Leading up to last weekend I was impressed by Penn State, and against Nebraska the Nittany Lions showed that Joe Paterno is still capable of leading them to a big victory.

The one thing that hurt Penn State in recent years was a lack of athletic ability, but the Lions have upgraded their skill positions. Bryant Johnson had eight catches for 147 yards against Nebraska, Tony Johnson has speed and Larry Johnson had 123 yards in 19 carries and gives them a big, bruising back with a good burst. And the whole offense is built around Zack Mills and what he can do as a multidimensional quarterback. They also feel this is the best offensive line they have had there since 1995. The defense is young, especially in the secondary, but the front is solid and I like what I have seen from this team.

	Larry Johnson is part of a skill-position upgrade at Penn State

The only problem I see is the schedule. The Nittany Lions have to make trips to Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State this year and there are still home games against Iowa and Michigan State to be played. So while they have improved athletically they have a way to go.

Nebraska is still a great football program, but the Cornhuskers are too one-dimensional this year. They will always have the option and the power football attacks, but they cannot expect to have success against the better teams in the nation by just running the football. And the Nebraska defense cannot run this year like the Blackshirts of the mid-90s, when players were flying all around the field.

The Huskers can still win most games by executing well and overpowering teams, but they have four games on the schedule that could be problems for them. They already lost in Happy Valley, and games at Iowa State, Texas A&M and Kansas State along with a home game against Texas are concerns right now.

Chris Fowler asked me after the game whether Penn State was that good or Nebraska was that bad. Well, I just stated Nebraska's problems and I think Penn State proved a lot in that game. We saw how much the Nittany Lions have improved but they have some work to do with the schedule they have coming up.

The Irish are confident
The Michigan-Notre Dame game wasn't the prettiest, but it was one of the more exciting games of the day with the Irish finding a way to get it done and get their third straight win to start the season. Their first drive was huge, especially the long pass from Carlyle Holiday to Maurice Stovall, and that set the tone and gave them confidence. Notre Dame had four turnovers and gave up seven sacks, but that was a big moment for them as far as getting things going.

It's amazing to see the Fighting Irish at 3-0, and what is exciting for Irish fans is to see how powerful the mind set of a football team can be. A team that believes in a new coach and believes in each other is a recipe for consistent success.This is a confident football team and they believe they are better than their actual talent level. Notre Dame's greatest strength is its mind set right now. Going into the game the Irish felt good about their defense and special teams, but now this is a total team effort. Even though they did not put up huge numbers they made the plays they had to to win the game.

Michigan took a 22-17 the lead at the end of the third quarter, and for ND to answer that with a touchdown drive early in the fourth says something about this Irish team. That drive, during which Holiday completed passes of 28 and 47 yards to Omar Jenkins, will build a lot of confidence going into a tough game at Michigan State.

Michigan comes away from this game with concerns about playing on the road and concerns about John Navarre's play away from home. The Wolverines lost big road games at Washington and Michigan State last year and were trounced in Orlando in the Citrus Bowl, and the Notre Dame game was a continuation of that pattern. Michigan lost three fumbles and Navarre made some bad decisions, including on a two-point conversion play that could have tied the game at 27 with less than three minutes to play. He will have to be better for Michigan to win the Big Ten.

Same old Michigan State
Over the years we have seen Michigan State overlook inferior teams and that was the reason I thought California would win this game. Last year they beat Michigan at home and then turned around and lost to Indiana the next week. This is a team that has trouble getting up for every game.

The Spartans went through the motions last week and before they knew it they were down 15-0 and Cal's offense had not generated anything. Michigan State also turned the ball over inside the Bears' five-yard line twice in the first quarter and had five turnovers overall, but those were mental mistakes rather than physical. Michigan State has the talent to win and physically had the better team, but the Spartans just pulled Michigan State on us.

But anybody who follows MSU knows that they always have a game or two where they do not show up and that the Spartans almost always get up for big games. So when Notre Dame comes to East Lansing next week, for a huge game on national television, they are probably going to go out and have a great effort. Whatever you saw in the Cal game, throw it out the window.

California has a good team under Jeff Tedford, though, and the Bears have eliminated the turnovers that killed them on the road last year. Kyle Boller is not throwing the interceptions he did a year ago, was 19-of-33 and had a hand in four touchdowns against MSU (two passing, one rushing, one receiving).

Big-time Buckeyes
Washington State took its first possession against Ohio State and went the length of the field in a hostile environment and took the crowd out of the game. The Cougars kept the OSU defense off-balance, but you have to credit the Buckeyes for making some adjustments and limiting Washington State to less than 200 yards for the rest of the game.

