in its alphabet. Instead, they told Neuheisel he can't make off-campus recruiting trips until May 31.

As for Neuheisel's former program, the NCAA imposed a five-scholarship penalty on CU, but gave the school its choice: take the hit in 2003 or 2004. Colorado officials have indicated they'll probably wait until 2004. The Buffs have averaged 20½ scholarships during the last five years, so unless Gary Barnett and his staff brain cramp on talent evaluation, CU should be fine. In addition, the school self-imposed a reduced number of official visits by recruits, from 56 to 51 this year and next.

This isn't Death Penalty stuff -- far from it -- but it's embarrassing for Neuheisel and a medium-sized annoyance for CU, which was found by the NCAA to lack institutional control. But if nothing else, the NCAA didn't limit its penalties to the greater Boulder area. At least it swung and hit a knuckle or two in Seattle.

18. Rick Rules -- Part II
OK, Neuheisel can't leave U-Dub to recruit until May 31. A penalty with teeth, or as soft as a knee pad?

"I think it affects the players who aren't that sure about your program," said a top-25 coach who has recruited against Washington in the past. "I think the players who want to go to Washington, who have always wanted to go to Washington. . . it's not going to affect those kids. But when you can't go into a home, and especially when you can't sit down with the parents, that makes a difference. It makes a difference particularly to the [recruits] who can't bring their parents to the campus for their [official] visit. If a parent doesn't come on the trip, I think it's difficult."

17. BCS Busters?
The BCS was built by and for the six major conferences and Notre Dame. Everybody else could take a running jump into the Humanitarian Bowl.

	If QB Chance Harridge can lead Air Force past ND, the Falcons may be able to make a run at a BCS bowl.

But thanks partly to the threat of legal action and the outside possibility of a dream season by a mid-major team, the BCS grudgingly granted a bit more access to the little people of D-IA: Conference USA, the MAC, Sun Belt, WAC and the Mountain West. Now if you win your league and finish sixth or higher in the final BCS standings, you're guaranteed a spot in one of the four BCS biggie bowls (there are other stipulations, but that's the long and short of it).

Air Force, now 6-0 after whupping BYU Saturday night, is making an improbable run at a guaranteed berth. With wins at Cal, at Utah, and against BYU, among others, the Zoomies have made the BCS power brokers a bit nervous these days. Beat Notre Dame this week and Colorado State Oct. 31 (both games are at C-Springs), and who knows how it will shake out. Given the remainder of Air Force's schedule, the Falcons could finish undefeated and maybe squeeze their way into the BCS mix.

Whatever happens, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson isn't thrilled with his league always having to press its nose against the BCS window. Ask him if he's satisfied with the BCS status quo and you get a quick and decisive, "No."

Part of the problem is that the Mountain West was barely in diapers when the BCS was rewriting (again) the college football laws of nature. "We weren't even at the table," said Thompson.

At least, now the MWC gets a dinner setting, albeit with plastic forks and knives. But what it wants is the good stuff. "I don't have a solution how we would gain access," Thompson said. "Automatic access is what we want."

And he'll get it too, just after frogs don't bump their butts and the Dow breaks the 12,000-point barrier. Meanwhile, Thompson offers a "conceptual, artist's-rendering-type" of an idea: add a fifth BCS bowl to go along with the Sugar, Orange, Rose and Fiesta. One team would come from the BCS originals (Big East, Big Ten, etc.) and the other would come from the BCS wanna-bes (MWC, WAC, etc.).

Good luck. First -- and Thompson understands the economics as well as anyone -- you've got to find a bowl willing and able to provide the minimum $11-million-plus payout each year. And even if you do that, you've got to convince the other BCS bowls that they'd be OK with another year added to the championship game rotation. Doubtful.

Of course, the MWC would love it. Right now the league has bowl tie-ins worth about $4 million. A single BCS appearance would almost triple that total.

"Will college football survive without the Mountain West?" said Thompson. "Of course, it would. But would college football be better with more teams involved? The BCS would say no. Unfortunately, a lot of this is done in board rooms instead of the field."

16. Mr. OT
Houston Nutt has coached in the longest and second-longest overtimes in Division I-A history. His Arkansas team outlasted Ole Miss in seven OTs last season, but recently lost to Tennessee in six OTs. In fact, Nutt issued personalized game balls to each of his players commemorating the seven-OT victory (Relax, NCAA, he included the balls in Arkansas' Cotton Bowl goody bag allowance -- perfectly legal).

