Sean Renfree can levitate, but can he top the ‘Noles? (AP)

There are many ranked-on-ranked games this college football Saturday, including No. 3 Florida vs. No. 12 Georgia, No. 15 Texas Tech at No. 4 Kansas State, No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 13 Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama. This is not a preview of those games. (For more big-picture football content, please visit Andy Staples’ Walkthrough.)

• Locavore football for the environmentally conscious consumer. Devotees of farm-to-fan football, please note these geographic rivalry games on the schedule for Week 9: Temple at Pitt (noon E.T.), NC State at North Carolina (12:30 p.m.), No. 23 Ohio at Miami (Ohio) (3:30 p.m.), and UTEP at Houston (4:30 p.m.).

• Game that should be played at night but isn’t. UTEP at Houston. UTEP being UTEP, and Houston being half responsible for that 72-42 SMU box score that so terrified the daintier set, this one ought to start and end under cover of darkness. It just seems a more fitting setting for whatever wackiness is about to ensue.

• Conference curiosity. We remind you at this time that a) Duke leads its division and is scheduled to play No. 11 Florida State in Tallahassee b) for the Seminoles’ homecoming game. Who is carrying the bigger jinx here? Impossible to discern. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.

• Nonconference curiosities. BYU at Georgia Tech (3:00 p.m.) and Kent State at No. 18 Rutgers (3:30 p.m.).

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Tuesday night not all right for the Ragin’ Cajuns. (AP)

• Arkansas State 50, Louisiana 27. Terrance Broadway completed 28-of-39 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns, but also committed three of the Cajuns’ five turnovers during a highly non-competitive home-field rout. Red Wolves kicker Brian Davis accounted for a full 20 of Arkansas State’s 50 points, kicking five field goals and five extra points. Ryan Aplin had a 21-of-31, 269-yard, one-touchdown outing; Rocky Hayes and David Oku added 86 and 83 rushing yards, respectively. The Red Wolves improved to 3-1 in Sun Belt play.  [BOX]

• Excellent scheduling news. Our absolute favorite kind of scheduling story: Power conference showdown! Oregon and Ohio State have announced a two-year home-and-home series, to be played in 2020 and 2021.

• Roster blotter. Charlie Weis benches Dayne Crist … Clemson defensive back Jerrodd Williams, who’s seen playing time in six games for the Tigers on special teams, is done for the season after breaking his leg in Tuesday’s practice … Southern Miss moves on to its fourth quarterback this season, Arsenio Favor.

• Hey, here’s a neat lead. “The Missouri athletics department is tightening employee use of school-issued credit cards after an audit found a series of improper purchases, including bills for more than $7,600 from a Las Vegas strip club.” Stewart Mandel has already cut directly to the proper joke for this news, saving you all the trouble:

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas … unless you charge it to your Mizzou-issued employee credit card. arkansassports360.com/88085/mizzou-c…

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 23, 2012

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Can Quinton Patton and Louisiana Tech shake off Johnny Football and bully through the WAC? (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome:

We made the trek to Shreveport last week in the hopes of being on the scene when 2012′s best chance for a BCS bust really took shape. We came perilously close to getting our wish; but for a blocked extra point attempt here and a successful two-point conversion there, America would be staring down the real possibility of another WAC team in a BCS bowl game.

Right now, it’s hard to imagine that being the case. We said in our midseason Crystal Ball segment, and several of our colleagues agreed, that the odds for an upstart squad in a big-money game this season look grim, with Louisiana Tech and Boise State each carrying a loss from their highest-profile nonconference games and Ohio undefeated but eking out wins against the likes of UMass, Buffalo and Akron. Is there a spark of hope for any of our precious Profiteroles?

Maybe. The Broncos enjoy the benefit of name recognition after their last several seasons, and popped up at No. 22 in the first set of BCS standings released Sunday. It’s their 38th straight such appearance, and the longest active BCS rankings streak in the FBS. Could they climb into that all-important No. 16 spot ahead of an AQ conference champion? Could Louisiana Tech, with a stronger nonconference schedule and blowouts the rest of the way, jump the Broncos?

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Logan Kilgore and the Middle Tennessee State offense racked up 510 yards of offense in a win at Georgia Tech. (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome.

