Blanket Coverage: Gerhart at Epicenter

He will likely not win the Heisman Trophy (though it would not be blasphemous).

He may not even be tendered an invite to the ceremony in mid-December (though he should).

But no one player will have a greater impact on the remainder of the college football season than Stanford senior tailback Toby Gerhart.

The workhorse, who is averaging 135.2 yards per game (second nationally), will lead the Cardinal into games at USC and, two weeks later, versus Notre Dame. In a region of the country that is quite familiar with the concept of seismic shifts and aftershocks, Gerhart's potential as a disruptive force is likely sending tremors out to University Park and South Bend.

Gerhart really is a workhorse. Not only does he lead the nation in rushing attempts (233) by more than 10 percent over the next most prolific rusher (Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who has carried 209 times), he also starts in the outfield for the Cardinal baseball team. Stanford should award his family a second scholarship with no expiration date.

This Saturday, the Cardinal return to the Los Angeles Coliseum for the first time since their monumental upset of USC in 2007 (they were 41-point underdogs, you'll recall). Stanford, which finds itself ranked for the first time since 2001, has an opportunity to knock off a top 10 team for the second time in two weeks. If it can just get past its head coach's over-the-top comments.

"Who would not like to watch this team play?" third-year coach Jim Harbaugh said after the Cardinal rocked Oregon's world, 51-42. "Is there a better show around?"

And of freshman quarterback Andrew Luck, Harbaugh groused, "I don't know how you can play better. How can you play better as a quarterback? What can you say he should have done better? Who could have done better?"

When did Gob Bluth become the head coach at The Farm?

Back to Gerhart. Stanford will need more than Luck -- and luck -- to defeat the Trojans who, by the way, are 28-0 in November under Pete Carroll. They'll need their finest workhorse, Gerhart. If Stanford somehow pulls off this minor upset, imagine the reverberations in towns such as Boise and ... Boise. A three-loss USC team is, even with its reputation, not going to a BCS bowl this season.

Ten teams play in the BCS bowls. Assume that Florida, Alabama and Texas have three spots locked up. Barring an upset -- a big if, yes -- assume also that conference champions Georgia Tech (ACC), Cincinnati (Big East), Ohio State (Big Ten) and a Pac-10 school with at least two losses (Oregon? Arizona? The Cardinal?) receive BCS bowl bids. That's seven bids. TCU is fo' sure if it beats beat Utah on Saturday.

That's eight bids.

Who's left? A gaggle of two-loss BCS conference schools such as Iowa, Penn State, Pitt and Miami. Are they all really going to cut an unbeaten Boise State in line? Some, like LSU and one of the Big Ten teams won't, as conferences can't have more than two representatives in the BCS bowls.The rest? I hope not. One of them, maybe (Iowans, especially, travel well to the Valley of the Sun in January). But two? Only if that second school is USC ... which it will not be if Gerhart can help inflict a third defeat on Troy.

Next up, after a date with Cal, is Charlie Weis and the Irish. Gerhart, who rushed for 223 yards versus Oregon, is already salivating at the prospect of facing an Irish defense that just allowed 11.3 yards per carry to the legendary Vince Murray (a backup fullback for Navy). Maybe Weis' job is already lost by that point. But if for some reason it hangs in the balance -- and before you assume you know the future, recall that just a few weeks ago the same people who said Charlie was out when it was 34-14 when the fourth quarter began versus USC are the ones who said Charlie deserved another season after 15 more minutes of play -- Gerhart is the last player Weis wants to wager his future against: a fast, punishing back who will chew up both yardage and clock.

The stage is all yours, Toby Gerhart. No one will have a greater mark on the college football landscape this month.

Isaac Newton and Open-Field Tackling

The potential play of the year waits for us next Saturday in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Gerhart breaks into the USC secondary untouched, which sets up a full-speed appointment with one Taylor Mays. Physics professors, take note, this is an excellent opportunity to teach Newton's third law of motion.

The Collaros Conundrum

Zach Collaros has only been the starting quarterback at Cincinnati for 3.5 games, and only because then-Heisman sleeper candidate Tony Pike reinjured his left (non-throwing) arm. Still, in the sophomore's three full games, he has completed 66 of 82 passes (80.5 percent) for 1,028 yards with eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions.

