A - Alabama. The Tide came into Saturday looking like the best team in the country. They still looked the same when the day was done. Their offense wasn't overwhelming against South Carolina - other than running back Mark Ingram - but it rarely is. Their defense was just as potent as always, though, and made for another easy win. The AP voters took note, and did something reasonably unexpected - voted Alabama ahead of Florida and into the No. 1 spot in the polls. It seems reasonably certain that they will now stay in that spot until the likely showdown with Florida in the SEC Championship Game.

B - Boise State. The Broncos' dream of an unprecedented berth in the BCS National Championship Game is still alive, but it took a real blow this weekend. They still won, but they only beat Tulsa by one touchdown, and that wasn't enough to impress the voters. The Broncos dropped a spot in the polls to sixth, and were actually passed by both USC and Cincinnati. Their weak remaining schedule means that they won't have a chance for a signature win to regain favor. That means that they would need a whole lot of highly unlikely help from other teams to pull it off. It seems like a lesser BCS bowl is their fate.

C - Cincinnati. The Bearcats had a chance to make a statement this week. They were the only game in town on Thursday night in a big conference showdown against undefeated South Florida. They took full advantage of their opportunity - they crushed the Bulls and rose in the polls as a result. The win came at a cost, though - Heisman hopeful QB Tony Pike injured his arm in the first half, couldn't play in the second half, and will likely miss at least a game. Luckily, backup QB Zach Collaros was more than solid in relief.

D - Debut. Highly-touted pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg made his debut in real pro action on Friday in the Arizona Fall League. He didn't disappoint. He only made it through 3 1/3 innings because of a strict pitch count, but he struck out two and only faced one more than the minimum number of batters. He averaged 95 mph with his fastball, topping out at 98. This was his first meaningful outing since the college season, so he'll only get better from here. There is little doubt that he'll be in Washington's rotation next year.

E - Error. The Angels find themselves in a big hole - down 0-2 heading back home in the ALCS. They made an epic battle out of the second game - lasting into the 13th inning - but were ultimately felled by a bone-headed play by second baseman Maicer Izturis. As the rain poured down on the cold night, Izturis fielded a grounder, made the wrong decision - throwing to second when first was the correct play - and then rushed the throw and threw it away. That allowed the winning run to round third and come home. He'll be seeing that throw in his nightmares for years to come.

F - Florida. The Gators won, but just barely. They had their hands full with Arkansas for much of the game, and should feel very lucky to escape with the three point win. Arkansas had all sorts of chances that they couldn't capitalize on - missed receivers in the end zone, a late field goal attempt pushed wide, and so on. Florida gets credit for coming through when it matters at the end, but the performance certainly wasn't an overwhelming, confidence-inspiring display.

G - Gaines Adams. It doesn't take long for a high draft pick to fall out of favor. Adams, a defensive end, was drafted fourth overall by Tampa Bay in 2007 out of Clemson. He wasn't terrible - 12.5 sacks and two interceptions in two full seasons, but he wasn't progressing, and wasn't meshing with the new staff with the Bucs. That meant he earned a one-way ticket out of town. He was sent to the Bears, and Chicago got him for the discount price of a second round pick.

H - Hawkins, Dan. The former Boise State coach got a much-needed signature win at Colorado, but it has to be bittersweet for him - the win only happened because he benched his son. Cody Hawkins was replaced at QB by sophomore Tyler Hansen, and the duel-threat QB made an immediate and obvious impact as Colorado beat previously undefeated Kansas, 34-30. The Buffs were up 27-10 early in the third quarter, but then they took a nap and fell behind, 30-27, before mounting the winning drive. Hawkins finally has something to build on after a couple of rough years.

I - Impossible. Tennessee played worse on Sunday than any NFL team should possibly be able to play. It's okay for a 1-AA team to lose 59-0 to an elite BCS team, but no pro team should lose to another one by that score. The Titans were obviously terrible in every possible way - their QBs were a combined 2-of-14 for -7 yards and two interceptions, they fumbled six times, and lost three of them, they allowed 619 yards of offense - it goes on and on. It's hard to believe that a defense that was so good last year could do this this year. Someone is going to get fired - or at least they should.

