It has definitely become the year of the QB in college football.

Check out this list of top signal callers: Marshall's Byron Leftwich, Iowa State's Seneca Wallace, Florida's Rex Grossman, Louisville's Dave Ragone, Tennessee's Casey Clausen, Texas' Chris Simms, USC's Carson Palmer, Miami's Ken Dorsey, Washington State's Jason Gesser, Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury, South Florida's Marquel Blackwell, Boston College's Brian St. Pierre, Cal's Kyle Boller, Ole Miss' Eli Manning, N.C. State's Philip Rivers, Louisiana Tech's Luke McCown, Oregon's Jason Fife, Michigan State's Jeff Smoker, Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen, Cincinnati's Gino Guidugli, Florida State's Chris Rix, Oregon State's Derek Anderson and Penn State's Zack Mills (just to name a few).

But the most underrated QBs thus far, in my opinion, are Washington's Cody Pickett and Clemson's Willie Simmons.

	QB Cody Pickett could become Washington's all-time career passing leader next season.

Pickett, Huskies Prepare For Cal
Physically gifted at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Pickett especially has been on fire of late, throwing accurate strikes to any point on the field. In the past two weeks, he's accounted for an incredible 842 passing yards. If he continues to light it up, Pickett will have a chance to become Washington's all-time career passing leader, with another full season to go.

In the second quarter Saturday against Idaho, Washington sophomore WR Reggie Williams went down with what has been reported to me as a strained left shin muscle (near the knee). A super blue-chipper, Williams didn't return to action, although I'm told he likely would have returned had it been necessary. Word is that Williams will be back in practice by Wednesday.

On Saturday, the Huskies host Cal, which will be looking to rebound from back-to-back draining losses to Air Force and Washington State.

Even though they remain one of the most improved teams in college football, Jeff Tedford's Golden Bears are now at 3-2 and must deal with a brutally tough schedule the rest of the way. After coming off games against Michigan State, Air Force and Washington State, they now face road encounters four of the next five weeks against Washington, USC, Oregon State and Arizona State. The home game mixed in is against UCLA on Oct. 19.

Washington, which has rebounded from a heartbreaking 31-29 setback at Michigan in the season opener Aug. 31, remains home for the fourth straight week vs. Cal and also hosts Arizona the following week. The Huskies are finally back on the road on Oct. 19 vs. a quality USC squad that is currently 3-1 despite a challenging schedule.

Simmons, Tigers Have Eyes On Florida State
When Woodrow Dantzler moved on after the 2001 season, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden was extremely fortunate to have a battle-tested and multidimensional QB like junior Willie Simmons prepared to take the reins. Simmons, who redshirted in 1999 and is now a fourth-year junior, saw action in 14 games over the past two years, entering this season with the necessary experience and seasoning.

An intelligent and mature young man, Simmons is now duplicating on the football field his tremendous success in the classroom. The ultimate student-athlete, Simmons deserves tremendous credit for his accomplishments on and off the field. In addition to his excellent start in his first year as the Tigers' starter, Simmons has already earned a marketing degree (completed after the 2002 spring semester).

His on-the-field performance thus far has been impressive too. Blessed with a live arm and excellent mobility, the 6-1, 195-pounder has an ideal package of QB skills. Had it not been for a number of drops by Clemson receivers, Simmons might have orchestrated an upset of highly ranked Georgia in the season opener. Since then, he's led the Tigers to three straight victories and has a chance to be in the national spotlight on Thursday night when the Tigers travel to Tallahassee to face Florida State on ESPN.

Navarre Stellar For Wolverines
While I'm talking about QBs, Michigan fans are hoping that junior John Navarre's outstanding performance Saturday will continue in the weeks to come.

Navarre threw for 264 yards and four TDs against Illinois, although one reason to maybe temper the enthusiasm is that he was working against an overmatched Illini defense that has had all kinds of problems trying to slow down the opposition this season. Remember, in their shocking loss in Champaign to San Jose State the previous week, the Illini defense was attacked successfully by Spartan QB Scott Rislov, who completed 27 of 45 passes for 408 yards.

