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The clock struck zero in East Lansing and the head coaches strode to midfield to shake hands. The majority of the green-clad fans had already left Spartan Stadium, the outcome of the afternoon long safe from any doubt. As the telecast wrapped up with a quick recap of the stunning final score -- Wisconsin 30, Michigan State 6 -- and before end-of-show copyrights had vanished from my TV screen, a text came in from a friend on the LSU football staff as the Tigers were preparing to meet Auburn on The Plains (more on that in a minute):I TOLD U DUDE. DONT SLEEP ON WISKY. WISKY IS DAMN GOOD.Yeah, apparently it is. A team projected by most to have merely a nice season -- you know, maybe 8-4 and third in the Big Ten West -- is suddenly 4-0 with two wins over top-10 opponents for the first time since 1962. Can the Badgers make the College Football Playoff? Can they win the College Football Playoff? Can they win their conference? Are they good enough to, at the very least, ruin all of the above for someone for whom much more was expected?In August the answer to all of those questions was a pretty solid nope. Now its ... well, maybe. And Wisconsin isnt alone. As a wacky September finally comes to a close, the theme of the 2016 college football season just might end up becoming The Rise of the Other Guys.Check out the roll call of the quickly shrinking roster of the undefeateds. No, not the big brand names that we knew would have a great shot being loss-free by this point -- Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan, Stanford, those guys. Based on preseason expectations you could even include Houston, Tennessee and Washington in that group. And no, no ones going to declare unbeatens such as Wake Forest, Maryland or the top shelf of #MACtion West as being ready to shock the world.Its when you go one level down from the superstars that it really becomes intriguing, if not totally confusing. Thats where the storylines are, headlines growing in the present with a real chance at growing into something gigantic in the near future.Im talking about Wisconsin, Nebraska, Miami and Texas A&M. Im looking out west to a gaggle of something-and-0 programs, from late-night drama kings Utah and Arizona State, picked to finish third and fifth in the Pac-12 South, to the trio of Mountain West undefeateds,?Boise State, San Diego State and Air Force. In the Big 12 theres Baylor, whom wed all thrown onto the scrap heap after one of the all-time worst offseasons, and even West Virginia, which showed us some previously missing mettle by gutting out a neutral-site victory over BYU.All of those big box store programs we skipped over two paragraphs ago? Theyll all have to get through this years crop of other guys if they want to stay up top all the way through New Years.Texas A&M hosts Tennessee on Oct. 8 and visits Tuscaloosa two weekends later. Utah hosts Washington at the end of the month and two weeks later travels to Arizona State, which goes to Washington the very next weekend. During October, Ohio State has to visit Wisconsin and host Nebraska.A football schedule is like tiptoeing through a minefield, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said to me in the spring. You think you know where to step and you think you know where you are going to be safe. But you really have no idea. And just about the time you think you have it figured out, someone comes along and moves it all around on you.More than a few teams spent September moving stuff around on us. Now the programs on that top tier are about to try to navigate the maze in front of them. It starts this weekend when Michigan hosts Wisconsin and Clemson battens down the hatches for the arrival of the years other guys captain, Lamar Jackson and Louisville.The reality is that every coach and every program wants to make their living at that top level all the time, to be a Florida State or an Oklahoma or an Alabama, confesses Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino. But you know what? Knocking off those big guys, taking a step toward moving from where you were to where they are, surprising people, thats pretty fun, too.You know what else is fun? Flipping The Field. So, lets get on with it, shall we?Too Much Mad for The Hatter. On the eve of the 2016 college football season I used this column to predict headlines we would read in November and December. The first listed was for Nov. 13: MILES OUT AT LSU. Sadly, my predicted date was six weeks too late. Even more sadly, this was the easiest of the five headlines to predict.Headed into the teams opener with Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, I wondered aloud how long would it take for the environment in Baton Rouge to fall back into the toxicity that overran Death Valley late last fall, when administrators and alums were coming at Miles as if he were Julius Caesar, but suddenly put away their daggers. It took less than one half of football. By the time LSU hit the halftime locker room down 6-0, the social media pitchforks were out and the people who promised to have his back after last years embarrassing soap opera were back to dipping their torches in kerosene.In the end, Miles stubborn refusal to evolve offensively was his undoing, especially as his perpetual measuring stick, Nick Saban, was expanding his mind and playbook via the hiring of Lane Kiffin. Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, also fired on Sunday, is no stranger to creativity with the football. Dont forget, he was do-everything QB pioneer Antwaan Randle Els head coach at Indiana. But there are too many stories about Miles invading Camerons offensive meetings to replace imagination with we must assert our will on the ground.What makes the Miles firing hard for everyone is trying to balance out frustration with the coach versus love for the man. That love goes much further than funny quotes, eating grass or even a national championship. In Louisiana what people will remember is how he was a champion and a leader for this community when times were tough, whether it was Hurricane Katrina, which happened during his first year on the job, or just this summer during the floods and violence in Baton Rouge.Thats what I will think of when I think of Les Miles, former running back Jacob Hester said to me last year during Katrinas 10th anniversary. He walked in here and said, forget where I came from, Im from Louisiana now. Were in this together.From the Ridonculous Stats Department: It was a humongous day for ACC wide receivers. Syracuses?Amba Etta-Tawo hauled in 270 yards, which broke the schools single-game record that had stood since 1985, according to my number-devouring friends at ESPN Stats & Info. Virginia QB Kurt Benkert threw for a school record 421 yards as the Cavs (finally) won over Central Michigan. UNCs Ryan Switzer had a school record 16 catches in a comeback win over Pitt, only one catch short of his total for the first three games (17).Against Texas State, Houston WR?DEriq King?scored TDs via run, catch and kickoff return, the first FBS player to do that in one game since 2010. Louisiana Techs?Ryan Higgins threw for 504 yards and Trent Taylor hauled in 204 yards ... and they still lost to Middle Tennessee.Were going streaking! Stanford is now beaten UCLA nine straight times (none more painful than Saturday night), the longest win streak by an opponent in Bruins football history. Texas A&M has now started three consecutive seasons 3-0, the first time the Aggies have done that since 1939-41, a streak that began with the 39 national championship. Louisvilles Lamar Jackson has produced five or more touchdowns in four straight games. Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. has now won 17 straight as a starter, the longest active FBS streak.Get in the car, Frank ... Clemson snapped a five-game losing streak to Georgia Tech and a decade-long losing streak in Atlanta. In the third quarter of its stunning home loss to Duke, Notre Dame finally registered its first sack of the season, the nations last FBS program to finally bring down a quarterback. Stanfords Christian McCaffrey rushed for 138 yards in the UCLA win, but curiously still has yet to score a touchdown in a dozen career true road games. Indianas eight-game nonconference winning streak was snapped by Wake Forest. ... Wait, Indiana had an eight-game nonconference winning streak?! Ferris State lost to Ashland in an NCAA Division II clash, the Bulldogs first loss in 29 regular season games, a run that dates back to 2013.Time for a dance break. This time last year Flipping The Field was overrun with videos of coaches dancing. This year that fad seems to have tapped itself offstage. Thats cool. Sebastian the Ibis has it covered, even when Miami didnt have a game.Tommy West Coachs News Conference of the Week: Jimbo Fisher, Florida State. By my watch, the collective time spent answering the final 20 questions was about one minute. When hes in a good mood, he cant answer any one question in less than one minute. When I think about it, after a 55-35 game that was already 7-7 with 159 yards of offense after the first 29 seconds of play, this staccato pace feels about right.?News Conference of the Week, Part Deux: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State. It shouldnt have been a surprise that a college football weekend ending an emotional week for America would be marked by emotional statements, from raised fists in the student section at UNC to protesters who surrounded Friday nights game at Eastern Michigan and then rushed the field when the game was over. After a shocking loss to Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon, Dantonio was poignant in his remarks when asked about three of his players quietly protesting during the pregame playing of the national anthem. Your patriotism and your faith, they are sort of the same. Thats your choice, and its influenced by what youve, what youve experienced in this world. ... I can promise you one thing: When the flag is presented, in some respect, I guess, it becomes much more important now.Danny Ford Scientific Rocket Quote of the Week: Cam Phillips, WR, Virginia Tech. After the Hokies rolled East Carolina 54-17, Tech has outscored opponents 103-17 over the past two weeks. Phillips, who