UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over USC. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Snap Judgments from the Week 12 midday slate. For more, check out our early Snaps, our coverage of Stanford-Oregon, our look at the new BCS landscape and our complete Top 25 review.

• No. 17 UCLA 38, No. 21 USC 28. You heard a lot last week about the football monopoly in Los Angeles being over. No, again. No, for real this time. Well, you’ll hear even more about it this week, but only because it’s finally, demonstrably true. (We’re taking suggestions on which board-game related jokes to start making in its place from here on out. Balderdash? Sorry? Jenga?)

On a rainy afternoon in the Rose Bowl, the Bruins dashed out to a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter, only to see the Trojans snatch momentum back by the start of the third, by which point Matt Barkley had thrown two touchdown passes and defensive tackle George Uko had scored a genuine Fat Guy Touchdown on a slip-and-slide fumble recovery. (Storied rivalry, historic venue, high conference stakes, home-and-home jerseys AND a FGTD: This game had it all, y’all.) A pair of traded touchdowns and a successful USC two-point conversion later, and the Trojans were trailing by three points with a little more than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

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• Expect to see this discussed in tonight’s vice presidential debate. Finally, an NCAA crackdown on the scourge of inartfully faked lens flares.

In addition to Instagram, coaches can’t use the Add-A-Kitty app. Altering the photo with a cat would make it a no-no: twitter.com/RazorbackRules…

— RazorbackRules (@RazorbackRules) October 10, 2012

• Hair news of vital importance. Here is a news release from Stanford that we feel compelled to reprint in its entirety:

STANFORD, Calif. – The mullet that once graced the head of defensive end Ben Gardner has returned.

“I didn’t want to bring it back, to be honest,” Gardner said. “I cut it last year after the final game of the regular season, and then we ended up losing the Fiesta Bowl. You wouldn’t believe all the crap I took from teammates blaming the loss on my lack of mullet.

“At the end of the day, they kind of convinced me they needed it. I brought it back for one more final hurrah. I’m going to keep it to the end of the bowl. Maybe we’ll cut it in the locker room after the game.”

So, just so we’re straight, the mullet was to blame for the 41-38 overtime loss to Oklahoma State and not Cowboys’ receiver Justin Blackmon?

“According to the other 100 guys in the locker room, it was my mullet,” Gardner contested.

Our very best wishes to Mr. Gardner in all his coiffure-related endeavors.

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Bryan Underwood caught the game-tying touchdown in the closing seconds of NC State’s win over FSU. (ZUMAPRESS)

Snap Judgments from the Week 6 evening slate.

For more, check out our early Snaps, midday Snaps coverage of LSU-Florida, Georgia-South Carolina, West Virginia-Texas and complete Top 25 review.

• North Carolina State 17, No. 3 Florida State 16. Find your bliss, they say. Follow it, and don’t give one fig what anybody else thinks of you. Some folks quit their hedge fund jobs to teach middle school. Some hike the Appalachian Trail. The Florida State Seminoles have a secret passion, too, and you can probably guess what that is:

Who could have possibly predicted Florida State would drop a random ACC game on the road for no discernible reason?

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) October 7, 2012

Two weeks removed from The Big One, a 49-37 win over Clemson, Florida State did the most Florida State-y of things: The Seminoles surrendered first a 16-0 third-quarter lead to North Carolina State, and then the game. Heisman hopeful E.J. Manuel and the ‘Noles were shut out in the second half, while quarterback counterpart Mike Glennon led his team to a short field goal followed by two touchdown drives — the second culminating with just 16 seconds left on the clock. It didn’t even look that hard, once the ‘Pack got to the touchdown part; getting that drive going in the first place required a blocked Florida State punt with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and a drive-sustaining defensive penalty against FSU with NC State nearing the end zone. Glennon finished the evening with 31 completed passes on 56 attempts, good for 266 yards and the aforementioned two touchdowns.

We are loath to use the flat-footed “a tale of two halves” here, but it couldn’t be more fitting for both squads. Observe: An impressive 141-yard rushing total for FSU’s Chris Thompson grows simultaneously more impressive upon learning that he put up 115 of those yards in the first half and more bitter as ‘Noles partisans wonder what might have been had Thompson scampered about for two additional quarters.

