The inside scoop on college football's second weekend

By Phil Guidry

After an opening weekend in which highly ranked powers smacked around hapless, helpless unranked opponents from coast to coast, Weekend Primer is here to offer some perspective. It's far too early to start jumping to BCS conclusions based on the season's first week. Well, except for this one: we probably won't be hearing "Hail to the Victors" in the Superdome on January 7 th.

Game of the Century (of the Week)

After a too-close-for-comfort victory over East Carolina, can Virginia Tech compete with the No. 2 ranked LSU? Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Virginia Tech at LSU. Based on their lackluster 17-7 win over East Carolina, the Hokies have gone from America's Team to being written off before even stepping foot in Death Valley. Because there's no way they could have been, you know, distracted coming into that opening game.

Les Miles Juggernaut Scheduling Award

As the SEC continues to back up Les Miles' claim that USC has an easier title game road than if they played in Dixie, the Florida Gators welcome Troy to the Swamp. Troy, ranked 71st in SI's preseason list of all 120 teams in Division I-A, is a major step up in competition for the defending champions; last week they played Western Kentucky, a newcomer to I-A which for some reason wasn't on SI's list at all.

Uniformly Awful

It seems only fitting that the selection for this week's ugly uniform game features Oregon. And to put it into perspective, the Ducks' opponent, Michigan, has arguably the best unis in all of college football. But after Appalachian State, we'll never be able to look at the maize and blue the same way again. Not that we were looking at maize very often anyway, but still.

Jim Harbaugh Prediction Watch

USC's march to fulfill Jim Harbaugh's prophecy as the greatest college football team ever takes a much-deserved breather, as the Trojans have a bye. Any merely good football team can destroy its opponent; it takes a truly great one to give future opponents false hope and complacency by appearing to actually struggle at times against an Idaho team starting a freshman quarterback.

GE/NBC Investment Tracker

Tracking the fortunes of college football's greatest corporation, Notre Dame, we find the stock this week to be ... way down, after last weekend's 33-3 whitewash by Georgia Tech. The Irish travel to Penn State this week in a state of flux. A pessimist might say that since Charlie Weis is paid in the Pete Carroll/Urban Meyer tax bracket, he should not be allowed to have the kind of three game (blowout) losing streak that got Ty Willingham fired, and should just be reloading instead (especially since these are almost all players he recruited). An optimist might say, "Yeah, but at least we're not Michigan."

Cops: Collegetown

Culture of rioting? Absolute drunken orgies? Welcome to Ohio State!! Steve Grayson/WireImage

Welcome to rowdy, randy Columbus, where Ohio State hosts Akron. Here's an idea for OSU's "institutional spot" TV commercial between quarters: Instead of saccharine shots of campus buildings and research labs, the Buckeyes should feature (as former OSU president Karen Holbrook described this week) the school's "culture of rioting" and "absolute drunken orgies." Applications would skyrocket.

Game of the Weak

Buffalo at Temple. What makes college football so glorious is that at some point during this game, at least one fan of one of these teams will hold his index finger aloft as if to signify that they are, indeed, number one. Never mind that he will be so, so wrong.

The Colt Brennan Heisman Contendin' Stat Extendin' Showdown

After torching Northern Colorado for 416 yards and six touchdowns in one half of work, Colt Brennan brings his latest ridiculous haircut and even more ridiculous passing stats to the mainland to face Louisiana Tech. Who would have imagined that he'd still be looking for his first second half completion of the season?

Odds and Ends

Randy Shannon and Miami will face Oklahoma, which scored 79 last weekend against North Texas. Upon hearing of the Sooners' tally, legend has it that Shannon said, "79 points? Give me a break -- we'll hold them to half that."... As a sturdy TCU travels to Austin to face Texas, expect to see footage of the Frogs' 2005 win over OU replayed or referenced about a thousand times ... Hey, Wake Forest, you don't exactly quiet those critics calling you a one-season wonder by dropping your season opener ... You'll know Steve Spurrier is mellowing with age if he doesn't have any good Ball Coach digs at this week's opponent, Georgia.

And finally, Weekend Primer will leave you with...

"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football."
-- the legendary John Heisman