"Up to this point I felt pretty good about overtimes, because basically we won all of them," he said.

Like everyone else who witnessed those games, Nutt is concerned about the physical well-being of the players. But rather than make wholesale changes to the format, Nutt suggests only a tweak. After all, it's not like six- and seven-OT sessions happen all the time.

"I'd change the two-point deal," he said.

It's simple: instead of forcing teams to go for two points after a touchdown in the third OT, Nutt would allow coaches a choice -- extra point or two-point conversion try. But if the game went into a fourth OT, then require two-point tries after TDs.

The way Nutt sees it, the rules are too quick to eliminate a not-so-automatic part of the game -- the extra point (just look at some of the kicking problems of several major programs).

Now then, if you really want to get Nutt going, ask him about his schedule, not about overtimes. Beginning with the Sept. 28 game against Alabama, the Razorbacks play 10 consecutive weeks. Some teams, such as Ohio State, go 12 consecutive weeks. Poor Arkansas State goes 13 straight weeks. You can thank this season's extra allowable game for the brutal stretches.

"It's unbelievable," said Nutt. "That's what is unfair to me. Let's add another game, but let's not add another scholarship. It's the luck of the injury these days."

Unlike Ole Miss, which lost its next game after the seven-OT'er last year, Arkansas recovered nicely after the Tennessee defeat. The Hogs beat a rested Auburn team (two weeks since its last game) at Auburn Saturday.

15. Sights And Sounds
Reason 10,891 why college football is better than pro football. . .

You should have seen the celebration after Oklahoma beat Texas. Sooners offensive lineman Vince Carter waved a huge Oklahoma banner and then planted the metal pole at midfield as if he were Neil Armstrong on the Sea of Tranquility.

Coach Bob Stoops, his pants and shirt soaked from a postgame dousing, happily directed his team to the 20-yard line for a postgame photo shoot -- something of a tradition these days for the Sooners. Stoops made sure the scoreboard was in the background. Say, "Threeeeeeee (straight wins against the Longhorn)."

Then came the Sooner Schooner, OU's miniature covered wagon. As the crowd roared, Oklahoma's Ruf/Neks steered the Schooner across the field (almost clipping Texas quarterback Chris Simms in the process) and came to a stop at about the 40-yard line.

And that's when the damndest thing happened: OU junior tight end Lance Donley jogged up to the two horses pulling the Schooner and planted a wet one on little Sooner. Boomer didn't seem to mind.

And as the Sooners make their way toward their locker room, OU associate head coach Mike Stoops noticed Dallas Morning News writer Keith Whitmire. Whitmire picked Texas to beat OU in the paper's weekly prediction chart.

"C'mon," said Stoops, "we've done it three times in a row."

He's smiled when he said it. Sort of.

14. Mr. Smith Goes To New York
Oregon's Onterrio Smith is playing Broadway, thanks to a long-overdue decision to put his photo on a Manhattan billboard. The star running back would have been in New York at season's start, but Oregon officials weren't 100 percent sure he was going to be academically eligible. So they played it safe and put wide receiver Keenan Howry on a billboard. Now it's Smith's turn. "O Man," reads the new billboard.

13. Players Of The Week

12. Coach Of The Week

11. Gag Order
With 3:02 left in the game, and Oklahoma ahead of Texas, 35-17, Roger Clemens nodded at his security detail and his kids. The New York Yankees star and famous Tex Ex, clad in his Longhorns T-shirt and ballcap, had seen enough. So he worked his way up from the Cotton Bowl sidelines, through the Texas student section and disappeared outside into the State Fairgrounds crowd.

He didn't miss much. The Longhorns added a garbage touchdown, but by then the OU crowd was serenading Texas with chants of "O-ver-rated" and peppering quarterback Chris Simms with a lilting, "Chris-sy." Some inventive Sooners fan held up a "Chrissy Simms Suck-O-Meter," complete with Simms' updated game stats.

Simms has seen this sort of thing before, heard the taunts before. You don't grow up as the son of Super Bowl champion quarterback Phil Simms and not endure your share of hyper-scrutiny. To Simms' credit, he has always handled the victories and losses with equal aplomb and class. He is a likeable, engaging guy who understands the benefits and pitfalls of celebrity, especially in football-intensive Texas.

