Mark Sanchez and USC need a miracle to play for the title.
AP

Jay Christensen produces The Wiz Of Odds.

• Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: After Penn State beat Ohio State, USC will need football's equivalent of an inside straight in poker to get to the title game.

• Kyle Ringo, Boulder Daily Camera: Colorado's Dan Hawkins is being criticized after passing up two opportunities for field goals in a 58-0 loss at Missouri. The Buffaloes had gone 242 consecutive games without being blanked.

• Scott Bordow, East Valley Tribune: There's no way Arizona State should lose by 34 at home to Oregon. Either the players have quit on Dennis Erickson or there's a divide in the locker room that's tearing the team apart.

• John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Tennessee is 3-5, but the Volunteers' biggest loss occurred in the offseason when David Cutcliffe left for Duke.

• Mark Tupper, Decatur Herald & Review: Ron Zook is "not very happy," but the truth is Illinois is an average team that just lost to a Wisconsin team that is three steps below mediocre.

• Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune: The bowl folks are already schmoozing and salivating over Notre Dame's re-entry into the bowl sweepstakes after a year of non-Shreveport purgatory.

• Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Florida's Urban Meyer is still hot over Georgia's end zone celebration last year. He should take a lesson from Steve Spurrier, who went 11-1 against the Bulldogs, and keep his team loose.

• Tim Stephens, Orlando Sentinel: Vanderbilt, which started 5-0, is suddenly no lock to end a bowl drought that dates to 1982.

• Angelique S. Chengelis, Detroit News: Members of the Louisiana State student body somehow got a hold Georgia's Knowshon Moreno's cellphone number last week. Moreno eventually had to deactivate the number. Then he punished the Tigers by rushing for 163 yards in the Bulldogs' 52-38 victory.

• Get The Picture: Breaking down the Southeastern Conference as teams head for the stretch run.

• Marc Morehouse, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa fans are planning a "Greene Out" for the Hawkeyes' Nov. 8 game against Penn State to honor running back Shonn Greene.