	Maurice Clarett is a Heisman candidate despite the fact that he is a true freshman

The OSU offense realized early in the game that the Cougars were going to load the line of scrimmage to stop the running game, so Ohio State leaned on the pass in the first half and could not execute. The Buckeyes went back to the drawing board at the half and took the opening drive of the second half and went 92 yards on the back of Maurice Clarett. He went 45 yards on his first carry of the half and gave the Buckeyes a lift. They had the ball for over 20 minutes in the second half and physically wore down WSU.

Ohio State feels good because they faced some adversity and came back, and that tells the Buckeyes they can remain calm when things get tough down the road. Eventually their passing game is going to have to get better, but they are not going to see a team that can really stop the run for a few weeks. They have Cincinnati, Indiana, Northwestern and San Jose State in the next four weeks, and assuming they can get past those four inferior teams they will be 7-0 and ranked in the top five when they get to the meat of the schedule. But when Ohio State plays teams like Wisconsin and Michigan it will have to have to protect the quarterback and execute in the passing game.

No more pressure on David Greene
Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley broke a bone in his foot during the 13-7 win over South Carolina, and while you never like to see anyone get hurt I think this will help David Greene. Without Shockley waiting on the sideline to rotate in Greene will be able play a little more free and loose, go out and make some plays. With the coaches trying to get Shockley some game experience Greene was pushing too hard to make things happen. This will make it easier for Greene to relax, stay within the offense and take what the defense gives him.

Competition for the QBs
Maurice Clarett will likely be close to 1,000 yards before Ohio State faces a real test, and by that time he will become a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate which is unheard of for a true freshman. I am not saying he will win, but he will become kind of a novelty for the nation and the country will fall in love with him.

Anytime a true freshman gets in the race he has to have a great year and there has to be some other unusual circumstances. In a year when we thought the quarterbacks would dominate, things have worked themselves out and right now the door is open. Ken Dorsey and Rex Grossman have not really separated themselves and Byron Leftwich of Marshall lost in his only chance against a good team. But the guy people are forgetting about is Chris Simms. he had 298 yards and four TD passes last week against North Carolina, and if this team keeps winning and is able to beat Oklahoma then he is probably the favorite.

The reason Clarett has a chance is because he might be over 1,000 yards in his first seven games and his team might be undefeated and ranked near the top of the polls. That will get him some talk but we will have to wait and see how far that talk takes him.

Stop sweating, BCS members
Every year we have some non-BCS teams talking about how they are going to make a run that is going to crash the BCS and Marshall, BYU and Louisville all thought they had a chance this year. But after these first few weeks we will not have to wait until Thanksgiving to see how it will play out. BYU was the last to fall with a 31-28 loss to Nevada, which was playing without returning NCAA rushing leader Chance Kretschmer. No more wondering about a 10-0 BYU team or a 10-0 Marshall team. Southern Mississippi is the only team trying to carry that torch. It's over.

Tech wins, Leftwich impresses
Virginia Tech got up early in its 47-21 win over Marshall and physically dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides all night. But the Hokies are going to have to start learning to throw the ball, starting this week at Texas A&M. And do not be surprised to see Grant Noel in that game if he can stay healthy. He is a better thrower than the athletic Bryan Randall and people have forgotten about him.

My impression of Leftwich, just five days after watching Dorsey and Grossman in person, is that he is exactly what NFL scouts want to see. He has the big arm, accuracy, touch and everything else they are looking for. The coaches at Marshall also give him a lot of freedom to check off at the line and he is a student of the game. He has a great attitude and is a great leader, and the best quarterback I've seen so far this year. hes going to play some football this year.

Trojan horses run over Buffs
Even though Colorado was playing without Craig Ochs, there is no way they should have four first downs and 61 total yards against Southern California. The Buffaloes were playing a one-dimensional attack, but this is still the Colorado running game that boasts three good tailbacks and a strong line. Even without Ochs they have to block some people.

The thing that hurt USC the most in recent years was the lack of a running game, but in the first three games this year they have been able to run the ball and take some of the pressure of Carson Palmer. Sultan McCullough and Malaeofu MacKenzie are healthy in the backfield, the line is coming off the ball and the Trojans are getting the yards they need to help Palmer.

The Southern Cal defense made a strong statement and I expected them to stop Colorado, but is did not expect them to play that well. Because of the way the defense struggled at times against Auburn I thought that might be an issue. They will be tested more down the road and on the road, starting this week at Kansas Sate, but USC is looking good right now.

Kirk Herbstreit is an analyst for ESPN College GameDay.