COTTRELL COLUMN: A lot of surprises through 3 weeks of college football

Let’s play a little game here.

Let’s say you’re Rip Van Winkle, only slightly less in need of sleep.

You fell asleep sometime in January, and you just woke up this morning.

What would you say if someone told you the following:

—Washington, which finished 0-12 last season and allowed 38.6 points per game, would completely shut down USC and beat them?

—Georgia would lose to Oklahoma State while the two teams combined for 34 points, then begin SEC play against South Carolina and Arkansas with a combined point total of 171?

—BYU would open the season by beating Oklahoma, allowing 13 points in the process, and then get drilled at home by Florida State, allowing 54 in the process?

—Virginia would be 0-3 with losses to William & Mary, TCU and Southern Miss, and Al Groh is somehow still coaching them?

—Auburn would allow an opponent 21 points in the first quarter and 30 overall, and win?

These are just a few of the scenarios I never would’ve believed if someone had told them to me even a few weeks ago, much less now.

Of these, BYU’s is the only one that’s even moderately easy to explain (they would’ve never touched Oklahoma had Sam Bradford not gotten hurt, and they weren’t really that good to begin with). The others, with maybe the exception of Auburn, are a mystery.

The only thing we can say for certain when it comes to Auburn is that Gus Malzahn has officially made himself the hottest commodity in assistant coaching circles. The turnaround on offense here on the Plains is really remarkable, and assuming it keeps up Malzahn will probably find himself on another sideline with a higher pay grade next season.

In Other News: Man Develops Opposable Thumbs
One thing our proverbial Rip Van Winkle would not have been surprised to hear was that Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin was unable to deliver on his promise to sing “Rocky Top” all night long after beating Florida.

The only real surprising thing about Saturday’s anti-climactic showdown was that the loss boiled down more to Kiffin’s team’s ineptitude than to Gator coach Urban Meyer’s lust for vengeance.

One has to wonder if all the “exposure” Kiffin got for his team is really worth the negative portrayal he has received, as well as the fiery hatred he has engendered among his SEC brethren.

Some economist somewhere is bound to be able to graph this somehow.

Won’t Somebody Love Me?
Because no one else seems to be doing it, it’s time to single out a team for some praise.

The Cincinnati Bearcats, they of the Big East championship last season, lost quite a bit from last year’s team yet are absolutely rolling through three weeks.

They destroyed my preseason darling, Rutgers, in the opener, then did something USC hasn’t done since 2004 this past weekend: Beat Oregon State in Corvallis.

Current Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and his successor, the apparently absolutely brilliant Brian Kelly, has taken it to a whole new level at a program that was absolutely nowhere forever and ever.

With West Virginia on its way down under Bill Stewart and everyone else seemingly doomed to mediocrity at best, this could be your budding Big East powerhouse.

How’s that for a Rip Van Winkle moment?

Party Like It’s 1989
The Miami Hurricanes, they of the horrific offense and on-again, off-again defense, suddenly looks like a real-deal contender in the third year of the Randy Shannon era.

Heading into the season, “Da U” seemed destined for an 0-4 start with trips to Florida State and Virginia Tech and home dates against Georgia Tech and Oklahoma.

Instead, they’re currently 2-0 and seem more than capable of winning their next two.

How this happened is anyone’s guess. But Jacory Harris somehow becoming Drew Brees seems to have a lot to do with it.

But you have to admit, things are a lot more interesting with the ’Canes around again.

Tim Cottrell is sports designer of the Opelika-Auburn News. He will write a weekly column on college football during the season. You can also read him on the O-A Sports Blog at oanow.com. He can be reached at 737-2511 or .