So it was surprising, disappointing and a bit annoying that Texas coach Mack Brown all but refused to let Simms address a legitimate postgame news conference question about the quarterback's performance vs. top 10 teams. Simms is 0-4, has thrown 14 interceptions and zero touchdowns in those games. In three of those four losses, he failed to crack the 200-yard passing barrier.

In Saturday's loss to OU, Simms was 12-of-26 for 156 yards and three interceptions. He was sacked four times and popped legally and illegally on other occasions. He arrived at the postgame news conference with scratches and welts on his neck, a bloodied wrist, and a bloodied elbow.

"A horrible disappointment," said Simms, adding later, "I don't know if anybody wanted to win this game more than me."

He's right, which is why the question about Simms' top 10 record was fair game.

"Let me answer that one," said Brown, before Simms could say a peep.

A receiver screwed up a route. . . The Longhorns were hurt by poor field position. . . There was a stiff wind. . . OU's defense played well. . . Texas couldn't get a running game going. . . Taurus is in conflict with Aires. . . They ate a bad batch of saltwater taffy. . . The State Fair rides were too loud.

In short, said Brown, this wasn't Simms' fault. And then he made sure to mention that Simms was one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

Someone asked if Simms could speak for himself.

"I'm sorry," said Brown, "that was his response, thank you."

A polite Brown was protecting his own, but Simms is a big boy. If he can take the abuse from OU's fans located behind the Texas bench, he can handle a fair question by the media. And had Brown let him, Simms would have done so.

Brown and Simms will catch their share of criticism for a third consecutive loss to the Sooners. "We can handle whatever's said," Brown said.

Exactly. Which is why Brown should have let Simms speak for himself.

This is the second consecutive year Brown has interceded on Simms' behalf after a loss to OU. But kudos to Simms for later answering those same questions in a more private setting and away from spin doctor Brown.

10. Little Guy, Big Game
OU tailback Quentin Griffin doesn't look like much: 5-7. . . 190 pounds, if that. But he plays taller, heavier and tougher than anyone, including Texas, can imagine. Or maybe not.

	Oklahoma RB Quentin Griffin ran wild against Texas -- again.

Griffin hit triple figures against Texas as a true freshman. He rushed for a school-record six touchdowns against the Longhorns in 2000. And Saturday he gained 248 yards, which is more than Texas' entire offense gained for the day (209 yards). He also scored two touchdowns, including a timely scoop of a fumbled pass by OU receiver Will Peoples.

"He loves the Cotton Bowl," said OU coach Bob Stoops.

This was Griffin's final regular season appearance at the historic Dallas stadium. Griffin started strong, but then suffered cramps in both legs.

"I couldn't walk," he said. "I was just hoping it would go away and it did."

Oh, goody, said Texas, which couldn't seem to stop Griffin on the same gimmick draw play OU used about 11,000 times Saturday. "We probably ran it the most we ever did," said Griffin.

Humble almost to a fault, Griffin couldn't thank his offensive line enough times. He wasn't the only one. Stoops presented the OU O-line with the game ball.

9. National Championship Overview
Ten teams -- Miami, Ohio State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Air Force, Notre Dame, Bowling Green, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Oregon -- remain undefeated. But despite its loss Saturday to OU, Texas still remains a major player in the BCS mix.

The Longhorns lost to Oklahoma last season, too, but won their remaining six regular season games and likely would have played in the national championship had they beaten Colorado in the Big 12 title game. Can Texas make another run? Uh. . .

Let's see, Notre Dame or Air Force will lose this week. . . Virginia Tech or Miami will lose Dec. 7. . . Bowling Green, bless its MAC heart, doesn't matter. . . Ohio State enters the hair-on-your-chest part of its schedule: at Wisconsin, Penn State, Minnesota, at Purdue, at Illinois, Michigan. . . NC State still has to go to Clemson, Maryland and Virginia, and beat Georgia Tech and Florida State at home. . . Georgia gets Vandy this week, and then faces Kentucky, Florida, Ole Miss, Auburn and Georgia Tech. . . Oregon must play Arizona State, USC, Stanford, Washington State, Washington and Oregon State. . . and OU still has, among others, Iowa State, Colorado, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State (OSU upset the Sooners last year at Norman).

"We can't sit around and feel sorry for ourselves," said Brown. "We've got to go on the road next week and try to win the rest of our games."

If the Longhorns run the table and somehow win the Big 12 (they'll need another OU stumble), their strength of schedule might be enough to make the final BCS standings extremely interesting. Texas is at K-State this week, then plays Iowa State, travels to Nebraska, returns home against Baylor, goes to Texas Tech and finishes its regular season in Austin against Texas A&M. Only Baylor is a gimme.

