Let's just say I'm dollar-cost averaging my investments in the Irish, the Nittany Lions and the Trojans. No one is immune to the seductive quality of having these programs return to the upper echelon of the polls. College football is an oligarchy. Love them or hate them, the sport needs familiar names, just as baseball is more fun when the Yankees are good. We always enjoy being seduced, which is about as salacious as this column will ever get.

But to be honest, I fear that Notre Dame, USC and Penn State are fool's gold. Take a look at the numbers. The Fighting Irish are doing a lot of things right. They're plus-6 in turnover margin; 15th in the nation in rush, total and scoring defense. But the 25 points against Michigan notwithstanding, their offense continues to see mediocrity as a goal. Notre Dame is 100th in the nation in total offense at 290 yards per game. By comparison, the next lowest undefeated team is Texas A&M, which is 72nd at 352 yards per game. The Irish can't continue to depend on Carlyle Holiday's ability to score without possession of the ball.

The Trojans rushed for 181 yards against Colorado, which is a vast improvement over a year ago. Offensive coordinator Norm Chow has, after a year and a half, hit upon a passing game that senior quarterback Carson Palmer can execute without the hideous decision-making he showed in the past. "We've taken the things he has done well, like the rhythmic throw, and emphasized them," Chow said. In other words, you won't be seeing Palmer dropping back and attempting to go through his progressions. It will be snap, three- or five-step drop, throw. Is a good, but not great, running game and a limited passing game enough to win a strong Pac-10? I remain skeptical.

Of the three, Penn State looks the strongest. The Nittany Lions began their climb back to respectability late last season, when they won five of their last seven games, three by no more than five points. The 40-7 victory over Nebraska is impressive, even if the Huskers appear to have replaced the Nittany Lions on the Please Resuscitate list (for the record, the Huskers have lost three of their last six games by more than 30 points). Lesser teams than Penn State would have frozen.

Go ahead. Enjoy the parade. But when the drug wears off, don't start complaining if Notre Dame, Penn State and USC still aren't as spry as each used to be.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers college football for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.

 

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