No one wants to say it. At least everyone has started to think it.

The glorious parade known as college football has slowly, agonizingly passed Joe Paterno by.

Strangely, that was made evident by a wild Saturday of games not involving Paterno. There was guile and brilliance around the country. None of it, though, involving JoePa.

Coaches all over the country who spent years cultivating their talent were reaping the benefits Saturday. Just the opposite is happening at State College. Penn State lost to Iowa 24-18 dropping the Nittany Lions to 0-3. The next three are against Michigan, Northwestern and Ohio State. An 0-8 record is possible when Indiana comes to Unhappy Valley on Nov. 17.

You want to believe Paterno can rally and have a graceful conclusion to his brilliant career. But the young bucks of I-A -- that is to say those under the age of 74 -- are stealing the spotlight and have been for a while.

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops ran a daring fake punt to score against Kansas State. All-America linebacker Rocky Calmus blocked an extra point. Sooners win 38-37, setting up the biggest game of the season Saturday against Texas.

Northwestern stages one of those Northwestern-like rallies to beat Michigan State 27-26. The Wildcats block a Spartans field goal. Zak Kustok hits a long pass with 15 seconds remaining. David Wasielewski kicks the game-winning 47-yard field goal with no time remaining.

Northwestern (3-0) is undefeated and in the running for at least a share of its fourth Big Ten title in seven years.

Clemson had no right to be within 10 points of Georgia Tech. But there was Woody Dantzler, running for the winning score in a 47-44 overtime victory, reviving the Tigers' ACC chances and his Heisman candidacy in one play.

Figure that pigs will soon fly now that UCLA is playing defense as good as any team in the country, a sophomore (Florida's Rex Grossman) might win the Heisman, and teams like Maryland, Washington State, South Carolina and Toledo are 4-0.

See the pattern? Innovation, preparation, talent. Stoops used that fake punt for the first time since the 1999 Independence Bowl. That just happened to be the last time Oklahoma lost.

"I never saw that play before," said a baffled Bill Snyder, Kansas State's coach.

Tommy Bowden went into the Georgia Tech game with three scholarship receivers. Wisely, he put the ball in the hands of Dantzler, who threw for 254 and rushed for 164.

Coach Tommy Bowden called it the biggest road victory for the Tigers in 20 years.

Tennessee announced it would be a factor in the SEC race, but not with a John Henderson-led defense that was banged up. Receiver Kelley Washington caught 11 passes for a school-record 256 yards against LSU.

Calling the Penn State predicament a slow decline would be inaccurate. The fall from grace has been rapid and startling. Two years ago, Penn State was undefeated late in the season. Since that point, the Lions are 6-13 and sliding fast.

Penn State officials are trapped in the middle. Paterno needs two victories to pass Bear Bryant on the all-time list. At this rate, he might not get them until next year. That means Penn State might be -- and it hurts to say this -- stuck with Paterno for at least another season while he chases Bear.

But who makes the call? Paterno deserves to go out on his own terms. If the legend wants to coach until the end of his current four-year deal, who is tell him no?

Unfortunately, the program has declined, something Paterno won't acknowledge. This past week, he called the bad start a lack of leadership. The truth is it's a lack of talent. It's a lack of long-time defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. It's the lack of everything that has made Paterno a coaching icon for 36 years.

While the record has gone south, the Penn State problems were years in the making. Freshmen recruited four years ago are now struggling as seniors. It's hard to imagine quarterback Matt Senneca playing a meaningful role on many Division I-A teams.

At Penn State, he starts.

Don't forget Penn State has won exactly one Big Ten title (1994). Suddenly, it's not about Paterno chasing Bear anymore. It's about Paterno going out with the dignity he deserves. And unless things change drastically in the offseason with better recruiting, Paterno's exit might be one of the most uncomfortable scenes witnessed in the sport in years.

When asked about Bryant's record during Saturday's postgame press conference, a disgusted Paterno simply got up and left.

Paterno returned to work Sunday. The question is, when will Penn State football be back?