J - Jimmie Johnson. The Chase is supposed to add drama to the end of the NASCAR season, but Johnson is rapidly robbing it of any excitement. He won in Charlotte this weekend to record his third win in five Chase races this year. Johnson will now have to work very hard to not win his fourth straight NASCAR championship. Given the structure of the Chase, and the uncertainty it breeds, it's remarkable how dominant Johnson has been - it's his sport and everyone else is just there to pick up the pieces Johnson leaves behind.

K - Kevin Love. Being his second year in the NBA, this should be when Love makes a breakthrough in his play. Unfortunately, he'll have to wait to get started. Love broke his left wrist in a preseason game against Chicago and is expected to miss about six weeks. It's a blow for a Minnesota team that doesn't have a lot of talent to spare, but the news could be worse - at least it isn't his shooting hand.

L - Longhorns. Texas is still undefeated, but they didn't exactly build up their reputation with their latest win. In one of the worst Red River games in recent years, Texas was outplayed for much of the game by Oklahoma, but managed to escape with a 16-13 win. Colt McCoy was again lousy, throwing for his lowest total since his freshman year, and serving up a remarkably bad interception. It's hard to believe that this team is a legitimate national champion threat based on what we saw. The sad sidenote of the game was that Sam Bradford was hurt again in the first quarter. We'll know more soon, but this could be the end of his season.

M - Midnight Madness. College basketball fans can rejoice - the season is almost here. Midnight Madness, the first official practice of the college basketball season, took place on Friday night. That meant that major programs across the country put on big shows in front of arenas full of rabid fans. One of the most intense reactions was for new Kentucky coach John Calipari. Expectations for the Wildcats couldn't possibly be higher, and this is where it all begins.

N - New Orleans. The Saints took a giant step towards proving that they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender on Sunday. The undefeated Giants rolled into New Orleans and left a few hours later with their tails between their legs. The Giants had the best defense in the league before the game, but they certainly don't anymore - Drew Brees threw for 369 yards and four TDs, and the Saints ran for 133 yards and three scores. The only misstep for the Saints was a missed PAT on the third touchdown.

O - Ohio State. The Buckeyes never fail to find ways to disappoint amid high expectations. They had absolutely no excuse for losing to 2-4 Purdue, yet somehow they did just that. There are a lot of things for Ohio State fans to be frustrated about, but at the top of the list has to be the frustrating lack of development from Terrelle Pryor. He threw for two interceptions, fumbled three times and lost two of them, and managed to gain just 34 yards on 21 rush attempts. That's not what a guy as heavily recruited as Pryor is supposed to do against a bad team in his second year.

P - Phillies. Philadelphia has a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS, but they've only really had to play two games to get that lead. The Dodgers seemingly forgot to make the trip to Philadelphia for game three in the series - the Phillies cruised to a ridiculously easy 11-0 win. The Dodgers made the decision to activate Hiroki Kuroda for this series, and they must be seriously regretting that now - the Japanese hurler allowed six runs while recording just four outs in the start. That's good for a 40.50 ERA. Ugly.

Q - Quite humbling. Mark Sanchez started his rookie campaign with a bang, but he's struggled the last two weeks. He'll be hoping that this week was rock bottom. Sanchez completed just 10-of-29 passes, and threw an impossibly bad five interceptions. Even worse, it came against Buffalo - not exactly a dominant defense up to this point. That performance was obviously bade enough to let the Bills win, but Buffalo is troubled enough that it wasn't easy - the final score was just 16-13.

R - Raiders. It's hard to conceive how it happened, but Oakland not only managed to win this week, but they beat a pretty solid team in the process. The Raiders' defense had been terrible for the last three weeks, but somehow it managed to shut down the often potent Philadelphia offense this week. The Raiders won 13-9, Donovan McNabb completed less than half of his passes, and the Eagles managed just 67 yards on the ground. JaMarcus Russell was still a long way from good, but he was better than he has been in a long while.