Florida State presumably surrendered something else along with those 17 second-half points: its national championship hopes. The ‘Noles could get back into the hunt if every remaining unbeaten squad loses a game, and with three top-five teams (FSU, LSU and Georgia) going down today alone, it’s becoming the kind of season where we can’t rule out such a turn. But the fact remains: The only ACC teams with unblemished conference records are now Maryland, Miami and Duke. We could be in for a Terps-Blue Devils ACC Championship Game. Or, the ‘Canes could still win the conference with this record against ranked teams. It’s a ludicrous thought, but it’s one that Florida State’s inability to take care of business in the seemingly easy games has left us with as we head off to dreamland. [BOX | RECAP]

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Tracking the zeitgeist of college football’s fourth weekend through social media (for entertainment purposes only):

On Twitter, every high-scoring game is bad defense, every low-scoring game bad offense. No one is good at anything in college football.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 29, 2012

My kingdom for an MSU fan to answer a marriage proposal with “Next question…” on GameDay

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 29, 2012

I really want to ask John L. Smith for medical advice. I bet he uses the word “crystals” at least six times.

— sir broosk (@celebrityhottub) September 29, 2012

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We know, David Ash. We can’t wait for Texas’ Week 6 game against West Virginia, either. (AP)

Snap Judgments from the Week 5 evening slate. For more coverage, check out midday Snaps and early Snaps, Holly Anderson’s coverage of Baylor-West Virginia, Andy Staples’ coverage of Ohio State-Michigan State, Stewart Mandel’s coverage of Stanford-Washington and our complete Top 25 review.

• No. 12 Texas 41, Oklahoma State 36: It may be impossible, even for devoted students of hyperbole such as ourselves, to demonstrate how much we’re looking forward to next week’s Texas-West Virginia game. Texas quarterback David Ash is going to draw statistical comparisons, over the course of this week, to Geno Smith, comparisons in which he will fall short in a numerical sense, even having faced a Cowboys’ defense that was missing several key components.

But for those of you who study the delicate science of clutchology, witness the Longhorns’ final scoring drive in Stillwater tonight, in which Ash hit D.J. Grant with a pass that resulted in a 29-yard gain, a pass caught so quickly it looked like a flicker in the cable feed on our crummy hotel television, and then less than a minute later connected with Mike Davis over the top of a Cowboys defender for 32 yards more. OUR NOTES ARE ALL IN CAPS AT THIS POINT, PROBABLY BECAUSE GUS JOHNSON WAS CALLING THIS GAME, BUT ALSO BECAUSE BOTH OF THESE PLAYS WERE REALLY NEAT.

Two plays later, Joe Bergeron tried to punch in a touchdown from two yards out and, depending on which shade of orange you prefer, either scored heroically or fumbled the ball and was handed a score by an inept set of officials. (On our subpar viewing monitor, it didn’t look like a score, but we weren’t there. What we do know is that we agree with our colleague Andy Staples that this was one of those games that just begged for ref suspensions. Bad calls went to both sides.)

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Here we see Dri Archer running away from Buffalo’s defense. This happened a lot on Wednesday night. (AP)

• Kent State 23, Buffalo 7. It is expected, in major college football, that there will be punches and that those punches need to be rolled with, with all speed. Accidents happen. Injuries crop up. But we can’t really fault Buffalo for dropping a game in which four of its starters got knocked out, particularly when one of those was star running back Branden Oliver. Oliver missed the second half with what was announced as only a “leg injury”; strong safety Issac Baugh, wide receiver Fred Lee and defensive end Steven Means were also out by the end of the evening.

Also not helpful for Buffalo: Kent State running back Dri Archer. The junior edged out teammate Trayion Durham, 127 rushing yards to 112, our favorite being a 57-yard second-quarter scramble that included an ice-cold spin move to break a tackle. [BOX | RECAP]

• Daily inspiration. Disappointed in last night’s game? Understandable. But understand that better things lie ahead:

Heady move starting #MACtion with Kent State-Buffalo. Weeded out the flybys. For those with patience, it’ll be rewarded

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 20, 2012

BYU and Boise State kick off at 9 p.m. ET. Join us, won’t you?

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Assorted bests and worsts from the weekend that was:

Tino Sunseri: Making football things happen since RIGHT NOW, haters. (AP)

• Best gotcha. From Pitt’s sports information department: “Each of Pitt’s five wins over Virginia Tech have come against nationally ranked Hokie squads (No. 13/13 in 2012; No. 5/5 in 2003; No. 3/3 in 2002; No. 12/13 in 2001 and No. 19/20 in 1997).” In other news to make you question whether that blue you’re seeing is really blue, Tino Sunseri is your Big East Offensive Player of the Week.