You see, they are called the “Sun Belt” teams because they are just out there belting people. See. That the Sun Belt would field four teams to be reckoned with in 2012 was a reasonable preseason estimate of ours, we think. What we didn’t expect was that two of those teams would be Louisiana-Monroe and Middle Tennessee State rather than Florida International and Arkansas State. Mario Cristobal’s Golden Panthers fell to 1-4 after a 48-20 loss to Louisiana Saturday; perhaps this is his way of telegraphing just how much he wants people to start bothering him with potential job openings in power conferences. We saw the Panthers, on paper, as the likely top contender for conference championship honors; right now, as deep as the Sun Belt is rolling, FIU will be lucky to finish in its top half.

But let’s focus on the good stuff, which you already know if you’re bothering to read this, but which we can’t stand not to repeat: Middle Tennessee, which opened the season with a six-point loss to an FCS team, just racked up 510 yards and 49 points against Georgia Tech, at Georgia Tech. Tee-hee! The Blue Raiders’ weapon of choice: junior running back Benny Cunningham, who carried the ball 27 times for a grand total of 217 yards and five touchdowns. MTSU’s defense sacked Tevin Washington four times. Paul Johnson must’ve eaten a quarry’s worth of gravel just to make it through a single film session.

“Our guys know what they’re getting into at Middle. These guys have played against them the last couple of years. This is a good conference,” said Louisiana-Monroe coach Todd Berry after Saturday’s win over Tulane. A popular sentiment heading into 2012, re: the Sun Belt, to be sure. But did you ever think these two outfits would be this thickly in the mix? Week 6′s Warhawks-Blue Raiders tilt is looking like appointment television about now.

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This is a 1-pound, half ground beef, half ground bacon burger topped with bacon, peanut butter and jelly. No words. twitter.com/Andy_Staples/s…

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) October 3, 2012

Staples, doing the good work.

• Next food news update of vital importance. None other than the Wall Street Journal measures SEC stadiums’ proximity to Waffle Houses, even going so far as to state a measurement in sausage links. We have never felt closer to the WSJ than we do right now.

• Will the Honey Badger return to LSU? A resounding “maybe!” from the Times-Picayune.

• Welp. “According to a study published in the October issue of American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, male non-athletes were more likely than females to increase their alcohol consumption and partying, and decrease their study time, in response to the success of the team.” [Via.]

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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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Central Michigan scored a win for the MAC by knocking off Iowa in the final seconds. (Matthew Holst/Getty Images)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome:

This will mark our fifth season tracking the record of non-AQ programs against teams from power conferences, for no other reason than liking to watch where the numbers go. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a weekend produce a winning record for a mid-major league that involved more than one or two games. But glory be to the MAC, which played seven games against BCS-favored opponents, and won four. (Yes, we’re even including Northern Illinois’ win over Kansas, even though Kansas is Kansas. COUNT IT.)

MAC teams beat one Big Ten team, two Big East teams and one Big 12 team. Directional Michigan schools had a particularly grand weekend, with Central Michigan knocking off Iowa and Western Michigan laying out UConn. Eastern Michigan also acquitted itself admirably, putting up a dogged fight against Michigan State.

The fifth big winner of Week 4 was the gaudiest: Louisiana Tech, a team with qualities we have been relentlessly touting since last December or so, mowed down Illinois on the road, 52-24. The Bulldogs currently field the nation’s third-ranked scoring offense and have two more high-profile nonconference matchups in the next three weeks: at Virginia and home against Texas A&M. Stay tuned; they’re our favorites behind Ohio to finish the 2012 regular season undefeated.

Speaking of the Bobcats: They’re through their nonconference gauntlet after a Week 4 win over Norfolk State and received 40 votes in this week’s AP Poll. The only other non-AQ teams on that list are Boise State at No. 24 and Louisiana Tech, which received seven votes.

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Georgia’s defense stifled Vandy; the ‘Dores went 2-of-14 on third-down conversions. (Getty Images)

Snap Judgments from the Week 4 late slate. For more coverage, check out our early Snaps, midday Snaps and complete Top 25 review. Also check out our coverage of Florida State-Clemson, Kansas State-Oklahoma and Notre Dame-Michigan.