We'll get a more accurate read on Navarre and the Wolverines' offense when they host Penn State in two weeks, although the Nittany Lions are currently dealing with a shell-shocked defensive secondary that also had problems in an overtime loss to Iowa on Saturday.

In that contest, Hawkeye QB Brad Banks was on top of his game, throwing for 261 yards and four TDs. This week, Iowa hosts Purdue at Kinnick Stadium, while the Nittany Lions will have to regroup quickly against unbeaten Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

By the way, Rislov and the improved San Jose State Spartans moved to 3-2 on Saturday night with a 58-24 victory over UTEP. Rislov threw for 324 yards and two TDs, completing nearly 70 percent of his aerials. Senior Charles Pauley, the multipurpose star for coach Fitz Hill's Spartans, excels not only as an exciting wideout but also as a dangerous punt/kickoff returner. That was the case Saturday when he returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD, ran for another score and even threw a 6-yard TD pass to Rislov.

In addition to Pauley, another WR moving up the draft board is Penn State's Bryant Johnson. The sturdy 6-1½, 205-pounder has been one of the elite go-to wideouts in the country thus far, grabbing several highlight-film receptions.

Is Arizona A Paper Tiger?
This is the time of the year when the true paper tigers are exposed for what they are -- an overrated football team that benefited from a soft early-season schedule. That was certainly the case with Oregon State, which entered the USC game with a 4-0 record only to be shut out 22-0. Another Pac-10 team, Arizona, certainly can't be considered overrated, but whether they'll prove to be a surprise team is up for debate.

The Wildcats enter the Pac-10 slate with a record of 3-1, but they were fortunate to hang on for a 23-17 victory over Utah and barely survived against North Texas on Saturday night. Their other victory came against Division I-AA Northern Arizona. Their one loss came against Wisconsin; the Wildcats were dominated on both sides of the ball.

In the 14-9 win over North Texas, coach John Mackovic's squad allowed 282 rushing yards and was shut out in the second half. North Texas finished with 121 more total yards than Arizona (outrushing the Wildcats 282 yards to 121). The Mean Green limited talented Arizona junior RB Clarence Farmer to 70 yards on 15 carries. Farmer suffered a left knee injury in the game and is expected to be sidelined until late October.

What led to North Texas' demise was a major special-teams miscue (blocked FG returned for a TD by Arizona), along with three turnovers and some missed opportunities deep in Wildcat territory. Mackovic is an outstanding football coach, and senior QB Jason Johnson is quietly having a solid year, but Arizona definitely has some questions to answer in the coming weeks.

We'll find out whether the Wildcats are a paper tiger beginning Saturday when they host Oregon (No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll).

Duke Making Winning A Habit
In South Carolina's hard-fought 20-14 victory over Vanderbilt, coach Lou Holtz once again saw senior QB Corey Jenkins make the necessary throws in the passing game. In addition to leading the Gamecocks with 97 yards rushing, Jenkins completed 15 of 21 passes for 180 yards, accounting for nearly 300 yards of total offense.

They'll need this type of balance the rest of the way, and it will be interesting to see if Jenkins can duplicate this result against top opposition. After hosting Mississippi State on Saturday, the Gamecocks run into a brutal stretch that includes games at Kentucky, at LSU, home versus Tennessee and Arkansas, before finishing at Florida and Clemson.

Don't look now, but coach Carl Franks' Duke Blue Devils are making strides, moving to 2-3 with their 43-17 victory over Navy on Saturday.

One of the keys has been the exceptional performance turned in by junior FB Alex Wade. After a strong effort against Florida State, he posted a 123-yard, two-TD rushing performance against Navy. Keep in mind, the Blue Devils nearly beat Northwestern at Evanston or they would be sitting right now with a winning record after going winless last season.

This week, they'll get a true barometer on how much they've improved when they host Virginia at Wallace Wade Stadium. The Cavaliers (3-2) are fresh off a come-from-behind victory over Wake Forest, when they outscored the Demon Deacons 28-7 in the second half for a 38-34 victory. Virginia is developing a great deal of young talent under coach Al Groh.