S - Seahawks. I have totally given up on trying to figure out the Seahawks. Last week, Matt Hasselbeck returned from injury and led his team to a dominating 41-0 win over the Jaguars. This week, Hasselbeck was at the helm for another home game, so they should play well again, right? Wrong. Hasselbeck was truly terrible - 10-of-29 for 112 yards and an interception - as the Seahawks were totally blown out by their division rivals from Arizona. The 27-3 score was flattering as the Cardinals took their foot off the gas for much of the second half.

T - Texas Tech. The Red Raiders got an impressive win in dominating fashion this week to prove that they may be down this year but they certainly aren't out. The win came at the expense of Nebraska, a team that looked impressive just a week before being dominated by the Red Raiders. Texas Tech won, 31-10, and was in control of the game from pretty much the opening kickoff. Given that Nebraska was able to contain the Missouri offense just one week earlier, this Texas Tech team might be worthy of more respect this year than they have been getting.

U - USC. The Trojans continued their winning streak over Notre Dame, and may have cost Charlie Weis his job in the process. It wasn't a pretty win - Notre Dame missed three passes in the endzone at the end of the game in an attempt to tie the game - but it was still a win. Given Notre Dame's shortcomings defensively - USC passed for 380 yards and averaged almost five yards per carry on the ground - it's a wonder that the game ended up being as close as it was. The latest proof that Weis is terrible - he called the exact same play for each of the final three passing plays to end the game. Weis embraces failure with enthusiasm.

V - Vikings. Brett Favre must have sold his soul to the devil before this latest comeback because he keeps finding improbable ways to win. Favre completed a 58-yard pass to Sidney Rice late in the fourth quarter to set up the field goal that gave the Vikings a 33-31 lead, and then watched as the Ravens missed a 44-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock. Now Favre is 6-0 for the first time, and the Ravens have to be reeling after losing three close games in a row. The Vikings can't be complacent despite their win - they gave up 385 yards through the air and Ray Rice averaged 7.7 yards per carry, so the defense has some work to do.

W - Wolverines. The thought of a 1-AA opponent is enough to send any Michigan fan into fits of panic after the Appalachian State debacle of two years ago. That pain was eased slightly this weekend when anther 1-AA opponent, Delaware State, was beaten to a pulp by Michigan. The Wolverines won 63-6 in a mockery of a game in which they gained 461 yards on the ground and saw four QBs combine to complete 15-of-18 passes. I'm often critical of top teams scheduling ridiculous opponents, but I don't mind it nearly as much when the team is my team and they badly need the confidence this game will give them.

X - eXplosion. I've already written about the New England game once this week,  but it was so impressive it deserves another mention. Tennessee was bad, but New England was incredibly good and totally took advantage of the Titans' shortcomings. Tom Brady threw for 380 yards and six TDs, including five in the second quarter - an NFL record. The running backs averaged more than eight yards per carry. The defense overcame concerns about depth with a totally smothering performance. The Pats have lacked some swagger this year, but this should give it all back. And more.

Y - Yellow Jackets. Normally, when a team completes just 1-of-7 passes they are a punchline. In the case of Georgia Tech they rode that passing futility to an upset win over the No. 4 team in the country. In a battle of the Tech's, Georgia Tech beat Virginia Tech, 28-23, on the strength of 122 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Josh Nesbitt, the passing-challenged QB. The Hokies' loss throws the Coastal Division of the ACC wide open, and totally ends any dreams Virginia Tech had of a national championship.

Z - Zorn. The Jim Zorn death watch is in full force. The pathetic Redskins are the first team ever to play a winless team in each of their first six games, yet they have only managed to go 2-4 over that stretch. The latest embarrassment was a loss at home to the Chiefs. The Redskins managed just 265 yards of offense against a very flawed Kansas City defense. That woeful performance wasn't enough to get Zorn fired just yet, but he did get stripped of his play-calling duties. That rarely happens to good coaches.