Coming Attractions

Quintessential McCoy moment: With little more than a minute to play in the first half, he was nearly sacked, then fumbled. But rather than fall on the loose ball, he scooped it up without breaking stride and, in the same fluid motion, threw to wideout Quan Cosby, whose 23-yard catch set up the Longhorns' last touchdown of the half. "We are supposed to yell at him" for not falling on the ball, said coach Mack Brown afterward. "But why yell at him when he made another first down? He's playing at a very high level."

As is a young Longhorns defense under the tutelage of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who, seven games into his tenure in Austin, has achieved cult-hero status. By alternating between a three- and four-man rush, by moving end Brian Orakpo, a.k.a. Osakpo, up and down the line, by stunting his down linemen and blitzing his linebackers, Muschamp and his charges baffled Chase Daniel on the Mizzou quarterback's first four possessions, holding the nation's fourth-ranked offense to 14 total yards on 15 snaps.

"And now," concluded Brown, in what is becoming the Longhorns' 2008 mantra, "we have to do it again next week."

He said that after the Oklahoma upset too. He'll repeat it, presumably, if the Longhorns get by seventh-ranked Oklahoma State this Saturday. And he'll trot it out again, if all goes well, before his team's meeting with No. 8 Texas Tech in Lubbock on Nov. 1.

It's a testament to the rise of the Big 12 that Alabama, perched at No. 2 behind Texas, has a decidedly easier finishing schedule. In a delicious twist the Tide's toughest remaining regular-season test will be its Nov. 8 date in Baton Rouge. There, LSU partisans are unlikely to muffle their displeasure with Nick Saban, the former Bayou Bengals coach and current 'Bama head man, who burned his bridges when he bolted from Louisiana to coach the Miami Dolphins following the '04 season. A win in the Saban Bowl could earn the Tigers a trip to the SEC title game and a rematch with the Florida Gators, who waxed them by 30 in the Swamp on Oct. 11.

Forgive the LSU faithful for focusing on a more imminent epic. This Saturday the defending national champs host No. 9 Georgia, the first of four straight games in Death Valley. The Bulldogs then get Florida a week later in Jacksonville. As famously plainspoken Gators coach Urban Meyer has said, "This is a tough-ass conference, man. That's part of the deal."

It is not part of the deal for Southern California, whose punishment for a late-September loss to a 25-point underdog at Oregon State was to be dropped from first to ninth in the AP poll. From that nadir, the Trojans have steadily worked their way back up to sixth. They have been aided by the fact that few pollsters witnessed their Oct. 11 win over Arizona State. True, USC won 28--0. But its offense turned the ball over on four straight third-quarter possessions.

In what was arguably the most lopsided game in Division I-A this season, the Trojans notched their second straight shutout last Saturday. The biggest problem for coach Pete Carroll in his team's 69--0 rout of Washington State was holding down the score.

In their quest to get back to their first BCS title game since January 2006, the Trojans face a different problem than most of the other contenders. While the competition faces numerous landmines on the road to Miami, USC's path is too smooth, too wide, too clear. The Pac-10, which the Trojans will likely win for the seventh straight year, is having a dreadful season. Its teams have lost six of seven matchups with Mountain West schools. Oregon lost at home to Boise State of the WAC. The Apple Cup, between Washington and Washington State, will most likely pit a 1--9 team against one that is 0--11.

Going into last weekend, Cal (No. 25) was the league's only other ranked team. And then there was one. After coughing up a 24--14 halftime lead on Saturday night, the Bears bowed at Arizona, 42--27. It has come to this: The Pac-10's sole remaining marquee matchup, such as it is, will take place this Saturday in Tucson, where the Trojans will take on a Wildcats team that hasn't been bowling in a decade.