Ohio State fans have not been very happy with me this season and I was amused by the "Fire Trev" signs on GameDay last week, but I actually thought the Buckeyes would beat Michigan last weekend.

Wisconsin's Anthony Davis ran all over the Wolverines two weeks ago, and with OSU playing at home and Maurice Clarett back from a shoulder injury, it was set up to happen to U of M again. It did, with Clarett getting 122 yards on 20 carries in a 14-9 win.

	Maurice Clarett ran for 122 yards against Michigan.

It was a classic game that entailed everything college football is supposed to be about. There was not a lot of trash talking and it reminded me of the games I played at Nebraska against Oklahoma. We didn't like them, just as Michigan and Ohio State dislike each other, but it was about respect.

Michigan and Ohio State respect each other. It was a hard fought game played with class. It was just a good, old-fashioned game featuring the running games and defense.

Down the stretch, we saw the experience Buckeye coach Jim Tressel has as a big-game coach. Ohio State knew what was at stake and was still a loose team. The argument can be made that the Buckeyes were conservative, but they didn't seem tight -- like many anticipated with so much on the line.

Craig Krenzel, a quarterback who handles pressure well, is the most valuable player on the OSU team. Clarett, cornerback/wideout Chris Gamble and wide receiver Michael Jenkins are good players, but Krenzel takes the cake with his personality and mistake-free leadership.

I was particularly impressed with the final scoring drive for the Buckeyes. First, Krenzel threw the ball to Clarett on a wheel route out of the backfield when everyone thought they would milk the clock. Then, with Clarett on the sideline, OSU ran the option on first and goal.

Those are the things a good coach does. He sets things up for three quarters and has the plays he wants ready to go down the stretch. That's the reason Tressel won four Division I-AA championships at Youngstown State and is 2-0 against Michigan.

In looking ahead to a possible matchup with Miami in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, which is not a lock since the 'Canes still have two games remaining, everyone's initial thought is that the Hurricanes will be favored by about 20 points.

But as part of a Nebraska team that was an 18-point underdog to Florida State in the national championship game, I can tell you nothing will motivate kids more than telling them what they cannot do. That is not what Miami wants to happen to Ohio State.

And don't forget that Miami has had trouble against the run this year. A good Pitt team with essentially three running plays -- the quarterback draw and off-tackle right and left -- ran well against the Hurricanes. Ohio State knows that. The 'Canes like to keep the safeties deep, not bringing them down to help against the run, and with Clarett having five weeks to get fully healthy I would not predict a blowout at all.

Sooners answer the challenge
There was only one reason Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech did not play well in a 60-15 loss to Oklahoma: the OU defense.

Co-defensive coordinators Mike Stoops and Brent Venables issued a challenge to their troops. Instead of being in the background of Kingsbury's Heisman video, the Sooners put the clamps on him -- just like they did Iowa State's Seneca Wallace earlier in the season.

	Quentin Griffin ran for 207 yards to power the Sooners' romp.

Oklahoma did a great job getting pressure on Kingsbury with the zone blitz and giving him different zone coverage schemes. The Sooners are not a man-coverage team like Texas, which was shredded by Texas Tech, and simply dropped into coverage, kept everything in front of them and flew to the ball.

Tech coach Mike Leach wonders why Kingsbury is being left out of the Heisman race despite his huge numbers. The same argument applies to Kingsbury and Penn State's Larry Johnson.

Johnson averaged barely 70 yards in losses to Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan, and Kingsbury performed poorly in conference games against Oklahoma (15-35, 187 yds., 2 INTs) and Colorado (36-55, 268 yds., 4 INTs).

For OU, though, the offense has been the difference. The Sooners, who sputtered offensively last year and when they won the national championship in 2000, have controlled the clock with the rushing attack this season, and quarterback Nate Hybl continues to make just enough plays.

That recipe added up to a nearly 20-minute advantage in time of possession against Texas Tech and makes the Sooners dangerous for the next few weeks.

Apple Cup craziness
Washington's 29-23, triple-overtime win over Washington State proved two things.

First, the Huskies are not the same team they were early in the season. Teams that turn the ball over regularly do not win regularly and UW had a minus-8 turnover margin at one point this year. But in the last two games before the Apple Cup, the Huskies were plus-6 and had seven interceptions. They followed that up by forcing five turnovers against the Cougars.

Winning the turnover battle let Washington show off its potent offense. The Huskies finally ran the ball a little with Rich Alexis, and Cody Pickett continued to impress with his 10th 300-yard game this year.

The second thing proven in this game was just how important quarterback Jason Gesser is to Washington State. There is a reason he has been in my Heisman top five all year. When he was taken out of the mix, his value became very clear. Backup Matt Kegel managed just 20 yards on five completions and his disputed fumble in the third overtime handed Washington the win.

While it may be a stretch, the WSU loss opens the door for a very interesting national championship scenario. If Oklahoma loses the season finale against Oklahoma State or the Big 12 title game, Georgia loses to Georgia Tech or the SEC championship game and Miami loses one of its two remaining games, we could see and Iowa-Ohio State matchup in the Fiesta Bowl.

How fantastic would it be to see two teams from the same conference, that did not play each other in the regular season, meet for the national championship?

A Cavalier approach
I was shocked by Virginia's 48-13 rout of Maryland. Coming into the game I felt Maryland was the best team in the ACC. Scott McBrien was playing well at quarterback, Bruce Perry was getting healthy and joining Chris Downs in the backfield and E.J. Henderson was having a phenomenal year defensively.

But the final score speaks to how well UVA is playing right now. Quarterback Matt Schaub is comfortable in that system, gets rid of the ball quickly and know where he is going with the passes. The routes aren't deep, but they are easy completions the receivers can run with. His 23-of-27 performance against the Terps was flat-out ridiculous.

That kind of efficiency also helps with ball control. Virginia moved down the field methodically and had Billy McMullen at wide receiver if it needed a big play The defense helped out by forcing three turnovers. The Cavaliers are a young squad that has gotten 71 starts from a group of 10 freshman and redshirt freshmen, so teams better look out for them next year.

It was an impressive win, and it also points out one of the flaws of the Bowl Championship Series.

Florida State will win the ACC title and get the automatic BCS bid that goes with it, but there is a good chance the Seminoles will lose to Florida this week and go into the BCS with an 8-5 record. And it's not like FSU has a bad stretch early and then got better. The 'Noles are getting worse each week as the season wears on.

The BCS bowls should be able to pick whatever at-large teams they want -- or another team from the ACC -- in a case like this and I feel bad for the Sugar Bowl officials. They are going to be stuck with the worst team in the brief history of the BCS and can only hope Georgia wins the SEC championship game and and gets its fans excited about a trip to a big bowl game.

Heating up out west
One team that continues to awe me is USC. It's too bad more people have not had the chance to see Carson Palmer play because he has turned himself into a potential top-five pick in the NFL Draft with 2,251 yards and 23 touchdown passes in the last seven games.

The way the Trojans are playing right now, they are the last team anyone wants to face in a bowl game. They are playing the best defense in the Pac-10, have a running game that is getting better and a pinpoint passer. Pete Carroll deserves a lot of credit for turning that team around.

Southern Cal is the best team in the Pac-10 and has to be kicking itself over the overtime loss to Washington State earlier this year. I feel sorry for Notre Dame this week, because the Irish are running into the hottest team in the nation and will lose to USC in the L.A. Coliseum.

Trev Alberts is a college football analyst for ESPN. He contributes a weekly column to ESPN.com.