Scoping the nation

• The hype has officially started for Saturday's Oklahoma-Texas game. The Longhorns are 4-0 for the first time since 1983 and made it through September undefeated for the first time since 1985. Oklahoma puts its 17-game undefeated streak on the line in a game that might produce a Rose Bowl participant. If Texas wins, it probably won't be challenged again until the season finale Nov. 23 at Texas A&M. If the Sooners win, they still have a trip to Nebraska (Oct. 27), a home game against Texas A&M and a dicey trip to Texas Tech. How big is this game? This is only the seventh time the teams have met undefeated. The last time was 1985.
• Frustration, thy name is Wildcat. Kansas State has lost three games in 11 months to Oklahoma by a total of 14 points. All is not lost, however. If Kansas State wins at Nebraska later this season, it still has a chance to claim the Big 12 North title and set up a possible re-, re-, rematch with Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.
• Just speculation here, but assuming the ACC and Big Ten are out of the Rose Bowl scene, the national championship is down to a tight knot of teams that include Texas, Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Miami, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Florida and Tennessee.
• Why eliminate the ACC and Big Ten? The ACC is wide open, with five one-loss teams and undefeated Maryland. Georgia Tech's loss to Clemson allows Florida State back into the conference title picture. The guess is the Seminoles, even if they win the ACC, will lose at least one more game. Georgia Tech might have been pushed out of national title consideration with the Clemson loss. Northwestern looks to be in control of the Big Ten. But considering the conference's lack of power teams, victories on the horizon over Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana and Iowa might not mean much to the Wildcats in the Bowl Championship Series ratings.
• It's official. No, not Bob Davie's firing, Notre Dame's 0-3 record. That's the Irish's first 0-3 start in their 113-year history. Quarterbacks Carlyle Holiday and Matt LoVecchio were sacked six times and produced only 191 yards in a 24-3 loss to Texas A&M. "You cringe when you hear that," Davie said of the winless start. "But you've got to take it like a man. ... It stings to hear it. I know it stings our players, and I know we'll hear it for a long time. But we aren't going to run and hide. All that matters now is how it ends." For Davie, it looks like it's going to end badly.
• Most readers probably missed Hawaii's meltdown at home. The Warriors blew a 21-7 halftime lead and lost to surprising Rice 27-24. The status of the nation's total offense leader, Hawaii quarterback Tommy Chang, is up in the air after he sprained his right wrist.
• Virginia Tech went into the weekend having held opponents without a point in 11 quarters in a row. Central Florida snapped that streak with a first-quarter touchdown then watched the Hokies reel off 19 consecutive points en route to a 46-14 victory. The Hokies entered the weekend No. 2 in scoring defense, giving up 3.3 points per game. The average now goes up to a whopping 6.0.
• The best-understated showdown of the weekend turned out Washington State's way. Its 48-21 victory over Arizona boosted the Cougars to 4-0 and made a fine case for their first ranking of the season. The schools had combined for four overtime periods in their past four meetings. This one was relatively tame. A year after throwing six touchdown passes in a defeat at Tucson, Cougars quarterback Jason Gesser threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns. The Coogs are 4-0 for the first time since the Rose Bowl season in 1997.
• Call them Phil Petty and the Heartbreakers. South Carolina beat Alabama for the first time in 11 career tries 37-36 Saturday. A glance at the Gamecocks schedule suggests they will be 7-0 when they visit Tennessee on Oct. 27. You want to discount their chances to win the SEC East, but the 'Cocks have to be taken seriously. At 3-0 in the SEC, they already have won twice on the road. Lou Holtz is 15-4 at South Carolina since his 0-11 debut in 1999. Petty threw the winning touchdown pass with 2:18 remaining against Alabama. South Carolina was outgained 516-359 and had the ball for 17 fewer minutes. "This shows there's something special about this team," Gamecocks defensive back Jonathan Martin said. The best line, as usual, belonged to Holtz. After watching fans rip down the goalposts at Williams-Brice Stadium he said: "Do you realize how many of those pieces I'm going to have to sign?"
• Maryland is 4-0 and ranked for the first time since 1995. Bruce Perry, the nation's leading rusher, went for 153 yards against West Virginia lowering his average to 169.5 yards per game. Ralph Friedgen is the second coach in school history to open his career 4-0. The other coach was Curley Byrd in 1912.
• Kansas State's loss was its first in September since 1991, a streak of 32 games.
• Northwestern is 3-0 for the first time since 1962.
• Eric Crouch's 95-yard scoring run against Missouri was the longest in Nebraska history.
• For the third consecutive year, California blew a significant lead to Washington. The Huskies rallied from a 21-7 deficit to win at Berkeley 31-28.
• The A&M-Notre Dame game drew the largest crowd ever to watch a football game in Texas, 87,206.
• Michigan has not lost a Big Ten opener since 1981.
• Grossman became the first Florida quarterback to surpass 300 yards in four consecutive games against Mississippi State. He threw for five touchdowns and a career-high 393 yards.
• Stanford is 3-0 for the first time since 1986.
• It looks like it's the system at Purdue. Remove Drew Brees, plug in Brandon Hance and nothing changes. Hance threw for 306 yards and ran for 70 in Purdue's 35-28 victory over Minnesota. He caught one touchdown pass and threw three.
• Finally, Division III Linfield's NCAA-record streak of 45 consecutive winning seasons is in jeopardy. The Oregon school dropped to 1-2 after losing 31-20 to Pacific Lutheran.