• Worst portents. First, we offended a couple Twitter followers over the weekend with a lively animated GIF of Smokey’s hindquarters, so if your employer thinks dogs should always wear pants, do not click this link. Second, remember always that the gods of sport are capricious, and never, ever Tempt The Wrath Of The Whatever From High Atop The Thing:

Pastor leading Lord’s Prayer at Neyland Stadium skipped “amen” and went straight to “Go Big Orange!”

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) September 15, 2012

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Loud, long and sincere applause for Manti Te’o, y’all. (AP)

Snap Judgments from the evening Week 3 slate. For more coverage, check out our early Snaps, midday Snaps, Alabama-Arkansas recap, Cal-Ohio State recap, Stanford-USC recap and complete Top 25 review.

• No. 20 Notre Dame 20, No. 10 Michigan State 3. That Michigan State scored at all in tonight’s contest is something of a minor miracle, particularly taking into account certain other fateful kicks we’ve seen go awry today. Dan Conroy made a successful 50-yard field goal with four minutes remaining in the first half, the Spartans’ lone scoreboard contribution of the evening. Michigan State’s Andrew Maxwell was sacked four times (giving him the unenviable rushing stat of -28 yards), barely completed half his passes, and accounted for 187 of his team’s 237 yards of offense. Le’Veon Bell, he of the 44-carry, 210-yard outing against Boise State, contributed 19 rushes for 77 yards.

Everett Golson’s completion percentage was even poorer, but he made one crucial pass count early, hitting John Goodman in the end zone for a backwards leaping touchdown catch you’ll be seeing frequently on highlight reels this weekend. Cierre Wood, George Atkinson and Thewo Riddick contributed 56-, 43- and 30-yard rushing performances for the Irish.

Points aside, all Irish eyes were focused on star linebacker Manti Te’o, performing admirably just days after the deaths of his girlfriend and grandmother. Te’o recorded 12 tackles (seven solo) and two pass breakups. [BOX | RECAP] Read More…

Andrew Manley threw for 242 yards as NMSU fell to UTEP in last year’s Battle of I-10. Will he exact revenge in ’12? (AP)

Kind of like preseason awards for the upcoming weekend of football, and just as binding. For additional preview content heading into Week 3, please see Andy Staples’ Walkthrough.

• Best interstate rivalry game. From Tuesday’s Profiles in Profiteroles, we remind you that the Battle of I-10 passes two trophies back and forth between UTEP and New Mexico State. One is a brass spittoon, the other a shovel found in an abandoned mine. We cannot stress to you enough how thrilled we are that the Battle of I-10 is real. The world is a fine place.

• Best intrastate rivalry game. Central Florida and Florida International have much in common entering this matchup. Both have designs on their respective conference championships, pretty good chances of getting to the top once league play begins and a recent history of disappointments in nonconference play.

• Most promising ranked-teams football game. We suspect No. 2 USC will run (well, fly) away from No. 21 Stanford in kind of a hurry. No. 18 Florida vs. No. 23 Tennessee is a rare night kickoff, which sets off all sorts of bad-luck haunting alarms in our head. That leaves No. 20 Notre Dame at No. 10 Michigan State as the only remaining ranked-on-ranked game of Week 3. It also carries the most promise for a compelling, close-fought football product.

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Fan-altered Notre Dame helmets, coming to an ACC stadium near you. Huzzah, realignment news! (Landov)

• News that is mostly not about football. From a fresh ACC release: “The Atlantic Coast Conference Council of Presidents has unanimously voted to accept the University of Notre Dame as a new member. The Irish will compete as full members in all conference sponsored sports with the exception of football which will play five games annually against league programs.” Pete Thamel has more, including the thorny issue of the Fighting Irish’s exit date for its sports currently operating in the Big East. We now return to football things.

• It is also a secret music box that plays “Afternoon Delight.” In yesterday’s Profiles in Profiteroles column we mentioned that the new trophy for the Toledo-Bowling Green Battle of I-75 rivalry hadn’t been completed in time for last year’s game. It’s more than ready now, making a splashy entrance with its own hype video, complete with four Toledo football players flexing their acting chops.

• Injury report story hour. Jordan Wynn impresses in his retirement press conference … Robert Marve has, you might have suspected, torn another ACL … TCU defensive end Ross Forrest is likely out the rest of the season  with a knee injury … Syracuse receiver Jeremiah Kobena is out for several weeks with what the school is calling “an upper body injury that required surgery.”

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