Dave Sittler, Tulsa World: Who would have dared to dream six weeks ago that Tulsa, after a 37-point loss to Oklahoma State, would bounce back to beat college football's most storied program in its tradition-rich stadium. Well, believe it. The impossible dream came true: Tulsa 28, Notre Dame 27.
Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune: It's about holding together a recruiting class teeming with answers to inherited problems. It's about standing up to perhaps the ugliest and scariest scrutiny of his life, both for the state of the program and for his decision to take his team outside Wednesday to practice on a blustery, and ultimately, fateful day. Yes, Brian Kelly has entered a stretch that likely will define his career.
Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Alas, Georgia's coaching is no longer championship caliber.
Scott Anderson, Anderson Independent Mail: Clemson's Dabo Swinney is a glass half-full kinda guy, but this glass has a crack that is becoming much more noticeable.
T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times: For UCLA, an eight-point loss is as good as it gets when not playing a Pac-10 team other than Washington State.
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: It was USC's title game, and Oregon kicked the BCS out of the Trojans.
David Teel, Newport News Daily Press: Virginia hadn't won an ACC game in 378 days and that helped make Saturday's 24-19 conquest of Miami the program's most unlikely upset since a 2005 beating of Florida State.
Cedric Golden, Austin American-Statesman: First it was UCLA. Then Iowa State. Add the Baylor Bears to a growing list. The Texas Longhorns are a bad team. It's a flawed group that's currently incapable of fixing its deficiencies.
Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press: Now we will find out how resilient this Michigan State team is. Mark Dantonio will have to hammer into his team that it is still 8-1 and still controls its Big Ten championship fate. If the Spartans win their last three games — against Minnesota and Purdue at home, and at Penn State — they will at least share the conference title.
Bud Poliquin, Syracuse Post-Standard: Let the good times roll! Syracuse is 6-2. Four of the victories have come on the road. It faces a schedule that will see it at home in the Carrier Dome three times in November. Its four remaining foes have one winning record among them. And that's Rutgers, which has had to beat Norfolk State, Florida International, Connecticut and Army to get to 4-3.
Neill Woelk, Boulder Daily Camera: "If" officially turned into "when" Saturday night in Norman. The team that provided Dan Hawkins with his biggest victory as Colorado`s coach secured his fate with a 43-10 nationally televised thumping.
Steve Kelley, Seattle Times: Remember when Washington coach Steve Sarkisian proclaimed after last season's stirring upset of USC that rebuilding this moribund program wasn't going to take long? Breaking news: It's going to be a long time. In fact, the Huskies seem to be regressing.
Patrick Reusse, Minneapolis Star Tribune: In a way, it's unfortunate that Minnesota's Tim Brewster was axed two weeks ago, because if any coach ever deserved to stand humiliated on the sideline in front of network cameras as his product was destroyed by Ohio State, it was Coach Brew.
Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nothing has changed about where Nevada Las Vegas sits in the big picture of college football (invisible) or where its best chance of success resides. The Rebels won't win without going heavy on risk. They won't ever be in the same zip code as Texas Chritian and Boise State if they don't pursue bigger, stronger, faster, more mature players who, while perhaps arriving with some baggage, can play immediately and not be overmatched physically doing so.
Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Star Advertiser: Hawaii, after blowing past Idaho and becoming bowl-eligible, is feeling good about its chances entering next Saturday's game at Boise State.
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