Why they kick it off...

AN NCAA FOOTBALL GUT CHECK

Autumn officially started Sept. 23 and top 25 teams responded by dropping like leaves.

In the first full weekend of fall football, half of the top 10 was upset and another four top 25 teams were defeated. The most shocking tumbles occurred to No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida and No. 7 Texas.

During this unbelievably topsy-turvy season and anything can happen. So as today’s action gets started including the Gators trying to avoid back-to-back loses, No. 5 Wisconsin playing as an underdog against unranked Illinois, the Red River “fallout” and Notre Dame hoping to avoid an 0-6 start, here’s a look at a few of the story lines so far this season.

BCS-busters BUSTED – Sept. 8 was not a good Saturday potential BCS-busters. Boise State, BYU, Southern Miss and TCU all lost. The only non-BCS team that might still have an outside chance is Hawaii, which needed overtime to sneak past Louisiana Tech an didn’t look great against Idaho last week. One potential excuse for Hawaii’s poor performance against Tech is that they had to travel 4,050 miles to get to Ruston, La., the longest road trip for any NCAA team this season. However, the Warriors better start pounding on teams to impress the pollsters. Hawaii better hang on to their Haka (Maori war chant), the rest of the season.

The best team in the Big East is South Florida!?! – The Big East was supposed to be a two-team race between West Virginia and Louisville, with Rutgers possibly in the mix. Louisville’s out of the picture because they can’t stop opposing teams and Rutgers is fading quickly. That leaves the South Florida Bulls as the team to beat in the Big East. In front of a record crowd, USF defeated No. 5 West Virginia for the second time in two-years. For a program that has only existed for 11 seasons, South Florida could be heading toward unprecedented heights.

The clouds are lifting over Seattle – The Washington Huskies were a premier program in the 1990s, but recently U-Dub has fallen on hard times. The Huskies were a combined 21-38 over the past five seasons. But, third-year coach Tyrone Willingham has another Pac-10 program on the rise. Washington took No. 1 USC to the wire this past week and snapped Boise State’s 14-game winning streak. Washington is still a couple years away from competing for conference titles, but it may be a consolation for Willingham that the Huskies will finish with more wins than the team in South Bend who bounced him.

The Big Ten conference is terrible – Everyone has been dogging on the Big Ten this year, probably because of last year's BCS debacle. But the conference is better than you think. Sure Michigan fell hard at the beginning of the season, but they are probably going to win their fourth straight game since getting skunked by Oregon. Ohio State, Wisconsin and Purdue are all undefeated entering today. Watch out this conference has a chip of its collective-shoulder.

Defense is determining the Heisman race – That’s right; the Heisman race is being decided by ugly defenses. Take Louisville QB Brian Brohm, who is having a Heisman-type season. Through six games, Brohm has tossed the ball for 2,415 yards (2nd in the NCAA) and 20 touchdowns (also 2nd in the NCAA) with only four interceptions. Unfortunately, Brohm is playing on a .500-team that can’t stop the opposition when they have the ball. Louisville’s defense gave up 465 yards in a loss to Syracuse, a 36 ½ point underdog and 582 yards last night in a loss to Utah. For an award that goes to the MVP of the best team in college, Brohm and talented Arkansas back Darren McFadden might be on the outside come trophy time.

The Shame of the Golden Dome – Notre Dame football has literally become the laughing stock of the nation. Jay Leno has continued his nightly bashing of Irish football including this joke from the past week, the Roman Catholic church has recognized another miracle: “Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis still has a job.” The offense is horrible and Notre Dame is off to its worst start in history, 0-5. They haven’t even looked competitive. Things could get worse before they get better as the Irish play UCLA tonight, then host No. 6 Boston College and No. 1 USC.

Blogger's Note: Photos - TOP LEFT: USF's Jesse Hester catches the game-winning 14-yard touchdown pass to lift the Bulls to a 26-23 overtime win over No. 17 Auburn, Sept. 8. Photo courtesy of AP Photo - Dave Martin. BOTTOM RIGHT: QB Brian Brohm of Louisville celebrates during the second half against NC State Sept. 29. Brohm probably won't be celebrating when awards are passed out, due to Louisville's porous defense. Photo courtesy of Getty Images - Kevin Cox.