Written by Adam Jones
Sunday, 09 October 2005

My father regularly noted three defining characteristics of any man: attitude, ability and effort. Every success and failure could be traced to a combination of these attributes and, in most cases; failure came despite the presence of two out of three. In the classroom my shortcomings were almost always tied to effort. On the playing fields, ability. Oh well.

Dad didn't exactly run our house like Vince Lombardi (Mom would argue he didn't "run" our house at all, but that is another matter) so ATTITUDE, ABILITY, EFFORT was not posted above the front door to be slapped on the way to school the way the Notre Dame players tap the "Play like a Champion today" sign or the Clemson guys rub Howard's Rock. No, the whole saying degenerated into bad comedy usually. For starters, Dad could never remember the third attribute and would usually hinder himself by insisting "I know it begins with an 'A'..." This resulted in improv scenes where Dad would start, "You know there are three things that determine success in life. Attitude, ability and...uhm...hmmmm..."

This is where my brother Sam would helpfully chime in: "real estate?"

And we all thought that this was funny.

What's funny, however, is that I still remember attitude, ability, effort. I still believe in the general premise and I have even been known to trot it out during managerial presentations. Let's just keep that between us. College football can be defined by every team's combination of attitude, ability and effort. Combine that with my grandfather's old saw: "experience is what you think you have and then you get some more" and you almost have a unified theory of college football.

One more thing, my father works almost every day. Except, even at 74 (especially at 74?), I don't think he considers it work. He has the ability and the attitude and still puts in the effort. But the great equalizer is passion. Everyone needs a passion. His is medicine. You can learn a lot from old men. Especially the ones who still love what they do.

Penn State 17, Ohio State 10.

Joe Paterno is 78. The basic commentary on JoePa over the last four years asserts that the game has passed him by, that he isn't sharp, that he can't recruit and that Penn State will suffer because they can not fire the man who created Penn State Football and, if he doesn't quit, the program will slowly decline into even a worse shambles and the next guy will need to start from scratch. Admittedly, I agree with most of this line of thought. The problem is, the Penn State players apparently do not. Nittany Lion linebacker Paul Posluszny played to the level of his more celebrated Buckeye counterpart, A.J. Hawk. An increasingly confident Michael Robinson made the key plays when he needed to and a bevy of very fast and very young skill position players, led by Derrick Williams, did the rest. I wondered if maybe Penn State grew up a little bit in their nail-biter win over Northwestern in week four. Since then, PSU has routed Minnesota and knocked out a legitimate top ten team. Now the Lions and their washed-up coach with the Coke-bottle glasses and the white socks are on top of the Big Ten.

Experience is what you think you have. Then you get some more.

Penn State/Ohio State was only the third most exciting game of the day. Texas Tech raced to a 21-0 lead over a Nebraska squad that looked like a pretender. Then the contender switch went on and Big Red came back, adjusting well on defense and finally getting some offensive breaks the Huskers have waited for all year. Down 31-27, Tech QB Cody Hodges threw a dumb pick deep in Huskerville. The Nebraska defender, nose tackle Le Kevin Smith, brought the ball back upfield a dozen yards and promptly fumbled it right back to Tech. Hodges made them pay on a fourth and two with 12 ticks on the clock. Tech 34, Nebraska 31.

UCLA and Cal played the classic west coast "who'll score last?" game with the Bruins surviving 47-40. UCLA tailback Maurice Drew had 162 yards in punt returns, including a nifty TD runback where only ten or eleven Bears had a shot at him.

Georgia's D.J. Shockley was brilliant, then horrifying, then brilliant, then horrifying - hey, I used to write the same thing about Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter. Shockley's leadership, timely D and a punt return by Thomas Flowers kept the Dawgs undefeated and sent Tennessee home a loser. Actually, Tennessee was already home, but you know what I mean.

Last year's Virginia = this year's Arizona State. The Sun Devils dropped a home game to Oregon 31-17. ASU just can't seem to win the big ones. There is no real cachet in being the best three-loss team in America.

Last week I noted I had some reservations about undefeated Wisconsin's defense. No longer, now I am certain about it - it's bad. Northwestern racked up 674 yards in a 51-48 classic grind-it-out Big Ten contest.

One week after embarrassment versus Penn State, Minnesota rebounded by taking down Michigan and claiming the Little Brown Jug 23-20. That's the same score by which Michigan gave one away to Wisconsin. Someone call FEMA because this Wolverine season is officially a disaster.