hauled in a 55-yard TD catch, was asked what it feels like to get on that kind of offensive roll: Like, Krispy Kreme doughnuts when the hot sign is on.Tom Herman Cool Coach Tweets of the Week: Nick Rolovich, Hawaii. I give Hawaii a bit of a hard time in the Bottom 10, but theres no more likable bunch of players than the Rainbow Warriors or coach than Rolovich. Late last week he started a What He Looks Like chain using headshots and stock photos of his coaching staff. Fans soon jumped in and the best one was reserved for Rolovich himself, which he promptly retweeted.Weston Steelhammer Name of the Week: Bug Howard, WR, UNC. Known on Twitter as @TheBugMan, theres nothing buggy about him unless youre a defensive back. On Saturday, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound senior won a jump ball possession for a buzzer-beating TD grab that took down Pitt 37-36. His full name is Jonathan Jamaul Howard, but when he kept bugging his grandma she jokingly started calling him Bugger and it was eventually shortened to just Bug.David Copperfield Cool Coach Magic Trick of the Week: Dantonio. When youre getting housed by Wisconsin, you just want to vanish.Speaking of vanishing acts ... and getting back to the Tar Heels, I got into a little bit of a Twitter spat with UNC fans during their dramatic shootout with Pitt over the disappearance of their run game, particularly Elijah Hood. Weve already mentioned a pair of UNC wide receivers, two of the four who caught TD passes from QB Mitch Trubisky, who was stunningly accurate at 35-of-45 for 453 yards. But the lack of balance from Larry Fedoras offense is baffling, whether Kenan Stadium fans want to admit it or not. Hood is regarded as one of the nations most talented runners and was on all of the preseason award watch lists, but in the season opener against Georgia he had only 10 carries and on Saturday he was handed the ball 11 times for 25 yards. Over that same span his receptions per game have dropped from six to three to two to one. Fedora knows more about offensive football than most living humans and his team is 3-1, but this just feels weird and conventional football wisdom says theyll need to find a balance to keep on winning.Frank Reich Backup QB Of The Week Award: Steven Montez, Colorado. The redshirt freshman was 0-for-7 passing at Michigan last week after entering the game for injured starter Sefo Liufau. This week against Oregon he threw for 333 yards and 3 TDs and rushed 135 yards and another TD, including a (controversial) game-winning 31-yard TD pass to Bryce Bobo, followed a two-point conversion toss, also to Bobo. The Buffs scored their first win over Oregon since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.Jacoby Brissett Third-String QB Week Of The Week: Tyler Chadwick, Coastal Carolina. College baseball already knows about Chadwick, second baseman and senior leader of the Chanticleers team that shocked collegiate sports by winning the College World Series in June. High school football fans in Charlotte, North Carolina, remember him as a quarterback at Marvin Ridge High School and know his father, Scott, as head coach of Myers Park High School, which just so happens to be 6-0. After losing two starting quarterbacks to injury, CCU head coach Joe Moglia turned to Tyler, who was working as an intern with the football team since his graduation earlier this year, and brought him onto the depleted roster as a backup QB. On Saturday evening he didnt take the field against Furman as the 17th-ranked FCS Chanticleers defeated the Paladins 41-21. But how big of a deal is Chadwick, not to mention anything pertaining to the national champs? Last weeks news conference attracted the biggest media turnout that anyone with the football program can remember ... and it was to announce a new third-string quarterback.Linebacker Kicker U. At 5-10, 258 pounds, Penn State kicker Joey Julius is a navy blue bowling ball. If you give him half a field to get some momentum going, youd better look out. This is not the first time No. 99 has done this.Comeback of the Week Award, also named for Frank Reich: Tennessee over Florida. There were so many candidates this week, from UNC to even North Texass rally to win in OT over Rice. A total of 11 teams rallied from double-digit deficits on Saturday, which tied for the most on a single day in the past decade. But none was more impressive -- or bigger -- than what the Tennessee did at home in Knoxville. When the Vols trailed 21-3 in the third quarter, ESPN Stats & Infos win probability chart placed their chances of victory at a paltry 8 percent. When they scored with 59 seconds remaining in that quarter to pull to within four, those chances jumped to 32 percent. I havent looked at the final chart, but Im assuming that eventually it reads their chances reached 100 percent.The Guy You Should Know About, But Probably Dont: Jeremy McNichols, RB, Boise State. After holding off Oregon State the Broncos are now 3-0 and 10-3 versus Pac-12 teams since 2006. The engine behind their most recent success is McNichols, who scored four TDs against the Beavers, bringing his season total to nine and extending