Their SEC competition may have some tangible advantages. But LSU has the secret. And even if somebody does beat them this year, like last year, these Tigers will continue to believe they will stay alive and rise back to the top of the SEC West ... and the SEC championship ... and into the BCS national championship game.

Beat them up for a half. Knock their starting quarterback out of the game. Take the lead away from them in the fourth quarter. Auburn did all of that Saturday, and still, LSU came through with the kind of late-game magic that is quite simply the way they play the game.

And what we really like about LSU is that unlike the six other prime contenders for the national championship — let's face it, if anybody other than USC, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, or LSU actually wins the title, we'll all be stunned — is that we really don't know how the Tigers are going to win each week. Certainly the other six candidates are terrific teams, all of which are capable of running the table behind a quarterback who very well could win the Heisman Trophy. Six great quarterbacks leading the seven great teams of 2008.

Then there's LSU, where the most talented and most experienced quarterback (Ryan Perrilloux) was kicked off the team back in May for a succession of off-the-field problems, leaving the team with a couple of untested kids. Still, the Tigers already look fabulous, even though their two-QB system of sophomore Andrew Hatch and redshirt freshman Lee is still in the formative stages. They're going to get nothing but better.

Saturday, Lee looked nothing less than, well, terrible in the first half, when he was 0-for-5 throwing the ball with one interception for a touchdown. And so when nifty (but also inaccurate) Hatch was knocked silly in the third quarter, "under" bettors were looking pretty good.

It was 14-3 Auburn, and LSU's offense did not include completed forward passes. And then it did. Lee stepped into the game, stepped into his throws, and stepped into LSU lore. Coach Les Miles didn't send him in to dink around with little flares or screen passes — he sent him in to win the game. And that's just what he did, with an 11-for-17 second half for 182 yards and two Chase Daniel-like touchdown passes. Suddenly these Tigers look like they have the kind of passing offense to augment their lights-out defense and rugged rushing attack.

That is, after all, the other part of their secret — knock you around for 55 minutes and then see what happens when the game is on the line.

So, what else did Saturday teach us? Actually, not all that much that we didn't at least think we already knew ... but it brought a few things into sharper focus.

Computers will love SEC, Big 12

Whichever two teams emerge from this year's ridiculously tough SEC and Big 12 races are going to have to prove they deserve everything they achieve. USC is ranked No. 1, and deservedly so, but the way they have looked so far — particularly this weekend — maybe half of the teams in the SEC and Big 12 might be better than the second-best Pac-10 team.

And the Pac-10 is still probably better than the Big Ten, the Big East and perhaps the ACC.

At this point, though, the SEC still earns the nod of respect over the Big 12 — particularly after this weekend's games, as good as LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn looked. The Big 12, with its roster of fine quarterbacks, is putting up big points, but other than Oklahoma, we're still waiting to be impressed on the other side of the ball (yes, that's you, too, Texas — but you'll get your chance against quality offenses soon enough, with Oklahoma and Missouri in back-to-back weeks next month).

By the time the BCS rankings begin in a couple of weeks, the computers are going to fall head over heels in love with teams in the SEC and Big 12. We can already begin to anticipate some of the issues and arguments that come up. We've heard and seen them all in the past, but this year's permutations could be especially juicy ... not unlike last year's, actually.

Because the Big 12 or SEC champion or USC will not get to play for the national championship, even if they all go undefeated. Eeeeewwww.

Big Ten up for grabs

Penn State is looking very much like the best that the Big Ten has to offer, although the Nittany Lions are going to have to go prove that in Madison in a couple of weeks. By November, this could become one of the most interesting Big Ten races in years.

Jim Tressel opting to make a 360-degree move on his quarterback situation to freshman Terrell Pryor could make the Buckeyes the team to beat again, or create uncertainty in big games. Pryor looked very good Saturday, but not everybody in the Big Ten will play defense like Troy. Tressel certainly was smart in playing Pryor the whole game — every snap gave him more experience. Let's see how it unfolds when Tressel feels the need for a veteran passer ... and how Pryor and Todd Boeckman handle such a situation.

A fighting chance

Gotta hand it to Vanderbilt and Minnesota for the way they have started the season incredibly well (each 4-0), and for taking care of business against schedules that gave them at least a fighting chance to bounce themselves into a bowl game. Just a couple of conference wins would put them in position for postseason action, and anything better than that would make it a certainty.

Programs like Syracuse and Washington would do well to use that as an example. Their athletic directors should strive to work out some scheduling adjustments for next year — perhaps as coming-aboard presents for new head coaches?

With Syracuse and Washington State getting into the win column for the first time (against thoroughly overmatched lower-division programs), that leaves only Washington and Rutgers as winless BCS conference teams. The Scarlet Knights lost to Navy, but have every reason to think they'll get off the schneid this week against Morgan State. Washington, meantime, has lost to three ranked teams, and now has a winnable game against Stanford — although the Cardinal is already 2-2 after beating San Jose State (and previously, Oregon State).

Top 10 in the West

A quick ranking of the top 10 teams in the West so far this season ... sorry TCU, you don't qualify geographically even though the word West is in your conference's name. We'll consider West from the Rockies to the Pacific.

1. USC
2. Brigham Young
3. Utah
4. Boise State
5. Fresno State
6. Oregon
7. Colorado
8. UNLV
9. Arizona State
10. Air Force

Quick quiz

Other than USC, who has the longest winning streak in the Pac-10, and how many?

Welcome to the Heisman race:

Javon Ringer. He carried 39 times for 201 yards Saturday. That it was only against Notre Dame shouldn't be held against him. Michigan State's do-it-all back is not real big, but he goes inside and outside as evidenced by his 1,400-yard junior season.

Better than ever?

Tim Tebow showed in just a handful of plays against Tennessee that he's better than ever — standing in against a big pass rush and delivering touchdown passes right on the button — even though his stats won't even approach last year's. With an improved defense and much-improved rushing attack, the Gators don't have to rely on Tebow to do so much, which is one good reason why Florida will win the SEC East.

Busters update

It's amazing that East Carolina is 3-1 and people are offering the condolences for what might have been. But such is the way of the BCS era.

All the attention now must go out West to where the BYU-Utah game is looming in mythical proportions. But TCU, UNLV and Air Force (which suffered a close loss to Utah on Saturday) are going to make it even more difficult to create such an incredible showdown in Salt Lake on Nov. 22.

Boise State's performance against Oregon sets up the Broncos for another potential undefeated season (Fresno State visits on Nov. 28), but they'll probably have to count on a disruption of the BYU-Utah perfect-record convergence to break in to the BCS world.

Quiz answer

Let's see, Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona, and Stanford ... all tied with one. Everybody else has lost their most recent game. The fact that almost half the teams in the league are down to their third quarterback (or worse) is not a good sign.

Comparative scores

We aren't seeing the monster upsets of last year, but the comparative scores are this year's indication that college football is just plain different now than it used to be.

Here's one: Tulsa beat New Mexico, 56-14, which beat Arizona, 36-28, which beat UCLA, 31-10, which beat Tennessee, 27-24 ... and there are probably even better four-step examples out there (got one?).

Next week

Here are 10 games of note, including a few big non-conference tilts before full-on conference action really begins next week.

• USC at Oregon State, Thursday
• Maryland at Clemson
• Virginia Tech at Nebraska
• TCU at Oklahoma
• Illinois at Penn State
• Alabama at Georgia
• Wisconsin at Michigan
• Tennessee at Auburn
• Colorado at Florida State
• South Florida at N.C. State