8. Quote Of The Week
"I simply can't believe we lost the game like that again. . . I can't stand it."
-- An anguished Bobby Bowden, after his Florida State missed a last-minute field goal against No. 1-ranked Miami. It was fourth time in Bowden's FSU career that he lost to the Hurricanes on missed kicks.

7. Stat Of The Week
13-7 -- The combined records of Florida (4-3), Florida State (5-2) and Tennessee (4-2).

The Gators have lost three regular-season games for the first time since 1988 and could conceivably lose four of their five remaining games (Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina and FSU. Only Vandy looks like a sure win.). Late, great Heisman candidate Rex Grossman, done in by an iffy (and thin) offensive line and the absence of play-calling genius Steve Spurrier, has thrown eight interceptions in his last two games (both losses) and now has 14 for the season, two more than his 2001 total.

Florida fans streamed out of The Swamp during the second half of Saturday's blowout loss to LSU. And those Gator followers who did stay, spent much of the fourth quarter booing their team and first-year coach Ron Zook. It wasn't pretty, nor was the postgame handshake between Zook and LSU coach Nick Saban. Light travels slower than the time Zook and Saban conversed.

Florida State positioned itself for the upset of the season, but was done in by Wide Left: the fourth time a missed field goal has cost FSU against Miami. Xavier Beitia, who entered the game as the NCAA's seventh-rated place-kicker, will live in Seminole infamy for the missed 43-yarder as time expired, but fingers can be pointed at FSU's shaky defense and the shaky logic of Bowden and his staff in the waning moments of the game.

In an effort to squeeze out more yardage and/or move the ball toward the middle of the field, the Seminoles ran the ball with less than 25 seconds remaining. By the time Chris Rix spiked the ball, only 1 second was left on the clock, making for a rushed, semi-chaotic situation for the game-winning field goal attempt.

FSU can still salvage a double-digit-win record, but the Seminoles expected nothing less than a Fiesta Bowl appearance this season. Saturday's loss to Miami ended those hopes.

Tennessee has been done in by the usual (inconsistent defense, Florida, Georgia) and the unusual (a rash of injuries, including the most costly one -- a shoulder injury to starting quarterback Casey Clausen). With two losses in their own division, the Vols are cooked in the SEC. But they can turn the BCS upside down if they somehow can beat Miami at Knoxville Nov. 9.

6. Tall Hats And Mute Buttons
Notre Dame's famed Irish Guard (you know -- the ones who look like the soldiers working the Wicked Witch of the West's castle in "Wizard of Oz") were a no-show for the big win against Pitt.

Thanks to NBC, which was kind enough to provide close-ups of several members of the Guard passed out at field's edge a Saturday ago, Notre Dame decided to suspend the fellas until further notice. While it's at it, school officials might want to pull Allen Pinkett aside and give him a lesson in current events.

Pinkett, a former ND running back who does color analysis on Westwood One's Irish radio broadcasts, stuck a pair of cleats in his mouth during the Pitt game. When a Panthers player inexplicably fell down, the knucklehead Pinkett said it looked as if a "sniper" had gotten him.

Once the blood started flowing to his brain again, Pinkett quickly said that he "probably" shouldn't have used those words. Probably? Given the recent events in the D.C./Virginia area, Pinkett should have done better than a sheepish non-apology for his comments -- especially since he's from Virginia.

5. Shorties
About 1,500 game tapes of Texas Tech's Oct. 5 overtime win against Texas A&M have been sold by Tech's Red Raider booster club. About zero will be sold of Tech's loss to Iowa State Saturday. . . You will be hard pressed to find a more intense fan environment than the Red River Shootout. There is talk of moving the game from the Cotton Bowl, but don't count on it. . . . How bad is Vanderbilt? The Commodores dropped to 1-5 with Saturday's loss to Middle Tennessee State, which entered the game without a victory. It marks the second consecutive seasons MTSU has beaten Vandy. . . . UCLA coach Bob Toledo, whose Bruins are playing with noticeably more energy and joy than last year's selfish sluggos, had this to say about the Pac-10 race shortly before his game against Oregon: "I wouldn't be surprised if the eventual champion did have one loss. It's tough top to bottom. Any team can beat anyone. If we could beat Oregon, or if they beat us, that team would be sitting pretty good." He's right: the Ducks are quacking pretty, and don't be surprised if the league winner finishes with a conference loss. . . . Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik must have been thrilled with the postgame comments of Arkansas reserve running back Fred Talley, who had 242 of his team's 426 rushing yards. "Sometimes I was feeling like they blew the play dead or something," Talley told reporters. "I could hesitate and make moves without anybody in my way." . . . And did you see the longest 12-yard touchdown run in Iowa State history, as ISU quarterback Seneca Wallace zigzagged his way to the go-ahead score? Said Cyclones coach Dan McCarney to reporters: "He didn't think it was any big deal that he made 11 guys miss him twice."