Texas ripped Oklahoma 45-12 and, yes, Mack Brown ended a five-game skid to the Sooners. The hype around "the streak" obscures the obvious: that Texas is better at almost every one of the 22 positions on the field and a trained monkey could have out-coached Bob Stoops on Saturday. OK, that's a bit much. But if you want the answer to the question "does Bob Stoops still live in Mack's head?" You are going to have to wait until next year when a healthy Adrian Peterson and an improved Rhett Bomar will make this a fair fight again.

One interesting reader response from last week accused me of being a biased Texas fan (I am) and said that it detracted from the overall column (I certainly hope it doesn't). For all my fellow brothers in arrogance, please delete the above paragraph and replace it with this one:

Texas beat Oklahoma's ass all over the Cotton Bowl field Saturday and enjoyed doing it. The Horns will do the same to Colorado next week and, oh yeah, we like $70/barrel oil.

USC hit the snooze button at least twice before putting away Arizona 42-21. It was a moral victory for the Wildcats (who gave up over 700 yards of offense) to be down only 14-7 at the half and 28-21 after three. LenDale White increasingly carries more mail for the Trojans, running for 179 and four scores in this one. I noted last week White was one of the four or five best tailbacks in the nation. I think he might just be the best every-down tailback the more I watch him.

Virginia Tech went to 6-0 with a 41-14 breezer against Marshall. FSU went to 5-0 by beating Wake in similar fashion, 41-24. Miami beat Duke 52-7.

I hate it when feel-good stories collide. LSU 34, Vanderbilt 6. Actually, the bloom fell off the Vandy rose in a loss to Middle Tennessee State last week. Now they're just plain Vandy again and they don't exactly field the student athletes LSU does.

Florida knocked off Mississippi State 35-9 and the Florida fans are mad about it. What, you want Ron Zook back?

Iowa whipped Purdue 34-17 in a game that had almost no bearing on the Big Ten championship. Who woulda thunk?

Boston College, still not a bad football team, went to 5-1 by beating UVa 28-17. Meanwhile in the ACC, Georgia Tech lost the Thursday special to NC State when a pass went right through Calvin Johnson's hands - it would have been a very tough catch, but this is Calvin Johnson we're talking about - 17-14, Wolfpack.

Just when you thought John Bunting had something: Louisville 69, Nawth Klina 14. Sheesh.

Texas A&M is not good. Colorado dominated the Aggies going up 41-6 before a couple of garbage TDs made it respectable. What on earth is going on in Dennis Franchione's head?

Best team everyone has forgotten about but better pay attention to: Auburn. Idle this week, at Arkansas next.

The pride of St. Paul, Minnesota, Northwestern College, beat Trinity Bible in the afternoon and then whipped Macalaster College in the nightcap to close out what may be the NCAA's first football doubleheader. This game never gets boring, huh?

Impressive Showing of the Week: Penn State

1. USC: I don't know whether the Trojans will lose votes or not for the sluggish starts. I don't think they should, but some funny things depend on the whims of voters in the magic that is the BCS.

2. Texas: Best call of the game against OU? Keith Jackson opening the contest by noting: "I'm glad I've lived long enough to do another one of these." This game will likely be gone from the Cotton Bowl in 2008.

2A. Virginia Tech: It scares me when I mirror the AP. Maybe I should put Va Tech #1?

4. Georgia: Why was Tennessee favored on Saturday? For the last five years Georgia has consistently won exactly the kind of games that Tennessee has consistently lost.

5. The Indigenous Peoples of Florida: Now that Ohio State has two losses, FSU's win over Miami becomes the biggest win of the year, replacing the Texas win over Ohio State.

6. Alabama: Tennessee, Auburn, LSU...can the Tide really finish undefeated?

7. Miami: At Temple next week will be the mismatch of the season. Taking the traveling squad, the 'Canes can only go about three deep against the Owls. That's ugly. As far as games relevant to the national title, Kyle Wright's poise in Blacksburg on November 5th will make or break the Hurricanes.

8. Penn State: Although to be fair, their record of accomplishments may be better than anyone's except Florida State's.

9. Two Undefeated Teams Who Appear Legitimate: Texas Tech and UCLA

10. and barely hanging on...Ohio State: It is awfully early to hang your hat on being the best two loss team in the country. Where are all the Buckeye skill position players?

Honorable mention: Notre Dame, LSU, Florida, BC - you can draw them out of a hat.

Next week: USC and Notre Dame. In Technicolor.