Who knew? There's no making sense of this season

•  That on Nov. 17,Ohio State would be "settling" for the Rose Bowl after beating Michigan. Turns out the Luckeyes aimed low.

•  That Mike Gundy is a man and he is 40.

•  That Ron Zook should be Big Ten Coach of the Year.

•  That Mark Mangino should be National Coach of the Year.

•  That Notre Dame's unlucky number was 44. On the day it scored 44 against the Midshipmen, it lost to Navy for the first time in 44 years.

•  That we'd find what it took for the Irish to finally win: seven UCLA turnovers on Oct. 6

•  That the top two teams in one poll or another would lose on the same weekend three times this season? The last time it happened at all was 1996.

•  That North Dakota State would have more Big Ten wins (one) than Minnesota?

•  That Nebraska's coach (Bo Pelini) would be in the national championship game, but not Nebraska's team.

•  That the nation's leading passer would be a freshman (Oklahoma redshirt Sam Bradford) and the Heisman winner might, for the first time, be a sophomore (Tim Tebow).

•  That the nation's leading rusher (Central Florida's record-breaking Kevin Smith) would not be a finalist for the nation's best running back award (Doak Walker).

•  That Smith would run for 503 yards and five touchdowns since the finalists were announced (on the absurdly early Nov. 19).

•  That one of the finalists, Michigan's Michael Hart, missed the equivalent of four games (three full games and the halves of two others).

•  That Steve Spurrier would lose five in a row and Nick Saban would lose four in a row.

•  That Alabama would pay $666,666.66 per victory this season (Saban's $4 million salary divided by six victories).

•  That Nebraska would give up 76 points one week and score 73 the next.

•  That Tom Osborne would name himself coach. OK, interim coach. OK, interim coach so he could go recruiting during the coach search. Then he allowed Pelini not to show up for work until after LSU's bowl game. Huh?

•  That the Ducks endured one of the most painful declines in the country after losing quarterback Dennis Dixon on Nov. 15. Through 10 games, Oregon was averaging more than 40 points and Dixon was a Heisman frontrunner. After he was injured, the Ducks lost three consecutive games, including being shut out for the first time in 22 years.

•  That USC, West Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisville and Texas would be beaten by teams with 44 combined losses (Stanford, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Louisiana-Monroe, Syracuse and Kansas State)

•  That after pulling those upsets, the Cardinal, Buffaloes, Panthers, Warhawks, Orange and Wildcats would finish a combined 8-21.

•  That Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour would become the second major-college quarterback in history to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a season. (The other is Vince Young.)

•  That the BCS would be decided (in the coaches' poll) by five coaches without jobs. (Southern Mississippi's Jeff Bower, Michigan's Lloyd Carr, Washington State's Bill Doba, Texas A&M's Dennis Franchione's and Colorado State's Sonny Lubick).

For the record, their combined top five: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Oklahoma; 4. USC; 5. Georgia.

•  That the only two I-A schools in Florida with losing records would be Florida International and Miami.

•  That the Rose Bowl would feature the preseason No. 1 and the only team to beat the current No. 1. But neither No. 6 USC nor No. 13 Illinois are in the top five.