his FBS-best streak of consecutive games with a rushing to TD to 15. His 34 total TDs are tops in the nation over the last two seasons, topping even my admitted man crush, San Diego States Donnel Pumphrey, who had the weekend off.The Guy You Used to Know About But Forgot About But You Should Know About Again: Drew Lock, QB, Missouri. It was no small deal when the much-ballyhooed Lees Summit, Missouri, native decided to attend the home state school. But after a bizarre freshman season in Columbia that was overshadowed by losses, off-field controversy and the retirement of Gary Pinkel, Lock was largely forgotten. Not anymore. The 19-year old ranks second in the nation in passing (1,508 yards) and the team has already scored more in four games (178) than they did all of last season (163). On Saturday against FCS Delaware State he was 15-of-22 for 252 yards and three TDs ... in the first quarter. That included this gem to?JMon Moore.The Team You Should Know About, But Probably Dont: Memphis. Speaking of the still-undefeateds who could alter the 2016 season, the Tigers are 3-0 after routing Bowling Green. Memphis set an American Conference record with 77 points scored, led by QB Riley Fergusons 6 TDs and 395 yards. They travel to Ole Miss on Saturday and Navy on Oct. 22. If they carry a big win total into their regular season finale at Houston, it could be an unexpectedly big boost for the Cougars playoff party crasher hopes ... or a season-destroying loss.The Game You Should Be Psyched For But Probably Arent: Navy at Air Force. As we have told you repeatedly here at Flipping The Field, the Army Black Knights appear to finally be getting their act together after a long stretch of losing. However, the Commander-in-Chiefs Trophy is still most likely to be won by sea or air. Over the past 19 years, Navy has won 10, Air Force has won nine and Army has been skunked. Both Navy and Air Force are 3-0 and are in position to make a push to be spoilers in their respective conferences. Before Houston can worry about the College Football Playoff, it will have to worry about the Midshipmen and their triple option on Oct. 8. If Boise State or San Diego State want to make a run at a New Years Six bowl, theyll likely have to do it by getting through the Falcons. Sure, Army-Navy receives most of the attention, but this is the matchup with more on the line.Extra Point: Ahead of a home game (and much-needed win) against South Carolina, Kentucky held an emotional unveiling of four statues outside Commonwealth Stadium honoring the four Wildcats players who broke the SEC color barrier. Defensive back Nate Northington was the first, taking the field against Mississippi State on Sept. 30, 1967. He was followed shortly thereafter by linebacker Wilbur Hackett and running back Houston Hogg. All three were in attendance and all three admitted they werent ready for the reaction they had to seeing the likeness of the fourth player, Greg Page. The defensive end roomed with Northington and was expected to be the first to play, but suffered a neck injury during preseason practice that ultimately led to his death the night before the Mississippi State game.Overcome with grief, Northington transferred to Western Kentucky before seasons end. Pages son, Mel, was at the unveiling on his fathers behalf. We made Saturday the most racially diverse day of the week, Northington said of the multiracial crowds who came to see Kentuckys new football players, even during a time when the school was dominated by divisive basketball coach Adolph Rupp. He finally signed his first black basketball player in 1969. All of that, it started here.?Joe Flacco Jersey . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Jonathan Ogden Womens Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. http://www.ravensrookiestore.com/Ravens-Hayden-Hurst-Jersey/ . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. Marquise Brown Jersey . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. Trace McSorley Womens Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.The Oakland Raiders have continued their high-profile free agency spree by bringing in Reggie Nelson.The former Cincinnati Bengals safety has agreed a two-year contract with the Raiders, and follows Kelechi Osemele, Sean Smith and Bruce Irvin as the Raiders latest major off-season acquisition.Nelson was arguably the best remaining defensive player available in free agency, having earned his first Pro Bowl invitation last season. NFL Ins & Outs Keep up with the latest That was after the 32-year oldd led the league with eight interceptions alongside Kansas City Chiefs rookie Marcus Peters.ddddddddddddIt was a little bit of a surprise that the Bengals let Nelson leave without much of a fight, but they believe 2013 third-round pick Shawn Williams is ready to start opposite George Iloka.It is another boost for a Raiders secondary that struggled at times last season, and also lost the legendary Charles Woodson to retirement.Head coach Jack Del Rio now has the luxury of Nelson, Sean Smith and 2015 standout David Amerson in the backfield.Also See:NFL VideoRookies guideNFL on Sky SportsPundits ' ' '