Once again, Bo Pelini facing questions about future of Nebraska's program

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1. Forget the Heisman and the O'Brien and the Outland and the other big-name awards. The one I am most curious about is the winner of the Morris Trophy, awarded to the best defensive and offensive linemen in the Pac-12 as voted upon by the league's opposing linemen. You could select an All-American defensive front four from among ends Nate Orchard of Utah, Hau'oli Kikaha of Washington, DeForest Buckner of Oregon and Leonard Williams of USC, and tackles Danny Shelton of Washington and David Parry of Stanford, and not have any reason to apologize. And this in a league with very good passing offenses.

2. Memphis went 7-17 in its first two years under Justin Fuente, which improved upon the five games the Tigers won in three seasons prior to his arrival. Look where Memphis is now: a win over 2-8 UConn from clinching a share of the American championship (a share because it's un-American, at least this season, to have a tiebreaker). The Tigers benefited from not playing UCF or East Carolina. However, they lost at UCLA 42-35 after being tied in the fourth quarter, and lost to Ole Miss 24-3 by giving up 17 fourth-quarter points. In other words, Memphis is legit, and I'd bet Fuente, 38, gets a look-see in a hiring season in which good jobs will be open.

3. There's something about archrivals that can get into your head. Ask Alabama what it's like hearing about the Kick Six for the past 51 weeks. Ask Michigan what it's like to go play at No. 6 Ohio State when you're 5-6 and the whole world has fired your coach. And ask Clemson what it's like when you're clearly better on paper than South Carolina, yet there's the doubt created by five straight losses. The Tigers can draw confidence from being 8-3 compared to the Gamecocks being 6-5. But those are the exact same records that the two teams had in 2009, when South Carolina won 34-17 and started the current winning streak.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- It was barely 20 degrees outside, with light snow falling and the wind whipping, but inside Marshall's sparkling new indoor practice facility, coach Doc Holliday was burning up the turf as he paced back and forth along the goal line.

The Thundering Herd were wrapping up practice last week, and Holliday was hell-bent on making sure their bloop kickoffs are perfect.

"I want it on the numbers [the 25] and better hang time," Holliday barked. Marshall was prepping for UAB, which boasts one of the most dangerous kickoff returners in the country, J.J. Nelson, who has already taken back three for touchdowns.

The quintessential taskmaster, Holliday's focus is right where it should be. The same goes for his team, which narrowly defeated UAB 23-18 a few days later to remain unbeaten. But with the inaugural College Football Playoff looming, winning isn't enough for the Herd. Given their strength of schedule -- ranked 127th out of 128, according to ESPN -- Marshall may need to rack up style points just to make a New Year's Six bowl as the Group of 5 representative.

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