ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State is up to No. 4 in this week's Associated Press poll, which is pretty darn amazing for a number of reasons.
Yes, the Nittany Lions are 4-0 after Saturday's 38-17 victory over Villanova, and they have a couple of nice wins. But how good are those wins now, and how good will they be later on? More on that shortly.
How good, in fact, is Penn State? Overrated? Underrated? Properly rated?
But most importantly, how good is anybody in college football this season?
The answer to that question, as much as anything, is really why Penn State has ascended all the way up to No. 4 despite have a lousy running game and still looking lethargic at times.
A lot of people want parity in college football. To have some level of chaos where anybody truly can beat anybody on any given day.
Well, we may have that this year. Just consider what happened Saturday alone.
** Clemson is done in the College Football Playoff race after a 27-21, double-OT loss at NC State, the Tigers' second loss of the year. It will be interesting to see if Dabo Swinney can maintain Clemson's level of dominance after a great run with QBs Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence.
** No. 4 Oklahoma looked pedestrian, and former Heisman frontrunner Spencer Rattler got heckled by his own fans who wanted the backup put in, during a 16-13 home win over a mediocre West Virginia team.
** No. 5 Iowa had looked good this season but struggled in a 24-14 win over a bad Colorado State team. The Hawkeyes, like Penn State against Villanova, didn't seem all that focused on the game.
** No. 7 Texas A&M lost at No. 16 Arkansas, 20-10, sending the Aggies plummeting to No. 15 and the Hogs soaring to No. 8. Woo pig sooie is 2-0 vs. Texas teams, also with a win over the Longhorns. (Bonus points for northerners who know what woo pig sooie means!)
** Minnesota -- holy bleep -- was favored by 30 points but got humbled in a 14-10 home loss to Bowling Green. That boat really did sink this time.
That brings us to two interesting outcomes that relate to Penn State.
No. 23 Auburn looked really bad and nearly lost at home to Georgia State before pulling things out, 34-24, with the help of a controversial call and later a pick-6 that sealed the deal. Tigers quarterback Bo Nix was even benched.
No. 18 Wisconsin got hammered in Chicago by No. 12 Notre Dame, 41-13, and the Badgers' offense was terrible as Graham Mertz threw four interceptions. Remember all the hype Mertz was getting before the season as Wisconsin's most heralded QB recruit ever, making him the reason Jack Coan transferred to Notre Dame? Man, Mertz has been awful this year.
Penn State made a big move up in the polls from 19 to 10 by going to Wisconsin and winning the opener, 16-10. The Badgers were ranked 12th in the preseason, and people thought they were really good.
But they're not. Clearly.
Still, Penn State jumped up to 10th after that win.
Auburn came here last week for a whiteout game, and the Lions prevailed, 28-20. That allowed the Lions to move up to No. 6, in part because we thought Auburn was pretty good.
Barely beating Georgia State would suggest otherwise about Auburn. And that team looks like it could have a lot of problems in the SEC.
Penn State got out of those Wisconsin and Auburn wins the two things it needed: Confidence and respect.
The Lions gained huge confidence by going to Madison and winning. They're a very confident group right now because of the 4-0 start, which also includes a blowout over Ball State.
The respect factor, again, came about because people thought Wisconsin and Auburn were good.
And now, all of a sudden, Penn State is the No. 4 team in the country. Jumping 15 spots from its preseason ranking thanks to a pair of wins over teams that are turning out to be merely mediocre and two blowouts against overmatched opponents.
A lot of highly regarded teams have already lost, which has helped and will continue to help bring about the chaos I mentioned earlier. That sort of thing makes college football much more interesting in a lot of ways, and in Penn State's case, the chaos has been a huge benefit.
Whether the Lions truly are the fourth-best team in the nation right now ultimately is irrelevant. Because there are huge games coming up that will determine the success level of this season, beginning with a visit from Indiana this week to begin the bulk of the Big Ten schedule.
The next huge test comes in two weeks when Penn State visits Iowa. That game will tell us a whole lot more about both Penn State and Iowa, and whether either team truly is a legitimate College Football Playoff contender.
And of course, there's still the trip to Ohio State at the end of October. As I've pointed out before, Penn State can afford to lose to Iowa as long as it beats the Buckeyes, which would allow for a clear path to the Big Ten championship game.
As for everybody else, No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia are both in good shape to make the playoff from the SEC. Oregon is No. 3 with a win over Ohio State, so the Ducks do seem for real. We think, anyway. They play at Stanford this week, which should be a challenge, and after that it could be clear sailing to going undefeated into the Pac-12 championship game.
The rest of the top 25? Well, it's likely to be a bit of a circus the next couple of months as parity continues to emerge and teams go from looking great one week to suspect the next.
It's still early in the season, and LOTS of things still could happen. But man, this kind of craziness makes for a lot of intrigue all around college football.
COACHES POLL
By the way, Penn State moved up two spots to No. 6 in the coaches poll. Oklahoma is still No. 4 and Iowa No. 5 in that poll.
REPORT CARD
I'm going to break this up a little this week for Penn State's win over Villanova.
OFFENSE
Passing game: A -- Sean Clifford had 401 yards and hit a bunch of big plays.
Running game: F -- That was terrible against an FCS opponent, with only 18 yards in 17 carries during the first half and 80 yards on 34 attempts for the game.
DEFENSE
First three quarters: A -- The Lions held Villanova to 3 points.
Fourth quarter: F -- The deep reserves gave up a long TD pass and a 95-yard TD drive. Yeah, so they're backups. But as James Franklin said, there's a standard, and those guys didn't meet the standard.