4. Job Watch
With blowout losses to Cal and Iowa, and another last-minute loss to Notre Dame, it's safe to say that 3-3 Michigan State is the most disappointing team in the country, just edging Florida for the dubious distinction. With remaining games against Minnesota, Wisconsin, at Michigan, at Indiana, Purdue and at Penn State, coach Bobby Williams' future could be in serious distress.

Another coach experiencing a temperature change (Can you say, "hot seat?") is Mississippi State's Jackie Sherrill. The Bulldogs are 0-3 in the SEC, almost lost to Troy State for the second year in a row (MSU eeked out an 11-8 victory Saturday), and are duller than a Sunday night in Starkville. In its three conference losses, Sherrill's team has been outscored, 107-37.

And despite Syracuse's 10-3 record in 2001, you'll soon hear the usual cries for Paul Pasqualoni's job. That's what happens when you lose to Temple. The same holds true for Utah's Ron McBride, whose Utes remain winless in the MWC after an upset loss to San Diego State. McBride beat USC in a bowl game last season, but that warm and fuzzy memory might not be enough to save his job.

Others feeling various degrees of heat are Baylor's Kevin Steele, Clemson's Tommy Bowden and East Carolina's Steve Logan. And, if Florida absolutely tanked the rest of the season, would Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley do the previously unthinkable: deep-six Zook after just one year? Doubtful.

3. Heisman Trophy Race
Bring a coat and tie to the Yale Club: Marshall QB Byron Leftwich, Oregon RB Onterrio Smith, Iowa State QB Seneca Wallace, Miami RB Willis McGahee.
Moving up: Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett, Air Force QB Chance Harridge, Florida State RB Greg Jones.
On the radar: NC State QB Philip Rivers, Miami QB Ken Dorsey, Washington State QB Jason Gesser, Ole Miss QB Eli Manning, Washington QB Cody Pickett, Miami's Willis McGahee.
Slipping: Michigan State WR Charles Rogers, Auburn RB Cadillac Williams, Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury, Kentucky QB Jared Lorenzen.
Thanks for stopping by the booth: Florida QB Rex Grossman, Texas QB Chris Simms, Mizzou QB Brad Smith, Tennessee QB Casey Clausen, Texas RB Cedric Benson.

2. Whatever Happened To. . .
. . . the art of special teams play?

Florida State misses a field goal against Miami, and loses.

UCLA misses a field goal and extra point against Oregon, and loses.

Syracuse misses an extra point against Temple, and loses.

Florida gives up a touchdown on a fake field, and botches its own fake field goal attempt against LSU, and loses.

Texas gives up 118 yards on three kickoff returns against Oklahoma, and loses.

Tennessee gets a punt and field goal blocked against Georgia, and loses.

Virginia Tech gives up huge return yardage against Boston College, and almost loses.

Miami shanks a punt against Florida State, and almost loses.

One Hack's Weekly Elite
Fiesta Bowl Matchup
Miami vs. Oklahoma -- Wide Left saves 'Canes; OU faces tough Iowa St.
3. Virginia Tech -- Running game still untouchable, but defense is beatable.
4. Oregon -- Quack Attack OK; defense gets stern test vs. Arizona St.
5. Notre Dame -- Domers travel to Air Force and taste of wingbone.
6. Ohio State -- Development of passing game has Buckeyes feeling better.
7. Iowa State -- Can Cyclones do what Texas couldn't: beat Sooners?
8. Georgia -- Bulldogs haven't reached potential, but still unbeaten.
9. Texas -- Better be careful about letdown at Kansas State.
10. Air Force -- Chippy Zoomies rubbed it in vs. BYU; BCS spoilers?
Waiting list: Iowa, Washington State, LSU, Kansas State, USC, Michigan.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He can be reached at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.