Utah's QB switcheroo, Auburn's boost and Mark Dantonio's stump speech

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1. No. 19 Utah seems to be bringing to life the adage that when you have two quarterbacks, you have none. Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham said he's waiting for Travis Wilson or Kendal Thompson to win the job. Then there's No. 14 Arizona State, where, when you have two quarterbacks, you have two. Junior Mike Bercovici has been 2-1 in replacing injured senior Taylor Kelly, and those two W's -- the Hail Mary over USC, and Stanford -- are huge. But Kelly will play Saturday at Washington if he's good to go, and head coach Todd Graham must be feeling pretty secure.

2. Oklahoma State and the NCAA put out a joint statement declaring that the charges made in a Sports Illustrated story last year are groundless, and the vindication fairly leapt off the screen. The school spent $221,000 chasing the accusations of academic, sexual and drug improprieties, and for what? It disproved some accusations, couldn't prove others because witnesses wouldn't talk, and everybody shrugs and goes home. No one came out of this unsullied.

3. The revival of the Notre Dame-Florida State rivalry last week set in relief the problems of other powers from a generation ago. Colorado, Miami, Tennessee and Michigan, all national champions from the 1990s, are a combined 12-16, but that's largely a result of good nonconference scheduling. In league play, they are a combined 2-11. There's no common problem there. Colorado and Miami fell behind in facilities and lost their recruiting mojo. Tennessee and Michigan have had administrative issues and coaching issues that left their fans alienated. History proves they can win. Recent history is a different issue.

@DantonioMark said earlier today that he thinks a 1-loss B1G champ should get in the playoff. Added that he's "just a fan." #riiiiight

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 21, 2014

@ClowESPN One thing that hurts them is lack of signature road win. Lost at Oregon and other big games (Nebraska, Ohio State) at home.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 21, 2014

Steve Conner/Icon Sportswire

And so goes the carousel of quarterbacks at Utah. But don't call it a two-quarterback system because that's not what this is at all.

"We're waiting for somebody to separate themselves and really take ownership of the position," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of his Travis Wilson-Kendal Thompson conundrum.

On Monday, Whittingham announced -- after initially saying he'd keep this information closer to his vest going into this week -- that Wilson would be the starter for No. 19 Utah this weekend against No. 20 USC.

"We have had some back-and-forth the last couple weeks and it wasn't by design," Whittingham said. "Bottom line: We would love for one of them to take ownership and become the guy, because I'm not a two-quarterback system fan. I haven't seen that work well very often, if ever. So we're trying to get that separation but they've got to play themselves into that separation."

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