Texas, USC look tough; 2 Cougar teams do not

Scattershooting the college football scene while saluting the Mountain West Conference for placing three ranked teams in the BCS standings for the first time ever.

THUMBS UP: The Texas Longhorns, behind QB Colt McCoy, are looking invincible after dispatching Missouri in Austin. USC looked dandy in hammering hapless Washington State. Utah, at 8-0, is No. 11 in the BCS and perched nicely to repeat the 2004 appearance in a big-money bowl.

THUMBS DOWN: After beating Michigan in the Big House, Toledo skidded to a 38-7 loss to Northern Illinois. Thumbs down to BYU, who blew a Top-10 ranking with the short-week excursion to TCU, where they were promptly embarrassed by a better team. Washington State had gone 280 games without a shutout before the USC 69-0 loss Saturday.

THEY SAID IT: Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, after losing to Ohio State 45-7: "I thought we did a good job in warm-ups today."

BYU quarterback Max Hall at his Monday's press conference, "We are not as good as we thought we were."

And finally, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin after a 34-6 loss to Oklahoma State: "I think we made them look a whole lot better than they are."

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: The Utes are enjoying the fourth 8-0 start in school history. ... The

MWC has posted an 8-5 mark in games against automatic-qualifying BCS conference opponents this year, including Notre Dame. ... The MWC has three teams that have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 2008. They include TCU (13 straight games), New Mexico (11) and BYU (7). ... Try figuring out how Alabama outscored Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi 69-3 in the first half but then got outscored in the second half 61-13.

AFTER FURTHER REVIEW: With Utah ranked 11th, TCU 15th and BYU 21st in the BCS standings, the league has the fourth-most teams on the current BCS list behind the Big 12 (six), the SEC (5) and Big Ten (4). Where are the hallowed ACC and Big East?

MY MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: I'll go with TCU defensive end Jerry Hughes, who had four sacks and caused two fumbles against a BYU offensive line that prided itself in only giving up one sack in its first six games.

UNSUNG HERO: The Aztecs may not be any good, but their freshman QB, Ryan Lindley, has already moved into the Top 5 of the league's all-time charts for freshmen. In seven games, he has 1,392 yards passing. TCU's Andy Dalton is first on that list with 2,459 yards.