• No. 5 Georgia 48, Vanderbilt 3: “I don’t have any complaints at all,” said Mark Richt following his Bulldogs’ casual mauling of the Commodores. Nor should he: Georgia finished with 567 yards of offense in its second conference win, held the ‘Dores to a single field goal and made its opponent look not terribly unlike the Vandy of old. “The numbers show that we’re executing well,” said Richt. So, too, did the scoreboard.

The Dawgs’ latest plug-and-play tailback, freshman Todd Gurley, led all rushers with 130 yards on 16 carries, and he recorded Georgia’s first and final scores. Aaron Murray enjoyed a bit of moderate exercise, completing 18-of-24 pass attempts for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Jarvis Jones sacked Jordan Rodgers on fourth-and-eight for an 11-yard loss in the third quarter that brought the house down.

Vanderbilt had 15 first downs tonight to Georgia’s 29. It converted 2-of-12 third downs. It was very nearly tripled up in rushing yards, 103 to 301. (Did we mention Georgia had more than 300 rushing yards? Georgia had more than 300 rushing yards. We’re not the only ones eyeing that Oct. 6 Bulldogs-Gamecocks matchup with increasingly rabid anticipation.)

“We talked about how this is the first [conference] game of seven in a row,” said Richt, “and how important it is to win every single one of them to get where we want to go. But you have to take them one at a time. We have a lot of respect for Vanderbilt.” We almost believe him. [BOX | RECAP]

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Jeff Driskel accounted for 138 all-purpose yards as Florida edged out Bowling Green. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Snap Judgments from Saturday’s afternoon slate. For more from SI.com check out our early and late Snaps, plus our game coverage of Alabama-Michigan, Auburn-Clemson, Ohio-Penn State, South Carolina-Vanderbilt, Washington State-BYU, NC State-Tennessee and Boise State-Michigan State and our full Top 25 review.

• No. 23 Florida 27, Bowling Green 14. Whatever else happens, today will always be the day we saw a MAC player do a chomping throat slash in the Swamp. A couple more breaks and slightly better all-around play (two missed field goals will loom large in the minds of the Falcons), and Bowling Green, on the road, could’ve beaten the Florida Gators. Whether this is “the year” of any conference remains very much to be seen, but this Saturday was a fun one for fans of the MAC.

Five more elements that most perfectly symbolize this afternoon’s action:
1. Florida getting hit with 13 penalties for a total loss of 101 yards.
2. The faked punt that set up the Falcons’ touchdown drive, with Bowling Green’s punter running for a first down and a late hit penalty on Florida tacking on an additional 15 yards.
3. Two Bowling Green players colliding, Three Stooges-style, in midair.
4. The Gators getting a false start penalty in the victory formation.
5. This:

Crowd boos a cop for stabbing a beach ball.

— Alligator Army (@AlligatorArmy) September 1, 2012

We could fill another entire blog post with indignant reactions that followed the announcement that Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel would be co-starters at quarterback for Florida. With both in the first huddle, fear spiked that Muschamp meant they would start at quarterback simultaneously, but Brissett lined up at quarterback on first down, and Driskel settled in at receiver. On the next play, Driskel took over under center, and, as previously promised by Muschamp, they alternated the first two quarters — sort of. Driskel played the rest of the first quarter and was allowed to complete his already in-progress drive that ate up more than five minutes of the second quarter, culminating in the Gators’ first touchdown of the afternoon, a 15-yard run by Mike Gillislee. Brissett took over for the remainder of the half, and Driskel played the entire second half.

Our dad was visiting today, and theorized that Florida’s lines, or perhaps Muschamp himself, were easily distracted by laser pointers. He also hypothesized that some enterprising visitor in the stands had figured this out. It’s not the worst theory we’ve ever heard. The Falcons led once in the first quarter and tied the game again in the third. And while the final score was semi-respectable, reactions from our Gator buddies regarding what it took to get there ranged from white-hot rage to bleak despair. [BOX | RECAP]

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The Hawaii Bowl's pineapple football is a beloved hallmark of the college postseason.

The 2011 Hawaii Bowl is just a day away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Zac Ellis’ game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Christmas Eve. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The traditional pairing pits the WAC against Conference USA.

• What about this year? It’s 11-2 C-USA champ Southern Miss versus the 7-5 Nevada Wolf Pack.

• That does not sound too competitive! It’s not. The real winner here is Larry Fedora, who gets a free trip to Hawaii before departing Hattiesburg for the UNC job.

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