I understand college football right now about as much as I understand the nuances of the BCS computer system-which is to say, not at all.
On the "Say what?" scale of unanticipated upsets, this weekend had to score a collective eight-and it's not even October.
Oregon State beat a No. 1 team for the first time in 41 years, taking down USC Thursday night on national television, Duke won a conference game for the first time since 2004 and then-No. 16 Wake Forest-the so-called best team in the ACC-fell to Navy at home 24-17 after being shut out completely in the first half.
Yes, those would be the same Midshipmen who lost to Duke 41-31 Sept. 13 at Wallace Wade. And, yes, dubbing any team the best in the ACC is like giving someone the title of Miss Wasilla over a 200-pound ice fisherwoman named Bertha and a moose. But, to rely on the greatest of all sports clichés, it is what it is-and it has left Duke in second place in the ACC's Coastal division and with a vote in this week's coaches' poll.
And while I'm not yet ready to employ the Duke-beat-Navy-who-beat-the-best-team-in-the-ACC-ergo-Duke-is-the-best-team-in-the-ACC logic, I can't help but wonder, just how good are the Blue Devils and just how bad is the conference?
Let's ask the coach himself.
"We beat a good team in James Madison. We beat a good team in Navy-probably a really good team at times. But I think Virginia was a better team," David Cutcliffe said on a Sunday teleconference. "Virginia shocked our team at first because we hadn't played an ACC team.... It gave me a little taste of a whole year's reality now.
"There is a whole lot of parity in this league.... Listen, there are no Saturdays off unless you just don't have a kickoff time. You better play every time you go out there. Just ask all those top-10 teams that got beat this week."
Two things to consider in thinking about Cutcliffe's statements above.
First, I'm not sure Duke really has had a taste of a whole year's reality yet. Most seasons, for example, include road games. The Blue Devils have yet to leave the friendlier confines of Wally Wade. I'm not trying to detract from a 3-1 record-particularly given Duke's visible on-field improvement-but let's talk about "reality" next week after the Blue Devils play a decent Georgia Tech team in Atlanta.
Second, I've always thought the word "parity" was a vehicle by which coaches and commentators could euphemize mediocrity. The ACC is absolutely mediocre this year, which is one of the reasons you can scan Duke's schedule and see a lot of games that look winnable.
Yes, the Blue Devils can't afford to take any Saturdays off. But even Cutcliffe himself acknowledged that his offense, guided by quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, had an "off day" Saturday. Off days weren't an option for the Blue Devils against Virginia a mere three years ago, when first-round draft pick D'Brickashaw Ferguson was looming large on the Cavalier offensive line.
Ultimately, the Blue Devils have exceeded their total number of wins in my time at Duke. And if they go .500 over the rest of the season, they'll be bowl-eligible. So it's hard to find fault in the Cutcliffe-commandeered brand of pigskin when four more wins don't seem that out of the question.
But I also think I'm going to reserve judgment for a little while longer.
After all, in a game where Oregon State can knock out USC, it's easy to imagine how any team can lose.
Then again, it's almost as easy to see how any team can win.
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