Granted, it's a limited audition, but Collaros' efficiency rating after 14 quarters is 210.24. The nation's leader in that stat, Kellen Moore of similarly undefeated Boise State, has a 169.35 rating. That's a Secretariat margin.

Cincy, extraordinarily, had not lost one fumble in the six games Pike started. Under Collaros, they still have yet to lose one. That is to say, the Bearcats have committed no turnovers in Collaros' three starts.

Coach Brian Kelly's "problem?" Pike is healthy as West Virginia comes to visit Nippert Stadium on Friday night. Originally, Kelly said the job was Pike's as soon as he was cleared to play. Now he says, "I think I have to reconsider my decision."

From an outsider's perspective, it's a no-brainer. You go with the guy who gives you the best chance to win. What more does Collaros, who went 30-0 his final two years of high school, need to do to demonstrate that he is that guy?

That's when Bill Belichick was heard to say, "Well, almost."

After No. 1 Florida dispatched of Vanderbilt in desultory fashion, 27-3, Gator coach Urban Meyer was asked if the team's 19th straight victory was "ho-hum". "Have you ever gone 19-0?" Meyer replied. "It's not ho-hum, I can assure you that."

Yet another reason to love Chip Kelly

Here's what Oregon's first-year head coach said after the No. 7 Ducks lost at unranked Stanford: "If you say we got caught looking behind or looking ahead, it takes away from Stanford."

Speaking of Coach of the Year Candidates

Georgia Tech was 0-for-4 on fourth-down attempts against Wake Forest when quarterback Josh Nesbitt persuaded coach Paul Johnson to go for it on fourth-and-one-foot with the Yellow Jackets trailing the Demon Deacons 27-24 in overtime. Nesbitt converted the play and scored the game-winner one play after that.

"I play to win," Johnson said. "If we can't make an inch there, we don't deserve to win the game."
Concussion Section

Jahvid Best's scary fall was just the latest in what seems to be an epidemic of concussions suffered this autumn. Whether the rise in head injuries is actual or anecdotal, or whether Tim Tebow's concussion just brought more attention to the issue, it feels as if each week concussions are part of the roundup.

Best had actually sustained a slight concussion the previous week at Arizona State and missed two days of practice last week. It would seem prudent for Cal to shut him down for at least the rest of the regular season if not longer.

The Golden Bears' terrific tailback has, sadly, plenty of company. Wisconsin tailback John Clay rushed for a game-high 134 yards in the first half at Indiana before leaving the game with a concussion. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince, who earlier this season broke his jaw on a helmet-to-helmet hit at Tennessee, had to leave the Bruins' 24-23 win against Washington after sustaining another blow to the head. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen was, in Charlie Weis' words, "knocked silly" in a goal-line tackle by Navy's Kevin Edwards, but Clausen returned the next series without missing a play.

Don't expect the concussion section to decrease in number any time soon. As long as players keep getting bigger and faster, collisions will continue to pack more force.


Stats Incredible

-- Following Cal's 31-14 home loss to Oregon State, the Golden Bears are 0-7 at Memorial Stadium versus the Beavers and USC of late, but 32-0 against everyone else in their last 39 games.

-- Baylor and Missouri combined for 49 rushing attempts and just 40 net rushing yards in the Bears' surprising 40-32 win at Faurot Field. Both quarterbacks, though, surpassed 400 yards in passing yardage. Bear QB Nick Florence threw for a school-record 427 yards while his counterpart, Blaine Gabbert, chucked for a game-high 468.

-- With Kansas State's 17-10 defeat of Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown, Wildcat coach Bill Snyder is now 5-0 in Bill Snyder Stadium.

-- Houston freshman Matt Hogan, who kicked a 51-yard field goal as time expired to culminate the Cougars' outrageous 46-45 victory against Tulsa, had a previous career-long of 34 yards. That's a 50 percent improvement on his former best.

-- Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn was 14-of-14 passing in the Bulldogs' 31-21 win at Idaho.

-- Notre Dame never punted in Saturday's 23-21 loss to Navy. The last time the Irish went an entire game without punting? Their 46-44 triple overtime loss to Navy in 2007.

And finally...Happy belated birthday to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who turned 80 on Sunday, dadgummit.